Ladies and Gentlemen, let me begin with a short endorsement: Theraflu (the kind with “warming relief” to be specific) is nothing short of awesome. I might go so far as to call it Miraculous if the second ingredient on the label wasn’t alcohol. Hah!

I am feeling much better.

I even made my Darling Sister (who is coming to visit today YAY!) a little surprise because I love her and often think of her when I am sick.

You know whats. In some Blue Sky Alpaca.

Everybody else is making them. I was really starting to feel left out. They are a quick, interesting knit and a nice break from those socks. They are also probably full of Flu Germs, which is why I changed the name to “Catching.” It had a better ring to it than “Mitts of Death.” Sounds almost cute right? Be sure to remind her of that when she is huddled in bed with chills and fever waiting for the sweet release of death.

Enough sick talk! Look! Kitty!

William Henry, you’re up so high!

I’ve finished the leg of the first of the GBS (Great Big Socks).

8 inches. I figure since he’s taller than the average guy, his sock leg should be too.

I like the broken rib: it’s interesting but not too interesting, making it a good choice for a Manly Man sock. I’m going to continue the pattern down the foot so I don’t get bored and fantasize about other projects (smaller projects) on the endless trek to the toe.

I’ve also finished the back of the blue vest.

It’ll look better when it’s blocked.

I’ve got plenty of yarn, by the way. I should have a skein left over.

And I set the toaster on fire.

Not my finest hour.

I put the bread in, set the timer and wandered away. After what had seemed like a really long time, the toaster hadn’t gone off yet so I wandered back in to see the smoke. And the flames when I opened the door and let in the oxygen like a dope. It was very exciting. And smelly.

To round off the week, I seem to have picked up the flu. Which makes me very unhappy. Tylenol is my friend.

Don’t tell Michael, but I spilt coffee all over my keyboard this morning.

But look, Dear! Lady Bird is doing something worse! (They aren’t supposed to get on the counter.)

I’ve actually got a lot of projects going, but since it’s been raining for days I don’t have any pictures for you. The blue vest back is almost finished, Great Gran is working on hats for the Children’s Hospital (by association, so am I - it’s like knitting muppet scalps) and I’ve started another pair of socks. I’ve been putting this particular pair off for an entire year. Wait - let me tell you the whole story:

My friend at the library has enormous feet (size 15 E - the Sock It To Me thing doesn’t go that high) and he wants me to make him a pair of socks. Cotton socks. That should tell you right there why I was stalling: I don’t know of a pleasant cotton/cotton blend sock yarn. So I hemmed and hawed and actually ordered Fixation (6 balls - enough for a tall leg that he could wear with boots). Then I hemmed and hawed and stalled some more. I finally admitted that there was no way I would EVER make these socks from that yarn. So I went to the library and convinced my friend that he really didn’t want cotton, he wanted wool. Lorna’s Laces Nearly Solid Sport in Chocolate to be exact. So now I am halfway through the leg of the first one. I am using a simple (manly) broken rib and I plan to continue it down the foot. I might make the toes dark green. For fun. I’m happy, my friend is happy, but the question remains: what am I supposed to do with six balls of Fixation?

PS I also have something else to show you but I can’t until my Mom gets hers in the mail!

Great Gran has the best dishes.

The Wheat socks are finished and you can download the pattern here. With the new, larger Socks That Rock hanks, you shouldn’t have any trouble making socks for a 10.5″ foot that have a 7″ leg. Unfortunately, the hank I picked up for these was not one of the new, larger hanks. I had to make the toes for M’s version in an alternate color:

M liked the above picture better, I liked this one too.

Oh and ohohohoh! I am so excited! Look what I made!

STRING!

I used a crochet hook and made all that myself! I am so proud. I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with all of that (shoelaces?) but maybe Great Gran will show me.

PS I realized when I was uploading the pattern for Wheat that I never added the Squall sock pattern to my patterns page. It’s there for download now.

Have you heard about this Blue Moon Bank Thing? I am appalled. There is already a knit-a-long to protest.

Michael saw it on MetaFilter.

Added later: For the record, I am not going to knit socks for the bank. Instead, I have ordered some Socks That Rock yarn (Rolling Stone and Beryl) and crossed my fingers that the scandal will move my name from the waiting list to the reservation list. I feel very positive about this form of protest.

I completely forgot to tell you that I made a knitting resolution for 2007!

