of socks and quilts

Okay, so, I finished a sock!  yippee!  My friend Leigh came out with a set of socks on Ravelry called Louleigh's Simple Socks (click for link). I followed the stitch pattern for the "Socks with holes in" and have really enjoyed it!  The pattern is written for cuff down but is easily modified to do toe up, which is my preferred method. I just have gotten my toe and measurements down so I just figure out the pattern repeat and plug it into my numbers.

For the heel I did the Sockmatician Toe Ups (click for link) by Nathan Taylor. I did that heel on my last socks but didn't quite understand what I was doing so gave it another go.  This time around I think it definitely clicked better and I had left myself a couple of notes that helped as well. My gauge is super tight though so I had to consciously relax my hands.  That's no fault of the pattern obviously! ha!  The yarn is exactly as everyone says about self striping: it is addictive!  I just kept feeling like ooooh I want to see the next color.

In quilting news: I started this donut quilt.  Not sure when? Maybe April or March?  Anyways I had seen a quilt pattern called Donuts which is by Johanna Masko. (click for link) I liked the idea but did not initially want to make it. Really what it comes down to is that I did not want to buy the pattern, which is generally what it comes down to with me and quilt patterns.  

But the idea kept coming back up. So I figured out my own pattern based on the shape.  Really if you look at it you can see that it is a cross between a nine patch and road to Tennessee blocks. I have not seen the pattern in person so I don't know what the pattern measurements and finished block sizes are, so I figured out the size I wanted to end up with and went from there!  Right now I'm not planning a border.  Each square color represents a different flavor.  Chocolate brown, Berry, lemon, blueberry, sprinkles, strawberry, honey, lime.  I think I'm going to do one more row and then call it good.