This 'n' that

I actually haven't gotten much knitting done this week, despite having more "free time" than usual. Part of the problem is that I've been playing around in Ravelry (which eats up so much time I wonder if it's some kind of hitherto undiscovered black hole).

The other problem is that I spent a lot of time searching for the right pattern for my next pair of socks. A few weeks ago, my mom asked me to make a pair of purple socks for a friend of hers. I've known this friend all my life, so I'd like these socks to be a bit special. I had even found a pattern I thought would be perfect, but after knitting a couple of inches, I knew it was not to be. (I won't mention the pattern, because I still have hopes for it in another incarnation.) Rip, rip, rip. I tried another pattern, but it was painfully boring. Rip, rip, rip. (Shepherd Sock frogs like a champ, by the way.) Finally I settled on this.

It's Cassie's recently released Loksins! I think I'm in love. The charts are easy to memorize, but still interesting. Plus, the two stockinette sections make it easy to modify the pattern to suit any gauge or foot size. Love!

By the way, the DPN protector in the photo is from Three Owls Knitting. Thanks to Jersey Shore Deb for pointing them out to me. (Get it? "Pointing"? Yuk, yuk.) These protectors come in sets of two. One of mine has a black sheep, and the other one has a white sheep. They're too cute for words.

Print O' The Wave is coming along nicely too. The second center panel is aspiring to grow as big as its older sibling.

I'm knitting this on the recommended US size 4 (3.50 mm) needles, but I sort of wish I'd gone up a size or two. With the pattern's stated 17 repeats for each half, there's no way this would come out as long as I would like, even with the most aggressive blocking. Since I don't want to rip everything out and start again, I'm adding two repeats to each half. I've done the math for the border, but I hope it works out as well in practice as it does in theory.