The Harlot is coming! The Harlot is coming!!

She'll be here tonight at the Borders in Oak Brook on 16th Street, starting at 7:30! I'm going to go and try to be inconspicuous about holding seats for my peeps. We'll see what happens....


Also on the knitting front, I finished my first pair of toe up Duet Socks last night with the after thought heel. I went a little screwy on the shaping in the ankle area, increased too soon, but you can't tell when they're on. I also need to rip out the top two rows of the ankle and do a Picot Cast-off cause they're a little too tight even with my Super Loose Cast Off.

Magnus Kitty the Sugar-Lump-Sock-Lover (he has this thing for feet in socks and needs to make out with them) definitely approves of the new socks. That is kitty happy if I ever saw it.

Quick details: Duet Sock Yarn from www.aswellyarnshop.com
Color: Merlot
Needle: US size 1 (2.5mmm)
Pattern: The one that came with the yarn
Cast on: Knitty Magic Toe up Cast-on
Time to complete: 6 days! Roughly 7 hours of knitting for two socks in DK weight

So now, on to new projects!! I have a pair of socks OTN that I like, but I don't LOVE. I'm thinking if I pull them off the needles but I know that if I do that, I'll never finish them. Then again, I'm not so sure this is the right pattern for this yarn either. Thoughts? It's (there's a pic in this link) Meida's socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks.

Here's my dilemma.... last week I finished the Chocolate Cake socks for Hubbo and I finished them in the presence of my Dad for whom I have yet to finish any hand knitted object of love.
This does not mean I don't love him. Au contraire, he's the best Daddio a Girl could ask for. The truth is, I'm a slacker.
I promised him some socks like a year ago for Christmas and then I. Never. Delivered. BAD BAD Daughter.

So what's the Score?:
Mom 2 pair of socks.
Brother Bear: 1 labor of love sweater
Husband 2 pair of socks.
Dad: Zip. Zilch. Nil. Nada.

Better yet, when I proudly handed the completed socks to my husband he turned to my Dad and said, with a wicked little smile: "Jealous?"

So now, not ONLY do I have "Non-delivery Guilt", I now have "Dumb-dumb Husband Guilt" compounded by the "Silently Really Really Jealous Dad Guilt!!"

The problem? I've picked the pattern and the yarn for the Daddio socks but darn it, I don't WANT to do more cables right now! (Suck it up Jen) I only have one set of size 0 Addi Turbos in 24" (my needles of choice for socks in Lorna's) and I'm sick and tired of cables! BUT I have to make the socks for Dad as nice as the socks for husband. There's no dashing off a slacker stockinette pair after I clearly labored with blood, sweat and tears over my Bone Headed Darling Husband who doesn't realize how sensitive my Dad is.


And what I REALLY want to do... the socks that have been calling to me are these. They're called Oriel in the SKS book but if I do them in Lorna's Pewter then I'll have to call them Gothic Arches. Their Siren Song is calling me like no other pair of socks ever has before. Maybe my reward for finishing the Dad socks should be the Gothic Arches.....

Whaddya think? I should start the Dad socks, right? Suck it up and do the cables, Chickie? Swallow the bitter pill of Bad Daughter-dom and get on with the Repentance?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Guess what I'll be doing while I wait for the Harlot from 5:00 until 7:30 tonight?

Chocolate Cake Socks

I'm knitting a new pair of socks for hubbo. You see the last pair (a.k.a. the first pair) of socks I knit for him were too big by about a mile. Also, he's used to Costco cotton socks that squeeze the life out of your toes there's so much elastic in them.

So, shortly after the new year, in a fit of UFO work, I added a significant amount of elastic to the cuffs. They stayed up while we were out to dinner with some friends, but when he put them on the next day, they promptl slumped around his ankles.

Now, while I tried to explain to him the physics of handmade socks and how they don't stay up forever, they stretch while you wear them, they're bigger cause they're made specifically for his feet and what have you, the subtleties were lost on Darling Hub.

So, I'm knitting him a new pair of socks that will F.I.T.. They will fit because
1.) I'm a little more experienced
2.) I don't have to hide them from him while I finish the toes because they're not a X-mas present
3.) I can regularly take his foot hostage while he watches TV and slide the in-progress sock over his big gunboats just to check my progress. (BTW, why doesn't anyone in my family have small feet?)

I call them the Chocolate Cake Socks because the color of the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock I'm using looks just like perfect chocolate cake. You know how the little bubbles in the crumb are sometimes light and sometimes dark, but always look yummy.... yeah, that's it. Actually, the little wound balls look like little chocolate cupcakes to me but you're just going to have to take my word on that one...

I'm using the Cable with Seed Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks, of course. I let hubby pick from the patterns and choose the yarn color. He calls this red, but we know it's really brown.

Finally, while I was taking a few shots in the brief afternoon light, the sock had a near brush with death... do you SEE the talons on that beast? They're like the claws of a Velociraptor!! I had to swoop in and save the sock from certain death!

OK, yeah, Mr. Whiskers needs his claws trimmed.

Doesn't it look like chocolate cake????