In which things grow

I love comments. You know what I especially love? Comments from people I haven't heard from before! (Not that this should AT ALL prevent anyone who has commented before from commenting again...but it is nice to know that I have/am growing a wider readership. And comment spam so does not count.) This week I got several. Including The J, whose congratulations are much appreciated. I'm not sure how I managed to get my continental gauge. It just kind of...happened. This week I shall try to get a shot of my hand with my latest sock, so that I can compare it to the shot I took of my hand with my first continentally-knitted sock. This will demonstrate how really freakin' much my continental gauge has tightened up.

The J also assured me that s/he doesn't get row gauge either. Which begs the question...does anyone out there ever get row gauge? Anyone? (Bueller?)

Self-patterning socks for DD

11 more stitches knitted. Say it with me everyone, "Whoop-dee-doo." This at least used up all the yarn in the current ball and brought me to the beginning of the next round, allowing me to put the sock on a spare yarn length and free up the needles for another sock. (Not the second sock of this pair, of course. That would be too responsible.)

Black socks for Dad

Got started on these this weekend after I freed up the needles I was using for DD's self-patterning socks. This is what sock #1 looked like when I woke up this morning:


However, we went to a birthday party in Angus this afternoon, which is about an 80 minute drive from our place, and now it's probably about five to six inches long. Rah.

Stornaway sweater for DH

Came downstairs this morning and took a photo of this before DH woke up. It looked like this:


I then sat down to knit a little bit on it, figuring I probably had, oh, a good fifteen minutes before DD woke up and I had to quit knitting. But hell, no. She stayed asleep for almost two more hours. I didn't work on this that whole time (not hardly). About an hour or so into it, the guilt of not doing chores got to me and I started some laundry. But I still managed to get a fair bit more done than you see above. The pattern above the ribbing is at least an inch long now, and I'm working on the second batch of cabling. It looks terrific.

Self-patterning socks #2 for DH

This week I finished the toe and started work on the foot:


And I got a little bit of work done on it this morning, too.

Tomorrow is May, and DH's birthday is at the beginning of June, so I'm starting to feel the need to hustle on this a bit. I may focus more on it this week than in previous weeks.

Garden Shawl for MIL

I managed to amuse Carrie K with my description of what I think it's like to have 157 rows done on an ever-expanding triangular shawl but to know that you have 45 rows to go. I'm absolutely delighted to have made you laugh. :) Which is important, given how depressing the thought of umpteen more increasingly long rows is.

The good news is that a) it's still really pretty and b) there are only 38 rows (I think that's the right number) left.

Black socks for ?

I originally was planning these as gift socks for DH, but tonight I had a stunningly good idea. DH has recently been hired for a part-time job, after almost a year and a half of being totally unemployed. (Yeah. It's been fun. Not.) He is working at a custom golf club shop, doing the stuff he's been training for over the last year or so, getting three days a week, getting fantastic experience, loving the work, getting paid weekly without taxes being taken off (DH's net income this year probably won't be enough to have to pay taxes, so we get all the money in our pockets right away instead of having to wait until next spring for a refund). The list goes on. One of the nicest things is that his boss is really flexible. He knows it takes DH a while to get there and back (it's in Caledon), and that DH has to pick up DD from daycare at a certain time, and he's totally cool about when DH comes and goes.

I'm thinking, y'know, this man deserves some socks.

DH said he'd think about that idea. He wasn't sure if his boss would like such a gift. I pointed out that anyone who doesn't like handknitted socks has no soul. :)

The tough part will be figuring out how long to make the feet. DH will be on the hook for that. No pressure.

Self-designed baby hat/mitts

Yesterday we packed up the whole family and went shopping. The most important item was to get DD a safety helmet for tricycle riding and some shoes for her ever-growing feet. However, I was also going to look in the craft section of Zellers for the colours I need for this thing.

No.
Such.
Luck.

There was one glorious, shining trip I made to Zellers once where they had copious amounts of Bernat Sox yarn available, and in many different colours. I was a frugal fool and did not stock up on everything my heart desired. This was a mistake. Every time I have gone back since there has been nothing. A few trips to other Zellerses, further away from my house, have yielded pathetic amounts of colours I already possessed, but that's it.

Curse ye, Land of Zed.

Anyone know where I can get Bernat Sox - or any other acrylic sock yarn in funky colours - in the Toronto area without selling out to evil megastore empires?