I used Cat Bordhi’s Riverbed Architecture and followed her Rushing Rivulet chart for the pattern.  Simple four stitch repeat.  The only thinking I had to do was to remember to increase my pattern on each side as I increased along the sole of the foot.  Otherwise the pattern was going to run up a strip on the top of the foot, which I didn’t care for.

I’ve already started ripping back the cuffs on the Inside Out socks, too.  They were the first shipment of the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club.  With all the cabling and The Girl’s high instep the cuff just became too tight for her to get on as her foot grew even the littlest bit.  I think I may just knit them up in k2 p1 ribbing and call it a day.  I love the colors in the yarn and it will stand on it’s own nicely without patterning.

Speaking of RSC…I did join again for 2008 and received my first shipment.  Not my colors at all and I typically love orange.  Just not burnt oranges/rusts.  I’ve got a couple of takers though – both Moms and Mr. like the colors but I think the pattern will probably do better for Moms.  As liberal as I am I can’t see Mr. in lace socks.  I’ve got some other hanks of yarn in bright colors that he’ll like so I’ll have to get on the socks for him.  At least my speed has picked up so a pair doesn’t take forever anymore.  Anyway, I’ll throw the orange RSC into the stash and knit it up when the mood strikes.

God, I feel like I haven’t left the house in days which I guess I haven’t.  I went to see the doctor yesterday for my physical and then home again.  Today I ran out and voted and then home again.  That took all of 10 minutes round trip which was awesome.  I hate standing around waiting.  The Girl was like “that’s it?”  She’s used to those big state ballots when you have to vote for everyone and his brother.  The two clicks and it’s done – we’ve got a 1% sales tax increase up for grabs – was little disconcerting I guess.  Sunday I stayed in and Saturday I only left to hook up for dinner with everyone.  I even skipped the Yacht Club afterwards which just shows I was deathly ill.  I never pass up beers and laughs.  So all told, I guess I haven’t really been out out since last week.  No wonder I feel so humorless and flat.  Tomorrow though, tomorrow I get my hairs did which always makes me feel better.  Gotta get my sparkles covered and hear about Joey’s trip and maybe run around the corner to Knitch and see if they got any Louet  Gems in yet.  Maybe.  Maybe if they aren’t too covered in crazy women buying huge hanks of boucle mohair and 35mm straights and worrying about droppings stitches on the plane while they knit up a scarf.  The man she was with actually said I, I, should have helped her.  As if.  Holly can’t and won’t help crazy.  There aren’t enough hours in the day.

Not too far yet but I really love this pattern. Easy lace to keep things from getting boring. Since these are for Moms I think I am going to have to grab some other Raven colorways to knit some more of these up for myself and The Girl. Although, The Girl has taken to wearing crazy knee socks with her knee length jeans, you know, for winter?, and that’s given me some ideas for big color work. Color work with bobbles and do-dads. Gotta start working some of that out.

They are men’s size 11 – gawd, round and round and round in plain stockinette but I like the stripes – in Vesper Sock Yarn.  The colorway is “crew”.  Love the yarn and like I said the stripes are awesome.

Next I think I am going to cast on for Lenore – October’s Rockin Sock Club shipment.  Mom called dibs on those as soon as she saw the colorway and the pattern.  What do ya do?  It’s Moms.

See that?  See how tall?  I am 5′7″ and she is up to my shoulder.  Girlie is wearing a size 8.5 shoe and doesn’t understand why she can’t wear stilettos.  They do, after all, come in her size.  No question she is mine.

We started her birthday celebrations with bowling on Saturday with a couple of her friends.

I wore my completed Firebirds.

That was followed by pizza and huge laughs.  Yesterday we surprised her with brunch at the Sundial.  She’s talked about wanting to check it out ever since she discovered the restaurant rotates, giving you enormous views.  She was completely thrilled to be there.  Then it was back to the house for cake and ice cream.

Today Mr. and I went to have lunch with her at the school and took cupcakes for the entire 4th grade.  She was thrilled to see us as was everybody else.  Nobody can pass up a cupcake with butter cream frosting.  Tonight we are off to Scalini’s for yet more food.  Are y’all seeing the trend here?  The food thing?  Good god but my ass is going to be three times bigger by tomorrow morning.  Pizza, French toast and pasta.  Barley and vegetables for the rest of the week!

My Girl is 10 years old today.  I am so proud of her.  She’s not only smart and funny, she also has the most awesome sense of “fair”.  Everyday I am more blessed than the day before simply for knowing her.

