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.

Haiti’s pretty shell stuff is finished (which was fun – I love lacy stitches) and I am now involved in the miles of mind-numbing stockinette.

I’ve never made a sweater all in one piece, it feels like it is moving much more quickly than other projects. Maybe it’s knowing that there isn’t another section after this one. Maybe it’s because it’s a tank and those tend to go fast fast. Maybe it’s the cute, pink circular needle. Or the sack of Cream Savers that I have consumed to keep me interested in knitting around and around and around.

Or it could be the yarn iteslf. Now, splitty is not usually a quality I look for in a yarn. In fact I have sworn to never knit with Wildflower again because it’s so Disfunctional that way. But somehow, the other outstanding qualities of this stuff makes watching for splits worth it. Svale is soft and knits up with a fabulous drape that has a little shimmer to it. I am not saying it’s easy staying alert for offenders, I’m just saying the overall effect of the yarn may be worth it to you.

In other news. This is what Angus has been up to lately.

Mr. Pitiful

Can you see his red nose? Some of that is allergy and some is from burying chewies in his bed to hide them from the cat. I try to tell him that Betty doesn’t want his chewies, but the mucus has made him a little paranoid. Also, he is not sleeping very well. I know this because he stands by the side of my bed and pants on me until I wake up and pet him. We have dosed him with Benadryl so he should be sound alseep and breathing easier in about 20 minutes.

PS Can you keep a secret? Here is a split that I am not going back to fix. I noticed it way too late and you can’t see it from the front. I’m just going to pretend that it is my humility block.

The S4 is dry in a mere three days instead of the estimated three years! And in this humidity, too. Amazing.

Dig the tree? That is actually a Chinese Privet Hedge that has grown to Epic Proportions. For more information, please visit NRCS.

Michael liked the new camera so much, he took a whole bunch of pictures of me! Some were blurry (he hasn’t gotten the knack of focusing yet) but here are a couple more good ones that show off the sweater.

To the left, we have me posing like the girl in the pattern picture (stomach covered). And to the right we have a close up of the sleeve seam. I can’t wait to wear it in public!

Next, on Yarn Miracle:
Emily starts Haiti and copes with a Very Splitty Yarn.