Three Little Hats and a Cookie

How ’bout these vintage sock blockers ?!? I found them in a little antique store, “Cottage Chic”, on Main Street in Picton and just had to bring them home. Aren’t they charming?

And speaking of socks…I’ve decided that my travel knitting shall be socks after all. I’ve never knit a Cookie A. pattern, though many of her incredible variations have appealed to me over the years. My first impulse was “Istanbul” but thought they’d best be worked in a deep, jewel colored tonal. I settled on “Solfar” because I think they’ll be lovely in my hand-painted Alegrio in ‘Rambla-Sur’. I plan to work them while we’re in the Caribbean, hoping to finish them off in New Orleans and leave them behind for Miss Laura. I hope she’ll like the color. I’d like my socks to be a little longer than those pictured. I’ve cast them on and added 20 rows to the ribbing. I’ll also knit one extra pattern repeat since the yardage of the Alegria is very generous.

(Incidentally, I did cast on the Luna Viridis in the Blue Moon Socks That Rock as originally planned, but I didn’t care for the way the colorway was playing out – too much pooling over the long-ish rows – so that pattern will have to wait for the right yarn.)

Since I’ve scheduled a Knitting in the Round workshop for January 31 (the day after we return), I figured I’d better finish up the samples before we leave. We’ll be using Puffin from Quince & Co. to make these sweet little hats from PurlBee. These will be great for first-time circular knitting; they’re fast and fun with simple shaping.

My beloved little “Buttonbox” is finished to the point of knitting the button bands and shawl collar. I just can’t wait to wear it! I’d planned to select the buttons on Saturday while at work in the shop, and we had several new styles that caught my eye. Then I had a brainwave! Since it’s really about a box of buttons, why not use mismatched vintage ones, like the fruits of your Grandma’s button collection? I chose these; they live in the ‘same world’ but definitely do not match. Sweet, I think!

Buttons are the only thing lacking on “Zora”. She’s blocked and dry and I love her very much! I’ll sew them on before photographing the sweater…pictures to come.