It's a Christmas miracle!

Squeezing in just under the Six-Months-Late mark, my mom's Christmas socks are finally done! I like to think of this as extending the magic of the holiday season. And holiday magic in the form of socks is just what my mom needs.

She's heading back to Tucson today, where the forecasted high is 103 degrees, so really my timing couldn't possibly be better.



Pattern: Charade, which has been much celebrated in blogland, as it should be. I will definitely knit these again.

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, Fall Herbs colorway, 2.25 balls for size 10 women's socks. This yarn splits like a bastard, making it possibly the worst choice for a slip-stitch pattern, with an afterthought heel. Also, the yarn has no give while knitting, so it was a little rough on the hands. Well worth it though for the lush, cushy, amazingly soft fabric it produces.

Needles: size 2.5 (3 mm) Knitpicks DPNs

Modifications: because I liked the way the yarn was variegating and am apparently not bright enough to grasp short row heel instructions, I did an afterthought heel instead of a heel flap. Dave over at Criminy Jickets suggested this kind of heel the last time I was bitching about pooly gussets.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results. The afterthought heel looks a little weird off the foot...



And frankly a little weird on the foot...


But because you don't increase stitches at the gusset, the yarn patterning doesn't change. And when the yarn looks this good....



...you don't want to be f*cking with it.

So, um, Merry Christmas, Mom! I'm so glad you came to visit. I had a really great time the past few weeks!

Sights

My mom’s been in town for the last few weeks, and we’ve been busy seeing the sights. Boy, are there a lot of sights.

We’ve done six museums, Salem (of witch trial fame), the New England Aquarium and parts of the Freedom Trail. We even saw the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus perform their “ExtrABBAganza” – which featured many ABBA songs, dancing men in sequined outfits, and one of my favorite-est coworkers sporting a spiky blond mullet wig and faux-Swedish accent. You really can’t go wrong with that combination.

Mullets and sequins aside, the high point of the mom visit so far was spending a long weekend on Cape Cod.

We stayed in Eastham, aka the gateway to the Cape Cod National Seashore, said seashore being something like 40 miles of uninterrupted federally protected coastline stretching from Eastham all the way to Provincetown.



So what does 40 miles of beaches mean for a vacationing knitter?

Why, knitting on the beach, of course….



The sock quite liked the beach. Though he kind of resented the way the ocean was horning in on his color scheme.


Not every day was nice enough to knit on the beach. Thankfully, my family lived in Oregon for years and we think it eminently reasonable to slog through rain and mud and mist to see cold grey water. So there were still plenty of coastal trails to traverse and gorgeous vistas to see.





Mmm… damp… The way the outdoors should be…



Hope everyone else is having a fabulous summer too!

Those three little words you long to hear

I had this conversation with my friend Kelley last night:

Kelley: OK, email me tomorrow.
Me: Will do.
Kelley: I love you, too.
Kelley (via text two minutes later): Dude, did we just love each other?
Me: No, I said will do, then you said you loved me.
Kelley: HA. I can't believe I said it first, I feel so vulnerable.

Funny, but those aren't the three words I'm thinking about. All I'm thinking about right now is MALABRIGO SOCK YARN. Seriously.

It's not available to the public yet, but Karen's got some in her hot little hands.

Go check it out. And start budgeting accordingly.