Back on the Knitting Front: Bitterroot Shawl and Hermione's Socks

From painting, now back to knitting.  I finished the Bitterroot Shawl and another pair of socks.  First, the Bitterroot shawl by designer Romi Hill.  She created this pattern, saying:

Legend has it that long ago, hunger swept through the Native American tribes. As time passed slowly and food supplies dwindled, famine beckoned disease and death closer and closer.  One day, a mother knelt in sorrow by the river, her children sick and dying. The Sun heard her cries of anguish and took pity on the mother, changing her tears to Bitterroot, that her people might never be hungry and sick again.

Now I did not quite understand how the shawl looked like bitterroot.  But it sounded like a nice legend, and it did have a methodical pattern to it, so I'll just put it together in my mind that way.  Here are some pictures, but won't bore the post with how many beads were put onto it or how long it took to knit.  All those details can be found here.

a close up:

The Bitterroot was finished just in time for spring, along with Hermione's Everyday Socks.

Now for Hermione's socks. I decided to knit these because podcaster Tina from Knitting Blooms likes this pattern a lot.  Designer of the pattern Erica Leuder (free pattern on Ravelry found here) says...

Hermione, as described in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series, is a rather smart and practical heroine. While she can dress up with the best of them, these socks remind me of something she might wear while practicing charms or transfiguration or reading up on Arithromancy in the Gryffindor Common Room.

 Well said.  So I can wear these in any Common Room.

The sock yarn is Regia, my favorite blend of wool and nylon for long wear.  The best part of the sock, IMHO, is the eye of partridge heel that is very sturdy and closely knitted.  My close up is not as good as designer Leuder's, so I'll just show her heel photo:

Thanks for looking.