Fiber Friday: Getting Ready for Nerd Wars and Ravellenics!

Hello! I actually have fibery things to share on a Friday - imagine that!

First up, I finished the pair of socks I've been working on since before Christmas (they got pushed aside several times to work on gifts for other people):

The pattern is Fruit Stripe Gum Socks, which is fun and easy to follow (and also free!). You may be able to see, but the pattern calls for making a ribbed ankle portion of the sock to help it fit better, and also a slip stitch section just after the heel on the sole of the foot. I'm interested to see how these make a difference (if any) in the fit of these socks vs. any other pair I've made. I also used the Fish Lips Kiss heel for the first time. I enjoyed knitting it, so we'll see how it wears! The yarn is a custom Christmas colorway I had commissioned from Sunset Stitches - a festive but not too obviously "Christmas" combination of bright red, lime green, turquoise and pink. I love it! And I'm glad it isn't TOO Christmas or else I probably would have waited until next November to finish these socks!

I learned while making these socks, though, that I will NOT be doing top-down socks again for a while. I really just prefer toe-up, and there's not much reason for me to ignore that preference!

In other news, tomorrow is the start of Nerd Wars Tournament 10, and I'm on the High Council of Time Lords for Team TARDIS so I guess I'd better finish some projects, eh? (It sounds much more impressive than it actually is, I just help out here and there with mod duties on the team.)

I've got my yarns all ready to go for February's casting on - some of them will be started as soon as this weekend, for Nerd Wars and general knitted fun, while others will have to wait until next week (ack!) for the start of the 2014 Ravellenic Games. Here's the whole bundle:

From left to right I plan to knit: socks I'll be designing (in my Storied Yarns Sparkle Sock), the Shattered Stars shawl (in my Storied Yarns Superwash Sock), a funky and basic slouch hat (using my handspun) and the Slouchy Shortrow hat (using Bohoknitterchic's Superwash Merino DK in her Ravellenics colorway). The socks and handspun hat will get started this weekend while the others will wait for Opening Ceremonies (I plan to focus on the shawl first and then the hat after that).

What about you - are you preparing for your new projects to go with a new month? What will they be?