Poor Socks

Hubby and I ran off to Park City, Utah, for a week over March break. I did not mention it because it was during my blogless time. The only hint of it you had was the picture of the stitch markers I made when we got home.

While we were gone my mom came up to puppy sit, as she does. This was a much bigger deal since we live eight hours away now instead of just 3.5 or 4 hours. We were very appreciative of her doing this because we didn't have to kennel the poor pups.

While she was here she got a little bored, which is understandable, and kindly did some laundry for me.

My Girlfriend's Cable Socks survived being washed, but slipped through into the dryer. Where they promptly shrank.

On the bright side the red Jitterbug socks did not pay a visit to the dryer.

Anyway. As soon as I saw them I knew something was wrong and as soon as she answered the phone mom knew why I was calling and confessed everything.

Not want to just toss them, I made a rescue attempt.

Someone on Ravelry had a war-time solution: "Dissolve 3 oz epsom salts in boiling water; add sufficient cold water to cool and the make the solution up to
about 2 gallons. Soak garment for 2 hrs., then pull it into shape, squeeze gently and dry."

Well, I didn't want 2 gallons of liquid, so I used a smidge of epson salt in 2 Quarts instead. Then I forgot about them so instead of soaking for 2 hours I ended up soaking for 2 Days. oops.

Much stretching and cussing ensued. In the end I managed to jam my feet back into them. I let them air dry for a day but noticed they were starting to shrivel up again so I jammed them on and wore them to bed while they were the littlest bit damp.
For that week I was able to wear them around the house as slipper socks.

That can be hazardous to a pair of socks health, but I figured they are kind of half out the door as it.

I was feeling pretty pleased about having rescued them. Until this past weekend.

After wearing them for a week I felt obliged to wash them.

Cold water, gentle cycle, air dry all as usual.

They shrank down again. Can't get them on my feet.

It didn't occur to me they would revert so I had not manipulated them while they were damp.

It's very sad. I don't think I have the energy to go through the effort to revive them again.

I Made It

The Alchemy Girlfriend's Cable Socks were completed last night. They are quite warm and cozy.
Each one took most of a skein of yarn, leaving me with a full skein and smidgens of two. (I didn't get a chance to weigh them on the scale, but I intend to, just for grins.)
To recap, these are a heavily modified version of the published pattern. I made them a repeat taller, dropped stitches from the side ribs to make them smaller, changed the back rib into a twist (to make up for the lost balance from changing the ribbing), and worked a Cuban Heel instead of a short row heel.
I think they are lovely and now how to determine if they are too think to wear with shoes, in which case they will be house socks. But I'll have to remember to wear them with my fuzzy slippers to cut down on wear and tear.
Casting On
Of course as soon as all the ends were woven in on those socks I cast on for a new pair.
I can't say that I put much thought into selecting the next yarn out of my stash. I think I had sort of decided quietly in the back of my mind already while I was doing other things.
The main factor was I wanted to do a pair of plain stockinette stitch socks since the last two pairs had been heavily patterned.
Actually, I just remembered, I didn't wait to be totally done the GCS, I cast on the new Jitterbug socks on the train ride home. Right, I had finished knitting the GCS on the morning commute and left the kitchenering for home. So that morning I had already put the purple Jitterbug in my bag. Look at me planning ahead.
The actual color name is Florentina.
You might remember I bought this skein to go along with the leftovers from the blue skein (Fiesta?) I had kicking around. The blue wasn't enough for either a full pair of socks or peds and I was looking to supplement.
I think that all contributed to going with this yarn next. I did consider using the new, ultra bright Mardi Gras skein first, but then I felt bad and stuck with the purple.
It is amazing, although it shouldn't be, how much quicker a pair of plain socks works up.
And I like that Jitterbug smells vaguely of vinegar.

Another Barking Tale
Lest you think I was unfairly picking on Baru the other day for barking at the new air conditioner, which you might consider a perfectly legitimate activity, let me share another inappropriate barking story.
Over the weekend Hubby got the electric hedge trimmer and a shovel and cleared a path through the lower yard down to the river. He has to do this every year or two, it's fairly clear but there are sticker bushes toward the end, and debris on the steps.
Anyway, when I got home pups and I went down to join him. He was on his way back up. Baru stopped cold and starting barking at him—all because Hubby was holding the tools.
So, tell me, isn't my puppy dim?

