FO: Strawberry stócaí

I finally finished the socks I started a few weeks ago. I'm happy with how they turned out, but that is a long time to be using 4-ply yarn on 2mm needles. I tend to show affection through gestures rather than by being verbally or physically affectionate - I'm sorry you didn't get that job, here's some chocolate! Congratulations on your exam results, I made you a thing! - so if I ever make you a pair of socks, you can take it as a sign that I harbour a great deal of affection for you.

The pattern for these is Mock Cable Socks from Toe-Up Socks In A Box. I used Wendy Happy 4-Ply, which I've not seen since getting it. I think using heavily variegated yarn for cables is against The Rules of knitting, but I think they turned out well in spite.

A photo for This Is Knit's photo competition: a wip or fo in a 'uniquely Irish' setting, though some of this is Irish by context. Here are my socks with my copy of Harry Potter agus an Órchloch, along with my foclóir (because having school-leavers not be fluent in a language they've been learning since age five is an entrenched part of Irish culture), and a bar of Butlers (the most Irish of chocolate) which I bought in celebration of getting an interview for a PhD in Edinburgh (emigration being a proud Irish tradition). Bonus Irishness: The socks are a birthday present for my mother, and there's nothing and no-one more Irish than the Irish mammy.*

The foclóir (a gift, not my school one) even has beautiful old Irish font. Would you ever look how lovely it is :)

 *Dear Americans, the Irish mammy is completely different to the Jim Crow mammy stereotype.

Craft market knitting!

I'm selling at my first craft market is this weekend!

Aya scarves!

I forgot to take photos of these neckwarmers in the winter when I made them; they look like this:

Snuggly and warm. Seasonally inappropriate, but I think our three-day Irish summer is over.

Hair clips!

Hairbands!

I have other bits and pieces, but they were less photogenic. Hopefully it goes well and I can clear some space in my room! Probably not, though, because Dublin Woolen Mills are having a closing down sale, and I am a vulture.

Like you would have done any different. It's a sign of respect, really.

I have some specific plans for the yarn (Tom Baker gloves! X-Men gloves! I'm a geek!), but the rest was just in case.

The first day of the market is also the World Wide Knit in Public Day for Ireland! For me this is synonymous with "day I leave the house", but it's still nice to have a designated day. I'll be missing the This is Knit event, but I'm excited about the competition!