"Hermione's everyday socks"

I have to admit, one of the things I kind of like about some aspects of fandom is the creativity - how people seem to want to fill in the backstories of the character's lives, or to make things that look like things the character would use. The "Dreams in Fiber" website has a lot of very nice Harry Potter-themed patterns up on it (I've made two versions of her "Weasley Homestead" socks, for example).

This is another pattern of hers, called "Hermione's Everyday Socks" - it's a simple knit-purl pattern that works up nicely in a variegated yarn.



I made them a bit shorter in the leg (I think, 12 rounds less) because I was remembering this as being a shorter skein of yarn (it was sent to me as a gift and I've since lost the ball band). I think they turned out nicely and I could see using this pattern again, maybe with a more nearly-solid, lighter-colored yarn, so the knits and purls show up better.

I think this would also make a nice gift-socks pattern; the patterning is subtle enough that it would work for a man or a woman (despite the name), and it is a lot more interesting to knit than just all-stockinette socks.

***

Provided I am feeling sufficiently recovered (I'm HOPING - I'm still coughing a bit and have a slightly scratchy throat) - I am looking forward to going to McKinney on Saturday. A quick check of their Main Street website reveals that all the stores I remember loving (Loco Cowpoke, Happiness is Quilting, Morningstar Treasures, Smitten, Heirlooms...) are still there (With McKinney, you never know - stores seem to open and close unexpectedly). AND there is a new "upscaley" food/cooking market there. I'm excited for that - perhaps that will be where I will find my spaghetti jar.

And just antique stores in general. I don't get out to them enough and a couple of the ones right in my town closed, so I don't have as many close sources of that kind of thing any more.

And of course, Quilt Asylum (They're not strictly downtown; they're as you enter town). They'll probably be my first stop.

I really, really want a day out now, though. I want to just hang out in antiques shops for a few hours, and look at quilt fabric, and go out to lunch somewhere and buy some fancy foods to take home and just generally go out and indulge myself for a day. (I see we actually got the "one-time stipend" - secular state-school speak for "Christmas bonus" on our December checks; there is almost never money for that (I think this is the first year I've been here that there has been one)...so I feel OK about going and spending some money right now).

I also have a short list of a few pieces of fabric I want as "go-withs" for projects I'm planning. (And I'm sure I'll find more I want).

Also, I'm participating in another Ravelry swap and this will give me a chance to hopefully find that One Last Item (Though I'm considering making a fun "project bag" out of some kind of cute printed cotton, rather than buying that One Last Item...).