One a day, plus iron

Well, they're mostly-done. I need to wash-n-block and put in the sleeve for the elastics, but all the interesting stuff is done. Now, I just need to keep them from falling down (for better trampling) and we'll be all set.

( Infidels worldwide tremble at my approach. )

The riding lesson thing went well. I like the instructor -- she knows her shit -- and I'm going back next Thursday, 5:30. It may take a while to fix the problems, but she definitely gives thirty bucks of value in an hour.

HoHI: I started to pick up gusset stitches on the heels. Yuck. DO NOT LIKE!! Totally DO NOT LIKE. I ripped back to the heel split. I'm trying again for a suitable heel treatment. NOT having one I don't like. Not. Not even to be done sooner. I have spent too much time on the HoHI to have any part of them be in the DO NOT LIKE category. I should adore every bit of these socks... so, back to the drawing board.

The HoHI are now at the exciting heel division. Actually, they're a couple of rows after that. Strategically, I've had to rip back once -- starting out with corrugate ribbing is not-so-good if your black and red colors don't match up on the black-n-red of the previous row. Ugly purl bumps. Ugly. So, first row is all knit. I learned that the hard way.

Flat two-color knitting isn't all *that* bad. I only had to learn one new skill (continental purling) in order to proceed. The internetwebmotron had instructions for continental purling with a video and everything, so it was okay. (I hate how stupid my hands feel when I'm trying to teach them to do new things.) I split the stitches into slightly uneven halves. There are eighteen more stitches on the top-of-the-foot part than on the bottom of the foot part, but that should not make a huge amount of difference since there are 49 stitches on the heel and 67 on the not-a-heel. Yes. At the ankle, the damn socks are 116 stitches around. I have fat ankles and I knit small.

There will be pictures of heel flaps as soon as I have enough heel flap to make a meaningful picture. I have five rows (on each sock) but that's not enough yet for a picture.

In other news, the nice people at Embarq sent us a check for fifty thousand dollars and change. Apparently they were not missing a decimal place and they really did mean ten thousands instead of just ordinary thousands. Yay.

We're still waiting on the alleged refund from the telco. They printed it on the bill and when I called today to inquire after how the refund process was progressing, they allowed as how the refund had been approved and that now we're just waiting for the telco to cut us a check. Uhm, yeah. So when can we have that? I was kind of wanting a new roof on my freaking house, you know...

They said they'd call us when it was mailed out. Yeah, right. That'll be Real Soon Now, I feel certain.

Made some progress on the HoHI this evening -- they go round and round really fast nowadays -- I'm about done with calf decreases and just have an inch and a half to go until the heel split. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

I was at my cousin Heather's yesterday for dinner, watched her baby-at-the-play video (v. cute), and ran around in the yard with Tess, who was naked. (Extra clarification: I was not naked. Tess being naked is not newsworthy most of the time, so I don't usually mention it.) Yesterday, though, in the late-afternoon sunlight, Tess was golden and the fallen walnut leaves were golden and everything was gold and brown and the whole thing looked like a damn Hallmark card, for values of Hallmark card that include a naked baby cuddling black walnuts and running from tree to tree like a slightly chunky nymph. It was like that dipshit Kincade was handling the lighting, for real.

( Read more? )

Sock progress report: 9 1/2" thereof. F^3 with Heather tomorrow in the early morning to see if we can beat most of the crowds. There may be fudge for sale. (F^3 is the Fall Foliage Festival, not the hentai title similarly abbreviated.) Then, we're going to make pureed squash (for pies). Feel the excitement. Thrilling, innit?

Anyone who is interested in seeing a-third-done HoHI worn on my somewhat furry leg can check out the pictures on my flickr for some slightly blurry artificial-light (it was dark out this morning when I took the shots) pictures of the sock in progress. The colors are better (I swear) than they appear in the pictures. No, I haven't shaved my legs lately. Wanna make something of it?

( Lady, put the keyboard down. Nobody wants to hear more about your socks. )

Sock progress: 8 1/2" of sock. Yay. Today was a good sock day. Also, told you I'd get back into the swing of this sock knitting stuff. In the course of working on the HoHI, I've been rewatching Veronica Mars, mostly because I have the serious hots for Logan. He's so... snarky. I'm a sucker for good snark. The pretty doesn't hurt, either.

( In other, non-sock news... )

I picked up the HoHI again (Socktober starts tomorrow) and ground away another quarter inch on them. It's been a while since ya'll were exposed to the HoHI, so here's the recap...

( Christ, first it was horses and now it's socks... never anything interesting. )

I actually got a fair amount of stuff done today, if assorted handicrafts count as stuff...

( Oh, like *that's* interesting -- not! )