Brrrr!

It's pretty cold and icy here in New Jersey these days. Good days to have a fire going and some knitting on your lap. We've been trying to keep the heat set low, but we find ourselves using the gas fireplace quite a lot, s I don't think we are really saving anything on heat. I know the monthly utility bill is a heckuva lot higher than last year, but am not sure if that is due to gas fireplace use or higher gas prices. Making full use of our wool sweaters, wool socks and various blankets is free, however, so I keep encouraging that.

Bizarrely enough, my daughter has NO SWEATERS. She's the daughter of a knitter and she has no sweaters. Of course, she hates sweaters, and won't wear them, which is why I have refused to knit her any for several years, but it still is the weirdest thing. She likes handknit hats and socks and scarves, though, so she has plenty of those. But no sweaters.

Inspired by the weather, I have been cranking along on my Inishmore.

I finished the back (huge, isn't it? but that's what the pattern calls for). I also did one of the saddle shoulders for a sleeve, before finally getting down and dirty with the math so I could figure out how to convert this pattern into a cardigan. I have gone back and forth on this question for a long time. Sheer laziness was leading me to just go with the pattern as written, making a regular pullover sweater. But the fabric is so incredibly dense and warm, and the pattern is so big, that I am positive I will get so much more use out of it as a cardigan. I think I have figured out a good way to do it, and cast on for the left front. It's a lot more fun to knit than the back--just because I get done a row twice as quickly, I guess--so I am working on it almost exclusively. I would love to see if I could finish this in the next few weeks, because I think this sweater would be perfect for March weather.

While I was procrastinating on the Inishmore calculations, I did a couple more hats. Have I mentioned how much I love hats? Man, they are so much fun. I made another Amanda hat, this time for me, but it has actually gone to Catgirl:

It's a little snug and too short for my comfort. Long boring story.

I then made this one for me, a Turn A Square hat, and it is perfect...

...even if the stripes are a tad wonky. The yarn for both of these is Malabrigo Worsted (mmmmm-malabrigo!).

I started a sweater for Mathboy using Cascade 220 heather yarn. Boy is that yarn terrific, especially in light of the price tag. I am going to be able to make this sweater for less than $30. What a deal! And the number of color choices available just blew us away. How did I not know about this yarn before?

This is Orange Twist, although clearly not orange. I think it's a very cool pattern for a teen boy sweater. I actually now have about 15 inches up the back, so I am making progress. It would be nice if I could get this done soon, so he could wear it in this cold weather, but I think I may have my hands full with Inishmore. There are only so many hours in the day for knitting, ya know?

In other news: The kids and I have also made up our first letterboxes, and have a pretty good idea of where to plant them. We just need some good weather so we can get them placed and write up the clues. Very exciting! We completed Mathboy's application to Moorestown Friends School, and have officially started walking around with crossed fingers. My boss came back from her Caribbean vacation, which means that the nice and quiet period for all her employees is over, as well. February is looking pretty busy already!

Meanwhile, we are waiting for Mathboy's teacher to hold the promised parent meeting about the Montessori Model U.N., which is rapidly approaching. It's only 4 weeks away, and we still don't know who he will choose for chaperones, and he has not had the kids doing any writing or preparing. They finished the initial set of questions, but that's it. In fact, he still has not given us the right dates for this thing. I found the right dates myself by going to the MMUN website. So, it looks like the organizational aspect of this event is just as messed up as it was last year. Fabulous. The saving grace, however, is that one of the moms has organized so many fund raisers that she may have the whole cost covered. That is tremedous, and the rest of the parents owe her huge thanks!

Ringing in the New Year!

So I am playing hooky from work today, and the fact that I am home, by myself, without feeling too much stress about what I need to be doing, had me so happy that I thought it was time to blog. Best to blog in a good mood, don't you think?

It has been so long since I posted, but I can't really give a synopsis of everything we did since my last update. Well, I'll try a quick "sum up:" Mathboy had his birthday, and is now 12. We went to Thanksgiving at my brother's house. Rich and I both worked our tails off in early December--Rich harder than me, but then after his arbitration he was pretty much able to take the last 2 weeks of the year off. I was helping my boss prepare for our de novo divocre hearing on December 19th ... which ended up being postponed at the last minute, after we had worked so hard on it for weeks. Very frustrating.