I am going to make 52 of these.

I know that sounds like I’m committing to one a week, but it’s really just a committment to make 52 by the end of the year. The last week of December 2007 may be a very busy time. To keep score, we will turn to the chart in the side bar. I’ve colored in the 52 squares that I am going to make in 2007 with turquoise. As I finish them, I will convert them to the usual brown.

This image will update with the one in the sidebar. If you come across this entry in 2011, it won’t make sense.

I have also decided to seam the squares together in strips of 10 as I go along. I hope that this will help me actually finish the CounterPain and not just let the squares sit around in zip top bags for the rest of my life. But I’ve got some terrible news. Mattress stitch isn’t going to work because they are knit from the corner up and it looks wonky (I tried it last night). I am going to have to crochet them together. Wait! There’s more:

I don’t know how to crochet. But I’m not going to think about that right now.

With the help of The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns, I have finally found a use for all that blue Creme Brulee (DK weight merino) I bought when it was discontinued. It’s the only yarn purchase I’ve ever made without a project in mind.

A sweater vest for me!

Here is an artist’s rendering of what it should look like when it is finished:

Except there are seven bands on the front and it isn’t that color blue.

The bands on the front are made by going P1,K1, P1, K1, P1 every 10 stitches of stockinette and then purling on the wrong side. I think it’s going to look nice. I’ll know for sure when I get to the armholes if there is enough yarn.

It’s raining. It’s been raining for days. I’m not complaining, on the whole I am fond of rain. Unfortunately, it makes for terrible picture taking weather.

We had a brief burst of sunshine yesterday so I hurried M onto the porch in his vest.

It fits! And he likes it!

I love the yarn (Elegance), but you already knew that. It’s got great drape, lovely stitch definition and is just plain nice to work with. When you consider the price, it makes it to my Top 10 yarns list. I haven’t actually made such a list, but if I did: Elegance would be on it. Here is a close up:

I’ve also got one of Michael mad at me and one with the sun in his eyes for your amusement.

Also for your amusement, I present a Very Blurry Picture of the sock playing Shear Panic with Michael’s little sister (Jennifer) and her buddy (Nick). They stayed with us this week and we played a lot of games and visited the U.S.S. Alabama and the U.S.S Drum. I love going there. There is nothing like giant floating hunks of steel that carried men and women into battle to make a girl feel small, insignificant and wildly patriotic. Even if you aren’t feeling those things, it’s just insanely cool to run around in there.

Jennifer and Nick on the deck of the battleship (look closely).

In closing, I was tagged for Six Weird Things around…oh…one hundred years ago. I am a disgrace to bloggers everywhere (sorry, KT). I won’t be tagging anyone in return since I feel that I have Missed the Window of Opportunity to not break the chain (again, I am a disgrace). You asked for it:

1. I believe that if I make brownies right before a hurricane that the roof will stay attached to the house. It’s worked every time.
2. I will puchase and play the most recent Legend of Zelda and the game console that runs it for the rest of my life.
3. I don’t drive. It’s very scary for me.
4. I have a Second Life. With friends, a house I built and a knit shop. This is probably my weirdest thing (and also the saddest and most pathetic) for most of you. But I enjoy it. So there.
5. In my stash, yarn for socks out numbers the yarn for other projects 5 to 1 (at my last count - there’s been more sock yarn since then). The only reason it occurred to me that this might be weird is the Knit from the Stash thing. Other people seem to have a whole lot more yarn for sweaters than I do. If I knit from my stash, it would be a solid 9 months of socks. That would get pretty boring for all of us.
6. I am oddly superstitious (see #1). Not the “no black cats” kind - my superstitions are all very personal. My brain acknowledges that none of these things (like wearing Lucky Socks) are at all related to how the world works and can’t possibly have any effect on the outcome of events. But that doesn’t keep me from doing them. It is a chaotic system, so you never know.

Now if you had asked me to tell you Six Weird Things about the cats…

I’ve just finished my turnip greens, cornbread, black-eyed peas and a roast that made the house smell fantastic. I also finished M’s vest:

Shhhh…it’s blocking.

All this and we slept late too!

What time is it?

The only improvement I could of asked for is if Tech managed to pull a win out of the Gator Bowl today - but they played really well with some spectacular and well-received passes so I’m good. So far 2007 has been pretty good.