The sock

Today, le chaussette d'anniversaire is exhausted. She has been riding for two days, through the streets of London, through northern Belgium with a crosswind, fighting crashes, rain, long, long stretches of flat road, and the humiliation of Robbie McEwen's sprinting ability. Already she is tired of eating 10,000 calories per day. Always the sock can feel the voiture balai breathing down her neck. She does not want to ride home in disgrace.

But the sock, she has a heel. She has gussets. She has part of a foot. For now, she needs to sleep.

The sock is tired, but she is also happy.

Progress on Many Fronts

Progress, on many fronts:

My project for the Tour de France knitalong is the Anniversary Socks from Favorite Socks. Thursday I knit the heel flap as written and turned the heel. I thought it looked a bit short; by Friday morning I knew it was true and would never fit around a regular foot. Riiiiip.

I decided to make up my own heel using the cable motif from the rest of the sock. On RS rows I worked (over 32 sts): sl1 pwise, *LC2, k2, rep to end, end LC2, k1. On WS rows: sl1 pwise, purl to end.

I also turned the heel in my new favorite way. I start on a purl row so I don't get those weird little corners you get when you begin a heel on the knit side.

So here's the progress:



As you can see, I stand by my earlier assertion that the pics along with Nancy's patterns do not do them justice.

I was out of town Friday and Saturday (both fun trips!) and today I tackled the front closet and my bedroom closet. I got rid of about 50# of magazines from the front closet and I have room for shoes and other stuff now. Not perfect, but a lot better.

Then I went to Spr*nt, exchanged my K*tana for an LG Fus*c phone (I am rockin' the pink faceplate, y'all) - the features on the Katana weren't what I personally wanted - and then...T*rget.

Anybody who knows me has heard me say I have a $50 minimum at this store. Today was no exception! For my bedroom closet I bought a 4-drawer Sterilite cart and 2 45-qt drawers. Also 4 flat stacking boxes, approximately 18 x 24. I went all through my closet and got everything out of cardboard boxes and transferred to the stacking boxes, put away the stuff that was out into the drawers, put most of my cds into one of the drawer (sadly, not all but it works), and generally cleaned things up. My clothes need a little attention - laundry and hanging up, mostly. I rolled up the towels and stacked them. The only regret I have is that I didn't find one of those Space Bag cubes there. (Maybe another time.) The result is a much cleaner closet and a happier Jen.

On the negative side, I made progress in learning that black pepper isn't so good on popcorn. (Lately I've been making it with a dab of olive oil, browned butter and parmesan. Pepper didn't work.) Progress nevertheless!

I am watching le Tour (congrats to Fabian Cancellara!) and I just made up my bed with clean sheets. I feel like I had a good weekend.

It is a sad testimony to my cooking abilities that I do not actually know the proper and safe way to thaw out ground beef from the freezer. What's even worse is that I didn't realize that I didn't know until I realized it had been sitting out on the counter for a couple hours. (Note to self: must learn!)

I am one of those people who doesn't shop very well in advance - it's quicker and easier to stop off at the market on my way home than to plan a gigantic shop and carry it out.

Yesterday I was a bit MIA because I spent too much time reading a blog called Psychology of Clutter. I picked up the link through Bellamoden and it's like I've been waiting for it all my life. I know I am one of those clutter-and-junk people, but I don't exactly know what to do about it. One of the most liberating things was to find out that something isn't clutter just because it's sitting out. Clutter is stuff you don't use, and yet hang on to. Typically so that the stuff that isn't clutter has nowhere to go - and piles up everywhere.

My closet is a federal disaster zone, and I think I saw a couple of raccoons in there the other day. My bathroom, office, yarn stash and parts of my kitchen aren't cluttered; my bookshelf is. My office at work is neat as a pin.

So I'm working through all that.

Apart from a nice meal out at Opryland and some very strange entertainment by a costumed "jazz" band, we didn't do much for the Fourth. I saw fireworks over my neighborhood as I drove home...oh, and then there was this:



That is a stingray, from one of those Aquarium-restaurant...aquariums. In the center was a big shallow concrete pond that looked like a skating rink for stingray - they just kept going around and around in circles, and seemed friendly enough except for the scars on their backs, and their teeth are pretty frightening when you give them something to eat. We didn't see the signs about how to properly feed them by holding the little shrimp in your knuckles, so we sort of tossed it at them whenever they slid up the edge looking for food. There are also giant fish tanks full of tropical fish, pirahna and other exotic-looking critters. I think it was about $4 a person. It would be a really fun place to take kids.

This particular stingray was just a baby, maybe fifteen inches across. You can see on his back edge there's a red scar. Wonder what that's from..."Excuse me, pardon me, OW, Morton! What are you doing? I said 'excuse me,' will you please control that tail, goodness sake."

I'm off work and going to Chattanooga today for some shopping. Have a great Friday! I joined the Tour de France knitalong - you should too! (I have to name-drop them like crazy, they are offering prizes for mentions!)

Tomorrow: more pictures and a story about the car wash...