This Particular Monday is for an FO Post

This weekend was vastly different than last.  The protests continued, with more people and more meaning, and they were completely peaceful, which was good all the way around.  The weather was OK on Saturday, though a bit humid, but Sunday was PERFECTION. 

It was also different because I finished one of my projects!  Recently I showed you this:

I'd been working on it much longer than I'd wanted to, and though I was pleased with the result, I was annoyed that it took so long.  I've been doing pretty well with my self-imposed-in-my-brain plan to knit a pair of socks each month, and May was nearly over.  I decided that instead of switching up on my projects somewhat equally, I would give sock #2 more attention. 

Project:  Sousa Socks
Pattern:  adapted by me from the Stars and Stripes Socks, by the Sockguy (from the long ago Sockknitters listserv)
Yarn:  Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorways Navy and Glory Red
Needles:  US size 1
Modifications:  The whole project was a modification!  (Also, the colors in the first photo are actually closer to how they look in real life.)
Notes:  This pattern and kit was from a very long ago offering and had been in my stash since not quite 1776 ... seriously, though it has been there a LONG time.  I started following the pattern as written, and it seemed so fiddly to me that I just gave up.  But then I decided to put my own spin on it, and see what happened.  I named them the Sousa Socks because John Philip Sousa wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever," and I was still trying to go with the theme.  I kept the stitch and row counts of the original pattern, and just changed the combination so that it was much less fiddly. 

I really do like the finished socks.  The heel construction was new to me, so that was also interesting, and in some ways much quicker than the regular heel and gusset construction, though it ends up looking much the same.  The second sock, needless to say, knit up much more quickly, since I wasn't starting from scratch with what I was doing.  They will probably be way too warm to wear on July 4th, but maybe they will work for Labor Day some year??

This is only the second time I've ever knit with Lorna's Laces yarn, and this is old - when Lorna herself was still the dyer.  It is soft and lovely to work with. 

Now onto another pair.  I'm voting for plain vanilla this time.  😜