Inappropriate Barking

In Knitting News, I've worked over 100 rows on each Girlfriends Cable Sock. I'm so close to the toe shaping it isn't even funny. Which means I've entered that black hole phase where no matter how many rows you knit you don't seem to be making progress. Still I predict I will finish at least one tonight.
The pattern calls for a short row toe, which I'm going to stick with since I am more sanguine about short row toes than I am about short row heels.
As opposed to the toe shaping for my Joy of Charlene Socks, which started on the sole and hook around to the instep, these start on the instep and hook down to the sole. I will have to be careful about my tension when I'm kitchenering it shut as a tight spot in that area would probably be uncomfortable.
My issue with short row heels is that I always end up with holes along the diagonal meter line where the decreases/increases/wraps are. Looks fine on the needles, opens up on the foot. Although I'm pretty sure I'm executing them properly, I have to imagine it is something in my technique that causes this. Happily, there are other heels in the world.
(end knitting content)

In Puppy and Air Conditioning News
Baru is scared of the new condenser.
Sadly, this does not surprise us. He is a spooky puppy.
When Hubby was traveling to Colorado last month (ha! see I didn't mention it so you wouldn't know pups and I were home alone) he met a man delivering newly graduated guide dogs to their new owners. They got to talking dogs and Hubby mentioned Baru's neuroses. Spooky/jumpy, chases his tail, dumb as dirt. The man said there has been some research that shows these traits are indications of a neurological disorder.
The good news is we didn't do anything to cause it. The bad news is we can't really do anything to cure it.
We've always thought Baru had a small head. And we've always wondered at how different the two dogs were since we raised them the same.
The man said the tail chasing is a sign of anxiety and the best course of action is for the Alpha to comfort the dog and try to distract him with a toy or other activity. Fortunately, Baru doesn't chase his tail compulsively and it hasn't ever bothered us really, so we've never disciplined him in an attempt to make him stop. Knowing what we now know, we would have felt bad about having yelled at him—poor thing can't help himself.
So we weren't surprised when he started barking at the strange, new thing is his backyard. Sigh. But it doesn't mean we have to like it, or put up with it. The trick now is finding an appropriate way to get him used to it. For instance, when I let him out at 6 am today, not even thinking of the new unit, he started barking his head off. I'm sure the neighbors loved that. So I went out on the porch, which seemed to settle him. Then, of course, Samson came downstairs, so I had to stay on the porch since we don't want him peeing on the new unit.
I've informed Hubby that he has to get a barricade erected ASAP because I don't have time in the morning to babysit the puppies while they are doing their business!

What? How did the new condenser come about?
Well, after the expensive quote from the first company Hubby filled me in a little more. He said the technician who came to the house was nice, but the lady he dealt with on the phone a few days later (the one who gave him the quote) was lacking in customer service skills and gave him the impression that our job wasn't worth enough money for them to bother.
So we called a second company. Hubby said the man who came from that company seemed to be someone in charge (so no potential for dealing with rude office people). That man took the time to explain the economics of the situation, i.e. it would cost almost as much to replace the coil as it would to replace the entire unit. He also pointed out that a new unit would be more energy efficient than our old one and probably quieter. (Quieter it is, cost savings are yet to be determined.)
So he came back with three quotes, all much more reasonable than company #1, and we decided to replace the entire unit. It took this long because they were out of stock when he was at the house (which he explained to Hubby up front). Then yesterday our new condenser was installed.
Hello, air conditioning. Good-bye, economic stimulus check.

