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Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Well, I've made more progress on the sock:I'm doing the gusset decreases every other row now, and though I'm really liking the pattern and have progressed to the part which doesn't require quite as much thinking, I must say that it is more tedious than most socks which I knit. For one thing, I generally use size 2 needles, and these are on size one. For another thing, there is a fair amount of switching from knit to purl to knit to purl, etc., and some cable crossings, and on these tiny needles I'm getting some muscle soreness. So, I'll finish these socks, but probably won't use the same pattern again for a while. It is by Blackberry Ridge, one of the "Elite Feet" patterns (#1 The Traveling Companion). Really, I do like it. My hands, however, are rebelling.

The yarn is also by Blackberry Ridge, Mer-Made, in the variegated pink colorway, fingering weight, and is 100% washable merino. I would not hesitate to purchase it again! They have nice solids and hand painted varieties. When I purchased the yarn, they threw in some nylon thread to carry along with the yarn for the knitting of the heel flap, the turning of the heel, and the toes. (This nylon thread is pictured in the photo above, on the little white bobbin...) The detail work of the pattern stitches shows up adequately in real life (though difficult to see in the photo), though I think I'd use a solid if I made the pattern again...

Yesterday was Tuesday, "sewing day", and my sewing consisted of mending some clothes, so not overly exciting, but cleared some more items out of my sewing/work area, none the less.....

In other excitement, I bought a new pair of shoes today!How pathetic am I when part of my decision involves determining how my hand knit socks will look if I wear them with the new shoes? These are "Trello" (as in "Hello Trello") by Lands End (which has its headquarters in Wisconsin), and so far I really like them. They are antibacterial, and may be hosed down. They just sounded really practical for summer (without socks) and also useable in fall (with socks!!).

My six year old had an "early release" today, which means he is already home from school. Fortunately, it is a glorious day in terms of weather, so we'll be going outside in a little while!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)