Fraternal Socks - Jean Joan

We'll call these socks "Jean Joan" after my mom and her twin sister, Jean. Since they look pretty identical, but may or may not be fraternal.

I finished one sock at Rittenhouse Square last Sunday afternoon, after a scrumptious brunch at Devil's Alley with my friend, Lisa. Naturally, I had to try it on immediately, and take advantage of Lisa's photography skills. You all know it's impossible to take a decent picture of your own foot, after all.



The sock's fraternal twin was finished at home, later that afternoon. I say fraternal because the dye-lot must have been slightly off, and there were some issues with needles at one point.

I was surprised to find that I couldn't wait to cast on for new socks, after these were off the needles. I couldn't wait to finish this pair, let alone knit more. However, they are the perfect little project to take on the bus, knit at lunch, or during Quizzo games in a dimly lit bar.



Luckily, I had snagged some Koigu mill ends at a local yarn store... The one at the far right looks perfect with the left-over chocolaty-gray from my first pair of socks.

I thought I'd knit my second pair from the top down, since the first was from the top up. This way I can see which way I prefer. (Well, and mainly because I need some practice at starting from the toe up).

I also want to point out that the cute gold clutch was given to me by my cousin Razel when I visited the Philippines. It has become the perfect knitting bag for socks, and is ultra cute.



In the meantime, I've been wanting to paint and draw more. Sometimes I treat myself to a new color, then I add it to my swatch card (knitter speak, eh?) and label it. This comes in handy so that I don't buy the same colors over and over. Especially since I prefer the pricier artist's grade colors like cobalts and cadmiums.

This weekend, I finally baked a "Fudgy Banana Layer Cake" from The Weekend Baker that I've been jonesing to try. My chef and culinary goddess of a friend KJ always encourages my love of baking, and bought me this fabulous book for my birthday last year.



The cake was delicious and I felt so accomplished! And there was not one complaint from any of my friends, whom I force fed humongous slices.

Alright my friends, it's back to work for me, and then a long weekend with Mike's nephew, sister and her beau. We're taking a very cool kid around Philly and to NYC for his first time. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Take care!