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Fancy-looking, but not really.

Materials: 2 skeins Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (80% Superwash Wool, 20% Nylon ) in Envy. Size 1 needles. Pattern: Knitty's Monkey.

Time: Three months

Cost: $18

These socks involved much less stress than their predecessors. Well, actually, that's not true -- they began their lives as some Retro Rib socks from Favorite Socks which I put some serious time into during a road trip. When we got home, I realized that I just wasn't feeling them, and, with a sense of freedom, ripped them back out.

I've had fabulous success with nearly all of Cookie A.'s sock patterns, and Monkey spoke to me. (Plus, the photographed sock in the pattern is in a colorway similar to the one that I'm working with, which didn't hurt.)

After deciding to use a different pattern, it was smooth sailing. The finished product looks much more fancy than it really is. While I like to try out new patterns when making socks, I would absolutely make these again.

Deliberately un-fancy.

Materials: 1 skein Trekking XXL (75% wool, 25% nylon) in #62, Charcoal. 1 skein Lang Jawoll (75% wool, 18% nylon, 7% acryllic) in #0085, a light gray. Size 0 needles. Pattern: Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks.

Time: Months.

Cost: $18

Knitting socks for yourself is one thing. Knitting them for someone else is quite another.

During the time that we've been together, Pete has gained a healthy respect for the time and effort required to hand-knit socks, and has been thoroughly schooled on the superiority of the woolly result. So, I volunteered to knit him a pair of socks, and we emerged from Lakeside Fibers with a ball of grey Trekking XXL for the main part of the sock, and a lighter color of Lang Jawoll (complete with complimentary reinforcing thread) for the toe and heel.

I'm sufficiently adept at adjusting patterns to better fit their recipient. However, with these socks, I ran -- repeatedly and frustratingly -- into the same blockade: Pete's thin frame. His calves are significantly smaller than mine, yet the size of his foot (and his heels) is much larger. This threw the proportions of the socks all out of whack: anything that fit his leg wouldn't go over the heel, and anything that went over his heel wouldn't stay up on his leg.

After much frustration, ripping out, re-knitting, and ripping out, I was finally able to find a size that worked, thanks to the forgiving stretchiness of ribbing on the leg. Unfortunately, this was on Size 0 needles. Not only were these socks in a pretty boring pattern, but they're also for very long feet. Consequentially, the knitting took forever.

I ended up abandoning any and all pretensions to a fancy pattern because of the aforementioned gauge issues, but the Priscilla's Dream Socks pattern was very helpful. It lets you fit a standard sock pattern to nearly any gauge and size, which was exactly what I ended up needing.

Despite all of the difficulties with the project itself, Pete is very appreciative of the finished product. The heels and toes are thoroughly reinforced, so hopefully they'll last for some time. And, now that I know what pattern actually fits his feet, I might, perhaps, even consider knitting him another pair.

Someday.

In which I learn that invisible zippers are your friends!

Materials: Simplicity 4233 pattern. 2 yards stretch cotton print, rescued at deep discount, from Vogue Fabrics. Invisible zipper, matching thread, interfacing, etc.

Time: 2 hours each, not including cutting time.

Cost: $20 total

I learned two valuable things from this project. One is that, when it's hot and humid and disgusting outside, what you really want to wear is a cotton skirt, yes indeed -- and they're pretty simple to make. The other is that the invisible zipper foot for my Bernina was totally worth every penny that I paid for it over at Hans. In fact, after learning how to install one for this project, I'd rather put in an invisible zipper than a normal one.

I was surprised that these skirts had such a high rotation in my summer wardrobe, but -- as stated above -- they're really comfortable. I wasn't sure if I'd really be digging the dropped waist of this pattern, but any scruples that I once had were immediately overcome once I realized just how they fill a unique wardrobe niche.

This project board looks like a great way of keeping my pattern stuff organized -- i.e. within easy reach for me, and out of the way of the cats and their project-lying-on tendencies. Plus, it looks cool.