I’ve been working away on the Fitted Tank. I knit the whole front but then decided I am not as big as I think I am, frogged the whole thing and reknit in the medium size. I swear, in my head I am 200 pounds. I spent all of last night finishing off the neck and armholes. The neck shaping on this sweater is just plain ugly. You get lots of steps and after trying the recommended purl bind-off finish I ripped it out. It just didn’t smooth things out enough. So I went with a single crochet edging for everything. I looks pretty good and lays pretty flat. Once I got the neck done I did slip it over my head to make sure I could get it on. One thing that isn’t imaginary is that I do have a big melon. I like to think it’s because I have an unusually large brain but I seem to be the only one to go with that theory, but I digress. It went over my head. Because I am freaky anal about getting things just right, I crocheted and tinked and crocheted again until I was satisfied with my stitches and the spacing and all of that. Hopefully later on I’ll have pics of the finished product, but right now I have this:

that’s it waiting for sewing up. The color is nowhere near accurate as Mr. fucked with enhanced the picture. It’s less garish than that in real life. Trust.

I’ve also got a pic of the lace RSC socks I finished a while back

they turned out pretty well actually. When I can I’ll get pics up of the latest RSC shipment. Really cool colors this time. Of course, I still have to finish up the last shipment. No excuse. I’ve only got like, four rows to go but spent a lot of my time catching up on MS3 which still isn’t finished but there isn’t any rush on that. Eventually.

I was knitting happily along on the stole this afternoon when the mail came. In it was the new issue of Interweave Knits. I started to flip through real quick before I set it aside but I got completely sidetracked. This issue is full of patterns that I would knit and that doesn’t usually happen. I typically see a pattern or two that I would think about knitting but this issue seriously has me thinking about which yarns and in what colors to use. I promptly decided that when this stole is done I will do no more such knitting until I’ve got my fill of winter knitting out of the way. But first I gotta get a cotton sweater out of the way. The yarn and pattern arrived while I was on vacation and I am itching to get started. I haven’t yet knitted a sweater so I want to start with something easy and this looks like it’ll fit the bill nicely. It also looks quick which appeals to me too for a first time sweater. I should be able to wear it non-stop, too. So that’s the list: catch-up MS3, finish RSC Solstice Slip, get Mr.’s socks on the needles and start the cotton sweater. I might have to quit my day job.

That would be the June RSC kit. The colorway is Firebird and the pattern is a really quick knit. Kind of soothing after Grasshopper. All those yo/p2tog about killed me. I was starting to worry that I would be knitting on those forever, but I did finish them sometime last week. If Mr. would cooperate, I would have pics. hint hint A couple of more inches of cuff and my first June sock will be done. Which is good ‘cos as I was saying I was sitting on the porch knitting when this arrived:

That would be my fabulous Vesper Sock shipment. From left to right: Crew, Astro, Sherbert (sic), and Tartan. The girl called dibs on Astro. She wants to learn how to knit socks really badly so we’re going to give it a go. I’ve been forcing her to work on her tension and holding the Vesper out as the carrot. It’s hard to let go of it though. I had to stalk Knitterly Things for months to get my hands on those four skeins so they are very precious. I am going to knit up the Crew for Mr. I owe him socks in the worst way and he likes that colorway. His only request is that I use the same pattern I am knitting now. I guess I can do that but then it’s on to plain.simple.socks. in self striping deliciousness.

Here’s a weird thing. I am from Michigan. A small town named Saginaw. Farms and factories. My mom moved us to Georgia in 1982 and we’ve been here ever since. All of our family is still up there, mostly. After the move we didn’t see them so much and aren’t close at all. Now mom has three half brothers, on of whom recently passed. Well, his daughter called mom and said she was coming down and would be staying with friends in my neighborhood. That in itself is weird enough. My neighborhood is big, but not that big and besides, Atlanta is a big place. Anyway, she tells the street name where she’ll be staying and I was like “that has to be The Girl’s teacher, from this year.” Back in the middle of the school year The Girl wore a Saginaw Valley State University sweatshirt and her teacher commented that she lived near there when she was younger. So, sure enough, my cousin is staying with the teacher just around the block and again there is another lesson in just how small the world can be. Strange, huh?

We are driving along, knitting, chatting, getting stuck in NASCAR traffic just north of Charlotte. Wait it out and just as we are escaping traffic, this happens:

That would be the finish cracking on my needle. It’s a 24″, 2.5 mm KnitPicks circular needle. The people over on the RSC blog recommended I try them because they are A) a bargain and B) pointy and well suited for all the yo, p2tog’s called for in the latest pattern. Dude, those needles are ghetto! Granted, I am used to Addis so it’s hard to compare. The join is awful and the needles themselves are cheap feeling. I could get past that though, I think. Maybe on a different pattern. I think too, that the needle that cracked was defective in the first place as it had pitting on the tip like maybe it wasn’t cleaned properly before it was plated. But still, to have that needle conk on me with 2+ hours left in the car sucked total ass!

So here I am now, still:

I would have been farther but after I got my needles situated, notice the KnitPicks needle on the lace and the Addi on the knit, I totally spazzed a row and had to tink it back. That’s the only mistake so far – not too bad. Hopefully I’ll get them done sometime this century.