For me, apparently, baby socks are like potato chips. I can't knit just one pair!  Talk about instant gratification in so many ways.  First off, they are fast fast fast to knit -- if I had nothing else to do, I could easily get a pair of these done in a day, and still have time to work on something else.  Second, Z gets so excited when she gets a new pair "Sockies!  Sockies!" and she runs off with both in her hands.  Nothing like an enthusiastic recipient to encourage more knitting (and her father likes them, too -- given a chance, he'll put her hand knit socks on her over any other socks in her drawer).  So now Z has 4 pairs of handknit socks in her drawer (there's one more pair I haven't shown you yet) and I think with the remnants from previous projects of mine, we can easily get to 7 pairs -- my goal -- one for every day of the week.

By happy chance, these socks almost match -- apparently Z sized socks are almost exactly one stripe pattern repeat in this colorway (Regia 4450 in Kaffe Fasset "Exotic Color Easter") and there is still at least one more if not two more baby sized socks worth of yarn left from the 50g skein. 

Please pardon the cacophany of patterns that Z is wearing -- we're having some remodeling done right now (as a result of a basement crack, not because we really wanted to) and combined with the cold weather we're getting right now in Chicago, it's colder than usual in the house.  Z loves the butterflies ( "Fly flys" as she calls them) and is resistant to wardrobe changes except when they include clothes she likes.  So to get her to wear an extra layer, we bribed her with butterflies.  She doesn't usally have to be bribed to wear hand knit socks -- not only does she run around with them when she gets them, but she will sit still and let you put them on when you tell her what you are doing.  Put all of that together and you get a big print, a small print and stripes!  And happy warm baby feet.  And happy warm baby feet are really what counts!

A while ago (right about the time I found out I was pregant with Z) I took a trip to Montana and stopped at the Mountain Colors shop and dye studio.  Mill ends and other goodies abounded, and I came home with a small suitcase stuffed with 3-ply Targhee mill ends in as many colors as I could find.  My initial plan was to make a small blanket out of the log-cabin squares in the middle of the picture.  I got distracted from the project as my pregnancy progressed and when I made the transition into motherhood, I also had the chance to participate in the project to knit diagonal garter squares for a blanket to be auctioned to help out Emma's son, Oliver. 

Those diagonal squares got me thinking... so easy, yet really neat looking, especially when put together in a blanket.    When I came back to this project, I got to thinking that it might be fun to keep the log cabin squares I had already made and randomly intersperse them into a blanket of these "solid" colored squares. 

This is TV knitting at it's finest.  Uncomplicated garter stitch but a chance to indulge in a variety of lovely colors. 

While I feel like there is much yarn in my basket, I have a suspicion that I will be phoning up for more mill ends.  I like the thick, sproingy quality of these squares, and I am beginning to imaging a large and inviting blanket...

I promise -- this will probably be the last pair of simple baby socks for a while -- not that I won't start anymore, but with our holiday party approaching and a Christmas shopping to be done, my knitting time is becoming more scarce.

These little socks are made from Mountain Colors Bearfoot -- which is a lovely soft yarn that is a blend of superwash wool, nylon and mohair, which is just about all you could want for strength, washability and warmth.  These socks are made out of leftovers from a pair I made for a good friend and a pair I made for John (I bet you can guess which colorway was for John's socks if you don't remember the socks themselves).  These socks aren't the most beautiful from a color co-ordination perspective, but they do meet the "keep baby feet warm" criteria that is most important ant the moment.

Since the Bearfoot is a somewhat thicker yarn than the Regia and Trekking, these socks were knit on 2.5 mm needles and the gauge is slightly differentm, but otherwise it's the same general pattern as the previous three pairs.

I was asked in a previous sock entry if I would consider sharing this pattern.  Yes, I definitely will at some point when I have a little more time to write it out and make sure that it's proof-read correctly.

Today is not so much of a retrospective as an accounting.  The pictures were taken on a sunnier day, before the snow started to fall. All my socks were clean (except for one notable pair) and it seemed like a good time to get the class together for a group shot.  My orange striped socks missed the photoshoot, but the other 20 pairs that I have knit for myself made it in.  I have knit 21 pairs of socks for myself since I started blogging.  21 pairs of socks in something like 5 years* -- just around 4 pairs for myself every year.

But that's not really the whole story.  I've knit 2 pairs of socks for my dad, 2 pairs of socks for my mom, another 3 pairs for an aunt, my brother and his wife and 1 pair for a good friend from grad school.  So that brings the total up to 29. 

