These are the socks knit from the KnitPicks "Dancing," color "Tap."

72 stitches on size 1 needles. k2 p2 rib all around and down the instep of the foot. The heel turn was the v-heel (also known as half-handkerchief); that is my new favorite heel because my heels are narrow and it fits me well. The toe is the round toe, which is my favorite way of making a toe these days.

And here's the quilt:


And here's a close-up, also showing the candy-cane backing I found for it.



I find it is most satisfactory, now that I have some money (= am done with graduate school) to be able to hire out the quilting of quilts. As the gradual accretion of extreme and irrational frugality (as in, I will spend $70 on yarn for a sweater for myself but will use the same old threadbare kitchen towels) acquired in grad school drops away, I find there's a certain pleasure in being able to pay for certain things. I buy organic baby spinach in bags rather than the cheaper bundles of the stuff at the store, because it means I'm not endlessly washing grit and muck out of it (or being surprised by biting down on a sand grain in my salad). I go to the automatic car wash now, instead of hauling out the hose and a bucket and some soap and hunting around for a t-shirt that's old enough to justify cutting up for rags, and then sweating and grousing my way through washing my car myself (and not doing it nearly as often as I do when I can pay $4 and have a machine do it for me, and also have the somewhat-entertainment [and yes, I do find it entertaining] of the "Tropical Storm" car wash near me).