We ended up getting our Christmas tree very late, so now, on January 7th, we still have it up and lit and decorated. We will probably take it down this weekend. It was not our best tree, all things considered. Probably the best thing we can say about it is that it's healthy. It's rather crooked and very puffy, and the angel keeps falling off, and we had to tie it to the railing that divides the family room from the breakfast nook in order to keep it from falling over. When Cat Crazy Girl hosted her book club over Christmas break, one of her friends told me that she liked our tree: "It's so outgoing," she said. I laughed so hard. Is that a nice way of telling me the tree takes up the entire room?

I was able to make knitted gifts for almost everyone this year, because I went small. Hats rock. You can knit them on the train, and (depending on the pattern) you can make one in a few days. I ended up making 4 Amanda hats, 2 Zeebees, 1 Hat Fit for a Boyfriend, 2 Winter Warmers. I also made some hanging towels from the new Mason-Dixon Knitting book, a scarf, some socks, and some fingerless gloves. Everyone was amazed at how much I did, but some of the stuff I had completed very early in the year and saved for Christmas giving, and the hats were so quick and easy, that I really don't think it was that big a deal. I appreciate that everyone lets me pass off to them the end-results of my hobby.

My favorite patterns, as is obvious from my stats, were the Amanda and Zeebee hats. I want to make more of these--they are so much fun to make and they FOs looks great.

Here is the Amanda I gave to Jill, made with Malabrigo Worsted:

WOW! Now I understand why everyone goes crazy over Malabrigo. This was a joy to knit, and the finished hat is soooooo soft and squooshy. I want one.

Here is one of the Zeebees, made with Knitpicks Cadena:

Very manly, eh? I want one for myself, in a heathery teal. What do you think?

Christmas was great. I got the breadmaker I asked for, and it works wonderfully. I bought Rich the Xbox game he wanted and a golf bag. We bought Mathboy the complete set of The Far Side (making good use of all the coupons we kept getting through the Christmas season), a sand wedge, and a bunch of other stuff. Cat Girl got ...

... an iPod Shuffle. Not the Nano that all the girls at school were probably going to get, but we figured a 10 year old did not need a Nano. Let's see how she does with the Shuffle. Already, she left it at her cousins' house over Christmas, and is waiting to have it mailed home. Hmm. Not the best of starts.

Other popular gifts included the PJs to match the ones belonging to Nellie ...

(see our out-going tree in the background), and various other doll accessories, and the gift that is causing me to hear the High School Musical Soundtrack in my sleep: HSM dance pad game for XBox.

Wait: We should backtrack again. With the many gifts that were requested for the Xbox this year, you'll never believe what happened the week before Christmas. We got the Red Ring of Death on our XBox. Of ALL things...! Rich had to disconnect it and have it shipped to Texas for repair, which, although free, would take 3 weeks. What a drag. We knew that this was going to take some of the fun out of Christmas: here's the Xbox game you wanted so much, sorry you can't play it until the stupid console gets fixed, but Merry Christmas anyway! In the end, we decided to buy a used console at Gamestop. It did not cost that much, and we heard that the Red Ring of Death can recur, so it will be nice to have an Xbox unit in reserve if that happens again.

We stayed home on Christmas Day, had a slug fest and played with all our new toys. Then on Dec. 26th, we packed up and went to my parents' house to see my side of the family. We exchanged more gifts, and had a nice visit. BUT I forgot to take pictures!

Then, bright and early on Dec. 27th, we jumped back in the Rav4 and drove to Charlotte to see Rich's side of the family. We exchanged more gifts! Had some great visits with grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. I did remember to take some pictures:

How'd everyone get so Grown Up??!!

Ages, left to right: 10, 10, 12, 16, 14 (almost) ... WOW!

We got in some letterboxing:

Here is Cat Girl refusing to give up looking in this hollow tree for the box that was supposed to be there. And guess what? She was right. It WAS there. She found it.

With all that car time, I got in some serious knitting, and I am proud to say I got some UFOs finished so I could start the new year without them hanging over me. I finished these socks, which, I actually first started when I was sitting in Barnes and Noble waiting for the last Harry Potter to be released (July 2007, right?):

These are made in the Knittery old cashmere blend. I hated this yarn, I hated this stitch pattern, and put these socks down for months and months. 18 months, to be exact. Now they are done, and they are comfortable to wear, as I thought they would be. Actually, that was the only thing that kept me from throwing these away ages ago. Anyway, I am very glad to have these done.

