TOFUtsies at last

(Warning for any Rockin' Sock Club members who happen by: There be spoilers here. If you don't want to see them, don't look too closely at the cat picture, or at anything after that.)

The Tofutsie socks are finished.

I stand by my claims that the yarn splits like a son of a *st*itch, and pools in a way that I would not have chosen, but it knits up into a lovely, soft fabric. The yarn, if you haven't been following along, is a high-tech mix of wool, cotton, soy silk, and shellfish shells.

Katie is stunned to see the camera out.

She had a nice surprise today. The hot weather and rainy weather finally gave way to a gorgeous late summer day, with clear skies and pleasant temperatures. I was able to open the windows and let her, and the house, breathe some fresh air.

Another advantage of the nice weather: The guys are finally starting our third renovation project of summer, putting new siding on the garage. It was supposed to start a month ago, but the contractor broke his hand, and then the weather got challenging. I'll be glad to see it done.

Okay, on with the spoilers. The August RSC kit arrived yesterday, and I love it!

The yarn is Flower Power, the pattern is Summer Of Love Lace Socks, and the package includes two temporary tattoos. I cannot wait to cast these on. I need to hurry, too, because the time frame for making shorty lace socks is drawing to a close in the midlands. I wound the yarn today, as well as some Fleece Artist that I got at The Studio in Kansas City.

The Fleece Artist had a break in it, which is why there are two unequal balls.

In writing news--I have no writing news, but next weekend is the Piker's annual folly, 10 K to Labor Day. The idea is to use Labor Day weekend as a warm-up for NaNoWriMo by writing 10,000 words in three days. I think T is working at least one of those days, so I should get some writing done.

Shooting with the camera

My new cell phone has both a camera and one of those teeny little Micro SD cards, which allows you transfer pictures to your computer without having to pay to e-mail them to yourself. For those times when opportunity strikes and a real camera is out of reach, this little sucker is handy.

Then at Office Depot the other day, we found these little doohickeys that let you turn your Micro SD card into a USB drive. Score! Now you can see the kinds of spontaneous things that entertain me.

Katie had to go to Miss Kim's for a few days while we re-did the bathroom. This pathetic face dogged me all the way home.

KnightStar, of course, is always very excited to find a chess set in public - at Starbucks, for example. I set up the pieces to humor him.

He refused to play me, though, since I had few more than the standard 16 pieces.

I did get a couple of squares sent off to the Greensburg project.

When the Knitwits went on the yarn crawl a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at a rest area, and saw this sign.


I've lived in the Midwest my whole life, but I don't remember ever being cautioned to keep the livestock in the vehicle. It seems like a good idea, though.

Still here, still knitting

Amy pointed out, quite correctly, "You haven't blogged much lately." True enough. The weekend after we painted, the Knitwits ran away for a quick yarn crawl. I got some yarn. I haven't taken pictures. I also got some snappy new shoes, perfect for showing off socks.

In photography classes, they always tell you to pay attention to the background as well as the foreground. It's good advice, and if I had heeded it, you would not be seeing this:

A toenail on the hall carpet. Katie is notoriously bad at picking up after herself.

The weekend after that, I came down with a cold. It is now in the "endless cough that won't go away" stage.

Fortunately, I was never so sick that I couldn't knit.

Off the needles: The mystery stole. I had a needle slippage event, and it was quicker to frog the little bit I had done than it was to repair it. Since then, more of the pattern has become available, and now I'm not sure if I want to make it or not. I'm waiting to see it finished - by someone more ambitious than myself.

On the needles: I replaced the mystery stole with the Mystery Sock at Socktopia.


Yes! Those are circular needles! I'm trying socks on circs again, because I hate being defeated by mere knitting. The ribbing looks a little funky, but once I got into the pattern on the leg, it evened out somewhat. It's a good thing I used circs, though. The leg pattern is over 32 stitches and 14 rows. DPNs would have been a pain in the patootie.

The yarn is some Meileweit I have had for ages. I picked it because it was near the top of the sock yarn box. I think it is too busy for this pattern, but by the time I was into it, I didn't want to start over. Here it is stretched out to show the lacy parts a little better. There are also cables along each side.