The pattern,"Button Up Socks: Just for the fun of it!",designed by a "local" woman was given to me by a friend for my birthday and turned out to be as the name indicated, a fun knit. It is well written, is for any gauge, starting with casting on two stitches, knitting the top edging and then picking up and knitting the leg part flat in reversible farrow rib, incorporating in the buttonhole edging as you knit, then joining in the round and knitting the heel, foot, and toe. I substituted my usual heel and a different tor than the ones called for in the pattern. The yarn, Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream in the Honeypot Colorway, is a gift from Jennifer. The buttons are brass(?), stamped with lotus, bought around 12 years ago in a little shop somewhere on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado and are finally now being used. I had just the right number of them, a dozen. Info about the pattern is here. By the way, I chose more complicated patterns for the socks I wanted to knit in Panama, hoping it would make the yarn last longer, as a hedge against running out of knitting on the trip. Note to self: next time bring less yarn. Instead, bring a book or two.
Same socks, in progress, with fallen leaves, and coconuts in different stages, in Panama:
Fall color and leaves like this...
...were few and far between in St. Louis. You really had to be looking for it to find it. Apparently, it had just been too dry, but we did find some color one morning while fishing outside of the city with the boys' great-uncle, grandma, and great-grandpa. No fish, but plenty of frogs and memories, and a handful of leaves and acorns. I didn't knit a single stitch in St. Louis. We were having too much fun.
Seattle, on the other hand, was everywhere ablaze with color, on both ends of the trip, and not enough time to really get out and enjoy it. This from the car:
