2nd sock done! now starting on first!

2nd Sock done! Now to start on the first (don't know what I'm talking about? Read my thoughts on Second Sock Syndrome).

Oh, and if you have some time, you should really check out these knitting horrors.

new skill

Add "Driving a fork lift" onto my rather eclectic list of skills.

short row heel complete (with modification)

Sockapaltwoza update:

I've done the short row heel for my socks, taking the basic idea from Wendy's generic pattern, as mentioned last time. However, after talking to some people from the GSLKG, I modified the heel to be slightly stronger, with *k1-sl1 repeat from * on the right side rows (adjusting where the pattern starts so the same column of sts is slipped each time), and purl across the wrong side rows. This gives a denser and thus more hardwearing heel.

I wonder if there will be any more adjustments to my pattern before I finish?

Computer feeling better

Well, my computer's problems (taking several times of turning-on before it would successfully boot), got progressively worse over the week, so Friday I called Jeff at Bytes For A Bit, and he agreed to take a look on Sunday afternoon. I took the machine over and we opened it up and starting taking a look. We tried taking out memory, and putting it back in, and thought we'd found the problem. But taking it out again, and it still didn't work right.

Tried a few more things, and eventually decided that it was most likely a flakey mother board. Fortunately, Jeff had a spare motherboard in stock that would fit my case, and was actually a better motherboard too! Installed it, reinstalled windows so that it would accept the new board properly, and everything is hunky dory once again, and I have better upgrade possibilities with the new board.

Not just that, but I got a very reasonable rate for parts and labour!

Thanks Jeff for fixing my machine for me!

Swing Dancing

Friday night I went swing dancing for the first time in a couple of years. For various reasons, I'd got out of the habit, but someone recently emailed me about a new swing dance event close to where I live, hosted by Jim of Jim's Dances. I went out and had a great time, and although I was somewhat rusty, it soon came back to me. However, yesterday, and today, I ache somewhat. But it was really good to get back into the uh, swing, of things.

Jim also runs some Country Western dances, and I'm considering going along to some of those too.

Great exercise!

Ugne Rinkeviciute

Ugne Rinkeviciute is a friend of mine, from Lithuania. Technically, I suppose it should be Ugnė Rinkevičiūtė. But that's harder to type on a regular American keyboard. I manage copy-n-paste, but only when I really want to be fully accurate.

I have no idea how to pronounce this name, so if anyone can help, let me know.

have yarn, have pattern(s), have the start of a sock!

I have yarn. This is beautiful yarn and so soft. So, what to knit? I like the idea of the short row heels, so I looked at Wendy's generic toe-up sock pattern. I decided I preferred the toe from the You're Putting Me On Socks, so that's what I'm doing. It's giving me than chance to learn the new style of heel without giving me frustration over a temporary cast-on, which I've not done yet, and because of other pressures, I'm starting these socks a little late, so I'm against the clock. Here's the toe (and some foot) of my blended pattern. The yarn is knitting up beautifully. I think I'm going to have to knit socks out of this yarn myself, it's looking quite gorgeous. If anyone cares to donate some Opal Rainforest in Tiger, Owl, Zebra, Fish, Flamingo or Chameleon, it will be gratefully received!

My own socks done, next up, my sockapal-two-za socks.

I've completed my own socks, and I love them. I'm also proud I managed to get the stripes to pretty much line up too.

Next up, my sockapal-two-za socks. I've chosen yarn from Fifth Stitch. It's the Opal Rainforest Parrot yarn, which I think my pal will love :)

While I'm waiting for the yarn to arrive, I'm making a "Jayne Cobb" hat, using this pattern. I'm making it for the opening night of the upcoming movie Serenity, the big screen spin-off of the TV series Firefly. Hmm. I guess it's a geek thing.

And apologies for the recent downtime... it's amazing how a "misconfiguration" from the old ISP can badly affect you.