Finally...

I received my last installment of the Rockin' Sock Club this month and in it was a grading scale based on how many pairs had been completed. I am ashamed to say that I had made NO pairs from either RSC or the Woolgirl club during the year--sad, sad, sad. Nonetheless, I was determined to rectify the situation before 2007 had bid its goodbye, so I cast on Thursday and finished a pair on New Year's Eve. I present the Inside Out! Socks in the Monsoon colorway:

These socks had caused a bit of consternation out there. Quite a few people had trouble with the fit because the cabling made it tough to get over one's heel. There are advantages to being a slacker, though. I was able to benefit by the trials and errors of others and picked up on a key mod which was handily available in a thread on Ravelry. The pattern is written for the toe to be worked on a size 1 and the balance knit on 0. A few clever folks suggested switching to a 2 on the leg for a looser fit which is what I did to a great result. I was really happy with the striping on the foot. Because of the change in needle size, the striping didn't continue on the leg, but I'm still quite thrilled. The change in needle size did necessitate an emergency call to my husband who walks by a LYS on his way home from the train. Just as I was about to start the leg, I discovered that I either did not have or could not locate size 2 circs. Fortunately, I called his cell just as he was at the corner where the LYS is located and he was able to pick up some Addi Turbos for me--whew.

I hope to finish all of the 2007 RSC socks by the end of the month, though given some other projects on the horizon, that may be too ambitious. I also have three pairs from Woolgirl to tackle--and RSC is shipping the first package of 2008 this month, so I had better get on the (pointy) stick!

This weekend, we had charge of our friends' 10-year-old son. Due to some behavioral and attention issues, this kid can be a handful. I was determined to keep him happy and occupied, so I taught him finger knitting. In the past, he has mentioned that he would like to learn to knit, so I thought this would be a good starting place and would get him used to controlling the yarn. Manual dexterity is not a strong suit for him, and I wanted him to feel like he could master a process without having too many things to keep track of. When we were in the house, if he wasn't sleeping or eating, he was making his chains. The finger knitting kept his attention focused and we had a great weekend with no problems or meltdowns which kept everyone happy. Apparently, he has been proudly gifting people with his creations and he now needs to make more to keep up with demand!

In other matters, this is what we woke up to this morning:

I love it when the snow collects on the trees. (The first pic is the view across the street from my front porch and the last one is a bottle tree in my backyard.) It was a beautiful way to start the new year.