SockTart

The weekend went by fast, but felt somewhat long.  Robin got maybe an hour’s sleep on Friday before we headed out to get haircuts, then tried to nap when we got home (didn’t work).  Had to call a friend for a lift to the Hyatt Regency for the company Xmas party because my company decided to hold “Cocktail Hour” and the “X-mas presentation” at rush hour.  What’s up with THAT?  We couldn’t get a cab.  Thank goodness for Jamie!

Dinner was nice, and spent a little time mingling.  Wound up going home early, as Robin looked like he was about to pass out. Staying awake for about 36 hours (more or less) will do that to a guy.

Yesterday morning, it was up & at ‘em early (remember, I said we had an early night), and a trip to one of The Malls for X-mas shopping.  There is only one family member without a X-mas present at this time.  We rock.  Over the next month, all we need to do is get this one family member taken care of & shop for each other.  If we see things that remind us of our friends?  Bonus.

It was a long day, though.  We were at the mall from about 10am til 4:30 PM.  Robin had to get me a new pair of Airwalks just so that I didn’t kill my feet and/or back.  I definitely do NOT recommend marathon X-mas shopping to the weak.

Tyler caught up with us by the end of our shopping spree & we headed out for a nice dinner at Tony Roma’s.  Not exactly the world’s most orgasmic food, but seemed OK to me.  Even if the waitress did insist on sticking the three folks without a kid right between two tables with multiple crying babies.  If the Food Services Industry was being paid off by Planned Parenthood on the sly, this would make some sort of wacky sense.

Went home, put up the feet, stuck an episode of Dexter on the tube & watched that while knitting on my shawl.  Still only on clue #2, even though the last clue was unveiled yesterday.  D’oh!  Early to bed, and early to rise, and here we are today.

All in all, a nice weekend, if busy.  Hopefully next weekend will be more relaxed

‘kay. So the Jaywalkers were cast off around noon this afternoon. While watching the last episode of Dexter, Season 1.

We got addicted to the show a few days ago. Watched a couple of episodes on OnDemand, then found out that they only had the first four episodes of season one, and the first couple of episodes of season two. Sooo…we went on a quest to find Dexter, Season One on DVD.

After a full morning of searching, we finally found it at our local Blockbuster…usually the place we’d check first, but we’d thought maybe Wally World would have it. Riiiight. Not. But it is now ours, and we’re now happily finished watching it. And the socks are finished with the toes grafted & everything.

Makes me a really happy camper. This means that my Fawkes socks may be finished soon. Because I need to cart around the pattern with me, it doesn’t make for a really good travelling sock, so it will be my “knit in the evening at home” sock. I have a pair of charades on the needles that will serve the purpose just fine.

So yes…progress! Pictures of the much-maligned Brimstone Jaywalkers will be forthcoming

Robin was very happy to find out last night that I was turning the heel on Sock #2 of the Brimstone Jaywalkers.  This one’s going a LOT faster…mainly because I’m working hard to try and crank it out so I can get on with other projects.

So…as it stands right now, the heel is turned and I’m working my way around the gusset.  This means I can take the sock to work to knit away at it over lunch.  Because I needed to get the heel turned yesterday (done during 3 Episodes of Dexter on our OnDemand system), this wasn’t possible.

Hopefully Robin will have a brand-new pair of socks soon…that will give us both 3 pair.  Yay!

So…if a sock for me, and a sock for the Robinator were to make a pair, I’d say that I’ve knit a pair of socks.  However, that is not the case.

Two different sock yarns.   Two different patterns.  Two different foot sizes.  Similar colourways, however.

First up, Mama-E’s C*eye*ber Fiber (sp?).  I met this yarn at The Evil Place of Yarn Goodness, and fell in love with it.  The sheen on this yarn is amazing.  It looks like someone coloured fibre-optic cable & skeined it for my enjoyment.  I was not the only one to fall for it…Robin insisted that he loved it too, and would “really really like a pair of socks made out of it” (hint hint).  Thus…The Brimstone Jaywalkers.

It’s a real testament to my love for Robin that I’m still knitting these socks.  I only just finished Sock 1 this afternoon.  I’m sorry, Mama-E!  I still love the fibre, but it hurts my hands!  It’s like knitting with…(gulp)…cotton.  And, well, the fact that I’m knitting a very large Jaywalker for Big Men’s Feet doesn’t help.  He will have a pair…eventually.  In the meantime, he’s putting up with Knitting ADD (ie: Maire works on sock for 1/2 an hour then pulls out a scarf, casts on another sock, works on a second scarf, goes back to the Jaywalker, etc).

Next up?  Koigu! Picked it up at Pudding Yarn downtown.  Painter’s Palette Premium with no catchy name - just really really springy, bouncy, happy orangey-grapey juicyness.  Can I express how much I’m loving this yarn?  It’s not really possible.  It feels so soft…and looks like liquid silk during each stitch.  I’ve had to hold myself back from finishing sock #2 in order to get sock #1 of the Brimstone Jaywalkers done.  The Koigu Fawkes sock was done in record time, and quickly set about its task of “Confusing The Husbeast”.  Robin wanted to know why it was taking so long to finish his socks, as there was an orangey sock of a similar colourway sitting there on our couch.

So.  There you have it.  The primary results are that Koigu is da bomb, and the Mama-E stuff bombed.  That’s not to say that either Mama-E or her product are bad.  Maybe I just got a skein that disagrees with me.  Or maybe I should have done a smaller kind of sock, and not let The Mister talk me into knitting a boat cozy Guy Socks. Maybe I’m easily swayed by Hallowe’eny colours at certain times of year.

I’ll keep the jury out until I’ve had another chance at working with both yarns.  Suffice it to say, Robin may get his socks by X-mas, but they will, at least, be done by next October.

And yes.  This is why I had nothing to show for Soctoberfest or the Sock A Month KAL.  I suck