First FO of the Decade

I finished the Fishermen's Wool child's sweater just a short while ago. It still needs a wash and block to make it special purty before it gets packed up and shipped off to Afghanistan, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

In other local-global knitting news, David and I got a package the other day from our friend Don in Turkey. Don's been living & teaching spoiled rich kids in Istanbul for nearly two years now, and he picked us up two pairs of handspun, handknit socks. I'll try to get pics later, since I've got a few days off coming up, but these are pretty interesting.

They are not at all something you'd want next to your skin - the wool is pretty coarse and was spun very, very raw (i.e., occasional twigs and a very sheepy smell before the socks were washed, twice) - but the yarn is singles, I expect likely spindle-spun, and very springy. They were worked top down with some variant of a long-tail cast-on that I can't quite figure out but which is very stretchy. Other than that, they've got a simple flap heel and a round toe.

One pair is striped and one pair plain and the only thing they have for embellishment is that all of them have a 4 stitch K1P1 rib that continues from the cuff on either side of the leg down to the ankle - akin to but far simpler than the "clock" pattern on kilt hose. I think they should make for good, hard-wearing slipper socks through the rest of the winter.