Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge

The socks are finished! As you can see, pooling did not happen. I think the color repeats were too long, or maybe too random. At least they have unique blocks of color instead of the regular striping that you get with self-striping yarn.

Even though they didn't meet the pooling challenge, they're pretty socks; the white flecks in the picture are reflections of light from the metallic thread that runs through the yarn. I wish the picture did a better job of capturing the beauty of the yarn.

If I ever use this yarn again, I'll use a needle with a blunter point than my ChiaoGoo lace needles. The yarn was more splitty than I prefer, and the metallic thread caused it to feel rougher on my hands than I like, but the socks are soft and comfortable.

Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge

Here is what I have done so far on my socks for the pooling sock yarn challenge. I'm not getting pooling, but I'm not exactly getting stripes, either; it's more color-blocking than anything else. It will be interesting to see what happens now that I've turned the heel.

Just Off the Needles

Finished this Thursday night -- just in time for the baby shower this week! I could hardly believe my good luck in finding these buttons at Hancock Fabric that exactly matched the colors in the sweater. :)

What I'm Reading

Right now I'm juggling three books, two non-fiction and one novel based on a real person. All three of them are good, full of all those little details that make a story come alive.

From the Amazon description:  In April 1945, the funeral train carrying the body of Franklin D. Roosevelt embarked on a three-day, thousand-mile odyssey through nine states before reaching the president's home where he was buried.... A closer look inside the train, however, would reveal a Soviet spy about to leak a state secret, a newly widowed Eleanor Roosevelt, who just found out that her husband’s mistress was in the room when he died, and the entire family of incoming president Harry S Truman. The thrilling story of what took place behind the Pullman shades...has never been told. On the occasion of the sixty-fifth anniversary of FDR's death, Klara chronicles the action-packed three day train ride during which, among other things, Truman hammered out the policies that would galvanize a country in mourning and win the Second World War.

From the Amazon description:  On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly, the crusading young female reporter for Joseph Pulitzer’s World newspaper, left New York City by steamship on a quest to break the record for the fastest trip around the world. Also departing from New York that day—and heading in the opposite direction by train—was a young journalist from The Cosmopolitan magazine, Elizabeth Bisland. Each woman was determined to outdo Jules Verne’s fictional hero Phileas Fogg and circle the globe in less than eighty days. The dramatic race that ensued would span twenty-eight thousand miles, captivate the nation, and change both competitors’ lives forever....A vivid real-life re-creation of the race and its aftermath, from its frenzied start to the nail-biting dash at its finish, Eighty Days is history with the heart of a great adventure novel.

From the Amazon description:  In Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, novelist Jennifer Chiaverini presents a stunning account of the friendship that blossomed between Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Keckley, a former slave who gained her professional reputation in Washington, D.C. by outfitting the city’s elite. Keckley made history by sewing for First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln within the White House, a trusted witness to many private moments between the President and his wife....Keckley saved scraps from the dozens of gowns she made for Mrs. Lincoln, eventually piecing together a tribute known as the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt. She also saved memories, which she fashioned into a book....Upon its publication, Keckley’s memoir created a scandal that compelled Mary Todd Lincoln to sever all ties with her....In this impeccably researched, engrossing novel, Chiaverini brings history to life in rich, moving style.

Pooling Sock Yarn Challenge

Judy at Patchwork Times is running a challenge in which we are to knit a pair of socks and try to get the yarn to pool. This will indeed be an interesting challenge, since I've spent my entire knitting life trying to avoid pooling! Here is my yarn: