My Trip to Windsor (Adriana)

I decided to ring in the new year with a trip to visit the lovely Spillyjane. Naturally this involved a yarn crawl through Michigan. We hit up three stores in rapid succession, my favourite one being Have You Any Wool? where I got this gorgeous Jitterbug:

This is Slate which is so not me and I absolutely love it. Sometimes it's fun to step out of one's comfort zone. I'm thinking cables perhaps, or Azure (since Jane's is so beautiful).

Once we were back in Canada Jane and I exchanged gifts. In addition to some delicious tea and a lovely Christmas Tree ornament, Jane gave me these:

Aren't they stunning? These are Chevalier Mittens, something that I would totally never make for myself.
Thanks so much Jane, I love them and wear them every day.

While I was there Jane was attempting a pair of socks with STR medium-weight which had been purchased in a hurry before she'd realized that they were heavier than the yarn she usually works with. As a result she was having a bit of trouble finding a pattern that they worked with. After watching her get frustrated I offered to take the yarn home with me and knit them for her (thus allowing me to play with STR again!).
After trying a few things out I settled on Wendyknit's Southwestern socks which were intended to be knit in sport-weight yarn.

I substituted a short-row heel since it is my preferred method of heel.


Here's a close up of the pattern. As you can see, the STR striped pleasantly. I seem to have the magic touch with this notoriously pooly yarn.

I hope these socks fit you, Jane. I'll put them in the mail sometime this week.