pic"n"mex with sides

I told you about the WIPs on my needles, and here they are. The first pair will be a gift and the yarn is Drops Fabel in the Tex Mex colourway. 
Now when I use patterning or striping yarn I am pretty anal about matching the colour runs. With this yarn, which comes in 50 gram balls, I just could not get a match without reeling off yards of yarn. These socks are for size 10 feet and will have long legs and deep cuffs. There will be very little yarn left and I did not want to have to join in the toe section. Sooooo I threw my matchy thing out the window and used one ball from the middle and one from the outside.

They are the same but  do not match, so I called them pic n mex. 

I am going to try a new (to me) version of the afterthought heel in them from the Smooth Operator socks by the wonderful Susan B Anderson.

This pair have a heel flap and gusset, I am not too pleased with the pooling on the sock front but as I knit my socks at the same time I was not about to go back and change them. In reality it is not unsightly just not what I would have liked. These will be off to their new home tomorrow.

My simple shawl is the last of my current WIPS, there are 2 more but they are on set aside for a while. As I said it is garter stitch and right now there are over 200 stitches on the cable but I still have 60 grams left on the ball. I plan on using all of this and then using the second ball to make a lace border, if it becomes too huge I will have to rethink.

I will be moving it onto a longer cable soon, I do not like my knitting to be scrunched up.

Once the pic n mex socks are done I want to cast on a pair using my Unicorn Poo yarn and I have been asked for a pair of bed socks. There is also a shawl on the close horizon and then Fran will be here in March and I would like a few pairs of socks ready for her.

Tomorrow I am at the hospital for tests, I have no idea which or how many. I do not know if I will be coming home the same day, it is just a case of suck it and see.

I have tea at my elbow and Ben is resting his head on me asking for some attention.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. On our first walk this morning we started off in bright sunshine, in the space of 5 minutes we had hail, sleet and heavy rain followed by more sunshine.

It was knit and natter today and we had a good afternoon, there was cake! Homemade Cake!!

It doesn't stop there, we have been promised cake for next week as well, both times in honour of birthdays. I may have to have a real and an official birthday this year.

                   TTFN                                               PAM