Finished Project: Daisy Socks

Daisy Socks pattern, with adjustments
Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock yarn in Sherbert (say that three times fast!)

As I have mentioned before, this was my first time using Lorna's Laces. I enjoyed working with it and would definitely use it again. Also, I noticed while tracking down the link to the Daisies sock pattern that the author, Marie, has filled in the gaps in the pattern. So no adjustments necessary if you try it now! Yay!

I'm sure there is something else I wanted to say about these socks, but I need to finish packing for my business trip tomorrow. I still haven't decided which knitting project to bring along!

See you all next Sunday!

P.S. As for the job situation, things are slowing starting to feel less painful. I work for a small company so the "missing pieces" are very noticable. And yes, the change in my workload is noticable also! Thanks for all of your kind thoughts.

This Friday doesn't feel as good as it usually does.

Who doesn't love a Friday? It is usually my most favorite day ever. But today I just feel like I have been kicked in the chest.

I have rewritten this post three times now, because I feel like I am giving away too much information. I certainly don't want to make anyones situation worse.

There has been something going down at work for about a week now - and it didn't feel good. Found out today they are laying people off. My job is safe for now (no idea how long "now" is) but all of the cuts were from my department, and these people, my friends, are just gone. Within a half hour of us finding out; and who knows when I will see them again? Needless to say I am feeling very uncomfortable right now. We were told the rest of us are fine but who believes it? That is all I am going to say, because I want to keep typing more and more which isn't the best idea in the world.

Anyway, I am going to have to be out of town again next week for a work function (which I was looking forward to, but have no desire to attend anymore). I'm very close to finishing the Daisy socks, and hope to have a photo of them up by Sunday.

Also, thanks to everyone who has left me comments in the last few days. Reading them has really cheered me up. I am going to try my best to respond to all of them in a timely manner - something I am not usually known for!

More sock, and tax woes

I am (finally) close to finishing my Daisy Socks. Has anyone noticed that this "side project" of mine has become the only thing I have been working on? Oops. I really need to focus and finish some things over here!





Maybe I can finish these before the end of this weekend. That is, if I manage to knit more than the few rows a night I have been averaging!

My husband and I haven't filed our income taxes yet for 2006, mostly due to our incredible ability to procrastinate. (We both are bad enough individually but get us together on something and productivity just screeches to a halt.) After reading much information on how to file part-year residency in two states (IA and IL), I am amazed by how complicated the whole process is. I mean, we are two intelligent people with college degrees. Some of the wording on these tax "informational" documents is so circular and overly complex that I am truly afraid of doing something wrong. Seems like my only choices are 1) miss something and give the government too much of my hard earned money or 2) miss something and have an angry IRS person knocking down my door to get their money.

Daisies

Last night I turned the heel on the second daisy sock. (It looks just like the first sock so you'll just have to trust me that it is #2!)





It is currently being modeled by a new find: Caramel Creme Diet Pepsi. I haven't tried it yet, but am always on the lookout for a zero calorie way of curing my monster sweet tooth. I'll let you know how it is.

I don't think I posted the colorway of Lorna's Laces I am using - it's called Sherbert. The color is more true to life in the photo from a few days ago.

I am going to be visiting my parents this weekend, and will hopefully have some relaxing knitting time at night while watching DVD's with them. (Usually Hogan's Heros, Andy Griffith, or some other classic. Much better than most anything on now if you ask me!)

A few quick thoughts

1) Have you seen the new Knitty? There are quite a few patterns that I would like to knit that might also look good on me. Namely Ribena, Morestripes, and Carolyn. Plus, there are multiple sock patterns to try.

2) Speaking of sock patterns, the March Magknits also has a number of them. I like the Rainy Day socks - gots to try me a picot hem! I love how they look even though they seem fiddly to do.

3) More sock goodness: I finished my first Daisy sock. I can't decide if is it too big (long) or not, so I might be taking apart the toe to shorten it. I haven't started the second one yet but that is mostly because I have been too lazy to wind the second skein into a ball.

4) I recently found the Math 4 Knitters podcast and have been listening to all of the back episodes through itunes. She gives some good tips and info on a variety of math related knitting problems (betcha couldn't have guessed that!). I'm going to have to listen to some again with a notepad and pencil nearby. I consider myself to be math-challeneged, but am starting to think maybe I just don't give myself a fair chance to figure stuff out.

Having to use my brain.

I'm back home after a week of hotel living, not having to sit in traffic drive to work and being able to expense-report a steak dinner. Now I've got piles of laundry, a car that needs gas, and an empty fridge. A big thumbs down to reality!

I did start on the daisy sock I posted about last week and let me warn you - the pattern will not work as written. It's not completely wrong, but you do need more sitches in between pattern repeats and some things are not written out very clearly. Once I figured out what was supposed to happen in the first pattern repeat, it has been easy to continue.





This is my first time using Lorna's Laces sock yarn and I love it so far. Very soft with a little bit of a sheen in the knitted fabric. I have seen around the internets how this yarn has pooled massively on some socks. I don't automatically dislike pooling, I think it can look interesting in some situtations, but was really hoping the yarn wouldn't pool on this sock. I was happy to see that it wasn't - but it does look to be making a sort of stripey pattern. I spent a few minutes wishing it wasn't doing this either but then I realized I wasn't sure what another alternative could be. I didn't want pooling, I didn't want striping; what was left? I think to get the sorf of suble color changes I was expecting, I would need to use two balls of the same yarn and alternate each row, so they colors wouldn't stack on top of one another. Way to much work for a sock if you ask me!