A New Year...A New Project

Christmas came and went.  We celebrated two birthdays, mine and Rachels.

There were lots of lovely gifts.  Now the decorations are gone and it's time for new projects.  For me, anything that was NOT A SOCK was considered.

I settled on Antler using a yarn I bought at The Wool Cabin a while back.  Suzette was kind enough to order it in for me.  It's Madeleintosh aran weight in the colorway...Antler.

 It' s cushy, springy yarn and has this grey toned variation on the cream.  I'm knitting up a size 4-6 child size.  It's refreshing to knit on size 8 needles instead of size 0.  This sweater is going to move along nicely.

 I started the sleeve cuff with a provisional cast on and did a tubular cast on.  I love the look when the pink waste yarn is removed.  For now, I'm leaving it on until the second sleeve is cast on.  I want continuity with the second sleeve and I think leaving the yarn in will help me get them identical.

The size 12 socks are finished.  I only got 1 1/2 sock done for Christmas but Bruce tried the one on (can you tell the sock on the right was on a foot?) and declared it lovely....and ummmmmmmmmmmmm...
just a bit big.  Turns out he wears an 11 shoe...oops!  I'm hoping to (dare I say it) shrink them a tiny bit.

 I love the twisted stitch patterning in the cuff.  My friend Rachael knit a pair of socks for her husband using a pattern in the "Knitting Man-ual" book, but I bought a single PDF instant download pattern from ravelry.

I like the cuff so much I made two socks using the twisted stitch pattern and did them toe-up.

I'm ready for that new sweater.  No more socks for me for awhile.