Alpha and Omega

The first and last.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!- drum roll please

As the title may suggest, I didn't quite finish the 2008 Christmas knitting in 2008, as Big Ben struck I was 2/3rds of the way down the foot. But, as of New Year in Hawaii and the other Pacific Islands I'm all finished.

Phew!

On the principle that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, these are the first socks finished in 2009 (but not the first finished socks of 2009):


I call them office stripes; interesting but subdued. The yarn is Regia Strato Colour 5747 Flannel and it does put me in mind of a pin stripe suit with braces. It's a 68 stitch sock to my standard pattern, plain and simple, and perfect for my FIL whose Christmas present these are - along with a promise to knit him a new head cover for one of his golf clubs!



They're certainly a hit with H who has earmarked them for poaching if they spent too long languishing in his father's sock drawer.

With a certain degree of symmetry, the last socks of 2008 are for my MIL. Are you ready for these? If it's still a somewhat tender hour of the morning (or afternoon) you may want your sunglasses. Don't say I didn't warn you because these are the Hot Hot Hopscotch:


Knit in Jitterbug in the colour Alizerine. The pattern is from the Socktopus Sock Club - although my club socks are almost unrecognisable as the same pattern, being in a much more muted mushroom colourway.

Before you worry that I'm on a mission to blind Beth with scary bright socks, fear not, she choose the colour when she came to visit about 6 months ago so hopefully she still likes it. This is after all the lady whose children include (a) my husband, well known for picking the brightest colours off the shelf and (b) my brother in law who chose the infamous neon socks. I think I'm onto a winner.

The Hopscotch pattern is very well written and gives a finished article that looks far more complicated than it really is - hopefully Alice will publish them for general release this year and you'll get to see what I mean - I can't recommend it highly enough.

The other advantage is that they are toe up, which means that I get to play around until I'm left with this:

That's ALL the leftover yarn from the skein!

So, Christmas is finished, a mere 7 days late, but without any IOUs or presents given with the needles still in - perhaps I ought to get started on next year, but first I have a little blanket to knit for a baby girl who (finally) arrived last Monday.

I hope that this year contains everything that you could wish for and more!