A medical breakthrough

I think I've discovered the cure.... well maybe not cure... but treatment... of the dreaded second sock syndrome:Don't knit the second sock.... at least not immediately. Knit another sock or two in between, and then when you go back to do the second sock, it's almost as refreshing as knitting a new sock!

Obviously, you can see what I've been up to this weekend. You already saw the grey sock (for Dave) I cast on for the brown and green one (for Dad) on Thursday and finished it up Saturday night. That's the quickest I've ever knit a sock, though admittedly, I had a lot of uninterrupted knitting time. Other than a brief break Friday, when I went to pick up Dave (his car is still out of commission) and another brief break Saturday when we stopped by Mom's, I was pretty much knitting non-stop. (All of these are my own designs and when I get around to knitting the second socks, I'll make the patterns available)

I cast on forthe blue/aqua/purple sock this morning (well actually it was about 1 p.m..... we slept in until noon) and I must say I like knitting ankle socks... they just fly by. The yarn is also a lot of fun to knit with because the colours are just so happy. They aren't colours I'd choose for myself (these are one of the pairs of Christmas socks) but they certainly make me smile, especially after knitting with grey and then brown yarn.

Another thing that made me smile this week was this:This is a great little pattern that I've been wanting to make for a while. Well actually I made it months ago... you may remember, it was green and I was going to felt it. Well.. I finally got around to felting it the other day, and ... it was kind of a failed experiment. The yarn (I don't remember what it was) didn't felt well, and then the cats ran off with the feet and I still can't find all of them.

But, on Wednesday, I was sitting there and I realized I didn't have anything for my youngest niece for Easter. I had the Cabbage Patch Kid and a basketful of clothes for her sister, but nothing for her. So, I pulled out the pattern and started knitting.

It's great for last minute gifts, as it only takes about three hours from cast on to stuffing. I knit it on two needles instead of four. I have a lot of experience stuffing toys and I knew it was going to be a pain to try and stuff it through the trunk (it's only an inch or so wide). I sewed from the trunk to the middle, and the from the bum to the middle, leaving about a 2 1/2 inch gap. If you are knitting this in the round, I would recommend stuffing the body before you start knitting the trunk.

Either way, it's an absolutely adorable knit. And I have to knit another one (for the person the green one was intended for) but first I have to knit those darn horse legs.... the shower is this weekend!