Here are the Pumpkin Patch socks from Blackberry Ridge Farm in their entirety. The pattern is from the Sock of the Month Collection, Volume II and I substituted orange Nature Spun worsted for the more gold yarn included in the kit. I continued to knit pumpkins on the bottom of the feet unlike the pattern and I added the Boo! from a holidays cross stitch book. These socks don't turn me on at all but I'm determined to try to knit things for all the major holidays. The turkey mittens will be finished this week and I already have patterns selected for Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day. I haven't decided on my Christmas knitting yet.
I really enjoyed the shadow knit hat. Mare made about 45,000 of these hats and inspired me - I purchased the pattern HERE. I looked at the knitted fabric a lot from different angles during the process to enjoy the shadows. Shadow knitting is really a simple combo of knit and purl (I think I'd describe it as kind of an inverse welt stitch) but if you purl more loosely than you knit (as many knitters do I've read) it will be more noticeable in this pattern. IAnd one other cool thing about this particular pattern - the Japanese bind-off. This may be my new favorite shoulder bind-off rather than the three needle bind-off.
I was out this weekend buying some fun used story books for my friend Lisa's four year old son. I bought one called Mr. Nick's Knitting written by Margaret Wild. Mr. Nick and Mrs. Jolley knit together every day while commuting on the train. Mr. Nick helps Mrs. Jolley untangle her yarn and Mrs. Jolley helps Mr. Nick with his dropped stitches. One day Mrs. Jolley stops taking the train and Mr. Nick finds out she is going to be in the hospital for a very long time. He brings her some yarn and needles but she is sad because she can't see the sights she liked to look at from the train every day. So Mr. Nick goes on this knitting binge and ends up knitting her an afghan filled with pictures of sights they used to see from the train.