Four Weeks, Eight Socks (or, My Life, the Catastrophe)

It occurred to me that I never blogged to tell everyone that I actually made it home. Well, I did. The return trip was not without major drama, so I won't tell you how all flights (American Airlines) through Dallas were cancelled and how we had to order new tickets from Southwest (love them) and how we spent the day in the airport waiting for that flight, only to find that it was delayed more than 90 minutes and how we didn't get home until 3 a.m. Nope, not gonna explain any of that :)

Instead, I'll share some sock progress.

Ze Jaywalkers are done. Regia silk color on size 1 Pony Pearl needles (airline safe, you see):

And so are the #2 Monkeys, completed just yesterday. Colinette Jitterbug on my standard metal dpns, size 0. I bought this yarn before the trip and have absolutely fallen in love with it.


The Jitterbug is delightfully smooshy and sproingy, but the yardage is scant. These Monkeys are short one cuff repeat and one foot repeat for a size 5 foot. They're snug, but I love them. I've actually bought two more skeins of this yarn -- one in the "plum" colorway and one in the "olive" colorway. I haven't picked patterns specifically yet, but I will soon.

As soon as I finish the next two socks in progress.

I finally figured out what to do with that Fleece Artist Sea Wool ("Spring" colorway), as well as the Socks that Rock that I've been struggling to choose a pattern for.

Over the weekend, while I was laid up on the sofa with Achilles Tendonitis (still really bothering me) after a week that consisted of two trips to the Department of Motor Vehicles, one trip to the dentist (old filling jumped ship), a busted AC at work (that was Tuesday -- welcome back to work) and a trip to the internist (on Friday for the ankle), I struggled with the sea wool yet again, determined to pick a pattern that would showcase this lovely stuff. I finally opted for Evelyn Clark's Waving Lace sock from Interweave's "Favorite Socks" ... which I finally broke down and purchased. What you see on the left in the photo above is Sunday's sock progress. It's amazing what you can do when you're relegated to doing nothing. Another repeat and I'll be at the toe on the first sock. They're a bit longer than usual for me, but I'm really hoping the yardage holds for its mate. The yarn is light and airy and fun to knit, and I've no doubt that these will become nice Spring/Fall socks. Not too heavy and not too warm.

At this point, I need to issue a formal apology to two of my cousins -- my ankle rendered me unable to attend one's graduation party on Sunday, and to see his sister's new baby. I just couldn't walk and I feel horrible for not being there!
The sock on the right is also an Evelyn Clark -- the Go with the Flow pattern started in the Socks that Rock "Footzey Foo" colorway. I've completed the fourth pattern repeat on the leg (it calls for 20) and it's one of the fastest patterns around. What's even better is that the pattern is super easy to remember -- which makes this pattern a great one for carrying along on doctor's trips, DMV debacles and anything else that happens to come my way (today it will most likely be the mechanic ... I think my water pump is finally hosed).

Not to be outdone by the car, this week's announcement from L'il I is that we head off on Friday for our Rho-gam shot and one-hour glucose torture test. I've managed to fail by one point for the other pregnancies (which culminates in a four-hour hell), so I'm hoping this one will be better. Send happy vibes!

California Monkey Business

The flight out here to California was a long one ... broken up with a short layover in Dallas and a mad dash to a last-minute gate change (not fun in DFW period, much less for a pregnant woman) and three-hour legs on either end. Absolutely exhausting.

The Monkey Socks would like for me to tell you that they are now complete as a result. They were not happy freaking out the muggles on the airplane, and absolutely refused to be photographed over the mountains of the west. They did, however, enjoy the chair in my room at the Hilton and agreed to be photographed as they lounged in their completed state:

I haven't yet told them that I didn't bring appropriate shoes to take them out for a stroll...

In other news, there was a little progress on the second of the Jaywalkers, and I've started the Bordello Socks in a lovely green Sea Wool from the Loopy Ewe ... it's the pattern on the yarn band (I only brought the Monkey and Jaywalker patterns with me). These are done on 52 stitches on size 2 needles. I expect rapid progress. I started working on these at 5 a.m. PDT.

So that's all for now. My media facility opens today at noon and there are still a few details to hammer out before opening. It's time to get ready and go to work!

A Quick One Before I Go Away

I've been up since 4 a.m. Pregnancy leg cramp, coupled with the fact that I'm getting ready to fly to California today. My cab will pick me up in about 70 minutes.

Over the past week or so, I've been getting quite a few questions from folks who want to know what I do that has me travelling so much. Well, I'm going to break my rule regarding blogging about work right now. (I just don't think it's a road you should go down because before you know it, you slip and complain about some jerk in the office, the Corporate Comm folks see your blog and well, then your private life just isn't so private anymore and you have taken real risks). I do corporate communications/media relations/public relations for a major medical nonprofit physician's organization. This week is our big annual scientific meeting, and we're going to be in Anaheim, California. Watch the news over the next week or so and see if you can figure out which meeting/organization it is and take a guess in the comments.

In any event, for me this year the challenge for this trip has been three-fold: how to manage my four-day maternity wardrobe over a nine-day meeting, getting the boys together and ready for me to leave (that's all FOUR boys -- two kids, husband and dog) and figuring out what knitting to take with me. You see, on my last trip I had to make an emergency trip for cotton. I don't plan on making an emergency trip for sock yarn in California -- particularly because I can't identify a decent yarn shop within a decent radius of the convention center. So I'm going prepared. Today on the plane, I plan to work on the partners to these:

The pinkish one on the left is the Monkey I completed on Monday and on the right is the Regia Silk Jaywalker that took me an astounding two days to complete. Given that I'm already 2/3 of the way through the leg on the second Monkey and currently doing the leg ribbing on the Jaywalker, I'd say there's a chance for real progress on today's two-leg flight through DFW.

