I still have my Angeeeee! socks on my needles right now. I did the heel called for in the pattern, instead of my usual short row heels. Although this heel came out neater than my short rows usually do, it took forever! Seriously. Maybe I did something wrong (probable), but I ended up picking up 30 stitches on each side of the gusset. That meant that I had over 100 stitches to decrease down to 65. Do you think I decreased only every other row? As Whitney once said, “Oh hell to the no.” I’d still be decreasing. Ugh. So although I’m obviously not going to switch heels in the middle of a pair of socks, I think I will need to find a new way to do short rows for the next pair of socks I make. I do not have twenty years to devote to the heel each sock I make, thank you very much.

Tonight, though, I had a lazy night at home. I hung out with Satanski, and successfully bribed him to behave by promising to let him aid me in making brownies. They came out wonderfully, although I was in for a rude surprise when I checked the freezer and could not find my ice cream. I can’t even imagine what my mom did with it, but since it’s been a while since I’ve eaten it (I think maybe it was from December-ish), maybe she thought that I wasn’t interested and junked it. I guess the moral of this story is that I should eat more ice cream, and faster.

My lovely assistant

The good stuff

Recipe: Brooke’s Best Bombshell Brownies

Adaptations: I used 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup packed brown sugar; I didn’t melt the butter beforehand, just allowed it and the eggs to reach room temperature before mixing; I baked at 325 because I used a glass dish, and left it in the oven for 40 minutes. I didn’t wait until the knife came out completely clean; the last time I baked this recipe, I did that and the brownies were a little harder than I would have preferred.

A couple of days ago I wondered if I would notice a difference in using my Addi Turbo needles after having used the Addi Lace needles. The answer is YES. After having used the Lace needles, I find the Turbos dull and stupid. I feel like I’m dropping more stitches, because the needles aren’t as good at snagging them. Then, because I only have one circ in 2.25 mm, I switched to dpns. Oh my goodness, it was awful. I now hate dpns, and I don’t know how I could have used them for so long. So I think that, from here on out, my sockmaking will be done on circular needles, and those needles will be Lace, if I can help it.

I’m up to the heel on my Angeeeee! socks right now. I haven’t made a real heel in a while (I usually do short row heels), but I thought I’d follow the pattern and make the heel suggested in it. So far, no problems. I guess I’ll just have to be careful when picking up stitches for the gusset. Back to watching The 4400 and knitting…

My Angeeeee! socks are coming out pretty well. I like this pattern. It’s pretty and looks great with this yarn, but it’s easy enough that I can watch dvds while knitting. I’m really enjoying The 4400 so far. I’m up to the second episode of season 2. I actually switch to 2.25 mm needles, because I hear that these socks come out pretty stretchy, and I’d like for them to fit well. I’m back to regular Addi Turbo needles. I have to see if I end up noticing a difference in experience between these and the Addi Lace needles I bought the other day.

Angeeeeees in process

Just a note here that I am not going back and sneaking in new posts dated over a week ago; I had set up several drafts to publish at different times last week, and most of them didn’t go through 🙁

I tried to start my Angee socks yesterday, but I wasn’t loving how twisted the yarn got, so I’m going to frog the first round and start again. Not much of a loss. I’m knitting with Addi Lace needles, which is a new thing for me. I couldn’t find the circs I used to make Come Dancing, which was for the Super Sekret Sock Exchange thing I did earlier in the year, and I didn’t want to mess up my gauge by using small needles. I like them so far, and I do see how the more pointed tip really makes a difference. So I’m about to start my Angee socks again. I’m really going to try to finish the two pairs of socks this month.

Because I never posted a picture of them:

Come Dancing socks

Aren’t they beauteous? I’m not sure they’re small enough for A, though…

Pattern: Cookie A.’s Monkey, without the purls

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi

No purl monkey socks

Regular Monkey socks:

Purlful Monkey socks

If you look closely, you can see the purl stitches (they look like bumps) at the sides of the v design that repeats over the socks. As you can tell,  really like this yarn, and I’m bummed that Purl Soho doesn’t sell it in their store anymore (although the woman did say that she thought they still carry it online). I bought some variegated orange and solid orange Koigu to console myself.

I’m so awesome, sometimes it hurts. I finished poor A’s socks. Luckily, it has taken me so long that it is almost an appropriate time of year to gift somebody with a pair of socks. I’m going to block them tonight and probably put them in the mail on Wednesday (or once I get A’s new address).

Yippee!

Will post pictures soonish.

It’s a good thing that I finished tonight. Tomorrow begins the September phase of the KAL to Cookie A’s patterns. I already have her book, so I will start with Angee, which is in her book, which I already own. The other pattern is Marlene, which is cute, but which I do not yet own. I’m not going to buy that one until I can properly determine my level of commitment to the first pair. I may never finish at all, so I’m holding off on purchasing another sock pattern.