In Knitting News

Nell Sweater
I started sewing on the right hand button band and, as I feared, the hole started shifting up on me and are going to be out of line. I decided the best course of action would be to sew on the buttons so it would have something to aim for, but as I was laying the sweater out on the couch in preparation, a thunderstorm started.
The pups have developed a thunderstorm phobia in the last month or two. I wasn't home when it started, but Hubby had reported there was a storm and a massive clap of thunder that seemed centered over the house, which made the house shake. At the time, Hubby said it was so bad he was sure the house had been struck by lightening or a tree had fallen on it (neither occurred). When it happened the pups high-tailed it to their Fort (i.e., under our bed). They have been a bit nervous during storms ever since. Which is a shame. I was always so happy they weren't those types of dogs, and it made their lives better too. Now we are just trying to act normal during storms and hopping they shake it off.
Anyway. When the storm hit, Baru decided the safest place was in the Puppy Fort. Samson decided the safest place was as close to me as it was physically possible to get. So he curled up in a tight little ball on my sweater and wouldn't budge.
And really, you can't be upset with your beloved puppy in a situation like that, so I rescued the US2 dpn and moved on to working on my

Arrgyle Socks
The heel flap has been knit and turned. I decided to go with the heel stitch with a garter stitch edge like I learned in Charlene Schurch's class. I did the flap and turn in pink and intend to do the gusset and bottom of the foot in purple. I hope I have enough purple for both pairs because it's the main color for the socks. I sewed up the back of the leg, finally (when Samson had my sweater trapped). It went rather quickly (which is good considering it's just a sock) and I do enjoy watching stitches suck together when mattress stitch is tightened. I sewed with purple, be cause I'm bad. The back of the leg, where the seam is, is a purple cuff, a pink diamond, a green diamond and half a pink diamond. So I suppose I should have sewn with pink. I tried the sock on when I was done sewing and as far as I can tell the purple doesn't show through. And I think it might be a "no one should be that close to my sock" situation. I think I might sew the gusset gaps sooner rather than later as I'm working the sole of the foot so I can get a better idea of how long to work the instep pattern.

Stealth Knitting
On Saturday night I received the pattern for Pam's sock for the Knitting Central Sock Club. She gave me the yarn the other weekend when we were working together. I won't say anything more than that it's all very cool. How's that for a tease?

Going Dark
I'm leaving for Las Vegas in the morning. We have a 7:30 flight, so we'll be leaving the house at an ungodly hour. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while (which will be different from...?) because, of course, I don't have a laptop. I'm fairly certain there will be free email stations like at the conference in Philly, but this show is much, much bigger, so the stations will be much busier and I doubt I'll have time to hang out at them and blog. I could try to swipe Boss Man's or Mr. R's laptop, but they would probably expect me to make an official company post as well. Still you never know what might happen. It is Vegas after all.
Project wise, I'm taking the test knitting, obviously (I'm still at the swatching phase like a good knitter), and my Arrgyle Socks. I'm flying home Friday. So I'll be home in time for the start of Summer of Socks 08! I think my first sock will be my Alchemy Girlfriend Socks, which I lusted after for ages before buying and I think the furthest I got was swatching. They are the project my US2 dpns were in when one broke.

Ok, I think that will have to be in for now. Lunchtime is over!