But I'm definitely prepared to finish. In my suitcase I have another two skeins of Regia Silk, a hank of Sea Wool and the Footzey Foo Socks that Rock that I ordered a while back. If I have enough time to complete eight socks on this trip (three from the yarn in the suitcase and the pair on the plane today), I'll suffer from Knitter's Claw for sure.

Oh -- one more thing before I dash off. The MocCrocs were finished on Saturday too.

More from Sunny California later this week!

I Only Have Two Feet

So what in the world is up with THIS?

The current socks of my world, clockwise from lower left: MocCroc, one complete and the second on the foot section; Monkey's in Colinette Jitterbug (I actually meant to do these toe-up because I'm not sure I can gauge yardage right) and three Jaywalkers (don't ask) -- one in Ellen's Half Pint Farm merino/tencel blend from Stitches, one in Opal's "Owl" colorway and one in Regia silk.

I don't know how it came to this, really. Part of this I can blame on the sock virus that's going around, but part of it is attributed I'm sure to my upcoming nine-day business trip in California. Girl needs a plane project, after all. I usually do shawls, but these days I'm just not feeling the love. I figure a couple of socks in progress (the ones that are on Pony dpns or the rosewood dpns are doable on the plane) ought to do the trick. At least until the flight home :)

A word about the patterns. Now I thought that MocCroc had to be one of the fastest ones I've done. I was wrong -- the Jaywalker knits at lightning speed! The Regia one is less than 24 hours worth of knitting (with a workday in the mix) and I'm just about ready for the heel. I understand Cara's obsession with these socks, and I see myself wanting to make a million pairs (hence the other two in progress).

Thoughts?

On Coming Home

I was in Tampa from Wednesday through Sunday at a medical communicators conference. It was a fabulous trip (despite pregnancy fatigue and swollen feet), but it's always great to come home. However, coming home was not the most pleasant experience.

As everyone no doubt knows, the East Coast was hit with a Nor'easter this past weekend whose winds are still lingering. Florida was not exempt from the bad weather the storm brought along. To wit, here's a picture I took of the fountain in front of the hotel (one of the ones that the miter enjoyed on Friday afternoon) as my co-worker and I were waiting for our cab to go to the airport at 9 a.m. on Sunday:

No, it isn't "just a bad picture." That's rain, guys -- heavy, torrential rain, combined with wind and nastiness that had me worried that I wasn't going to make it out on time, if at all. This is the stuff the Weather Channel folks live for.

Fortunately, we got out -- but not until after we had spent a few extra hours at the airport with weather delays. The good news was that I had plenty of knitting to keep me occupied (my resolve gave out on Saturday afternoon and I took a cab to the store for more). I finished three miters while I was there, and started the sixth once I got home after two hours of bumping our way up the East Coast.

I figure the blankie only needs to be 3x3, so I'm nearly two-thirds done. I'm very happy with the way this is turning out. Not only is it one of the easiest and fastest things I've ever knit, but it's also soft and squishy and fun. I love the way the greens are working together and I adore the mix of varigated and solid. I really do see this as a "play on the floor" blanket or a snuggle-during-the-day under supervision blankie (after all this is cotton, which is not flame retardant). Not to mention that this has been a wonderful foray into the world of Peaches n' Creme cotton, which I've always avoided because of fiber snobbery. Thanks, Farmer Auntie, for showing me the error of my ways. I can say, though, that this is the ONLY yarn I'll buy at Wal-Mart.

So anyway, coming home is always a bit tricky -- re-entry with kids is never easy -- but for the most part it went smoothly (only the pregnancy fatigue made it difficult). Laundry was done, dishes were done, kids were happy. The Nor'Easter was hitting on Sunday, it was raining cats and dogs, our basement was flooded. But Sunday turned out great.

Yesterday, however, we were hit with the wind and it was touch and go for a while with the electricity (disclaimer: I live in a house that's fully electric -- electric furnace burner, electric water pump for the well, electric appliances). When the lights go out, we're screwed. And it was cold here yesterday. But, thanks to the folks at BGE, the power was only out for about eight hours or so, and most of it was while we were at work and school. To be safe, though, I packed an overnight bag when I got home (while we still had daylight to work with) and we were all ready to head to a hotel after dinner. Just before we left for the restaurant, though, the house came back to life and my husband and I breathed a big sigh of relief.

And then I had a wonderful dream about MDS&W last night. After all, it's only about three weeks away!

Out and About

So far I've resisted the urge to go to Wal-Mart in Tampa for more cotton. My resolve may go out the window after lunch today, though. I have one more day here, and I'm running out. I've been trying to pace myself. On a break yesterday, I took the miter out to show it the fountains at the hotel so that it wouldn't feel heartbroken that I wasn't going to hammer out a few more rows:




This yarn is the "shades of green" that I was originally doing in my standard burp cloth pattern. I ripped it out and started a big miter square to feed the fever and then I've now picked up stitches along the edge to add another and make a nice rectangle. Problem is, I'm enjoying it so much and I love the green so much that I think this one may morph into a blanket and the baby ombre may end up as a series of burp cloths (though they are actually the perfect size to have a bunch on the changing table to serve as "fountain covers" for the wee one, which gives me a reason to do some burp clothes and other layette items with the cone of baby ombre that I have). Since I did this miter with 75 stitches (36x36), I only need seven more skeins of this to work. Imagine ... a $10 handknit blanket!

In any event, I'm going to need me some more green. I may break down ... it would be nice for the little one to have a blanket that was started in Florida with some yarn from Florida. We'll see how things go this afternoon.