I also finished the Lace Ribbon Scarf, although not in time to give to anyone for Christmas:

It turned out a little short, but otherwise is simply beautiful. I just knitted until I ran out of yarn, and since these skeins are hand dyed at Woolbearers, I would not have been able to get another skein to match, so this length will have to do.

I also finished a couple dishcloths, and got several inches in on my Inishmore. I did another square for the Great American Afghan, which means I now have 7 squares out of 25 done. And I started a new pair of socks:

This is Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in an unknown colorway. I traded for it with someone on Ravelry. It is very pretty.

Finally, we are doing our best to get Mathboy into Moorestown Friends School for next year. He definitely needs to move. Unfortunately, he got into some trouble at school in December, so Rich and I did not feel the time was good to ask his teachers to write recommendations for him. What would we say? "Yes, we know he drives you and the other kids crazy by calling out answers, but would you mind writing us a recommendation? Thanks so much." Maybe we should remind them that if they write a good rec they will be able to get rid of him for next year? Maybe not.

Mathboy is very frustrated because he says he is not learning very much. He gets classes with the middle school teachers now, but they are not doing much that he doesn't already know, so he is bored. Meanwhile, I really don't like his main teacher for this year. I really don't want to deal with him, but I have to. I already had to meet him about Mathboy's misbehaviour before Christmas and now we have our regular academic conference next week. I don't think this guy knows how to handle Mathboy. He has decided that Mathboy needs to learn humility. Well, he could have a point here. But I can see that Mathboy may be having trouble with that when his teachers don't teach him anything he doesn't already know.

On an essay that Mathboy wrote for the English teacher back in November, he got a great deal of helpful contructive criticism from the English teacher, and there were also a few comments from the main teacher.

Here is an example of one of the main teacher's comments. Mathboy had typed "Thank You" at the end of his essay, which we, as adults, know is not really appropriate at the end of an essay. That is what a teacher should teach him, right? He is only 12 and has not had a lot of writing experience at this school. So, first, the teacher wrote that there was no need to put "thank you" here, and then he added:

"Are you expecting a prize, or some appreciation of your sharing of your intelligence? Are you thanking me for reading it? Has *humility* [underlined] not sunk in yet?"

HOW is this appropriate criticism? HOW is this contructive?

I do not like this guy.

Well, that's enough for this update, I think! Back to my laundry.

Blogger Guilt....

I am a Bad Blogger lately. But it has been really hard to get good blocks of time to sit down and do it. Also, much of the knitting I have been doing is for other people and I kinda don't want to ruin any surprises by posting pictures here. So what can I talk about? I work. I clean the house. I drive a lot. I knit when I can. I read very little. I take the cat to the vet (long story, see below). So all I really have for you here are some idle thoughts.

The Soundtrack of My Life
Lately, all I seem to hear is one of the following:
The High School Musical 3 Soundtrack, which CatGirl has memorized since it is on constant play in her room.




She knows all the parts, and sings them all. She prefers Sharpay, of course.













Or Viva La Vida, the latest Coldplay cd...

Rich and I went to see them in concert for my birthday, and they were tremendous. But who knew that Mathboy and his friends would become Coldplay obsessed? His birthday sleepover was quite a sight: they played board games, video games, and PC games, with this cd playing constantly in the background, and all boys sang along. Wish I had video'ed it. It was kinda weird.

Or the sounds of the creatures of Spore....

...the new PC game we got CatGirl for her birthday, and which has become one of Mathboy's new obsessions (along with Coldplay).

What else can I show you? Oh, here's something:

A hat for Catgirl. Isn't it adorable? She's pretty cute, too.

And look:

Here's Rudolph pretending not to notice the flock of wild turkeys walking through the yard behind him. Unfortunately for Rudolph, he did notice, and it was either that night or a few nights later that we believe he had a close encounter with one of them. He has a severe injury to his left eye, and the jury is still out on whether he will be able to use that eye in the future. Did you know that there are Pet Opthalmologists? Well, there are. And they are not cheap.

What a Busy Month!

I am not quite sure how October has ended up becoming the busiest month of the year, but, every year, without fail, this is what happens for us. And we are not alone--lots of friends are saying the same. You would think it would be September, since that's the month that school starts. But it seems like the busy-ness of school time needs a little time to get up to full speed, and it really hits max speed in October. Of course, we often make it worse by going away in October, which is what happened this year.