And even that isn't all.  I've made 7 pairs for Ms. Z and at least 9 pairs for John.  So my sum total sock production in the past 5 years is at least 45 pairs of socks.

That's a lotta socks.

I've knit toe up and top down, short row and Dutch and afterthought heels, star toes and square.  Patterned and straight stockinette.  Single color and two color.  Designed my own, worked from patterns. Ribbed and garter and picot cuffs.  On two circs, one circ and double points. 

I've knit socks from wool, I've knit socks from cotton/wool blends, I've knit socks from wool/silk blends and wool/mohair blends.  I've knit socks from Opal, Regia, Meilenweit, Socks that Rock, Tess Designer Yarns, Shelridge Farms Ultratouch, Lorna's Laces, my hand spun, SKnitches, Oxford Kitchen Yarns, Trekking, Sock Hop, Cascade Fixation, Koigu, Greenwood Fiberworks, Moutain Colors Bearfoot, Curious Yarns, Dream in Color and probably some more that I'm not remembering.

In short, I feel like I'm pretty experienced when it comes to socks.  I've learned alot about yarn and what works and what doesn't. And I thought, today, that I would share some of my favorite yarns and their applications:

Best Wearing 
Without a doubt, the best wearing yarns I've encountered, tested by many steps of man feet and my own, have been Regia and Opal yarns.  They aren't the softest yarns, but they are The yarns that require the least care and can take the most abuse and still look good.  One of my earliest pairs of socks was pair of Opal socks for John.  They've been "loved" a great deal in 5 years and still have a good many years of wear in them.  If you want a pair of socks that's going to wear like iron Regia and Opal are almost guaranteed to come through.   And there's no lack of great colorways for either of them either.

Softest Merino
This one is certainly open to interpretation, but the softest, most foot inviting socks that I have are made from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock.  In both color and texture these socks are really sock therapy.  Koigu and Dream In Color would come in a close second.  But the softness comes with a price: the only socks I've had to repair for wear are my STR and Koigu socks.  Soft as it is, merino doesn't hold up as well to repeated washings and wearings, so it's good to keep some of the yarn in reserve for repair work if you are at all hard on your socks. 

Elasticized Yarns
Elasticized yarns abound these days.  I don't think they will ever qualify as my favorites, but they sure make great yarns for socks for small people with growing feet.  Knit One, Crochet Too's Soxx Appeal is my favorite of the ones I've tried.  It's a wool blend instead of a cotton blend, so warmer in the winter for little feet.

Luxury Blends
I haven't tried quite as many of these as I would like to have!  One thing to keep in mind with most luxury blend yarns: silk/wool, mohair/wool, cashmere/wool, alpaca/wool is that the luxury fiber doesn't have the same give and elasticity as the wool it's been blended with.  This means that these yarns may not have the same level of memory or of stretchiness as a 100% wool yarn.  This means that the socks from these yarns are going to tend to be a bit more slouchy, so you may need to adjust your patterns accordingly to accomodate the loosening that will occur with wearing.  So far I've been pleasantly surprised by the wear characteristics of Regia Silk (enough so that I am considering making John a pair out of the stuff) and my husband loves the extra warmth he gets from his Bearfoot socks. 

If you asked me, I would be hard pressed to pick an absolute favorite.  Each application I knit socks for have some yarns that work better and make the sock knitting and wearing experience more enjoyable.  If I had to pick a "desert island" yarn (which would be strange because socks would not seem applicable to that milieu) it would probably be STR -- the three different weights provide stylistic variety and there are both solid and wonderful wild colorways.  But I know I'd be trying to figure out how to sneak some other of my favorites into my suitcase.

* I have included some sock swap socks because even though those pairs are with someone else, I received an equally nice pair in trade.

I never thought having a child would make Christmas an even better time than it already is, but this year, it was really wonderful and special.  From the Christian holiday perspective, Christmas, is, in fact, about the birth of a child, and while I am not particularly religious, that thought really struck me this year.  In many ways, Christmas is a celebration of the arrival of a child, of new life.  Indirectly, it is a celebration of the joy and new hope that children bring into the world. 

This year Z started to realize that something interesting was going on.  Whether it was "Tree!  Pretty!" accompanied by a huge smile or the excitement she got from putting on pretty clothes (those red shoes were a very big deal -- perhaps I have a fashionista engineer baby on my hands) or the interest she took in the strange phenomenon of "gift wrapping", you could tell that she was taking it all in, trying to figure it all out.  We had so much fun watching her figure out how to open presents and tear into the gift wrapping.  She's a master at ripping up magazines, so you would have thought wrapping paper would have been a cinch, but she had to work at it to figure it out. 

