Experiments with socks

I'm blaming Shadkitty. From a very long way away, this woman has managed to infect me with her sockophilia. So instead of casting on for my second Hedera like a good knitter, I decided I had to try the Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern by Nancy Bush. I have 1 skein of self-striping sock yarn and since it won' t be enough to make 2 Carissa-sized socks, I thought maybe I'd make socks for my littlest sister who turns 10 in July.

So after playing around with gauge swatches for an hour so I could make them fit her wee little 9 year old feet, I then spent about an hour and a half just doing the ribing on the size 0 needles. But then I started the pattern. The pattern was fun and easy but you couldn't really see it through all the stripes:

I think maybe I'll frog it, get another skein and just make jaywalker socks or hiking socks for me to wear on our impending cross country move/camping trip. I guess I will just chalk this up to a "learning exercise." *sigh* Oh well. At least I'll get cool hiking socks out of the deal.

But let's talk about something happy. Did you notice the cool background upon which I shot the above picture? If not, here's a close-up:

It's a bandana with little punk rock cupcakes. How friggin' cool is that? I got it in the mail on Thursday from the very sweet and oh-so-thoughtful Shadkitty. Thank you Shadkitty!!! I totally love it. :-)