I am pleased to announce the completion of Graduation Sock #1.

ta-dah

The only trouble is that now it’s Sunday night and I still have 3/4 of a sock to go. I feel sure that if I can just get to the heel tonight, I can finish by 7pmish Tuesday. That sounds realistic don’cha think? I hope there is something interesting to watch on TV or I’ll be snoozing in the middle of a round for sure!

Here is some non-knititng content I simply must share:

In my yard I have these spikey, viney, icky plants that grow straight up into the trees (or tree-sized camellia bushes) and then branch into leafy tree things of their own at the top. I don’t know for sure what these are but if the thorns break off in your elbow your whole arm will hurt for days. They grow out of these bulby-rhizome-tubery things that are usually between golf ball and tennis ball size. I’ve been digging them up to get rid of them. The other day I found one larger than a baking potato and was really impressed. Really impressed until yesterday. When I dug up this. That is all one bulby-rhizome-tubery thing. I had wrapped right around the trunk of one of the camellias. We bent my little shovel and totally broke the big shovel getting it out. The whole time I was prying at the thing I was thinking about that episode of the X-Files where the giant mushroom sucks people in and makes them hallucinate while it digests them. Ew.

With lots of work (and lots of TiVo), I have passed the gusset on Graduation Sock No. 1.

I am using stitch pattern 45 in The New Knitting Stitch Library for the legs. It’s a manly, vertical diamond. The yarn is one of my Sockly Favorites: Lang’s JaWoll Superwash. JaWoll Superwash comes with it’s own reinforcing yarn stuffed into the middle of the skein. It’s like a little treat!

I tend to make up my sock patterns based on the gauge I get using whatever needles and yarn I’ve picked. I get a gauge of 8 sts per inch with the Superwash, so I cast on 72, found a stitch pattern with an eight stitch repetition (Betty has mutilated my copy – her new trick is chewing up paper), and went on down to the heel. I made the heel flap 2.5 inches, turned the heel (k19, ssk, k1, TURN/ p5, p2tog, p1, TURN) and worked the gusset (about 20 sts each side). Now I get to knit around and around for hours (the kid wears an 11 1/2 shoe!). Sigh. As an added bonus, Betty chewed on the cord of my circulars. Now it has little rough places where the yarn catches. I am going to have to do a quick repair with a nail file.

It’s been a busy week (and it’s only Wednesday)! We rented a tiller on Tuesday and made a new flower bed ont he end of the house. I spent quite a bit of time in the yard today with a shovel turning over all of the stuff the tiller missed or couldn’t get because there were plants in the way. So I am very, very tired this evening. In between all of the digging, I finished the knitted portion of Haiti:

It’s not really blocking. I got some spots on it while I was knitting and I decided to go ahead and wash it as soon as I cast off. When it dries, Great Gran is going to do the lace trim.

Even though it isn’t really blocking (or finished, even), Haiti is officially off my needles so I can start a new project. The yarn for Sitcom Chic*. I have done about three inches in black Cotton Ease.

The sleepy, blurry kitty is included for scale.

I really like the yarn, by the way. It’s kind of thick (especially after the svale), but very soft and pleasant to work with. Cotton Ease is a yarn I would use again.

I have also taken up another project. That’s right, I am attempting to sew a skirt. I haven’t made anything on the machine in ages; my last project was a Sock Monkey for Great Gran. But I figure if I can make pants for a monkey, I can make skirts for me. That’s just logic. The skirts will match my sweaters, of course.

I may have to put aside all of my projects for a bit in order to start (and finish) my cousin Hammie’s graduation socks. I can’t believe he’s old enough to be graduating from high school. I can’t believe how old that makes me! Ak!

*Just so you know, on my way to link Sitcom Chic, I was distracted by GiGi. What a cute sweater (and made in Cotton Fleece)! Do you think I would like the neck? I think it might be too wide for me. I think I will open the image in a window and leave it up to peak at every now and then until I make up my mind.