Socks and distractions

As I am sure you have figured out/remembered/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, I have been making socks so Vet-Girl can keep her feet warm and cozy while working/studying hard in MO. (Not that I think it is as cold there as here, but she still needs warm toes. A person can't concentrate on the important stuff while distracted with cold toes.) Anyway, I had them all knit and ready to bind off the other day. I had chosen to have these socks full of learning, just so they can be "all practiced up" and ready by the time they are pressed into service by their owner.
They were knit toe-up, but with a new-to-me heel/gusset application. To add to the "getting in practice" for the socks, I decided I should also learn a new bind-off method. All went well with the first sock, and as you can see, it looked beautiful. Well, almost all went well. The process went fine, but apparently I did it a bit tight, as when I tested it, there was no way it was going to go over my heel. (Good thing I tested it, right?) So the socks were then also filled with my learning how to unsew a Kitchener bind-off. (As it happens, I did the bind-off and test late at night, and decided to deal with it the next morning in the light of day; which of course, is also the time I choose to take the picture of the pretty bind-off job.)
Since it was sunny and nice outside, my favorite chair was pressed into service for the learning to be done, but I was faced with some distractions along the way.

 

But I muddled through long enough to get all the unsewing done,

 

and enough pictures were taken to have Someone decide that she was getting annoyed with being bothered.

 

I managed to get all the stitches/rows frogged back to the proper place,

 

but I guess hiding was too much trouble,

 

and I got to practice picking the stitches all back up on a slightly smaller needle.

 

Pink wasn't one of my favorite colors when I was a child, but some pink things can be very distracting,

 

but I did manage to stay focused long enough to get all the stitches back onto the proper size needles, all in the right order, going the proper direction, and the missing rows re-knit.

 

 

As you can see, I was still being distracted (as well as annoying) by pink, plus little feet (which will not be getting socks of their own).

 

Then I decided to go with my normal sewn bin-off in the interest of needing to get the socks done in time. (As in I didn't want to have to undo them again if I messed a up a second time, plus I was pretty sure that by then the socks were to the point of needing to process what they had learned so far.)

 

 

Who knew that so much sleeping could get one so dirty?

 

But apparently a bath

 

can be rather exhausting!

 

I managed to keep sewing socks,

 

despite Someone catching my attention every time she made herself (more) comfortable,

 

until both socks were all done.

 

The socks are fraternal twins, which I believe are the more common verity (I should ask the biology major Vet-Girl about that),

 

though if you stand one of the socks on its head, the stripes match up perfectly.
The socks have been delivered and are well loved already!

 

(Did anyone notice that today is Wednesday?)
(Just in case anyone is wondering, this brings me to 10 of 12.)

With my magical transportation device,

aka "The Internets-a enormous series of tubes", we are going to return to Seattle for a brief visit. Despite Gaylen's worries about finding me in the train station (I just looked for the lady knitting), we connected with each other problem free. We took pictures of each other, though I think she did a better job ( I think those are the only ones we got of each other). Pay no attention to what she says about a messy guest room, there was no mess in there to be seen anywhere. And I did indeed get to see the apron in action.

While we were out and about visiting yarn, some did happen to find its way home with us. Actually, we both wound up getting the same sock yarn, so we'll have matching socks at some point to remind us of a wonderful visit and in-person meeting every time we wear them! There was also weaving seen by her, and I do believe she might be feeling a slight tug in that fibery direction.

Update:
Sorry about the bad "Internets" link before, it should be all fixed now!

Just in case I forgot

to mention it, Portland public transportation came through in perfect reverse order, as did both my plane flights, and I arrived safely back home Friday night. Hubband, the dogs, and even the cat all seemed happy to have me home. The dogs were a lot more vocal bout than Oribel was. Funny thing about that.

Seriously Random Pictures

out, about, and around in Portland.

 

 

 

(Why yes, I do have a serious love of flowers and flower gardens.)

Dogs in Seattle

for Dogs on Thursday. Gaylen and JB have two bloodhounds, Beau and Lucy, aka "the big dogs" and two bassets, Dudley and Abigail, aka, "the little dogs." Of course they were all happy to have me come visit (and bring special cookies just for them), happy to have me scratch their ears and show me their tongues (though you only get Mr. Dudley's), happy to rub all over me and leave their smells and slobber for my dogs to find in a couple of days, and naturally the little dogs were more than happy to show me their bellies. I think they were even happier to find out that I know exactly what to do with a up-side-down basset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were much more interested in being touched than photographed, but they were very happy to share their beautiful singing voices with me.