F.O. and a good start to a long weekend

Warning: SPOILER ALERT for Rockin' Sock Club at the bottom of the post.

We just got home from a lovely long day at the beach. We packed a lunch (including fresh strawberries and cherries from the farmer's market, mmm...) and headed down to the water just before noon, carrying everything anyone could want for a perfect beach day. In my case, that meant knitting and reading, and I both finished a pair of socks, and the book that I was reading. I also got a nice long walk down the beach in; what more could I ask?

Well, I could have remembered the camera, that might have been good.

But it was actually very nice to just walk and watch. I love people-watching at the beach. The ocean is such an equalizer; young, old, tall, short, fat, thin, bikini or wetsuit, everyone gives the same little shocked gasp and pause when the water first hits their stomach. There seem to be two schools of thought about entering a cold ocean. There are those who subscribe to the "he who hesitates is lost" school, and go running toward the ocean, hell-bent for leather, all but screaming and beating their chests (this is not a gender-specific mode of entry, I should say). The theory seems to be that if you've got to get in, you may as well get it over with (I admit to subscribing to this school of thought myself when I swim laps; I know I'm getting into that water, so I may as well just go for it). And then there are the hesitaters. Those who enter the water one little bit at a time, pausing longest just at the place where they can avoid getting the top of their suits wet, bobbing as high as they can go when each wave comes in, to avoid the moment of truth just a little bit longer. Sometimes, they end up coming back out before getting all the way wet; sometimes, the ocean sends an unexpectedly large wave crashing down on them, and takes the decision out of their hands.

It's also fun to watch ocean-inspired courting rituals. There are the teenage girls, gaggles of them, walking down the beach in bikinis, giggling (Older Daughter calls them "giggles of girls") and looking over their shoulders at the frisbee- and football-throwing boys. And then there are the boys who run from the water, and offer their girlfriends freezing wet full-body hugs; said girlfriends seem to find this charming. I think that must be something that one grows out of later in a relationship; I also think Rick would be afraid to try such a thing (smart boy).

The socks I finished appear to fit Older Daughter perfectly, so they'll become hers. She graciously agreed to model them for photos.
These are the Rogue Roses socks (Ravelry link) from the last installment of the Rockin' Sock Club (finished the day after the newest installment arrived; I'm feeling good about that). This was definitely a fun pattern, and one I would not have picked out to try on my own, but which I'm happy to have knitted.
That's truer to the actual colors of the yarn. See the little rosebuds there? And they twine.
Front and back.
I particularly liked the heel on these; I think I'll try that on another pair of socks in the future.
To recap: These are the Rogue Roses socks (pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee), in the Gertrude Skein colorway of Mediumweight STR; I knitted them on size two dpns. All in all, I'm very happy with the way they turned out, and I'm guessing that I'll enjoy wearing them when Older Daughter has grown out of them (which, to judge by recent growth spurts, will be sooner than she thinks!).

OK, remember, spoiler ahead. Stop reading if you're in the sock club and haven't gotten your shipment yet and don't like knowing what's inside. Look! Here's a picture of Tilly as your last warning.
Don't say I didn't tell you. I don't usually post a picture of the yarn until I've started knitting it, but I am so completely charmed by this colorway I can hardly stand it. I can think of a certain Knitnana who would like it to, I think (I thought of you immediately!). I tend to very much like most of what Tina dyes, but there are a few things that just capture my heart, like the yarn from last year's Anemone socks in the Tide Pooling colorway. Love, love, love that colorway. I'm tempted to knit a sweater in it, I love it so much. I feel the same way about this one. I might never knit it...
Then again, I might just cast on tonight.