Inside Out and Upside Down

After many fits and starts with the Monsoon yarn from the Rockin' Sock Club, I finally have sock #1 knitted up through its heel.

I started the Inside and Out pattern, and I just couldn't get by the shape of the toe. Apparently, I'm not the only one because Stephanie had similar objections. From there, I tried 4 or 5 different patterns starting them multiple times before I finally decided I liked the Inside and Out pattern, but that I would rather work it from the top down. It's my anti-toe-up bias again!

Here's what I've done so far:

1. I used the crochet cast on for 60 stitches because I wanted a picot lace cuff instead of ribbing at the top. I knit 7 rows, the picot row, and 7 more rows before knitting the stitches from the waste yarn and the stitches from the needle together. I used US size 1 needles for the hem.
2. I switched to US size 2 needles and worked the pattern rows of the leg for two and a half repeats.
3. I switched back to US size 1 needles to work the garter stitch short-row heel and 10 rows of the foot.
4. I switched to US size 0 needles to work the remainder of the foot, and I'm now heading for the toe.
5. I plan to do the garter stitch short-row toe with the size 0 needles and kitchener stitch the remaining stitches together at the end.

After all the time I have spent on this sock so far, I can't wait to see it all finished up even though I know it's going to take me a few more days.

The DCA found the camera for me the other day, but as I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't picked it up yet. Maybe I should sweet-talk him into being my photographer!

Monkey Socks? Check!

I have finished the Monkey socks! I know I should post pictures, but I have no idea where the camera is and no desire to go look for it. Knitting and report cards are my life this week.

(Edited July 22, 2007 to add picture of finished sock.)

I am convinced I am the only person in the universe who doesn't have their Rockin' Sock Club kit yet. Sigh. I was so frustrated by the delayed arrival yesterday that I grabbed a skein of Nodding Violets STR lightweight from the meager stash and started some new socks. Today, when the kit still hadn't arrived, I felt particularly smart for making this move.

The new socks are Rainy Day which I found over at MagKnits. All this means I'm still ignoring the over 400 stitches I have left to bind off on the scarf, and I am still balking at starting Mardi Gras sock #2.

I'm ignoring my gradekeeping program too--I am going to go soothe my Club angst with my new socks now.

A Stolen MeMe!

I saw this over at Karen's, so I stole it. She stole it from MissyJoon! I don't get tagged for a lot of MeMes, so I decided to try this one out. I found I've read a lot more books than I expected, found some I want to read, found more I've never heard of, and found the ones I'm still trying to avoid. Check it out, you'll learn a lot about your literary preferences!

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read,
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave plain the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) One of my all-time favorites!
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) - I own the whole series, and I'm waiting to see if she writes a sequel.
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) - The DCA read this one, so I guess I should check it out.
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible (God) - I've read almost all of it except some of the minor propets.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) - I've started this one about 9 times, but I keep getting stuck on all the Russion patronyms.
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) - I've started this one about 9 times too, and I have the same problem as with Anna Karenina.
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) - I cheated and read the abridged version without all the French history and politics.
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez) - Only because it's in the movie Serendipity.
73. Shogun (James Clavell) - I tried this one before I understood enough Japanese history, so I might try it again.
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

All Done...Finally!

I have an unexpected work day today--it was supposed to be three weeks from now, but another teacher needed my day for some personal time. I, of course, have put it to good use by FINALLY finishing the Science Fair papers. There's nothing like taking a whole month to get them graded! They are all out of the way now, and they are safely stored in the trunk of my car so I can deliver them to school in the morning. The children will be so thrilled. Actually, I'm expecting an outright rebellion because so many of them lost huge amounts of points for not following the given format. I was extremely lenient in my grading to begin with, but it's really hard to be nice when they don't even follow the rubric! I guess it's all a learning experience, and it's all over until next year.

I did all my grading at Panera over a Cinnamon Crunch bagel with Honey Walnut Spread and coffee. Then I ran a few errands, and I grabbed my "lunch", a Coldbuster smoothie from Jamba Juice on the way home. I have a terrific head cold, and I'm willing to try anything to make it go away.

This afternoon, I intend to camp in front of the TV and watch The Dark Ages which I recorded on the DVR last night while I work on Monkey sock #2. I'm in the heel flap, so I feel like I'm in the home stretch.

Being in the home stretch is a good thing, because I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Rockin' Sock Club shipment. I admit that I couldn't wait for my package to arrive, so I have snooped on some other blogs to see what my goodies might be. Trust me when I say, you'll love it! I am going to throw all else aside and work with the yarn and package as soon as it's here and #2's toe is kitchenered!

Time to go soothe my cold with some veg time, my smoothie, and some rabid sock knitting.