Perhaps the most magical part of the holiday has been her interaction with my Dad.  Up until recently, she's been very stand-offish with men and we hadn't really convinced her to let her only grandfather carry her or interact with her while in close proximity.  But this holiday she has been his buddy.  He's been able to carry her and show her things, read books with her and play with her on the floor.  Probably the best gift I got this year.

This transition from 16 months into 17 months has been a time of blossoming for Z.  Her language skills are incredible (at least in my own, biased opinion).   She not only repeats words (and with very clear diction -- it is not at all hard to understand what she is saying) but she is also putting concepts together in two or three word phrases.  "Pretty" is her favorite adjective, and she regularly makes it clear to us what kind of things she likes -- she has very particular opinions about clothes; she can tell us what she did "broke it" or "go shopping"; she sings "Jingle Bells" (well, she sings that phrase three times...) she also now uses "Thank you" at the appropriate time, and this morning she surprised us all by pointing to a calendar sitting on the table and saying "football" (she had only heard the word once the night before while she was helping us open packages).  And then there is the fact that her Polish vocabulary is also becoming quite strong.    Her ability to communicate better just makes things fun for everyone, I think.

She's also becoming quite the social butterfly -- and is becoming adept at getting things she wants from adults.  She makes many friends when we go shopping -- she acts coy to get adults to interact with her, and then slowly but surely ramps up her biggest megawatt smile.    On the flip side, she's also learned that if she's being ignored, she can do something bad and adults will pay attention to her.  Or she will tell us she's "poopy" right before she gets put down to bed in hopes of forestalling bedtime with a diaper change. 

She's also become very attached to her father.  Last night her cousins were over.  Both of the older two love John and love to spend time with him.  But both times that he did, she couldn't deal with the fact that he was doing something with them and barged into the scene.  When she wasn't doing that, she was being unhappy and needy and doing things to get his attention.  As soon as they were gone, she was back to being her happy self again. 

Christmas brought Z everything a baby could wish for: wooden puzzles, Duplo blocks, alphabet magnets and computer games, new clothes (she is very into sweaters and will often comment when I am wearing one), books, a small Ikea train set and a Magnadoodle sort of thing.  Of course, her favorite toy is still the almost week old helium baloon that her father bought her and that she almost doesn't let go of when she is awake.  Sometimes the simplest things are the best, and there must be something magical abouta  toy that rises up instead of falling down. 

From my house to yours, we hope you had a lovely Christmas day full of whatever gives you the most joy.  And Z wants everyone to know that every girl should have a pair of red shoes that make her happy!

Yes.  I did take these cookies up onto my sunny upstairs deck for their photo shoot.  Is anyone surprised?

I was much happier with this batch.  What did I change?  Well, my Mom got me a microplane for Christmas after reading my first cookie post (thanks, Mom!), so zesting those lemons got a lot easier (lemons will have to live in fear of me and my new cooking tool, now!).  Second, I got a 5 lb bag of lemons from Costco so that there would be no lemony limiting reagent.  Third, I put in twice as much zest into the cookie dough (2 tbsp!) and, finally, I let the dough incubate overnight in the refrigerator.  When tasted the next day, all agreed it was much lemonier -- and in a good way.

While out doing a little craft store shopping with my Mom and Z, I picked up the blue, orange and purple sprinkles.  I guess they are a bit more Easter-y than Christmas-y, but I like to think of them like shiny glass holiday ornaments.  In order to get them to be a bit more like sandwiches than the previous batch, I used less dough per cookie and also flattened them down a bit before baking. 

I also added just a skosh more lemon juice to the buttercream frosting for the centers, and that also helped pick up the flavor a notch.

The verdict?  Yummy and much more lemony goodness.  I made a side by side batch with dried orange zest and discovered that it didn't work anywhere near as well as the lemon zest.  Although the orange-y ones turned out to be John's favorite because they were more "buttery" -- which translates to "had less citrus flavor" because both batches were made with an equal amount of butter. 

That said, when I suggested he take some into work, his first comment: No way! Do you--

My response: For you, not for your office mates.

Oh, okay.   Grin. For me.  I don't mind taking them for me.  But I'm not sharing*.

So, lemony or buttery, apparently whatever they are, they are too good to share.

*Just to be clear, John is hardly the selfish type, but if he could hoarde any one particular food, it just might be homemade cookies.  And it's really hard for the maker of said cookies to get all that upset with him for loving what she makes.