I tried not to give up on my sodera/hedera/touch my monkey socks, but I think I kind of just did. The problem was that the yarn did not feel good to my fingers whilst knitting, which I think we can all agree is quite a problem to have. Also, I have kind of an insane number of socks that I need to be making soon, and I was starting to resent this particular pair for monopolizing my size 1 circular needle.

Just now, I pulled out the size 1 dpns and painstakingly transferred that sock to those needles. Now, at least, I can get a jump on all of the socks that I really want to make (in pairs!), without having to worry that my size 1 circ is out of commission.

I am supposed to be making socks for Sue, Marie, and my cousin Steph, although I think that poor Steph has been waiting for over a year and should probably get hers first.

Then, and this is so awesome I can hardly stand it, my Opal Harry Potter “hedwig” sock yarn came in the mail today and it’s just as lovely as I remember. I don’t know yet what pattern I’m going to use, but those socks are for ME!

Here are my socks right now. I’m really jazzed because I realized that being 60% of the way through a sock means that I am also 60% of the way through this project. I think that I will definitely use this technique in the future!

My two-at-a-time socks are still going swimmingly. I’m making them according to the pattern provided in the book, and I have to say that this heel seems needlessly tedious. First I had to do a turn heel for an inch, then a modified version of short rows where I went down to 10 stitches (from 16) and then picked up a total of 18 stitches for the gusset. THEN, from 28 I must now decrease my way down to 16 again. Good grief! I could have turned two heels in the same amount of time.

Good to know that I have absolutely no interest in this woman’s way of doing heels, although I like everything else about this method so far (that could also be due in large part to the fact that I’m making a stockinette sock).

I also practiced my continental knitting today, and I’m definitely picking up speed! I’ve only really worked on the knit stitch so far, but I’m satisfied with my results.

I finally opened the ball winder and yarn swift that I bought in December, and wound a hank of pretty blue cotton that I got in the yarn swap. That went well, and I now have a lovely center-pull ball to show for it.

I then tried to wind one of my many skeins of ArtYarns Supermerino, and that did not go so well. The bottom of the ball kept falling off, so I tried to rewind the skein, and now it’s hopelessly tangled. While suffering, though, I did have the presence of mind to separate the skein into two sections, so that if I use it to make booties, I can do them in the two-at-a-time method, which I am now officially rocking at.

Nevermind. Figured it out. I had to knit back along one of my needles to get the yarn positioned where it was supposed to be. Stupid, engrossing, retarded Fringe!

I decided to try a new project tonight, so I thought I’d work on making two socks at once. I’m not trying to be too ambitious, but I thought I’d get a jump on the skill, since I just signed up for Sit n’ Knit’s sock swap. So I’m cranking along, right? I’m starting with toddler socks, as recommended by the book, because, hey, Satanski and Sidekick would love to have socks to dirty and tear. I’m making the same sock, but using two different yarns, just to make sure I don’t lose my plaee. I’m feeling no pain, knitting while watching Chuck, then Gossip Girl, and finally Fringe.

I paused a bit at the beginning of Fringe just to catch up, because I’d started watching this particular episode last week, and was trying to remember what had already happened. So then I get a little into it, but not too much, because Fringe is deeply stupid, but then I realize: I have completely forgotten how to knit. Like, I looked down at my knitting, and had no idea how I’d done that, or where I should go from there. So this is what I’ve been doing for the last 20 minutes. Thinking: Fringe is retarded, and so am I.

Gracious.