Yawn

I've been really sleepy lately. I think it has something to do with the sun shining into the bedroom and the stupid birds starting to sing at 5:30 am. Ah, but the central air is fixed as of lunch time, so we'll be able to shut the bedroom up tight tonight. I'm looking forward to it.
But my sleep deprived state has not impeded my knitting, just my desire to take pictures of it. Both heels have been turned as of this morning's commute. One heel was turned yesterday (I think) and I've been cruising down the foot. The other sock would have been turned yesterday, but I stalled because the twist in the yarn has gone all wacky.
The yarn is constructed of 4 strands twisted together and on of those strands isn't tracking properly so there was a little loop sticking out. But then a few inches later it all evened out, but then about a foot later there was another little loop.
In fact, the whole center portion that I've reached looks a little fripply. This is the ball that I wound on the swift and ball winder at the store oh so many moons ago. I don't know if I somehow wound it in the wrong direction (if that is even possible) or whether sitting in the cake effected it.
I posted a question about it on Ravelry. The one response I received was that the loose strand might be silk (Sanctuary is 30% silk and 70% wool) so it is stretching at a different rate, which is causing it not to track properly. She suggested I cut the yarn and rejoin it.
Which, of course, was just what I was hoping to avoid.
The strange thing, well one strange thing, is that the yarn looks like a homogeneous mix of wool and silk, i.e., not a strand of pure silk twisted with a strand of pure wool. If it was two pure strands twisted together I could understand it going wacky. I've seen it happen with other yarns. The other strange this is the second skein, which I wound by hand just before I cast on, is fine.
Well, as you can imagine, I did not cut and rejoin because I'm a rebel like that. I unwound the cake, ran the length of yarn through my fingers a few times in both directions, then rewound it into a ball. Then I knit while pretending the little loop wasn't there.
Whether this will compromise the integrity of my socks is yet to be known.
Part of my reluctance to cut the yarn is that it's really looking like I'm going to be awfully close to getting a complete sock out of each skein. Which will be really mind blowing if it happens, although I'm not holding my breath.
Think about it, the pattern calls for two skeins--one for each sock. Although I have sized it down, I have also made the leg much longer than the pattern calls for. So I can't imagine that the yarn I saved in circumference was enough to cancel out the yarn I used in length. What will probably happen is the yarn will last to a few rows shy of finishing the toe and I'll have to bust into the third skein.
Really, it won't matter if the yarn does last because I bought it several months ago and have far exceeded the return policy. On the other hand, it would be nice to have a full skein to play with. I wonder if it would be enough for another pair of fingerless mitts?
And, finally, I apparently can't do math.
The structure of the Cuban Heel calls for it to be worked on half the stitches. You increase every other row until the needles with the heel stitches equal total sock stitches minus 4. In my case I have a 52 st sock. Half that is 26, so I divided the stitches on the needles and positioned my heel increases in the middle of the back 26. It split the center back twist nicely. I was supposed to increase to 48 sts. Which I figured meant I had to add 22 sts to the back of the sock between my markers. Which was 11 sts each needle. Wait that math does work.
Huh, well, after I had 22 sts between the markers I did count but just plunged in a turned the heel and then a few rows after I counted and only had 50 sts total when I should have been back to 52. The point is that I didn't increase my heel enough. This all work much better on my Joy of Charlene socks, and I didn't even know what I was doing then. Still, this actually does work out. I had originally been considering dropping the sock to 50 sts, but had decided it would damage the pattern. Here on the foot it doesn't matter. The instep is still balanced, the sole doesn't have a design, and the fit seems good.
Of course, I made the second sock match the first.
Ok, looks like lunch time is over.

A Lot of Moving Parts

The Deadline Setter commented once when I used that phrase in an article, so it must be one of the phrases I like/use frequently. Have you ever noticed that? There are things you say frequently and you don't realize it until someone points it out?
Anyway (and, yes, I do realize I say that frequently.)
I'm through the heel increases on one Girlfriends Cable Socks sock. :-D I think the Cuban Heel is working out very nicely with this pattern. It is centered under the back center twist and the purl columns split nicely down the either side. Now I'll double back and catch the other sock up before I turn the heels. That way how many rows I've worked, etc., is still fresh in my mind.
I started working on both of them so I could keep track of my yarn usage. I shouldn't have to worry about running out.
In other knitting news, I felted Wine Cozy V this morning. It ended up skinnier and taller than I expected. It is interesting to see how the direction of the stitches seem to effect how they react when felted. I haven't measured it to see whether it adhered to my predicted shrinkage. Still it fits the bottle nicely. I think I like it a bit better then the first one, size wise. I would definitely scale the horizontal version down if I made another one.
And, I think that's about it for now. I shall leave you with a puppy action shot.

Yippee!

