The Koi Sock, it has toes. It also has it’s pretty yarn out from around the needles I need to re-knit Gatsby, so that’s good, too. I have happiness on two counts. Admittedly, there’s still another Koi sock to knit, but I want my birthday socks first!

My toes, they are the sexy. Non?

While you contemplate the aesthetic qualities of my peds, I’ll go back to my date with Tim Robbins, who is currently reading me The Great Gatsby. Read to me, Tim. Read to me while I reknit my sock.

I’ve almost got the toe done on the Koi Pond Handpainted Highlights sock. I’m doing a modified flat toe, rather than the toe the pattern suggests, with the hope that it will better accommodate my Very Wide Toes^TM. The toe of the Gatsby socks (which I hope to be able to restart this weekend) was a variation flat toe, and I found it fit much better than the toe of the Aquarium Broken Rib socks.

I’ve only got a few more decreases before I finish the toe, but since Rosie was out to early birthday dinner with her family, I took the opportunity to go shop for her birthday present. We’re doing all our celebrating early this year. Her birthday is Sunday, but she’ll be winging her way to Paris on Sunday chaperoning her cousin’s senior trip.

She gets two weeks traveling France and Spain with a passel of 17 & 18 year olds. I get two weeks to knit undisturbed and to remember why it is that I choose to live with a roommate rather than by myself. I think I get the better deal of the two of us, though Paris is quite tempting despite the responsibilities she’s got while taking the trip.

I got far enough on my Gatsby Falling Leaves sock to try it on and discovered that I needed to go down one more needle size for perfection. I’ve since frogged the sock. I won’t be able to get back to it until I finish my koi pond hand painted highlights socks, as they’re currently on the needles I need to use. It’s disappointing, but I’d rather have perfect socks.

I didn’t get very far on trying to finish up the koi hand painted highlights sock. We went out to dinner at one of the local sushi restaurants, in honor of the date. Fortunately, I’ve only got two more pattern repeats and then I’ll be on the toe, so it won’t be terribly long before I’m back to Gatsby and falling leaves.

I frogged the start of the Juliet sweater I was making. The yarn was just too pale piggy pink for the sweater and I want to do it as a pullover instead of a cardigan. That being the case, there’s nothing to show for that effort but some circular needles I need to put away.

The Koi socks are still sleeping. They haven’t changed since the last last photo, so there’s nothing to see here. I’ll be getting back to them, but I felt inspired to do some crocheting.

Unfortunately, it’s going to be a surprise, so it’s secret crocheting. I can’t show that here, either. All in all, I’ve been busy. I’ve just got nothing to show for it.

I wanted to show a sock with the heel turned today, but I still have half an inch to go on the heel flap before I can decrease. The monotony of the heel stitch pattern, while pretty and allegedly reinforced, is getting to me.

It just doesn’t feel like I’m making the same amount of progress I did while I was knitting in the round. It like it’s in some sort of sock stasis, refusing to grow. I just don’t have the patience at the moment for knitting and knitting teeny tiny stitches without any signs of progress, so I’m putting the sock to bed early.

Tonight, it sleeps in it’s bag, perchance to dream.

Maybe sock knitting faeries will come and make it grow. For myself, I’m going to go give myself a false sense of accomplishment with a bit of the animated ultraviolence. With any luck, my WoW Warlock will get a new hat out of it.

I’ve had a migraine today. I spent most of the day laying down in a dark room taking medication and icing my head and back to little effect. I don’t feel like complaining about it, though.

I feel like talking about knitting with toothpicks, instead.

In Progress

Pattern: Handpainted Highlights Socks
Source: 101 One Skein Wonders
Size: Medium (My feet are, by US sizing, a size 8 and D width.)
Yarn: Koi Pond - Superwash Merino & Nylon Sock Yarn, 420y/100g, by Brenda Brooke at the Painted Tiger. Sorry, Brooke. I’m blaming the migraine for that one.
Needle size: US 1, 2.25 mm (Okay, it’s not quite knitting with a toothpick, but it’s close.)
Pattern Modifications: None so far.

Someday, when this grows up, it will be a sock
Knitting with toothpicks, um, size 1 needles, isn’t any worse than any other knitting. It feels a bit odd at first to use needles so small, but like everything else, a little practice is all it takes to get used to it.

The pattern’s mindlessly easy, once you get onto it. It seems like it would make the most of about any hand painted yarn used to knit it. I think it’s turning out especially pretty and I’m rather proud of myself for picking a good pattern for the yarn on the first try.