And the winner is...

Krafty Kitten! (Winner selected by generating a random number via random.org.) Thanks to all who entered the contest. Krafty K., I couldn't find an email address for you, so please email me and let me know where I can send your prize.

I just realized I never posted a pic of the finished Trekking socks. So here they are.


These are great socks. The Professor has already worn them a couple of times. (He even wore them on the plane to Denver so that his feet would be warm in case we crashed in the mountains. I can do without comments like that.) Luckily I have another ball of this yarn (color 66) in the stash, because I want a pair of these for myself.

Yes, my current sock-in-progress is indeed the wildly popular Pomatomus. I absolutely had to make them after seeing all the great examples y'all have been churning out. (Have you seen Minty's mirror image ones? You must.)

Bad photos today. It's cloudy.

I'm in love with both the yarn (Fearless Fibers superwash merino sock) and the pattern. The stitch pattern is not as complex as it appears, yet it's enough to hold my interest. I'll definitely be making more Pomatomi (Pomatomuses?). When I tried the finished sock on the other night, the Professor proclaimed it a "very cool sock" and asked, "Can guys wear socks like that?"

Holiday recap: All my knitted Christmas gifts seem to have been very well received. The socks seemed to go over especially well. The best reaction I got, though, was for the simplest item I gifted this year. The Professor's younger brother was the recipient, and when he opened the package, he said, "These are all my favorite colors!" The next day he pulled me aside and told me how he'd been wanting someone to knit him a scarf for years, and that his new scarf was already one of his "favorite things." Does it get any better than that? I'm telling you, the man wore that scarf indoors and out. For days! It really warmed my heart.

How did people react to your handmade holiday gifts?