Ta-da!

 My dreich socks are finished! 

Actually I finished them last week but I didn't get the ends sewn in 'til Tuesday night and a half-decent picture taken until yesterday. I know, I know, they're just another pair of vanilla socks *yawn* but a) turning a heel still seems like magic to me and b) I don't really like fancy socks, particularly lacy ones. They just don't look comfortable. And a vanilla sock is just about the definition of 'comfortable'. Though I might tweak the toe for the next pair - my toes aren't quite that pointy!  And talking of toes, the website I've previously used for grafting instructions seems to have vanished, so as much for myself as anything, here's a link to another good explanation of how to graft those pesky toes!

The second sock went really quickly, I think because I was desperate to finish them so I could cast on these:

That was also Tuesday night - I finished the dreich socks on the train on the way to our knitting meet-up, and cast-on the new while I was there.  Similar colours to the dreich socks but for some reason not dreich - also 6-ply (it's the Regia 6-ply World College yarn that Kemps are selling off nice and cheaply! Yes, I'm a national stereotype, I do love a bargain) so soft and squishy and warm. And knits up quickly, which is always good!

I'll end with a random wildflower that I've managed to identify. I don't know how uncommon this is but I've only noticed it once near Loch Lomond and now again in Busby - it's such an intense colour, really striking. A Google suggests that it's Pilosella aurantiaca or Orange Hawkweed, also known as Fox-and-Cubs, a great name!  Orange is my least favourite colour in the unnatural world - paint, textiles, plastic, that kind of thing. But orange as produced in nature can be the most glorious colour. Love it!