Quoth the raven...

Nevermore.

A little while back a friend asked me if I would knit a pair of socks for her teenaged daughter. She had seen my blog, and had liked some of what I'd already done. It would have been impossible to say no when a teenager actually expresses an interest in handknits. She thought she'd like something in blacks and purple/burgundy. Enter Socks that Rock in Lenore:

This yarn is very had to photograph. It's primarily black, with a deep pinky/purple washed over it. Then for a pattern, she'd like something gothic inspired. Hmmm, can't think of anything much more gothic than Edgar Allen Poe, whose poem inspired the name of the yarn. Interestingly, both the poem and the yarn inspired a designer:

Lenore socks, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot). I've got a skein destined to be these socks for me too.

So I ordered the yarn, and it arrived late last week. I wound it up right away:

And using a digital scale split it into two equal cakes of yarn. They look different in size, but they weigh the same amount. One is more densely wound than the other. In this picture, on my monitor, you can see the variances in colour better, if not the specific colour. Then I cast on:

This progress is over the last couple of days, and so far, I'm very happy with how they're turning out, and I hope that the young woman in question is too. I'll be trying to post progress shots on these socks every few days or so. Fingers crossed :)

They are not my only project, though. I have a finished object to report:

The Double Eyelet Rib socks are finished. Yay! The pattern is a freebie by Wendy D. Johnson and I used Knit Picks Essential yarn in the Russet Tweed colourway. I used about 1.5 balls of yarn. Someday, I'll come up with a great idea for using up all the leftover sock yarn :)

No rest, though. No second sock syndrome for me. Nuh uh. I cast on the second Trilobite Sock:

I'd messed up the chart on the first sock for the entire foot of the sock. But I decided that I would knit the second sock properly rather than trying to repeat my mistake. So I'll have mismatched socks. My brother would approve.

Incidentally, the Lenore yarn was not the only one I ordered. I might have bought a couple more skeins to justify the shipping.

That's the Lenore in the middle with Fred Flintstone flanking it on the left, and Winter Solstice on the right. My lovely parents also presented me with a glorious gift certificate for Blue Moon for my birthday, so expect to seem more Socks that Rock making appearances in the future. I'd better get knitting.