yackin'..

don't have any pictures to show yet, but I have been kind of busy..

I finished a pair of plain ribbed socks of a regia cotton blend.. the first sock got done in may, the second took some getting around to.

I knit a pair of horcrux of socks that rock medium weight. I don't know if this ball is actually not quite so thick as the other one or if all the difference was in the pattern, but this pair doesn't seem anywhere near as bulky as the first pair does. there's also a bit more yarn left over, I'm sure I can get a pair of baby socks out of these leftovers. :)

I knit most of a man sock of a ball of fleece artist nova sock.. I'm not sure there's enough yarn here for a pair of man socks, so I did the heel first in regia 4ply.. decided that was too flimsy. ripped it out, did it again in regia 6ply.. that's plenty substantial :). I'm just as glad to do the heels in a blend with nylon, they'll wear better. anyway, I got about to the toe, shoved my foot in and decided the heel (short row) was a row or two too deep even for my heel so I ripped it all out again, back to where the heel needs to be.. and then I let it sit. I'll get around to it again eventually.

I knit a pair of socks... the socktopia fawkes socks, of a cherry tree hill mill end that looks nothing like a phoenix, but they're pretty anyway. I had a 10oz mill end that unwound into 3 pieces, 3 balls and I used the smallest ball so I was again unsure there was enough yarn.. so I knit this pair 2 socks at a time on DPN's.. which was a pretty unwieldy and pointy experience, but in the end I did make it all the way through the socks with a bit of yarn to spare, despite going an extra repeat in the leg because I thought they were too short.

my knitty secret pal hooked me up yesterday with a pattern for wavy socks, so I cast on one of those yesterday in royale hare sock yarn and that's pretty fun, I'm working on the first heel now, or was when I put it down a bit ago.

we're heading out on a 4 day road trip to illinois tomorrow. my husband's uncle.. my father in law's older brother is celebrating his 90th birthday.. the oldest male in the family.. my son is the youngest male in the family and the only male in his generation and they've never met. heck, I've never met the man.. my husband hasn't seen him since 1968 or so.. so we got the invitation and figured illinois is far, too bad we can't go and then a few days back we decided we really couldn't *not* go so we're driving.. google says 12 hours and 40 minutes each way, to spend 2 days in the homeland and then drive back. I have found a yarn store to visit, and a store that sells cat's meow custom pieces of the city so I can add a small replica of some piece of the homeland to one of my doorsills, I found a train store for my husband to visit and I'm still trying to find a white castle en route, because that's what my son most wants to do.. eat at white castle. go figure. :)

so.. I have printed out the wavy sock pattern because I don't think I can remember this one, and I printed the tumbling blocks sock pattern too, and packed another pair of needles, the second ball of royale hare, two balls of panda cotton and I may toss in a ball of trekking because I may decide I just want to knit stockinette in the car... but maybe I won't.. it'd be a good opportunity to make some progress towards the new harry potter.. I'm doing a re-read before the new one, my son's done with it so it's available and I still haven't finished book 5. :(

anyway.. when we return.. I'll get around to taking some pictures for the entertainment of my phantom readers. :)