UPDATED Tuesday evening ! I've been knitting socks again !

I apologize that these pictures are not of the quality that I used to take in the old days of my sock-knitting, but I am so tickled to have these finished that I wanted to go ahead and get them posted.

It's been awhile since I finished any socks, and these were not as fun as ones that have an interesting design. It's the second pair that I've made for hubby, finishing his first pair immediately after his first stroke. He was fairly polite then, and accepted them and agreed to wear them whenever I told him he needed special socks for some occasion. But in the last six months, since his more recent strokes, he's shown a new interest, and kept asking when I was going to finish the second pair !

He really likes the color combination on these, as he is quite conservative. I like contrasting heels and toes, myself; it's a favorite feature on some of my own socks. The tan yarn was a gift of a partial skein, from a friend in Oklahoma (on Etsy), and I ran short at the end and had to make the second sock 2 rows shorter than the first (on paper........but it measures the same, so I may have mismarked my sheet). The toes are quite square, because he complained of tightness when I tapered the first pair like I do when I make socks for me. He's happy, though, so I'm satisfied.

The great thing is that now I can pick a fun design to try again !

Quilting-wise, I have most of the interior of the zigzag quilt machine-quilted, and need to decide upon a border quilting design.

Hubby and I enjoy seeing the changing leaves on our daily walks......

...he took quite a few photos a couple of days ago, so I'll share our walk with you.

This tree is right beside my driveway, behind our trailer.......it is the most glorious yellow.....a Maple tree, I think.

These other shots are from the little lane that leads up to our short street. It is just so beautiful, and smells so good........like wet foliage, and bark, and burning leaves, and......Tennessee ! The more beautiful shots included us, and I didn't want to expose you to our old faces........but you get the idea.

UPDATE: 9:00 P.M.

Oh, I'm tired........my back feels like it's breaking......and I'm happy ! Praise the LORD !

I just finished machine-quilting the border of the zigzag quilt. I did it in what turned out to be a plaid design...accidentally, mind you, but a happy accident. I still prefer the look of hand quilting, as it seems to be "in the quilt", rather than "on top of the quilt" (that's what machine-quilting reminds me of with that constant line of thread showing, rather than leaving the blank space between stitches like hand-quilting).

But I'm liking these ones that I'm getting done ! I think they are very nice.........the HodgePodge is on hubby's bed most every night, and by day it gives the room such a happy glow.

The Arctic Wrap/Stole is finished........

...in fact, it may be OVER-finished. I'm not sure that I'm going to leave this fringe on it. It's too skimpy, and I don't have a lot of yarn left to 'beef it up' ! I absolutely love the 'heft' of this wrap, though ! It's heavy enough to stay in place without having to be constantly adjusted, and it's very warm ! This is Cascade Pima/Tencel......seven 50 gram skeins, approximately.

Check my earlier posts on this wrap if you would like a link to the free pattern (it was written as an afghan/throw pattern).

EDIT : I've doubled the number of fringe points, having had to mix some dark green in in the place of the burgundy in some of the places, and I'm pretty satisfied now. I LOVE THIS THING ~ I may have to make another one ! I'm hooked !

Bubby's second sweater

This little bugger just seems to want me to work on it forever. After the first sweater for T.J. going so smoothly, this one has fought me at every turn.

First. there was not enough of one yarn to make the entire sweater, so I put two yarns together to coordinate, making me have to write down the exact sequence, in order to make the two sleeves match.

Then, when I thought I was done, I noticed that the neckline didn't seem to want to stretch open nice and wide like the first one had. I really don't think it would have let Bubby put his head through. So, I machine-stitched it down the center front, for a steek, cut it, and inserted a zipper. I'm not thrilled with this zipper; I think it's too rough. I added a little fabric tab over the bottom of the zipper to protect Bubby's chest, but I think that the zipper slider is just as rough, and the sweater may always have to be layered with a dickie or a turtleneck. How cute would a little dickie in a size 2T be? LOL !
Anyway, while I'm fretting over the slider, I look at the photo I posted of the sweater, and I think, "geez, don't those sleeves look a little short?" I had stopped where the pattern did, and that was it for the navy yarn. I did have two very small, tiny balls left of the multicolor, so tonight I took out the original cuff ribbing, and added that yarn back in stockinette, and then used the multi to do a few more rows of stockinette and, then, some garter stitch. I eeked every row I could out of what yarn I had, so I hope he can use the sweater atleast a little bit before it's too small for him !

Now, to start one for Zoe...................