I want to stop now....

 I am not a fan of Cat Bordhi's sweet tomato heel.

Leyburn Socks with Sweet Tomato Heel

Perhaps it's just me, perhaps I've done something wrong, perhaps I simply chose too complicated a pattern to try this out on, but I have finally turned the heel of one of my Leyburn socks and the sock is so tight around the instep as to need me to tug it into place when I attempt to wear it.  I'm also not a fan of the bunching look created by executing the third set of short rows. Sigh.

Maybe I'm pushing myself too hard, but I'm just now binding off the first sock in this pair, which has put me behind in knitting the 4 socks I had planned this month.  I would like to get the Solid Socks Group Mystery Sock knit before the last clue come out.  I also need to get Ivy knit before the end of the month.  I reestablished my cast on day for the sock (tomorrow) and if I can get a decent amount of work done on the Mystery sock tonight, then I will get started on it tomorrow.

Productive

I think February is the month for me to be productive.


At work, I managed to wrap up a project that was continually delayed last year (not due to me....there was always a competing priority).  It only took a month, mostly due to the developer needing to fine-tune code.  Otherwise, I'm waiting on feedback from the end user.  Meanwhile, I'm up in Maine finishing another project, helping a school automate some of their processes.


On the knitting front, I have already finished one of the Sock Knitters' Anonymous socks.

Clover Socks in Cherry Tree Hill, Loden colorway

The Clover socks were a lot of fun to knit and they took no time! One week for the pair, which is probably the fastest I've ever finished a pair of socks.  Even better, I bound them off and immediately put them on my feet (since it was 18 degrees here in Portland, ME today),  I have a load of handknit socks to wash when I get home tomorrow and for some reason I'm not looking forward to it.

Solid Socks Mystery KAL

Meanwhile, while watching the Superbowl (Yay Giants!), I cast on for and finished the first clue of the Solid Socks Mystery KAL sock.  I was smugly reveling in this fact when I realized that I was using Jojoland Melody from my stash.

Leyburn Socks in Jojoland Melody

CRAP!!! I need to learn how to read the instructions better, because Jojoland Melody is definitely not a solid or semi-solid sock yarn.  So, after admiring the beauty of that bit of knitting, I frogged the cuffs and searched through the Ravelry queue for something else I could knit.  I happened on the Leyburn Socks.  These have been in my queue forever, so I cast on.  So far, I've finished one full repeat of the instep pattern and I can see that I'm going to need to break out the stitch counter for this pattern because it's so easy to miss those rounds of plain knitting.


So far, in 2012, I've finished 3 pairs of socks....I'm thinking that I just might challenge myself to finished the full dozen for the year, especially since I'm already making good progress (2 socks completed, 2 on the needles, 1 waiting to start).  I'm not counting the Escalator socks because they were begun last year.

Super Bowl Sunday

 And I'm sitting in JFK airport, so I'm sure you can guess the allegiance of most of the people around me.

I'm rooting for the Giants, mostly because that's who I rooted for in 2008.  I'm what you would call a "day of" fan; I make my decision of who I'm supporting the day of the game.  So in 2008, newly settled in Florida, bored out of my mind, and wanting to be able to keep up with the inevitable discussion at work the next day, I watched the Super Bowl.

I had absolutely no facts on either team.  I didn't know that the Patriots were coming into the Superbowl undefeated and were looking to set a record.  I didn't know that Plaxico Burress would later shoot his own dumb self in the leg and earn some prison time.  All I knew was that it was Eli Manning vs. Tom Brady.  Eli, the newly drafted little brother of one of the few names in football I recognized vs. the supermodel (who was married or engaged to the supermodel and had a child with another gorgeous woman in relationship circumstances that were as murky as Brangelina).  Since I adored Peyton, I decided to give Eli a chance.

How time flies.  Now Tom is still a brilliant, dominant player, Peyton is seriously injured and Eli has come into his own.  This game is killing me.

 

UPDATE:  the Giants won!  Woo Hoo!!!

A Skewed Reality

Tuesday, I started a second pair of Skew socks.

This has to be one of my favorite patterns, mostly because of the unique construction.  I love the ergonomic toes, the origami heel, the candy cane feeling when knitting the legs...there is so much about the sock to love.

So, I'm thinking I'll probably finish the first sock sometime this morning and go ahead and cast on for the second sock.  Or I can go ahead and get started on one of my SKA socks.

(Right now, I REALLY don't like the fact that the iPad takes such horrible pictures.  I guess now is the time to try out Photoshop Express.)

That's the other thing I love about this sock; because of the uniqueness of the construction, SSS is virtually negligible.