But, How Do You Know They're Not Imposters?*

Ta-da! The Anastasias come out of hiding, and here they are, presented to the public in all their glory!

A little blurry, and dark, I know. I was too excited when I finished them (at 10 pm) to wait for good lighting for a photo shoot. And, since the screen on Mike's camera is broken, we couldn't even turn on the flash! Specs follow.

Pattern: Anastasia Socks from Pepper Knit
Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca, fingering weight. I don't have the label anymore, but it was a bright spring green.
Needles: Brittany 2mm dpns in white birch. (I have mixed feelings about these: I broke three in the process of making two socks. They were each replaced with two new needles by the company, but I don't know how I feel about needles that warp and break so frequently!)

Notes: I love these socks. The lightness of the yarn and the airy-ness of the pattern make for a wonderful spring sock! I think I could have made them a bit longer (the pattern suggests 6" legs, I made mine 4"), but I don't usually pull my socks up all the way anyway. I didn't modify the pattern any, other than that, except that I did my ssk's wrong. (There's a great LYS in the town next to us, Hand Yarns - I'll have to take a picture of their sign. It's a giant metal sculpture of a ball of yarn and a pair of needles. So great. But that's another story. Anyway, I stopped in the other day to clarify the ssk problem. They were most helpful and don't even mind that I've been in three times and have never bought anything. As soon as that second depsit gets sent to Law School... look out yarn store!) I ended up knitting two together from the back of the stitch, rather than slipping the stitches knit-wise and twisting them that way. It would probably have come out a lot smoother if I'd done it right, but c'est la vie. These were my first toe-up socks, and therefore my first short row toes and heels! Also, my first provisional cast-on. All went well. Except the finishing of the heels. I have two rather large holes on either side of each ankle... any suggestions for how to cure this problem? Other than more practice? For the cuffs, I used a 1x1 rib for the end, and only two rows. All in all, lovely socks!

I have no idea what my next project is. Another sock, perhaps, as I have two more skeins of delicious sock yarn, this time variegated in orange, yellow, and blue! And that would mean no spending money I don't have.

*As in, the Russian princess, Anastasia. Get it, get it? (Props to Claudia for the hilar joke.)