Knitting at 90 Degrees

By 11 a.m. today it was 90 degrees outside. When the apartment hit 90 yesterday I gave in and turned on the AC. Gypsy, previously lethargic, suddenly had energy again. Poor thing needs to be furminated again but I haven't felt like sacrificing another pair of clean pants to her (de-furring the feline = furring the mom)

What news? Well--the ORANGE SOCKS OF DOOM (say that in your best announcer voice) are done! And gone. Too much language inappropriate to a young lady went into those socks, especially as I had to re-knit both feet twice and the size 4" DPNs were making my hands cramp and there was a whole lot of carping at Chez Hedgepig. They were an early birthday gift to C, who has promised to weave in the ends, wash them in wool wash, and enjoy the squishyness next winter. For all that she was encouraging me to knit socks, she seems surprised that I churn through them as my basic on the go project. I'm only on my fourth pair this year. No, wait--four and five are on the needles right now. Blue socks in Jan, Red socks for the Olympics, Orange Socks of DOOM and now I have the Twitterbugs and the Teal Twosteps. 

The Twitterbugs are out of Colinette Jitterbug in the Kingfisher colorway that I picked up last spring on my trip to Milwaukee with the Master Sergeant. They are a 3x1 rib, which is what a knitting friend had mentioned was her standard "vanilla sock." I thought it'd be fun to do something other than just my 2x2s. I'm through Sock 1!

I really like the Colinette Jitterbug base yarn. I've heard mixed things about how well the dye will hold--so once the socks are done they are getting a light rinse in vinegar before they go in the wool wash. I don't really desperately need to block the socks but with Gypsy around and considering I take my knitting everywhere but churches and weddings, it's probably worth a wash. My orthodontist's assistants like to see the latest projects.

The Kingfisher colorway is beautiful.  I don't feel I'm doing it all the justice I could, it's so exciting to come upon a bright shade of teal or a vibrant blue. It's pooling a little bit but I think that could be easily broken up with an actual lace pattern. I started them on 4" DPNs but after the OSOD I decided my hands had had enough for one day and moved them to 8" metal DPNs. Far fewer hand cramps, though I seem to drop more stitches. I was at 9 rows on the cuff when I sat down to type this--having to upload to the computer and start thinking and catch up a bit on a vodcast that I'm following and now I'm 19 rows into the cuff.

Also on the needles are the Teal Twosteps, which are--you guessed it--2x2 rib. They are out of Knitpicks sock yarn, which means I have tons of yardage and can make long cuffs! That was definitely an issue with the OSOD and the Twitterbugs, both of which I've been dealing with limited yardage (250 yds for the OSOD).

They're perking right along, another inch or so and I'll turn the heel. This was purse knitting while I was in Indy recently. Yes, I'm photographing on a silver tray. It seemed more interesting than my oatmeal colored carpet. I like it. :) 

I got out the camera this evening to take pictures of the oooh-shiny that showed up at my house today (it was a double-super-excellent mail day) and realized that I've been bad both in taking pictures and uploading pictures to Flickr, stash to Ravelry, so on and so forth. Once I hit the "transfer to computer"--pictures started showing up from the Knitting in Public Day we had just after Easter. About the only thing I remember about Easter is that there was ham and Gypsy and I were quite stuffed.

So there are some really great pictures of most excellent yarn coming. But a small fur person has declared it bedtime and since she got me up at 6 this morning and will be happy to do so tomorrow (my morning to sleep in)--I should crawl off to bed.