WIP Wednesday - It's all about the socks!

On the Needles
The second "My Cup of Tea" sock is finally taking off. I'm 4 rows away from the heel and know from experience that once that's done, the foot will feel like it takes no time at all.

However, the heel-flap-gusset heel does not qualify as mindless knitting for me yet - I still have to check the pattern constantly - so when I needed some easy knitting last Monday, I decided to just go ahead and cast on for my October Socks even though the September Socks weren't done. After all it IS October already! ;)
These are the Sunset Scales Socks by Melissa Goodale - I picked them specifically as they looked like they'd be good for variegated yarn... this was before I bought the book you'll see below, or I might have chosen differently ;) Anyway, I'm just over halfway through the foot already, and enjoy the way it knits up :) I'm knitting these toe-up, as I may end up having to play a tiny game of yarn chicken, and it's easier to shorten the cuff this way ;)

(Love the kiwi stitch-marker. Saw it at a yarn shop last week and knew I had to have it :) )

Off the Needles
I finished my third pair of the Magic Slippers Saturday. They're such quick knits, and I've pretty much learned the pattern off by heart. Each slipper takes me between 3-4 hours to knit. I gave them to my niece yesterday, and fortunately she was absolutely delighted :) They're a tad big, but that just means she'll be able to wear them for longer :)

My cousin and his wife had a boy not too long ago, and I finally get to see him on Saturday! When they had their first child I knit her name for her as a present, so of course I have to do the same for this one. I've only managed the first initial so far, but it took me two years to finish the letters for their daughter, so I'm not going to feel bad about only having the 'P' ready for Saturday ;)

Between the Pages
Got two new knitting books for my birthday :)
75 Birds, Butterflies & Little Beasts was a gift from my parents-in-law :)
Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn I bought myself with money Morfar gave me. With all the colourful sock yarn I have in my stash by now, I thought this was the perfect book for me! I even got it at 10% off, as it turned out they only had the display copy left!

Stash Stories
Last year at around this time, I biked past this absolutely GORGEOUS tree, splendid in its fall colours. I immediately stopped and took a photo of it, all the while giggling a bit to myself that the VERY first thought on my mind was "I want yarn in this colourway!!!"
Well, last week I found it... and of course had to buy it!
It's not exactly right. This yarn is variegated instead of a gradient, and I'm actually not sure what it'll look like all knit up (will have to swatch before deciding on a pattern... it might be good for the leaves in Leftie though), but I still had to get it :)