We went to the mountains of Virginia to hike and camp and stay at Big Meadows Lodge on Skyline Drive the weekend of October 3. We had a wonderful time, although I did discover the hard way that walking around your neighborhood 3 times or so a week was completely inadequate training for the trails we picked out. Here are just a couple pictures:






The night we camped out, of course, it was FREEZING. The fire was pretty, and good for making hot chocolate, but not much good in actually keeping us warm. By 9 pm, we had to get in our sleeping bags in the tent just to warm up. But we were lucky enough to hear the Phillies win on the radio--on the Philadelphia sports station! Awesome radio reception is, I guess, one of the benefits to being on top of a mountain.

When we got back, it was time to get ready for Cat Girl's birthday. She got some great gifts, including some new clothes for Nicki.

Her party is scheduled for this upcoming weekend. I would appreciate prayers: I am taking 7 girls to see "High School Musical 3," and they are sleeping over. Help!

Knitting time has been at a premium lately, because of other commitments. But I have gotten some gifts done for people, which I can't show here. I also started a Woodland Shawl for myself:

I am using Rio de la Plata yarn in the Crimson Green colorway. I am not sure I love this project, but I will keep at it. It's a lot narrower than I wanted it to be, and the yarn is kind of stripey. It could improve greatly on blocking, though, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I also made a quick improvised Edgar scarf for Cat Girl, and it is very cool:

The yarn is very soft, and the colors are so pretty. It's Sheep Feet, from the Sheep Shop Yarn Company. Very nice. I don't have a finished picture yet, unfortunately. I want CatGirl to model it for me. I am also about halfway through a hat for MathBoy, but have no picture.

Quick Update

On Thursday, we are off to Skyline Drive, in the mountains of Virginia, for a long weekend. But before we go, I thought I would leave you with the following:


Girl with Pig and Braces. She smiles more now that she has braces than she did before. Hmm.


The Chemo Comfort Shawl, all done and awkwardly posed on an ugly office chair.


My first project from the new Mason Dixon Knitting Book, which I received last week. I actually won this book in a contest that Kay and Ann had on their blog over the summer, and it was so exciting to get it in the mail last week on the day it was published. The book is really wonderful--even better than their first book, I think. There are so many projects in there that I want to do, but I started with this one. I plan to make several more of these, in classier colors (i.e., solids) and preferably without the gajillion mistakes.

Another Turkey of a Blog Entry.

It's not every day that I get blog fodder as downright cool as finding a frog on the commode. But that is what I had last time, and I BLEW my chance. I've never read a duller blog entry than my last one. Thank goodness I had a cute frog picture to make it worth a reader's while. Oh well. I am very sorry, and will endeavor to do better this time, even though I do not have the benefit of frogs to help me out. I'll see what I can do.

Unfortunately, this week's material is kinda, umm, boring. This is what I've got, people:

Braces. Cat Crazy Girl got a partial set of braces this month, and is SO excited. I know Rich and I were not this jazzed when we got our braces as kids (possible understatement of the day there), so we are a little confused. But we're glad she has such a good attitude about the whole thing. Bad mom that I am, I have no picture of the braces yet. I will post one when I have it. The plan for Cat Girl is to have the partials on for a few months to take care of the canine tooth she has that came in completely sideways, and to help straighten the front teeth that are all catty-wampus (how do you spell that?). That should only take a few months. Then she'll wear a retainer until all her grown up teeth come in and get a full set of braces to deal with a minor overbite.

Mathboy's program is a little more complicated, because apparently he has a ridiculously huge overbite. He has to start with an appliance to help move his lower jaw forward; after a few months with that, the ortho plans to put on a full set of braces.

Fun times. I had to make the deposit this month for both kids. I kinda saw stars when writing the check.

Working! I am working part-time now for a matrimonial lawyer in Philadelphia. In fact, I already got paid for my first 3 days of work, which was nice! Another check like that, and I've got the downpayment for the braces for both kids. Woohoo! My new boss is actually one of my old bosses--I worked for her in 1994, between my stints for the Judge. She was tough back then, and, from what I've seen so far, she's tough now. I hope it works out.

Are you bored yet? How about some pictures of FO's to brighten things up?

