Metamorphosis

I was looking at the Rock Creek socks, which were a very uneventful top-down 2x2 rib, and then I posted something over on Rachel's blog about how nice it is that socks let you do fancy patterning in a small space, and before I knew it, I had Elfine's socks.

(Okay, so I cast on the toe three times before getting it right. Figure-8 cast-on is tricky.)

And I couldn't be happier with them. I worked on them for ages yesterday and had to tear myself away by looking hard at the calendar and reminding myself about unfinished holiday knitting. In a fit of virtue I even wound the Paloma yarn. Doesn't it look appealing all together like that? But it doesn't hold a candle to the lovely, lovely sock... I charted up the pattern and it's so pretty, and really not hard at all, though the double central decreases in such a tight gauge require some negotiating. I can't wait to see what it looks like when there's a bit more of it.

But right now, I'm working on the surprise projects while watching The Nutcracker on PBS, the same Baryshnikov/Kirkland version that I watched every single year when I was growing up. I was also in at least six performances of the ballet (mouse, snowflake, sugarplum, Mirliton) and the music still gets me. Fortunately my husband has gone out in search of birthday presents and so no one is here to watch me doing pique turns around the living room.