Socks ::twitch::

I finished Hubby's Sox Socks last night.
He would not hold still for a proper finished objects picture. He presented me with one foot, which happened to be the first sock, which I posted a picture of when I finished it.
He was quite surprised when I threw the complete pair at him last night, prompting him to ask, "You made me new socks?"
Technically, he knew I was making him socks, as I'd corned him to check the fit at least twice.
But considering I started them back on Feb. 9, I could understand why he either forgot about them or gave up hope after I finished the first one back on March 2.

Sock Toss
I suppose saying I threw them at him has violent connotations, doesn't it?
Our living room furniture is arranged in an L. He lays on the big couch and I lay on the love seat, positioning us head-to-head at right angles.
So when I wove in the last end, I tossed them over into his lap.
He put them on straight away.
It is very cute, the way he gets all excited when I make him something.
You would think this would prompt me to make him more things, but I don't operate that way. :-)
I was a bit surprised that the toes didn't match.
You'll have to take my word on this.
Although I thought I did a pretty good job of matching up the cast on points, as you can see in this old picture, the stripes slipped out of alignment somewhere around the heel flap and turn.
So where the first sock ends with a black and white toe, the second sock ends with a green toe.
Oh well, they'll be in his shoes.

Sock Withdrawal
Having completed that pair, I don't have a pair of socks on the needles at the moment.
Hence my twitching.
Unless, of course, you count the hibernating Peacock Socks. Which I don't.
Or the fact that I still need to re-work the foot of my one Cubes & Cables Socks which I designed for the sock club.
Really, I need to focus on the two deadline scarves.
I wonder how long this will last.

Early Birthday Present
My birthday is in April.
Since my mom reads my blog, she saw the post about those socks from Sweaterscapes I've been drooling over.
And she bought me all the patterns!
Since it's an online transaction, I've already got the PDFs in my hot little hands.
We debated the virtues of getting a kit, but decided it would be better to buy the yarn separately, since I could potentially have enough leftovers to make two patterns, rather than just one.
I also have partial skeins in my stash that might work, such as the Jawool from my TipToe Socks, which would reduce the amount I have to buy.
So I'm going to price it out and then she'll send me money for the yarn.
It's all very exciting.

In Praise of Customer Service
Doug at Sweaterscapes has been very nice and helpful over e-mail during this process.
At first mom didn't understand the online ordering, so he e-mailed her the patterns and said to send him a check.
Then she figured it out and ordered a fourth pattern, but didn't realize she had to download it. So I e-mailed him the receipt and explained what happened. He said he noticed it all seemed connected somehow and resent me all the PDFs.
Which means I have a back up copy on mom's computer if something bizarre happens to mine.

Hubby recently had a good customer service experience with Verizon Wireless as well.
He wanted to call a B&B in France to book our stay. After we nailed down the international calling codes, the call didn't go through.
I remembered he had to activate international dialing on our account, which I had to do when he was in Japan in 2005.
So he called Verizon and did that. Then he called the B&B and had his heart broken since they required a two night stay.
Then the rep from Verizon called Hubby back and said if he was planning to make a lot of international calls he should get a plan for $4 a month which reduces the rate to 10 cents a minute instead of $1.50 a minute. And we could cancel it at any time.
Hubby said ok, but what about the call I just made?
So the guy made the plan retroactive to that call.
Because if you are going to be disappointed, it's better to pay 10 cents for the privilege.
Anyway, I thought it was cool the rep was proactive in calling back to point out the plan.

Speaking of our trip
Hubby's itinerary for us was trashed yesterday when he discovered Versailles is closed on Mondays.
He said he read it draws 3 million visitors a year, so why aren't they open all week?
We were pretty ticked off.
Since we were feeling snarky, Hubby pointed out Yankees Stadium draws more than that during the baseball season.
Although acting like Ugly Americans made us feel a little better, it didn't help our travel plans.
But he's got it sorted out. Now on Monday we'll go up to Normandy and visit some chateaus in the area, looping back around so we can go to Versailles Tuesday morning, then back on track to Bordeaux.
This means we'll have to skip Alsace (sp?) and Verdun, but sacrifices must be made.
We're still rather surprised the program he is attending doesn't include a trip to Versailles, but I'm sure they have their reasons.