The other day, I completed the last 5 rows to complete the pair of Monkey socks.

It’s amazing. I think socks with a story behind them have a deeper meaning than regular ol’ socks.

Take my jaywalkers. I grew bored of them. There wasn’t a drive. So the first one stands alone, still.

But my first pair of socks, knit while keeping my mom company in the hospital during her last months, were finished quickly and remain my favorite pair of socks, of my manmade or handknit.

These socks had lost each other for awhile, and through a bout of dumb luck and kindness, found each other again. Sounds like a good tale to me.

Plus, they’re extremely comfortable. <3

For those who may be confused, my second Monkey, about 6 rows to being finished, got lost at a convention I attended in July. Myself and my friends, some of whom avid knitters themselves, scoured the hotels, asked convention staff, and re-traced my steps with no avail.

A week later, “someone’s knitting” was posted on the Lost and Found board.

After an email of OMG IF IT IS BLUE AND RED AND SOCKISH IT’S MINE GIMME and an address trade, the lovely convention staff mailed it to me, at no charge on my part. It arrived today in a small envelope, intact, all stitches on the needles I left them on, and probably a little frightened from being away for so long.

I missed you, my little Monkey.

Photos of BOTH COMPLETED SOCKS to be posted soon. Long time coming.

I did, however, treat myself to a gift today, as it was on sale:

No, not the sock yarn (Regia Surprise Color), that was from my last yarn store trip. It was the first thing to be wound on my new ball winder! I then realized I got overexcited, and should wind things that I plan to use soonish.

I wound up (haha) winding all of this:

From left: Top is a grey wool skein I am making a friend a hat out of; the bottom two are the possum fur yarn. Middle is Tahki Cotton Classic, which I don’t PLAN on using soon except maybe for a babything, but the hank gets tangled SUPER easily so I figured it’d be safer in a ball. Fall colours on top are for the second jaywalker if/when I get around to it, and under that is the yarn I made my first socks out of (might be enough in there for a pair of ankle socks, maybe). Under those are the two skeins of merino I had that were loosening up and causing tangles, so again, safer in a ball. The two front balls are both Noro Silk Garden in different colorways. Perhaps an alternating striping scarf?

I plan to wind a few more second-balls for current projects tomorrow. But I very much like my investment.

Current projects that need to be worked on: Monkey sock, newest babything, and perhaps one of the scarves. I regret to mention that I have about 8 projects on needles right now. I need to clear some of those out, and wonder if I even want to work on a few of them, or if they were a spur-of-the-moment thought.

But to frog a project that’s going well? Augh!

I’ve started working on Jayne hats again. For those who don’t know, the coveted Jayne Cobb Hat is a geek culture hat that was worn by the character Jayne Cobb in an episode of Firefly, “The Message”, after he gets it in a gift from his mother with a poorly written letter about how she knit it to keep him warm in his travels. He wears the hat proudly for the rest of the episode, despite people telling him it looks stupid.

Now, Firefly is one of my favorite cancelled television shows, as it is for many people. This leads to a high demand for folk who can make Jayne hats. I have made (and this is no exaggeration… I just did the count in my head and actually might be missing a hat or two) fourteen Jayne Cobb hats to date.  I started that extra-long and awesome Craftster thread linked above, and got the ball rolling for a ton of Craftsters and others to make their own hats. (I got my pattern from Dryope, however. It was not my own design. Her blog has since vanished, which is a sad thing, but the Craftster thread rages onwards, like the Browncoats.)

Most of the hats had a style similar to this, and all were in these identical colours…

Some were made a little bigger or smaller, but they all looked like this.

Watching the episode, and more importantly, watching the DVD Easter Egg in which Adam Baldwin (who plays Jayne) sings the Jayne song while wearing the hat (hello fanservice), I noticed that, hmm, the orange and the rust red are too dark for the hat.

A screenshot, for example:

The orange on the earflaps, while slightly darker than the bottom of the hat, are not red at all. Just a darker, pinkish orange.

I have some paid requests for Jayne hats. I got new yarn to reflect the more authentic change.

The new colours sitting next to the old colours on my Jayne hat, plus the started hat. I think these colours reflect the authentic ones MUCH better.  These hats are super-quick knits and a lot of fun to make.

Also, the Monkey progresses…

And Boogie progresses even slower.

Don’t even get me started on the babythings. Knitter’s ADD strikes again.

I have, of course, been wasting most of its battery on taking yarn detail photos, because the old camera couldn’t do such things.

Here’s the possum fur yarn, redux.

And a detail shot. Be it known I took about six of these. I’m so proud of the detail this camera can get.

Still getting used to keeping the camera still, and learning the settings for the different types of photos. But still. I’m getting the proper yarn colours to show up without massive Photoshop editing!

Monkey sock is progressing well…

And I’ve started a new babything. To be kept secret. I’ve also been working on the vest, and pulled out an old project for a little while yesterday, just to putter on…

A simple basketweave stitch scarf, knit in Rowan Felted Tweed in Whisper. I’ve been working on it for a long while, and pull it out whenever I need to take the edge off another project. It’s therapeutic. But then, isn’t all knitting?

Today I shall knit on the porch until the rain forces me not to.