Sock Speed

So, the first sock is finished. Well, not completely finished. I am, unfortunately, at work without a yarn needle or any semblance of same, so the final Kitchenering will have to wait until I get home. And then...photo! Probably. (Edit: I'm not a complete idiot! I do have a darning needle! Kitchener, here I come!)




Let's see now...I started this sock a year ago, on our trip out to California. (Boy, that was a nice trip. We ought to go out there again.) What do you suppose the chances are that I will have the second sock finished by Friday, so that I could wear them to the MDS&W show? Slim to none, I think, even though I will be spending 6+ hours in the car on Friday going to fetch Rachel home from college. (The new computer arrived and, perhaps out of spite, her computer seems to have pretty much bitten the dust this morning. She seems to be happy with this new one...which, at this point, may or may not end up being mine. We'll see. I think that one way or another we may both be ending up with new laptops.)

I'll tell you though...Ruth's Stitchsaver is a life-saver! I will disclose all now...when I got this I thought, "Hmmm...cute. Handy to have around, I guess." Let me tell you, this thing is the bee's knees. I was knitting along this morning and, for some reason, looked back about 8 rows. "That's weird," I thought, "It almost looks like a hole there." Well, on closer examination I realized that I had, in one of my stitches, caught about three tiny hairs of wool...about a third of one of the two strands that this yarn consists of. I also realized that I was going to have to drop that line of stitches down and pick up that full strand. And (although I wasn't smart enough to grab a darning needle), I had thrown the Stitchsaver into the plastic bag I'm hauling this sock around in. So I worked my way around to the right spot, dropped the stitch, and grabbed the Stitchsaver.

Okay, I've picked up stitches with a crochet hook before. And for worsted weight wools, the hook I have works just fine. And I thought it was as good as it got for socks, too. But man, this tiny hook, with its easily maneuverable size, just whipped through those tiny, tiny stitches and before you can see "Pretty cool" the slipped stitches were all back in their proper places. Incredible. So go...get yourself one! ("How?" you ask. I don't know. Go ask Ruth.) If you're a sock knitter, you won't be sorry.

Spring has arrived with a bang in our yard.

The azaleas are in bloom.


The lilacs are in bloom. (And boy, do they smell wonderful!)


The bleeding hearts are in bloom, too.


And the yard is full of violets.