Dear Sock Drawer

My dearest sock drawer,

You know I love you dearly, but you have become so messy. A drawer filled with black socks should have enough matching black socks to provide one week's worth of foot coverings. The lacy navy sock and dotted black sock you threw at me this morning was inexcusable. This is a wake up call. Please organize yourself or I may be forced to do it myself. Don't make me come in there.

You might be thinking that you're out of danger because I procrastinate, but you'd be wrong. It might be the moon, the planets, or even the water; I'm on a completion kick. Just this week, I've finished three craft projects -- if you must know, it was the monkey socks, nephew's sweater, and napkins. The house is getting cleaner by the minute and you're next on my list.

Consider yourself warned.

Sincerely
Sally Knitz

Loose ends

After beginning several knitting projects and finishing none, I decided that I needed to see progress, to see completion. Cross one thing off the list: Monkey socks.

They were fun to knit, quick and look harder to make than they actually are. They feel very soft and comfortable on the foot too.

Back to that in progress list. Next! Husband's Christmas stocking or nephew's sweater?

Knitting books

A friend sent this estate sale treasure. For a small pamphlet, it certainly has most of the things I've ever needed to learn about knitting -- casting on/off, basic stitches, pattterns for socks, sweaters, scarves and mittens. Proper attitude included: note what a happy occassion this is for the girls in the picture.

Goodbye to an old friend

We said goodbye to our beloved kitty Trouser. Even the best cats can't stick around forever and Trouser was no exception. He passed away in his sleep last night.

Crazy days

As of 10:30 am this morning, I'm an aunt again. Everyone needs a crazy Aunt Sally. I'm so happy to step up to fill the role for my sister's boys.

This was very good news since most of the weekend was spent at the emergency vet with our kitty. He's really sick, and it is hard to watch. The good news is that since Monday morning his been at the regular vet's office on a heating pad and with an IV. And yes, I love that cat far more than I should. Husband and I went to visit him today. He had a feeble purr for us as we scratched him under the chin. We need many good thoughts for Mr. Kitty.

Ordinarily, I would have unburdened myself to my sister, but (see above) she was busy. Another good friend stepped up to fill the void on Sunday. We went to lunch, shopping, and the bookstore. And I got an invitation to the Harry Potter movie and a Harry Potter book signing party on Friday evening. Very exciting. Is it Friday yet?

Not so much knitting

The sock growth has slowed drastically as the toe approaches. This defies my understanding of how a sock develops. If one knits at the same speed, the end of the sock should take as long as the beginning of the sock, the middle, and so on. Turning the heel is different. It goes quickly because the directions require a certain amount of attention.

Since the sock wasn't finished, I did the next happiest thing. I took the almost-finished sock to work and made everyone pet and admire it. Oh yes I did.

Knit one, purl one; hurry, hurry, hurry!

Dear Monkey Sock,

It's true that you are more enchanting than any sock I've ever knitted. Your pattern is complex enough to fascinate and simple enough to learn. Yet my dear sock-to-be, you are not becoming a sock quickly enough. If only you had a sense of urgency.

Yours,
Sally Knitz

Gotta Know

I've been browsing knitting blogs and now I've simply got to know more. What is that two-dimensional foot shaped thingy that people put a sock on when they want to take its picture?

Yarn Treasures

Sometimes yarn simply arrives. A coworker was decluttering her house recently, and then she invited me to the parking garage to look in the trunk of her car. That's because she is a yarn pusher. A beautiful, witty, wonderful yarn pusher. Who knows what insanity drove her to this ill-advised purge, but the yarn has fallen into good hands.

Two skeins are a lovely blue, tan, brown self-striping soy wool blend from Patons. Perhaps the Booga Bag is this yarn's destiny. If only it had bamboo handles.

Little Kid Stuff

Nephew's sweater is nearly finished if you don't count the infinite number of lose ends that need to be woven in or blocking. So, so close. This sweater has actually been knitted twice; the pattern contained an error that wasn't detected until the body of the sweater had been made. Perhaps it is too soon for a victory dance.

Play hard

One of the cats who lives at my house spends all night moving his toys (and some of mine, ahem!) to new locations, pouncing on them and doing who knows what. This morning he had fallen asleep with his head on one of his toys, and I was able to catch a snapshot just as he realized the paparazzi were stalking him.

Rainbows

Tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce and herbs have been staples of my summer garden for years. This year, I decided to grow carrots and summer squash instead of 'maters and peppers. A co-worker reasoned that you can always swap other homegrown veggies for tomatoes because folks have so many this time of year. I hope he's right because I'm feeling woefully deprived of tomatoes right now.

Instead, I thinned the carrot patch. They're still pretty small but promising. The red ones are orange on the inside.

Send a man to Starbucks

If you send a man to the coffee shop with a note like this,

then you get a drink with this written on the side -- note not in man's handwriting:

Sunday morning

It's been rainy. Really rainy. I've complained. I've complained lots and lots.

However, this rainy day was very pleasant. I met an old friend for coffee. We talked and talked and went back to her house. Then we rolled up our pants and walked barefoot in the garden (with mud squishing up between our toes) and picked beans. Her husband met us at the back door with towels after we'd rinsed our feet with the garden hose. Then I snuggled with her kids, drank tea, and we talked more. Now that's my kind of rainy day.