Thank you again for all the nice comments on my Amelia!  I really love it and have worn it several times this week – it’s nice & cozy.

Now I’m back on a sock kick.  Most of my stash is packed (though I have pulled a few things out for some small projects I’ll probably blog about later).  Right now, I have two socks OTN.

The one on the left is my current commuter sock out of my PandaToes from Crazy Monkey.

I tried a couple of different patterns with it but didn’t like how they looked.  Finally, I thought Crazy Monkey…how about Monkey socks?  I had made a previous  pair I liked and decided to try it again.  I really like how it looks – again, it’s a great commuter sock – easy pattern to memorize but interesting enough to entertain me on the train.  Like Reversi, I race each trip to finish one repeat per train ride.  Only thing, I hate the purling on it (yes, I should have explored the no purl Monkey socks out there.) but it’s not annoying enough to stop.

The other is a sock I decided to start Tuesday night, when I found myself at a loss at what to work on.  I was feeling lazy and didn’t feel like going upstairs to wind a skein of yarn.  Since this yarn (Opal Rainforrest in Ladybug that I spent a long time looking for awhile back) is already to go, I decided to for it.

Notice something unusual (for me) about this?

Yes my friends, that is a cable.  After 30+ pairs of socks on dpns, I decided to branch out on to Magic Loop.  I have tried 2 circs, but really, I didn’t really like it that much – I kept mixing up the needles & it just was more annoying than anything.  But Magic Loop, I really enjoy.  I actually started these on my usual sock 1.5US dpns and after a round I thought, you know, I’m going to doing these socks just plain, I have an extra long 1.5US circular, and I’m near a computer to show me how to do it.  So I looked it up magic loop instructions (this is one I used) and went to town.  Starting it was a pain (CoffeeBoy was practically cowering when I kept cursing at the needles, the video, the yarn, etc), but once I got into it, it really  flies.  I still love my dpns, but Magic Loop is really convenient, especially since I have a tendency to drop my dpns in the worst possible places places – the train, a dark theater, the car, etc.  I doubt I’ll completely give up dpns but I’m very pleased I taught myself a new way of dong socks!