Socks and More Socks

The fireworks socks are finished. They go to knitting guild tonight for show and share and then I can wear them. Even though I went forward on the second sock, not back and forth, it seemed to take a long time.

The socks went to the ballet Wednesday night. I was at the heel flap, and worked before the show and at the two intermissions. I saw Don Quixote with music by Ludwig Minkus. Although the ticket was more expensive than I expected, I'd do it again. All seats were like being in the front row. Before the ballet started, we had 1/2 hour or more of scenes of Moscow. This was the Bolshoi Ballet, of course. During intermissions, we saw lobby shots and back stage shots. There was commentary before each segment of the dancing started, giving the story (not much of one), history of the ballet company, the composer, evolution of this production,and more. This may be normal for this type of show, but I'd never been to one before.

I found it interesting that the Bolshoi has apparently one of the few schools that teach character dancing. Don Quixote is an example. He really didn't dance, even Sancho Panza only danced a little. It was more acting in pantomime.

I've started a scarf from the Sausalito yarn from CPY. It's a drop stitch pattern and quite fun. The yarn is dark and the scarf is short, so no photos yet.

Then there is the next sock. I've adapted a Cookie A pattern from her first book. Because I have a limited amount of yarn, I'm doing it toe up. It may have a short leg. There was some back and forth knitting because the first toe was too wide. More back and forth while I decided what to do with the increases before the heel.

I have the yarn divided in half by weight and will proceed. I'm thinking of reversing the pattern for the second sock. I just need to start the pattern in the middle of the chart to make the waves mirror the first foot.

I had help when taking the picture of the finished sock. I don't often show her, because I don't take her picture. Here Bronte is, keeping watch on her world.

It's a new year

The stash buster/leftovers socks are finished. I called them Jackson Pollack socks, because they remind me of paint splashed all over the place. There are 8 different yarns in the socks. The only one I used up is the main color.

I can get back to work on my cotton jacket. The back is finished. One front piece is started. I need to work on it a little each day.

I had great plans for cooking up large batches of food and freezing left overs. I also had cleaning/organization plans. Instead I had a couple of days of flu from the H1N1 shot I got Monday morning and then I got a col/cough from DH. Neither of us felt like eating and I didn't have energy for all my big plans.

I did work about an hour a day doing alterations for the dry cleaner who is my customer. Everyone else can wait until Jan. 4. I also started a pair of socks for my SIL Josh. We were supposed to see the kids for Christmas in January. I was told that they'll be up in the summer. They settled in Florida to stay away from the snow. They'll get their gifts as soon as I finish them.

We have a couple of January birthdays. Gifts will be given when they are finished. Luckily for my knitting time, there are more requests for pajama pants, which only take about an hour of my time.

Just for something different, here's a picture of out fur girl. We don't think to take pictures of her, and when we do, they don't look good enough to share.