Some Toe-Up Socks

First time for everything, and this was my first try at a "Toe-up" sock pattern. The pattern was courtesy of the folks at the Six Sox Knitalong

While I understood the concept, actually putting it into practice was a bit more interesting, especially in the area of the bottoms of the heels. As I knitted, it occurred to me that the socks looked like something that might show up at an archaeological dig adorning the mummified feet of the Bog Man or the Ice Maiden. Sort of clunky, with questionable shape and bumps in all the wrong places. Luckily, they responded well to blocking, ending up not at all "lumpy", and fitting quite nicely.

The best part? These were "free socks", made entirely of the leftovers from other socks.

Swirling Confetti Kid Socks

After the Toe Up socks were finished, I still had leftover yarn, and I'd fallen in love with the spiral pattern of purled stitches around the legs. That inspired me to make some "Kid sized" socks for CIC

The multi-colored ones are knitted with a double strand of fingering yarn, the rose ones are knitted with DK weight yarn. Both on size 3 needles (3.25 mm). I've now used up all of my scraps of fingering weight yarn, and need to start a new project.

Download the pattern here

It works. Well.

Mentos, redux

It's true. Target does sell Mentos.

In a six-roll bulk pack.

We are set.

Cell Phones

I'm not a great fan of cell phone use. I have one. Everybody in my family has one. I could easily get by on a plan offering me six minutes a month. That's how much I use it. As far as I'm concerned, the cell phone is for "I'm late", "I'm lost", "Your kid is sick, come pick him up" or "The green van isn't running...again".

Not too many people have my cell phone number, so I'm always slightly startled when it actually rings. Like it did last night, when I was at the grocery store.

It was Dave, who doesn't use his cell phone much more than I use mine (He could get by with a 12 minutes per month plan, to allow for a 30 second call every day to tell me he's leaving work). It's good to have it, though, as in this case, to add a forgotten item to the grocery list.

What did he want? A 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke and a package of Mentos candies.

Mentos? Yeah, you know...

These:


Both requests were pretty much out of character. No one at our house drinks Diet Coke, and certainly no one drinks 2 liters of it. While we do like Mentos, they aren't a household staple, once in a great while someone buys a packet at the cash register at a restaurant. I said "I would check", but I had my doubts about finding them at HEB.

The soda aisle presented a quandry, and resulted in an unheard of RETURN cell phone call for clarification. I could find Diet PEPSI in 2-liter bottles, or Diet COKE in 3-liters. Both were available in cans, Pepsi also offered the 20-ounce resealable bottle option. I felt pretty silly standing in front of the carbonated beverages and calling home to clarify, "Which was more important? Coke versus Pepsi or 2- versus 3-liters?"

And as I suspected, Mentos were not available at the checkstands with the gum and Life Savers. Not with the shelves of candies, cookies or snacks, either. I took my TWO liters of Diet Pepsi and went home.

It was getting dark by then, so it didn't matter. The diet soda and candies would have waited until today, anyway (when, as luck would have it, I'm going to Target. Pretty sure they sell Mentos at Target).

I'll just add that the only thing possibly more dangerous than unlimited cell phone use in public would be...unlimited Web Surfing by three men left at home.

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