Another Week Another New Project

I went down to DC for the weekend and couldn't resist checking out a LYS while down there. The place was a busy and quirky as I've ever seen, but I did manage to pick up 2 hanks of this:

It's Koigu in colorway P431. It's mainly a navy with bits of oranges, greens, and slate blues. I really love it!

I've been dying to try a pair of socks lately. It seems like everyone on the blogs is making socks and I wanted to join in. So I picked up a sock book and cast on for them on the train ride home. Well, the pattern wasn't my favorite - it had you cast on the tip of the toe stitches and do increases to get to the foot width. Or you could do top down and Kitchener stitch the toes together. Yuk!

So, when I got home I went to Wendy's site and got her Generic Toe Up Sock Pattern. Oh so much better! She used a crochet provisional cast on and does shortrow shaping to do the whole toe at once (both sides). So the toe is done with just 2 needles. Once you're done you pick up the provisional cast on live stitches and start your knitting in the round. It makes so much more sense. Plus, she explains how to do sizing, so even though my yarn wasn't the same gauge it was very easy to adjust for it.

So here's where I am now. The beginnings of my first sock:

I must have tried it on 10 times last night. I may end up bringing this project to work and doing a little at lunch. I usually eat lunch at my desk in the winter but I might have to carve out a half hour or so during the day just to work on this. I can't wait to see how it takes shape!