Time Flies When...

Who would have believed it? I've pretty much been asleep the past two days.

Maybe that would account for the disaster that befell me this morning when I was working on my Savior Socks.

I don't know what's happened, but I keep dozing off in the Monster. Then I can't wake up. I'm not talking about having a difficult time waking up - I'm talking about literally not being able to do it. Hubster tells me that this morning, he took a cup of coffee out of my hands and went to bed. I don't remember it. I do remember spilling another cup of coffee on myself at some other time during the evening (that poor chair - it looks like I got it off the sidewalk after someone else dumped it). In any event, I've been spending most of the past couple of days and evenings asleep. I did wake up for a time last night and couldn't get the damn Blogger/Google thing to upload my pictures, so I got pissed off and decided to try it later. Later never came. Now I've wised up and put them on Flickr. That worked like a charm. So without further ado, I present to you some yarny goodness.





These beauties are Araucania Ranco in "Multy", Sunshine Yarns in "Indie", and Y4S Casapa in "Celtic".

Here's the second batch from the same shipment.





These are H. L. Miller Merino Monkey in "Boardwave", Dragonfly Fiber Designs in "China Cat Sunflower", and gentlesunset in "Autumn".

I so love finding new dyers. I'll be reviewing these on my yarn review page.

I've got a whole new box that arrived today, but it's too dark outside to take pictures. That's okay - it gives you all something fun to look at tomorrow.

I did manage to finish a pair of socks last night before the debacle. I can't take a photo of those because they're going to someone who reads this blog, and I don't want to spoil the surprise for her. As soon as she gets them, I'll post a picture. I've got so many things that just need threads woven in, washing and blocking done, and other small finishing tasks taken care of. It's like SSS - I just can't bring myself to do the final step. So things sit forever; by the time I do finish them, the recipient has either outgrown them or I've forgotten who was supposed to get them.

So... the debacle.

I'm a Sock Savior for a swap and decided to work on those last night. This is a pattern that has bedeviled me already; I think I've frogged about four times already and started them over once. Those were minor, though. This was a bit more... uh... advanced.

Things were going swimmingly until I realized that my count was off again (this is a lace pattern). Being one stitch short, I figured that I had forgotten a YO on the previous row. No matter - I decided to frog the row I was working on and just add the YO. I had gotten to within three stitches of the end of the row when it happened.

On the row directly beneath where I was frogging, I had knitted two stitches together. I went to put the two stitches on the needle so I could slip the other stitch through when something went very wrong. I still don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, I had a huge tangle. Swell. I worked through that and thought everything was working fine when I noticed that two of the three remaining stitches had suddenly headed south. And I do mean south. They were at least eight rows down by the time I stopped them from running any farther.

Shit.

I had two options. I could either try to reconstruct a bunch of twisted stitches, YO's, K2tog's, and all the other fun things that come with working an intricate lace design, or I could employ the tried and true Pam method of fixing a problem. I chose the latter.

SNIP.

Now I have to start the damn thing over. Hubster suggested that I find another pattern, but I'm bound and determined that this assclown of a chart will NOT defeat me. I do have to find another yarn, though. I hate trying to knit with twisty yarn, so I need to go rummage through the few scanty skeins I have to find something suitable.

Scanty. Sometimes I crack myself up.

Oh... to those lovely ladies who commented on my post about Sabella's: Thank you so much for your kindness and love. What you all had to say meant a lot to me. I'm finding that a lot of doors are beginning to close, and it's because of my getting older. I know we all have to deal with things like this, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Speaking of things I have to deal with, we brought our Monkey home the night before last in her wooden box. She's our kitty my mother took to the vet while we were on vacation. She died of kidney failure while in his care. They gave us a lovely box with an engraved plaque on it which contains her ashes, a plaster cast of her paw print, and a beautiful card that the entire staff signed. I'm afraid that our Cheyenne puppy will be following her soon. The good news is that Cheyenne recognized me when we went into Mom's house and got down off the couch. Then she leaned against my legs and looked up at me. She couldn't see me, though - her eyes are completely white. She also followed me up and down the hall. She has good days, but a lot more bad ones. I can't bear to look into her eyes - all I can see is the young, scared dog with the enormous brown eyes we brought home from the pound so many years ago. So I rub her head, cry all over her, and kiss her good-bye when we leave. I'm afraid that one day when I kiss her good-bye, it really will be for the last time. Sigh. It's so hard.

And on that note, I have nothing more to say because I can't see the screen now.