A Sneaky Update

It's a new season today, and despite all evidence to the contrary, it is winter (we've got misty fog and 45-degreeF temps and all our snow is gone). The days are getting longer (so I'm told, I can never tell until about March), which is the real reason for the season (thanks to the Laughing Librarian for the link), and all is right with the world. At least in the "rotating correctly" category.

I have random bits of information about my knitting (oh, that is funny... as though I knit) and my recent forays into social interaction. Not all of it is pretty. You have been warned.

1. Sock Update
I realize that I haven't put this project up on my "in-progress" projects sidebar, but in my defense I am extraordinarily lazy. Plus there's the guilt about working on a project for myself when I have all these gifts (for the bridesmaids. From my wedding. Which was in July.) to work on. But still I work on the socks. Sort of.


Not much difference from a few weeks ago, is there? No. Not really. My defense? Laziness.


This picture shows the colors pretty darn accurately, at least on my monitor. It also shows my heel, where I'm supposed to be turning the, um, heel of the sock. I'm not sure about this maneuver, as Wendy's pattern says to start the short-rowing at 2" before the heel. I'm guessing that's about where my heel starts on the bottom of my foot. It's still a long way off, as I'm only sort of knitting on these. It's surreptitious knitting. Stealth knitting. Right.

2. Margaret's Scarf Update
Also in knitting (or not) news, the scarf is taking shape.




I'm using an 8-row basketweave pattern, because Margaret will be returning from the wilds of Tallahassee, Florida, to the harsh winters of the midwest and requested a "non-wimpy" scarf. This knit/purl pattern is perfect with its thickness and cushyness and the softness of the sweet sweet yarn. I have about 30 inches, so I'm just under halfway along. Progress!!

3. What I Bought With My Christmas Bonus
Where I work we don't have a lot of money (public institutions are beloved by all and funded by none, it seems), but I did get a $25 gift certificate to Borders as a year-end bonus (not Christmas, really, because we are non-sectarian) and I got myself a pretty pretty book. You may have heard of it:


I'm totally excited about this, for reasons which are known to many of you already because you own this book. The directions are clear, well-explained, and are good at the hand-holding. This is a good quality, I think, because I have yet to complete a sock at all and I would like to know the ins and outs of every bit of sock construction. And this book (glory!) tells me all I need to know.

4. Knitting While Intoxicated
This amuses me no end. When I was in college, and especially during the times when I was single (we did the break-up-make-up thing a lot), I would drink a lot and get all dancy-squirrelly and generally make an ass of myself in front of people. Now that I'm a married woman (and can I just say how much I hate the word "matron"? God, that is such an ugly word. It reminds me of "apron" and makes me think of forced labor in a kitchen. Ugh. Anyway!) ... now that I'm a married woman and don't go dancing with crazy people for fun anymore, I exhibit different drunk behavior. Case in point:

We were at a little pseudo-Christmas-ish get-together on Saturday the 16th. Nothing fancy, just friends hanging out in the barsement (you know, the basement with the bar). Well, I wasn't driving home, so I decided to just keep drinking because it sounded fun and Hey, Jaeger Bombs! Okay, so I've had a few beers (only one Jaeger Bomb, I think) and... I bring up knitting. Not some redonkulous drunk-talk about how cool that last beer looks, or how silly the dog is acting, or how much your hair is pretty, but knitting. And this isn't the first time! I've done this before, only then I said I could show my friend the best yarn shops in town. What? Who does that while drinking? Who just brings up yarn stores to a bunch of apparent non-knitters?

Anyway, this time I turn to my friend C., whom I taught to knit in March, and ask her if she learned how to purl because I vaguely (remember the Jaeger Bombs) remembered that we only got so far as the knit stitch. It turns out that she's been knitting garter stitch for 8 months and is eager to learn how to form the mystical purl stitch which will allow her to make RIBBING! (Ah, it warms the heart!) So what is my response? I grab the sock I keep in my bag and sit her down and demonstrate the purl stitch a few times. Luckily, she either was really into it or is really patient and was humoring me.


I was going to write more, including the story of our Toyota (which we have back from the body shop, but isn't really ours yet -- Thank You Illinois Secretary of State! You Suck!) and the story of trying to find pants that fit my (as I prefer to think of it) voluptuous bottom, but I've got to pack up a bag for this weekend with the family. We're leaving tonight and not returning until Monday night, so I have a lot of planning to do. And I'm still in my Curious George pajamas.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to post from the Land O' Dial-Up, so if I don't, I wish you all a lovely holiday full of yarn and safety and good health! Hooray!