Evidence

I've made some progress on my sockapalooza socks! Here's the evidence:
Do you see the white dots up in the knitting near the needles? That's my lifeline. I've got five rows of the heel flap knitted, and three rows before I started the heel I strung some dental floss through one row. Now if I need to un-do, won't go any farther back than that.

Three Errors Makes One Redo

Ok, fine. I mostly finished my gauge swatch socks. There's no photo because yours truly wants to rip out the cast off and do that part a third time before letting anyone see them. But they're otherwise done.

So in my haste to actually start my sockapalooza socks, I set my gauge swatch socks aside and cast on. Everything went well for about an inch and a half. At this point I decided that I must've messed up, because one sock had green pooling on the front, and the other sock had green pooling on the back. So I rotated one sock by half the stitches and discovered that the striping was angling off in opposite directions, causing me to decide that I must've wound the yarn from the opposite end of the skein on one of them.

I decided to forge ahead and see what happened. I got to the end of the cuff section and started on a fancy and pointless little knit/purl pattern I had come up with. Busy sock yarn means the pattern is the fancy colors.

So I frogged the pair and re-wound one of the skeins from the other end. I am now almost back to where I was when I frogged and the first two "problems" are still there.

However, I decided to make a tutorial with my redo. I've learned so much from so many people on the internet, I decided instead of just casting on and having a good time, I'd help out the next person trying to learn to make two socks on one long circular. I took the pictures. Now all I have to do is decide if I'm going to put my tutorial on my blog, or if I want to put it on my website.

The photos you see here are probably my rejects. The one on the right isn't too bad, but I have a better one (not so dark).

The yarn is yummy, isn't it? I just had to get used to it. If I wanted perfectly symmetrical socks, I should have purchased machine-dyed yarn, right? Right.

It's a really good thing I never wear green, or I'd have a hard time parting with these. They are already turning out really pretty.

There is a cat on my lap

If you knew my cat, you'd know this is incredibly unusual. So I'm not moving, even though I'm hungry. She is soooo nice and warm. She's a 15-year old (I think) white short-haired attitude on paws.

I finished the two pairs of socks I'd started. I knit the majority of one pair at TAM4. If I don't knit I'm going to chew my fingernails. I might do both anyhow. We had a great time, and this time I wasn't in Lost Wages alone. (I went alone last summer for TechWave.) So I've been in Lost Wages twice now, and I still haven't gambled a penny.

Actually, we had fun going to the Bellagio and getting sticker shock at the price of the buffet. It was probably lovely, but we've been trying to carefully avoid overeating. I just couldn't bring myself to spend over $30 on one plate of food. We got to take public transportation back to the Stardust.

It's really funny to admit, but I have a lot of fun taking public transportation with my sweetheart. We don't have much in the way of public transporation out where I live, so hopping a bus or tube is just a great adventure for me. Ah, dragging two suitcases through the Victoria Station in London with a pulled groin muscle. Such adventure.

Anyhow, I actually have a photo for you this time. I bought yarn for my Sockapalooza buddy.
That's Koigu. The black is for my sweetheart, the purple is for me, and the multi-colored is for my sockapalooza buddy. I bought it because a discussion on the socknitters list linked to someone who posted that Koigu is both machine-washable and wonderful to work with. There is no question it's wonderful to work with, but it says to hand wash.

I'm going to have to be very careful. Right now I'm wearing a top which was too big for me and was marked dry-clean only. I accidentally dropped it in the wash. It fits now. I was lucky. I will never, ever, ever complain about something being ruined in the wash. Never. I will not complain when someone else does my laundry.

So what am I doing right now? Well...I'm gauge-swatching using the purple by knitting a pair of toe-up socks for myself. My skirt is still unfinished, I have a scarf half-made sitting next to the computer, and I still need to weave in the ends and block another scarf I've promised a friend as a gift. I can hardly believe I actually finished and washed two pairs of socks.

Well, since I probably won't get around to actually taking pictures of the socks anytime soon, I'll give you photos of the unfinished socks here (since I have them).

The first pair have short-row heels and toes, and the second pair have the classic heel-flap.

I know they look black, but in fact they are fashion black with...white cat hairs all over them. The real challenge here is going to be knitting for my sockapalooza buddy without sending as much cat as sock.

Other specs on the socks: both done with Addi Turbos on US 1 circulars (150cm). Both done with KnitPicks Essential yarn. First pair have 60 stitches in circumference, second pair have 72. I like the 72-stitch socks better, but I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn. This is why I'm making myself a pair of toe-up socks out of the Koigu. I don't know how long to make the cuff.

So the kitty is still on my lap. This is great!