Knitting: I finished Hey Teach and I LOVE it. I've already worn it, like, 3 times? No, I think 4 times. I even wore it to the office. Why not? I'm not going to court. Hey Lawyer?

To recap, this was done in a cotton/silk blend that I have had hanging around in my stash for a couple of years. It is perfect for the weather we have been getting lately and I am very happy with it.

After all that cotton, and the seaming, and the buttons ... I felt a strong need to knit something small, with no seams, and that used wool. Socks, right? No! I still can't bear the thought of socks yet; it's too close to the Summer of Socks. I'm not ready. So...

I made hats. The left hat is Brooke's Column of Leaves Hat. A nice pattern, but completely obliterated by the busy yarn. The hat of the right is Nautilus Hat, a very cool pattern that you knit from the top of the hat down. This was a much better pattern for this yarn, as the stockinette and the eyelets are simple enough to compliment the yarn colorway. The yarn, by the way is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru in the Philosopher's Stone colorway (which has been discontinued). Some of you may be getting these for Christmas, so please forget you saw them. Move along.

A Shawl for a Friend. The Blanches are having a celebration for one of their members, and suggested that folks might want to send a scarf or hat or earrings--something to complement her "new look" after chemo. (The Blanches are so great.) So, being the weird knitter friend on the fringe of the group, I decided that I needed to make her a shawl. This lady is terrific, and deserves every prayer and good intention that can be sent her way. I want to make her a scarf that will be beautiful, soft and luxurious, and into which I can knit my best prayers and wishes for her recovery. And I want to be able to do this in 2 weeks, although 10 days would be better. Yikes! I started Friday night.

I think I found a great pattern: the Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl. It's very pretty, it's not huge, and the repeats are short and easy so I can work fast. The recipient can throw it around her shoulders for a little comfort, without having to deal with a full size shawl. But deciding on a yarn was a little harder.

My first try was with some Fleece Artist 2/6 I had.

The colors were beautiful, but I wanted the end result to feel luxurious and soft and comforting, and this was not. So I tried again:

This yarn was suggested by the ladies at Woolbearers. Made with Merino and Cashmere, it does feel soft and luxurious, but the color choices offered were rather boring. This looked okay in the store, but knitted up it just looks drab. So I went stash-diving again, and found this:

Laine's shawl, Take 3, with Handmaiden Mini Maiden silk and wool in "Midnight." It is beautiful and soft and luxurious. I would have preferred a cheerier colorway, but it is lovely. I am cruising along on it--it does go fast.

Other Interesting Items: So Mathboy and I got home from school last week, looked out the back window and saw ...

A whole family of wild turkeys, just wandering through. This is suburban New Jersey, not the wilderness. What up with all this? We've got a family of deer treating my tomato and green bean plants and my hydrangea as a buffet, frogs in the bathroom, and wild turkeys wandering through the backyard. Hunh.

And why is it that when I make tomato sauce and tomato soup with the fresh tomatoes from my garden and from our CSA share I get this color?

This soup is orange, people, not red. It tastes great, but the kids are very suspicious since the color is not exactly the same as Ragu or Campbell's, ya know?

Well, that's all I've got for now. Happy Fall!

In which we get a Froggy Visitor

This morning, Rich was in the bathroom when my alarm went off so I went downstairs to use the powder room. I was still a little fuzzy in my head so I did not even jump when I saw this little visitor sitting on the back of the toilet looking up at me.

Kinda cute, isn't he? (or she?) I kept him in a bowl until the kids woke up, then we set him free. We hope he can stay clear of the Rudolph. We hear frog tastes like chicken. Rudolph does like chicken. C. says we are going to miss him. I'm trying not to think about how he ended up in the powder room. I'd rather frogs than bugs.

The wedding was fun. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins. We got some hiking in and saw some pretty views.


The annoying thing was that we did not get Maine weather while we were in Maine. We got New Jersey weather in Maine. It was supposed to be in the 70s while we were there, but instead it was close to 90. Meanwhile, friends back home reported that it was in the 70s in New Jersey. HUNH?!

I did not finish any more socks for the Summer of Socks. I got through one sock of the Cross Hatch Lace socks, but then totally lost my sock mojo.

See? One sock down and half a foot on the second, but I am out of gas. I need a break from socks. So...

I made 2 squares for the afghan:


I started the Lace Ribbon Scarf, which will be a Christmas gift for someone.