Oh my gosh! It's sooo cool. I went and checked my just now and there was some mysterious looking message about a pending purchase. But something must have clicked in the back of my mind because I opened it and it was a message from PayPal that someone had bought my Eyelet and Feather Scarf pattern on Ravelry!
phew! deep breath.
So I had to go into PayPal and figure out how to accept the payment and upgrade to a premier account so the fees would be less. I considered staying a personal account, but I am hoping to put more patterns in my Ravelry store so you never know I might have more than 5 transactions and it looks like it's free to be a premier account so what the heck, right?
Oh, it's bad to get this wired up right before bed time.
So now I have $3.48 in my PayPal account, after they took the fees. It's not really the first pattern I've ever sold. There were all the Rainbow Swirl Socks for the sock club, but they were good faith purchases. And my scarf sold really well while it was the special of the month in the store. And I know several of the people who bought it. That was cool, because people kept asking about it while the sample was out on the counter while it was being test knit and going through the design process.
But this is like the first random purchase by someone who just saw it and liked it.
Of course I totally had to go scope out her profile and projects. She's got a lot of nice stuff queued. I'm in good company. giggle.
Ok, phew, I have to go get ready for bed now.
But first. I've worked 40 rows on each Girlfriends Cable Sock. I think 8 to 10 more rows will bring it to 6 inches and I can start the heel.
I still have to felt the other wine cozy.
Goodnight!

Go Yankees!

Ok, even though Hubby has admitted he doesn't read my blog unless I happen to leave it open on the desktop...I thought I'd be a good Yankee Fan Wife and add the All Star voting widget in an attempt to get Jason Giambi on the roster. (I don't care about the NL player, so I went local and chose the guy from the Mets.)
Um, I didn't expect the widget to be so very huge. And I think it could be a little more obvious that I support Giambi. Well, voting closes tomorrow at 5, so I won't have to put up with it for very long. sniff.


In Knitting News
I did finish the body of Felted Wine Cozy V on the ride home yesterday. At home I seamed it by purling the last row to the cast on edge and binding off as I went along. And I knit the bottom before I went to bed. It did end up much smaller than Felted Wine Cozy H, which is probably why it worked up so quickly. Even Hubby was surprised. I should be able to felt it tonight.
And I took a hard look at my socks. My row count is correct. I think the first sock just looks fluffier, which is why the twists look different.

Ok, off to mess with the MLB widget size and eat some lunch.

To The Point

As I was charting the ribbing decreases last night, it occurred to me that since I wanted to go from 6 stitches (K2P2K2) to 3 stitches (K1P1K1) the fastest and easiest thing to do would be decreasing a stitch in each column.
So I did.
It is, perhaps, a more abrupt decrease than I would normally use, but I didn't see the point in fading the ribbing.
As for the ribbing on the back of the leg, there wasn't a graceful way to convert it to a 4 stitch cable to match the other cables. It would not have been balanced with P2 on either side and then K2 beyond that. I would have ended up with K1 columns or some other, unbalanced pattern. I briefly toyed with the idea of eliminating 2 stitches from the back as well, but dismissed it.
What I did do is change the center back K2 column into a 2 stitch cable with the twist on the same rows as the bigger cables.
Since I didn't want to start from scratch, I just dropped the two stitches in question and reknit them the way I wanted them. It was a little fiddly but I have to imagine faster than going back to Row 1.

Double the Pleasure
Now the pattern is written for what looks like ankle socks using 2 skeins. So I bought a third skein so I could make them taller.
Before I made my changes I was scoped out other Girlfriend's Cable Socks on Ravelry to see whether anyone else had modified them (especially to make them smaller). One person used the 2 skeins and said she had just barely enough to finish. She also mentioned that she altered the heel, but didn't go into detail about how.
This made me glad that I had bought a third skein and was going to make the smaller anyway, because I shouldn't run out of yarn. Still, it made me nervous. After I finished messing with the first sock I turned around and cast on for the second sock. Having multiple pairs of dpns in the same size comes in handy. I was able to work through Row 8. I didn't wind all three skeins when I bought it and then I forgot the yarn at home on Saturday so I actually had to wind it by hand, which was a bit of a delay.
Although I stopped knitting because it was bed time, I probably would have stopped at that point anyway. The 2 st cable on Sock 2 doesn't look the same as on Sock 1. I'm thinking it is because the former is being worked from scratch and the latter is a little distorted from being dropped in after the fact. Still, I'm taking a hard look at my row counter and wondering if I was advancing it properly. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out this evening in some better lighting.

Possible Tactical Error
Felted Wine Cozy V is working up much quicker than Felted Wine Cozy H did. I have about 15 more rows to go to finish the body. I did scale V down a little based on the shrinkage of H and more rigorous bottle measurements. But it wasn't by that much, so I'm still surprised. I don't know if the difference is because I'm working this one flat and the other in the round; or whether it is a perception thing because I'm working V during the commute in chunks, while H was a marathon over the weekend.
Regardless, I was working on it while doing to online reading/research and realized if I kept going I might not have anything to knit on the ride home. I didn't bring my socks or a back up project because H took so long. The real flaw in the plan however was that I didn't bring my US 10 dpns so I could work on the base. If I had those I'd be all set. But then I wasn't expecting to need those today.
In the mean time, I've stopped working on it for now to preserve it for the ride home. Since the wine cozy is so close to being done, I might skip the socks tonight so I can finish the cozy instead.

