Socks, socks and socks

These are our little unnamed knitting mascots. They hold (most) our current projects and other UFO's. Mine is the hat-less pot with the escaping yarn. I got mine from my mum, who suggested that I use him to store potatoes in. Denise's pot was found a few weeks later at the Op shop around the corner. Maybe they were just meant to be together. Hmmm.
Today I spent my lunch break down at Spotlight with Denise fighting our way through other knitters as there was a 20% off day. I only walked away with 6 balls, a pack of thick plastic crochet hooks and stitch markers. We made up for it by going out to one of the stores in the suburbs and buying more. Although we got mainly sheets of fur for Denise's handmade Teddy bears and polar fleece for a baby blanket. One of the sheets of fur was bought for the cat. Since she loves the faux mink blanket on the bed soooo much, we thought we'd buy one for her so maybe she'll start sleeping on her bed, not ours.

So these are Denise's first socks. Top down and knitted from Bendigo Woollen Mill Sock Yarn (its a cotton blend). They are the odd socks that aren't odd. Knitted out of just over one ball of yarn, one has a lovely patterns coming out, the other looks like TV static. The only difference between the two was we got our first pair of 30cm Addi Turbo needles between sock one and two. The good thing is there is still another ball of yarn. Knowing Denise's luck if she were to knit a third sock, it would look different to the first two!


On the other side is what happens when I get an idea in my head and a generic pattern. So what does happen when you modify the dimensions of a sock pattern, smaller needles, less stitches, larger yarn but less stitches. It started with the purple/blue Fair Isle socks (first on the second row) and turned into me experimenting with all sorts of odd yarn in my stash. I've even had Carol from the Adelaide Ktog group give me her left over sock yarn to use up.
As you can see with scraps of yarn I don't bother with matching up the patterns. Actually I was lucky to finish the blue toed socks. I had to substitute Marino Bambino baby yarn in the toes to finish it. These are all for the Guardian Pharmacy/World Vision charity knitting. I figure I can play around with the sizes because some kid out there will fit them, and I get more of an idea how this wonderful sock pattern works.
A nice cup of white tea is beckoning me. White tea being tea made from the youngest and tenderest tea leaves. A definite taste difference between white and black tea, which I drink without milk (so is it black white tea?).