FO: Santa Monica

So, my mother-in-law is, shall we say, going through something of a rough time right now (if you're among those who know the details, please don't share them here), and, feeling rather helpless about the whole situation, I decided to do the only thing I can do: knit. I've heard nothing but good things about the joys of cozy handknit socks, so I thought that would be a good contribution to the situation on my part. So I went out and found some good cheerful yarn, and I made some socks.

Interestingly enough (although perhaps not shocking to some), despite my reluctance to knit socks, I've actually now knit a few, and I kinda like it. Thus far, at least, I'm not particularly interested in doing fancy patterned socks, but just a basic sock is really quite soothing. And as I know I've mentioned before, sock yarn itself is pretty freaking sweet.

Pattern: TDTU Vanilla Sock
Yarn: Loops & Threads Luxury Sock Super Fine in Canyon
Needles: 2.5mm dpns

Mods: I started on 10 stitches instead of 8, and I think that's it. Not really a mod, per se, but I also deliberately started in a different spot in the colour repeats so the socks wouldn't quite match up. It's my perfectionism-avoidance technique: if I aim to be unperfect on purpose, I won't stress out if my attempts at actual perfection fail. I think beyond that, I just followed the pattern as written.

Lacking access to my MIL's feet and not knowing what size her feet are, I had to sort of guess, and I hope they fit OK. I know she's a good 6 or 7 inches shorter than me, and I assume she has proportionately small feet, so I started the heel stuff about an inch earlier than I would have for me. I was initially a bit worried when I successfully tried them on that they would end up too big for her, but when I tried them on after they were done, I noticed that the heel's pretty stretched on me, so hopefully they'll work out OK for her.

In any case, I wanted to knit something to make her feel not too alone, and I think I picked a good sunshiny yarn, so I will send them on their way next week and hope that they fulfil their intended purpose.