Second Pair of June Socks---and Other Projects

I finished my second pair of June socks yesterday afternoon. This was the first pair of socks I started in last month, but the yarn was much thicker than most sock yarn and stiff and, therefore, difficult to knit, so after three days I set the socks aside and started the pair I posted about last week. Once that pair was finished, however, I began working on this pair again. (Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

The socks, like the first pair, are Wendy Johnson's Diagonal Lace Socks from her book, Socks From the Toe Up. It was a fun, easy to read (or memorize) pattern, and the resulting socks are lovely. The yarn is Pagewood Farm Glacier Bay, in the Grape Juice colorway. The manufacturer calls this yarn "their thickest, baddest sock yarn," and on another page of their Web site describes it as an "ultra light worsted." The socks will certainly be warm on cold winter days, but I would have appreciated it if the manufacturer had indicated on the label that the yarn was not typical superfine (fingering weight) sock yarn.

I had a third pair of socks on the needles in June, but didn't finish them. They started out as the second pair of Diagonal Lace Socks, but when the color variations in the yarn I was using for another pattern (Ms. Johnson's A Finer Peace Socks) obscured the pattern, I ripped both pairs back to the toe increases, and switched the patterns. The color variations didn't affect the Diagonal Lace pattern (see the photo of last week's socks), and the semi-solid color of what had been the second pair of Diagonal Lace Socks worked very well for the A Finer Peace Socks. But the A Finer Peace pattern was very similar to Ms. Johnson's Peace Socks, of which I made two pair last October (see here and here), and bore some similarity to the Lace and Cable Socks I knit in April. I wasn't enjoying knitting that pattern, so once again, when I was about halfway up the foot, I ripped back to the toe increases and changed patterns. I'd knit almost---but not quite---to the heel turn by 28 June, and had a good chance of finishing the third pair of socks...

Except that I started another shawl on 29 June.

I already have a large circular shawl (of my own design) on the needles. One shawl at a time should be enough, right? Apparently not. The recently started shawl is smaller---sort of a cross between a scarf and a shawlette---and triangular instead of circular.

The circular shawl I call Starburst. It is knit with Jojoland Melody Superwash yarn, in the lavender colorway (MS-28). The triangular shawl is a pattern called Baktus. It is knit with Crystal Palace Mini Mochi yarn in the Tropical Ginger colorway (0133). Both shawls are larger now than when these photos were taken. The progress is more noticeable on Baktus, but its visible on the Starburst shawl, too.

Now that the first summer session is over, my summer vacation has started. (Hurray!) My goals this month---in addition to two pair of socks---are to finish three UFOs (unfinished objects): the two Adult Surprise Jackets and my grandniece's sweater-tunic. All three of these have been languishing on the needles for months. I haven't knit a stitch on the Dream in Color Adult Surprise Jacket since February, on the sweater-tunic since early January, or on the Noro Adult Surprise Jacket since April. (Photos of all three garments are here.) Once those three are complete, then (and only then!) I intend to start an Aran sweater or jacket.

What are your knitting plans for the month or the summer?

Susannah