Diagonal Rib Socks

After the Wray, I wanted a nice, soothing pair of socks. I went through my Ravelry favorites, and found Ann Budd's Diagonal Rib Socks. Perfect!

Diagonal Rib Socks (mine ravelled here),

knit in Ball and Skein's Sophia, Avalon colorway

I can't remember how I came to own this skein, and I wish I did. It's fantastic. It's very squishy, very round, and it was a pleasure to knit with. I have every confidence I'm going to love wearing these when it gets cooler.

The pattern itself is my favorite kind of sock pattern. It ticks all the boxes: top-down, lots of  ribbing to give it stretch, and a 4-row pattern that I could memorize after doing it a couple times. The pattern is available for free from Knitting Daily's website here.

I've started a couple new projects, a scrap scarf that will be a gift (another Mini Mania) and the Fire Opal Tee. I know it's been only a month since I tried to convince myself to knit from my stash rather than buying yarn for this sweater, but there was a yarn sale, you see, and I went with a coworker to help her pick out yarn for a baby blanket. Naturally, I needed to buy yarn as well.... to support a local business. Yes! That's it! I was supporting a local business while doing a nice deed for a friend. Basically, the only answer was to buy yarn, and the fact that I bought yarn earmarked for a project rather than just a random skein of something pretty is commendable.

That's right. I not only justified buying yarn for a new project when I have tons of yarn for projects in my stash, but I actually convinced myself the purchase was the most ethical decision I could make. Feel free to use that line or reasoning for yourself.