It is SO pretty. The camera just can't do this pattern or this yarn justice. I am using the Kraemer Silk & Silver yarn again (just like the stuff I used for my Clapotis this spring, but this time in Navy), hand-dyed at Woolbearers. I heart this yarn. Love, love.


I am working on Hey Teach! in Fable cotton/silk. This is yarn that I have had for a while. I bought it a couple of years ago with the intention of making a summer top or a shell, but it was hard to find something I liked and for which I had enough of this yarn. I liked this pattern so much when I saw it; I do hope the FO looks as good as I hope! The funny thing is that tons of people are making this pattern now because the Yarn Harlot is making it--and hers looks great, btw. Anyway, it is a fast knit. I just started it last week, and already I have one front, both sleeves, and half of the second front.

I also cooked about 15 tomatoes down into this:

Much sauce, now in the freezer. And I still have this bounty from this week:

I have to go now. I need to Google eggplant recipes. And maybe salsa recipes for the tomatoes and peppers? The kids are terrified.

More Socks before Maine

Tomorrow we head up to Maine for Rich's cousin's wedding weekend, so I have a quick post with the latest sock, unbelievably finished in a mere 10 days by the grace of too much Olympic-viewing:

Spring Forward, done toe-up in Woolly Boully yeah oh yeah! sock, the Fishing with my Father colorway. The pattern and sock color are hard to photograph: the camera just can't show how loud this color is, and you just can't see the complicated pattern (because the yarn is so loud). I have to admit that the color grew on me as I was knitting. Actually, my appreciation of the yarn was no doubt helped along by how really pleasant it was to work with. Very nice yarn. The pattern was OK--not too hard once you got used to it.

Lean Mean Sock Machine

First things first: No, I have not heard back after my interview. Yes, it's been about 2 weeks. New resumes are on the way out, but I am disappointed the guy did not call me back. He seemed really interested and it would have been the perfect job, I think. Rats.

I am slogging through the Summer of Socks, and being more sock-productive than ever before. This winter, I can wear handknit socks every day, I swear. I may foist some off on others, as well. Share the hand-knitted goodness, right? Here's the latest:

I finished the Fern Leaf Lace socks (although I recently discovered this stitch is actually called "Baby Fern," but who cares).

These are done with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport and I LOVE THEM. I am KEEPING these, for sure. This yarn is so soft and was a JOY to knit with. It also is so pretty IRL--it seems a little drab in photos, I think, but in reality is gorgeous. Am I shouting too much? Sorry!

After those were done, I worked on the Seaweed Socks, in the Tofutsies yarn. As much as I loved the LL Sport? Yeah, that's how much I hated the Tofutsies yarn. The pattern, however, was great. Although it is pretty much lost in the busy colors of the yarn, it worked out well. In fact, I really think my enjoyment of the pattern was all that kept me going on these socks. The lace stitch has a short repeat--eight rows, I think? It was so tantalizing and really kept me engaged. "Oh, look," I would say to myself when the yarn was getting especially annoying, "Only two more rows and that's another repeat done. Only three more repeats and I can start the heel. Only two more repeats and the darn things is done. Woo hoo!" And lookie here:

All done! These were done on a size 0 needles (ouch!), and I made them with a short leg because I could not wait for them to be done. Then I had a little ceremony and threw the leftover yarn in the kitchen garbage with the coffee grounds and shredded zucchini ... Yuck. There may have been some evil laughter. Dr. Horrible laughter. Goodbye Tofutsies, and good riddance! But, on the good side, I am very pleased with the socks themselves.

And ta da! I just finished these:

These are Boyfriend Socks, which oddly enough I ended up making for Mathboy. The yarn is by Spindle City Yarns in the Camouflage colorway. This yarn was great--it was very, very nice to use, and I can't believe how much yarn there was in this skein. I could have made socks for boat-sized feet with this skein.

So now I have to work on the Coupling Socks, but am finding that pattern really hard to memorize. Must. Concentrate. And I started a new sport-weight sock, because you just gotta love those quickies sometimes:

This is going to be another one of those mishmash socks, where I cram a lot of other folks' techniques into one sock. The stitch pattern is Cross Hatch Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks, and I think I've kinda got it memorized--row 5 is the only tricky one for me. I'm using the Zen String Lotus Toes Sport in Boreal, and size 2 (2.75mm) needles.