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Dark now, but it was a perfect day.

Second sleeve completed. I haven’t done the math yet for the collar; that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Because a blog needs pictures, here are my Malabrigo socks. And my knees. Everyone should see my knees.

Those were tired calves too. I got in 18.6 miles on the bike in an hour-forty.

The city put in a new bi-directional bike path on Kent Avenue and made the street one-way northbound. Every moron in Williamsburgh seems to think it is a great place to stroll or unload the car into. It’s a lane of traffic, people. Just because it’s painted green doesn’t mean it’s grass and you can have your picnic there. Kent Avenue is ruined for biking on the weekend.

Beautifully sunny and mild

The cat and I just got back from the vet. She’s in good health and cute too, apparently. She put up surprising little fuss, but now that we are home she’s yowling her head off because J didn’t come back with us—he went shopping instead. What a drama queen.
On today’s agenda is a bike ride in this fabulous weather; ripping back the sleeves and reknitting them with more frequent decreases, per Ted’s suggestion; laundry; and continuing to ponder whether I should wait for the 3G iPad or dive in now.
I finished a pair of socks in Malabrigo Sock. Pictures maybe later when they are dry. I knit them on 2.25mm (US 1) dpn’s. On examination of the finished product, I think that the yarn calls for 2.00mm or even 1.75mm. I also need to remind myself to knit longer heel flaps next time should I use bird-of-paradise stitch. It stretches more laterally than lengthwise.
Will that cat ever shut up?

hey, it's not snowing! rain.

For a switch, I took yarn and a crochet hook to work today. Crap. I cannot do this on conference calls. I have to look at it. Four dpn’s on 2.25mm—no problem. One 3.5mm crochet hook and I can’t even count. I’m taking the socks back to work tomorrow.
I would have taken them today, but it was raining. As it is now.

Still hot, with pollen.

Sweat a lot. Cleaned the world’s pickiest cat’s litter box. Took some winter stuff into the dry cleaners. Finished this sock and started its mate.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Liberty.

Walked 23 (short) blocks at a good clip from the subway to my massage. Got massage. Walked four (long) blocks to different subway and considered all the walking a sufficient substitute for going to the gym.

Thought about yarn a lot, but did not knit a commensurate amount.

Actually considered that it might be too hot and am looking forward to tomorrow’s more seasonable weather.

Cold, snow on the ground.

No, I didn’t take the whole month off. In fact the weather wasn’t that nice and I spent the day in conference calls. Got some knitting done during the calls, and several since.

I had a great post in mind about our Valentine’s Day dinner—Braised Beef in Barolo, and nothing says love like cooking eye of round in wine worth more than the current market capitalization of Citibank—and about how I enjoyed my first knitting meet-up at Brooklyn General Store, but a family member, somewhat obsessively private about his/her health, was taken seriously ill, and I’ve been somewhat distracted. The situation has improved slightly since. In the meantime I’ve done a bit of knitting, and I’ve been known to go to work and I’ve spent a bit of time being scratched by the Little Monster.

Our friends A— & J— finally got the call to go to Korea and adopt their new eleven-month-old baby boy. I got a baby hat knit in record time (for me), but now that I’ve seen pictures of him, I think he might be able to wear it once. He’s huge. Cute, but huge. I’m glad I abandoned the sweater. It would have been much too small.

I’ve also been knitting a pair of socks for my Mom’s husband. And knitting, and knitting. Why are there relatively few good patterns for men’s socks? Because it takes lots of yarn and lots of time and conservative patterns are a bit boring. I have discovered that large pattern repeats do make the sock go faster and row counting easier.

In other news, the beard is gone. Looking 55 and distinguished is not preferable to looking 45 and a little weak-chinned. I don’t feel as old as my beard.

warm enough to open a window for the cat

I got up at 5 to feed the cat, but she let me go back to sleep on the sofa. 9:30. She let me sleep until 9:30.

The Little Monster misses J, who has gone to the Crazy State (RI) for his dad’s birthday (81^st). He’s only been gone a day and she’s following me around wanting to be petted. J is usually the object of her affection; I’m her much-scarred playmate. How does she get those claws so sharp so fast?

The ice is melting! The parking lot out back is an icy lake. I think the drains are still plugged with ice.

I have a theory why the two socks came out different sizes. While knitting a third sock, I thought that the twist on the third cake seemed tight. I have finished the leg and I find that it matches the shorter of two existing legs. The two completed socks are the same length more or less, but the foot is longer on one and the leg longer on the other, by five-eighths of an inch or so. I switched the two balls when knitting the second sock and have tighter twisted yarn on opposite ends of the pair. It’s a theory.

If true, the getting a matching foot will be a challenge.

This is the scarf I’ve been working on for J for over a year. It’s now just an end-to-end garter stitch, but it is such a bore. It was garter stitch, knit entirely through the back loop, but that was never going to be finished—not enough stretch in this yarn—and I frogged and started over recently.

detail➥

J doesn’t think I’ll ever finish it; therefore, assuming I can knit on it in morning before he gets up, it will make a nice Valentine’s gift.

Yarn

elsebeth lavold Silky Cashmere, 003 Black, 005 Wine, 004 Rust

Needles

Addi Turbo 5.00mm (US #8), 150cm circ

Pattern

CO a lot, knit back and forth ad nauseum

BTW, I use the wooden spool on the circ cable (lower right) to push the work along the needle.

PS. One of my pet peeves is people who don’t show you what the back of a scarf looks like. It always shows when worn. (I’m guilty too.)

PPS. I’ve updated the reading list.

Back to knitting.

Moderately cool. Hat & gloves optional; the smaller patches of ice melting.

The brioche neck-warmer is a total failure. Too big, too stiff vertically, too limp horizontally, too many loose fibers (like putting a longhair cat over your head).

I dislike chunky yarn even more than I did before. And I think my reaction to alpaca is not imaginary. My eyes itch when I’m knitting it.

It’s just me and the Little Monster this weekend, and she, at last, has finally settled into her morning nap. I should get some knitting done.

9:30 am: started the third sock of the KPPPM pair for my niece. As I suspected, the third skein is patterning out much lighter than the other two. I know, I know. One is supposed to knit these yarn in alternating rows, but I hadn’t intended to use this skein at all.

4:00 pm: I had just washed the litter box and filled it with new litter and was washing my hands and…