Cloudy day blues

Blues, simply because I've moved back into my color comfort zone: after all those pinks and reds, I give you blue and green! Not that I didn't love my dip in the warm colors, and I know I'll be back, but it feels like coming home.

Despite my slow start on the cuff, I've been zooming along on the Eleanora socks:

The pattern looks tricky because it's full of charts, but after the decreases at the top, it's just continuing in pattern - detailed textural pattern, sure, but look how nice it looks!

I realize that it's based on a Renaissance sock, but to me it seems more medieval. Maybe wishful thinking, but since I study the Middle Ages, I'm going to keep on thinking that.

At the same time, I'm working on a sort of brainless sock for the BikeJerk. He picked the yarn and the pattern, which is more than he'll usually submit to in the summer - he usually just says he can't think about socks until the fall:

The yarn is Austermann Step, which is enjoyable to work with even if I find myself skeptical that there's really Aloe in there. What are they? Magic? The pattern is very liberally adapted from the Parachute pattern in More Sensational Knitted Socks - I replaced the yarn-overs with make-one-stitchs to make it less lacy, and then found that the written instructions don't make the pictured pattern! The center of the pattern is a double decrease, but the written instructions give the wrong one. So I changed that too. It was a bit frustrating, but I'm calming down. As I should, now that I'm past the heel and just doing ribbing...

And finally, an unsatisfactory picture of some handspun (this is becoming a tradition, no?):

It's alpaca from Spunky Eclectic, in Macaw, spun to fingering weight. It was a dream to spin, and the singles were so even and strong that I could have skipped plying...except that there was altogether too much white. I cannot abide white, so I plied. Still pale, but not white! Whew!

I'm off to contemplate my birthday (this weekend!)! I'm a little worried because it's supposed to be raining on Saturday, which is the annual summer BBQ and birthday party (Tinapalooza is the BikeJerk's name for it, of which I entirely approve), but it's still my birthday, and although I'm past the age where people are supposed to be excited for their birthdays, I love it beyond all other days. Yay!