Willy Nilly

sos08 Alchemy Girlfriend Cable Socks
Originally uploaded by TravelingAnn
Most of the holiday weekend was spent working on the felted wine cozy prototype. I cast on for it Thursday night. Spent Friday on the couch knitting on it and watching the Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi channel. Then finished it off Sunday afternoon. I did take a picture of it, but the picture is at home and I'm at work (lunch break!) and I haven't been able to figure out how to get flickr to allow me to blog two photos in the same post.
Oh, well, duh that's what the url box in blogger is for and the link to this pic html that Flickr provides. Still, it always seems to end up a weird size the few times I've tried it. This is the thumbnail size because when I used one of the other sizes for my first sock the other day it came out huge. I can't seem to win.
Anyway, the wine cozy was making me pretty cranky by the time I finished, namely because it took longer than I expected, I know I won't truly receive a price that will cover my time, and yet I was putting pressure on myself to finish it so I didn't work on any other projects. In the end I think it took a little more than 8 hours.
But then I felted the bugger. Felting is so fun and it ended up so cute (although bigger than I was expecting/planning) that I was all energized and cast on for the version with vertical stripes. It also felted much quicker than I was expecting. Not even one cycle. But I was basing the time and shrinkage on my Felted Ravelry Bag, which was much larger and a different color.

What was I talking about?
Ok, well, since I've buried the lead already, I might as well go with my original story. (I had been composing this blog post in my head and then thought, don't start with this story, get to the point. But after that wine cozy digression, what have I got to loose besides your attention?)
I was so young when I learned to crochet that I don't remember learning. I remember my grandmother teaching me and my younger cousin the double crochet stitch. We were sitting next to her making chains and blocks composed of chains. She was like ok that will be nice and warm but you will never finish anything. And she showed us the double crochet stitch. How I originally learned to hold the hook and chain, couldn't tell you. Double crochet was the only stitch I knew and used for years and I happily started blankets, made clothes for my stuffed animals and scarves for myself.
Then one day, I think I was in college already, my cousin found a pattern for an adorable stuffed cow. I wanted to make it badly enough that I got books from the library and figured out how to crochet in the round and other stitches. After that I was unstoppable and designed several adorable (if I do say so myself) stuffed toys. Finally, in 2001 or 2002 I took the plunge into crocheting sweaters.
My first one was the "Big Easy" from Lion Brand. In some lovely multi-colored blue based Homespun. I finished it in a weekend (and now I can't wear it because it feels squeaky).
Of course making clothes turned me into a yarn snob overnight.
But around the time all this was happening, I cornered my mother-in-law and got her to teach me how to knit.

