Knitters unite!

Another busy week comes to a close. I'll tell you...there's just something about the end of the semester that drives me nuts. Aside from all of the papers that are due and exams (and yes, I'm still grading stacks and stacks of those papers)...by the end of the semester I always find that I'm sort of sick of my classes. I felt this way as a student too - so it's definitely time to move onto another semester!

I have been knitting though despite the craziness. I've been meaning to give an update on the next pair of socks I've been working on. Here are my Oriel toe-up socks:


The pattern is another good one from Sensational Knitted Socks - but it's an intermediate sock pattern so I'm taking it up a notch! The stitch pattern is a little hard to see - I think you'll get a better feel for it once I've finished it and can try it on. But, it's been taking a little longer because the stitch pattern is a little tricky. In terms of the sock itself, it's knit in a peachy Koigu.

Actually, so I have an interesting story to tell about these socks. So, this week I did a sort of stitch n bitch session as part of this community service project at a home for people with HIV/AIDS. It was my first time at this particular center...and the more knitters I meet, the more I realize that the online knitting community is not representative of your average knitter. I took out the sock and you would have thought that I had brought out the most complicated knitting project ever created. Most of the knitters there did not know how to purl and never moved beyond scarves. I don't know - it's just such a weird thing..because I thought everyone was like the average knitting blogger - and that my knitting skills are nowhere near those of many online knitters. But, instead I was treated like the "expert knitter". Weird. So, it was kind of a bizarre eye-opening experience.

In other news, I also started a hat for DH. After working on the gloves, he decided that he wanted a hat to match. So, I may need to run out and get another skein - for the moment I'm working on leftovers from the gloves and have gotten this far:
The hat is based on the basic hat pattern from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns. The bottom edge is 3x3 ribbing - and then just stockinette. It's looking like I will probably run out of yarn - but we'll see.

That's it for now! Have a great weekend.