Mostly Knitting Today...

Just a few things to note today, mostly having to do with sticks and string, but some other stuff will inevitably crop up. It always does.

Working toward toe shaping

Knitting...

The Teal Socks are ONE-HALF done!! I finished the first one yesterday. It looks a bit long, but it's a rib - k3, p1 and the pattern called for the foot to be a bit longer than I'm used to. I haven't tried it on yet, but I will be casting on the second one in a day or so. 

I'm still having problems with my Kitchener Stitch - I get points at either end. I have to find an alternative toe - maybe a round toe? Or a star?? Something else. But that'll be for the next pair of socks.

Detail of cuff and ribbing on leg

Here are some shots of the yarn I purchased. Maybe I'll do another Franken-sock with the red, and utilize the star toe. That would be good seeing as I'm thinking of Christmas.

I will continue to work on the charity afghan tomorrow. It's going to be a particularly interesting day weather-wise, so it'll probably be in my best interests to just plug away at that. I do have to attend a board meeting tomorrow night, though.

Sock #1 done!

More about the yarn... As you can see on the sock picks, it's a very bright teal. I seem to be on a "bright" binge after lots of purples and darks. 

That's cool. Diversity in yarn is good. Wool and Company have so many lovely sock yarns, it's difficult to choose. But I made some choices that I think will be good in the long run; mostly in a weight that I'm used to working with. 

The Trekker that I'm working with on the Teal Socks is quite a bit thinner than normal - more like the Opal that I haven't started yet. 

Though I could use some of that Opal for a nifty tea cozy! 

Dream yarn

This blue is shot with silver; it'll make a nice pair of socks in perhaps a rib pattern on the leg. Most of the yarn I have for socks has at least 80% merino wool in it. The silver is not only for the sparkle, but silver is supposed to have anti-odor properties. So perhaps no stinkie tootsies?? If that's so, I may have to make silver socks for both kids!! 

I have a good pattern in mind for this blue. I love the play of colors in it and I think that if I work it right, doing a sort of simple rib will allow for the beauty of the gradient to play out. 

The Liberty Wool is a special impulse buy. Our church choir just got new robes, in what I call Cubbie Blue - and I figure that the Chicago Cubs need divine intervention. 

I did make mitts for myself. It's an old church - well over 100 years, and so old that there's not even a bathroom in the sacristy! And it's limestone. It gets chilly in the choir area. First, because we're by the door. Second, because we're by the stained glass window; and finally, because there's apparently a breeze coming in from near the organ pipes! 

Liberty Wool Light

Our old (and I mean OLD) robes were burgundy. The mitts I made matched them; so I bought this Liberty and will make some that match our new blue robes!

I guess I'll stagger the remaining pictures below so we're not "naked" at the bottom of the post!

The red Kraemer yarn is also shot through with silver. Since it's a solid red, though, it'll most likely be lace on the leg. I might do a "Strong Heel" on that. I figure it this way:

All this sock yarn just enables me to try different things. So I can Frankensock my way through a variety of techniques, see what works and what I don't like, and voila!! I get socks in the bargain! 

The denim blue below is a lovely merino + bamboo. It's so soft - I know the merino will help with the wear and tear a sock gets; the bamboo alone would be too fragile for feet. 

Politics...

So Ted (Cuban/Canadian) Cruz is STILL blathering on about how "the American people have spoken" and he thinks they're saying that he must continue tilting at windmills and CONTINUE to waste taxpayer money trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. 

For Christmas socks...

Yes, Ted. The American people have spoken. Can't you read polls? Or do you read nothing but Talking Points Memo or Fox News(?) reports???

The American people want Congress to DO SOMETHING SUBSTANTIAL and stop screwing around. That's pretty clear. Republicans are now rated as lower than lawyers (sorry - Shakespeare reference) and whale crap. And that's saying something for both lawyers and whale crap. I apologize in advance for annoying lawyers and being disrespectful of whales and whale crap.

My assistant says he'd love to get a "Ted Cruz for President" campaign working - just to get him on the ticket so that the Dems can be ASSURED of a victory! 

As for the ACA website and the "debacle" about its inefficiencies, I do have a couple of questions: Why are we using a CANADIAN company? I have no beef with our friends to the north, but what? There wasn't an AMERICAN company that could've done this? 

And why is the CANADIAN company a hold-over from GWB??? Who said something to whom about using them? Since they were most likely used to do with something regarding defense, I would think that perhaps this website might be a little outside their scope?

Merino + bamboo mixture

I talked about the cost with Hubby, who works with these things. He's not surprised at the cost - it can take that much, apparently. What he's shocked at is that there was no "load balancing" -- or testing to see if it actually WOULD stand up to the amount of traffic. But hey - he only works for an AMERICAN tech company...

Halloween...

This year, we're doing All Hallows at our church; it's a prelude to All Saint's Day and we're doing an evensong service. That will be interesting. It'll be my first one, and I'm excited. 

We were told what the songs were, but I can't remember now. I guess we'll see them when we get there. I'd better sharpen my sight-reading skills. 

Garden...

So the weather situation I mentioned? Apparently, there's a "strong possibility" that there will be a snow/rain mixture tomorrow. That means my friends will get a load of green tomatoes, and maybe we should do something about the remaining carrots in the garden beds.

Yesterday, we took down the hanging pots and emptied the herb pots - all but a really good batch of tarragon that's still going strong. I don't believe the hummingbirds are going to be back, but we'll leave those feeders up for a few more weeks - we may get some stray birds flying past on their way south. 

African Violet

I can most likely cover the tomatoes, if we think we're in for a "false frost" that won't kill them off. 

Random Picture...

This African Violet normally resides on a table in my campus. It was taken when it was in bloom. 

I love them. They remind me of my grandma. 

Yoga...

I'm procrastinating about finishing my yoga homework. I can't imagine why. I just want it done. This coming weekend, it's a 2-day Yoga Therapeutics workshop, which I've been looking forward to. But I still have a bunch of stuff to do to finish the certification. And the homework has a definite deadline! And it's not all that much. It's all sitting here under my desk. 

I just need to get it done. I don't know why I'm procrastinating. Usually I don't. I'm ahead of myself. But this time, I'm just in a rut, I think. 

Anyway, time to clear out and get home. Speaking of yoga, I'm teaching tonight, and I haven't even decided on my sequence yet! Pushing my luck, I think.