The opening image
Coming back to the original point of this post, I don't know how much the age at which I learned these crafts has to do with it, but I've found that I follow crochet patterns to the letter and don't deviate at all. But I change knitting patterns willy nilly and sometimes on the fly.
The first sweater I knit was another free Lion Brand one out of Wool-Ease. It was supposed to be a striped crew neck in reverse stockinette stitch with ribbing on the hems. Well, there was a nice cream skein with little flecks of color on sale, so I ditched the stripes. As a new knitter (and without anyone to consult) I misunderstood the ribbing directions and discovered seed stitch. And I worked the sweater in normal stockinette stitch since I hadn't waited all those years to learn to knit to do a sweater in this weird lumpy stitch.
So I guess I was changing knitting patterns to some degree from the word go.
I'm about to unleash this tendency on my poor Alchemy Girlfriend's Cable Socks. My second pair for Summer of Socks 08 and the purple knitting pictured at the top of this post.
The pattern is written for one size at 6.5 sts per inch and I've suspected all along they might be too big, and in deed it looks like that is going to be the case. Which is why I hesitate to buy sock patterns unless they are written for multiple sizes (and actual alternate sizes, not just change your needle size adjustment. I tried that once, the socks are baggy. At least that pattern was free. [Didn't know enough about sock knitting at the time to adjust them down.])
I mean, sure the socks will fit as written, but they are going to be baggy and that will be annoying. Even if I do reserve them for house/bed socks.
Anyway, I worked through the first pattern repeat last night--20 rows--and tried the little bit on. It fits up where the cuff should go ok, but I'm really really certain it will be baggy at the ankle and on my foot. So I busted out the calculator.
My first calculation indicated I needed to ditch around 13 stitches! So from 58 to 45 based on the target gauge and how I like my socks to fit. That was not only ridiculous but would probably make it impossible to maintain the pattern. So I decided to meet it half way and just ditch 6 stitches bringing me down to 52 sts. Which should be a better fit, although not as snug as I usually like.
The easy thing to do would be to drop them out of the back ribbing, but that might pull the design oddly, so I'm thinking I'll ditch 3 from each side over the ankle and go from 2/2 ribbing to 1/1. Since I'm changing the sock anyway, I'm thinking I might change the back ribbing to another cable to disguise the fact that the ribbings don't match. I'll be on a roll at that point, so I'm thinking I might change the called for short row heel to my newly beloved Cuban Heel. Like the short row heel the Cuban Heel shouldn't interrupt the pattern.
Now I just have to chart out the ribbing decreases. Since the sock does fit well at the top, I've decided not to start over from scratch. Of course that will mean laddering the back of the sock down to alter the ribbing to cable. Depending on how fussy that is, I might end up starting over from the cast on.
In the mean time, I brought the felted wine cozy V (for vertical stripe) as my commuter knitting. It's mindless and fast and has to be done. And my lovely sock will be at home knitting. Hey I used to finish a pair of socks in 2 weeks just working on them at home before, why should things be different now?

First Socks of the Summer

I finished my Joy of Charlene Socks this afternoon. Yipee!
They are my first socks for the Summer of Socks 08 and I when onto Ravelry straight away to log them in so I would be eligible for the first bi-weekly raffle. Considering how many people are playing, and how many of them finished multiple socks in this two week period, I doubt I'll win. Oh well, I'm not doing it for the prizes.
Although I do wonder how those people knit so darn fast. Usually it takes me about two weeks to make a pair of socks. I had thought I'd move along faster what with being on the train and reclaiming that knitting time from the driving commute. Apparently that is not the case. Although I think all the fiddling I did figuring out the pattern held me back on these. I bet if I was doing a pair of plain old stockinette stitch socks, like I usually do, I'd have finished them much faster. Still, I think I'll dig my Alchemy Girlfriend Socks out of exile now. They are all cabled and complicated so I'm not expecting them to go quickly.
But back to the Joy of Charlene Socks. I did work a short row toe for sock number 2 in order to be consistent. The fit of sock 2 is slightly different than sock 1, so I didn't have to work that extra round after finishing the toe as I did on the first sock. Also, instead of closing it with the kitchener stitch I used the method Charlene suggested in an email, which seemed like a modified 3-needle bind off. She said it is from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts's Simple Socks Plain and Fancy. It makes a little ridge along the toes, which is kind of cute. (You can see it on the sock on the right.) We'll see how it feels in a shoe and I reserve the right to yank it out and kitchener it shut instead.
The socks felt all nice and squishy when I was running around in them right after I finished them. They are also full of dog hair now, despite the fact that we cleaned for the party yesterday. It's a never ending battle.
There is quite a bit of yarn left over, although I don't think enough for a full pair. I'm going to have to weight it and compare it to the left over blue Jitterbug to try and assess what I have. I might end up mixing it in with leftover Jitterbug to make obnoxious socks. I seem to be achieving the same gauge with them.
Oh, that's right, I didn't show you my new stash. But at this point it will have to wait for another day.

Oh, woe

That, as I'm sure you can tell, is a broken US2 bamboo needle. I think it has something to do with how I was storing my "active" projects.
This is the dining room credenza (or at least part of it.)


This is all the projects I had crammed into the left hand cabinet.

So I pulled everything out, rescued the needles, and took everything up to the attic, where it belongs, and put it into the plastic storage tubs, where it belongs.

Samson came by to supervise.

The projects have much more room now. And it is now really just the projects I'm actively working on, rather than the projects I'm planning to work on.

Speaking of projects I'm working on, I did make it about halfway through the thumb gusset yesterday. Today I spent my knitting time swatching with the Sol Joy I bought in Lake Placid on my set of 4 US 2 double points.
Sigh. I even think this is the second set of US2 Clovers that have been damaged. Samson ate the other set. Well, at least these are, technically, still usable.
Nothing else will be accomplished today--it's bed time.