Finished Object: Socks!

There they are: the Red Heart socks. I followed the basic recipe given in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules book, except I thought I knew better than her about the ribbing at the top (based on my many pairs of felted boot socks) and used far less than the recommended 2". I was wrong - these definitely could have stood to be a little more clingy around the calf. Also, I need to get better at sewing up the toes. And these babies didn't have any loose spots or anything when I first put them on, but by the time I took my shoes off again an hour later they had developed ladders along the toe decreases. I'm hoping that a blocking will help that out, but it makes me nervous - because even though I plan to keep these socks for myself as a learning experience, the next pair will be sent to Dad's friend in Arizona and will need to look pretty good.

With all due respect for the Red Heart yarn (the colors of which grew on me after a bit), this next project will be using "the good stuff": Paca-Ped alpaca/wool/nylon blend from The Alpaca Yarn Company in a color called "mixed berries." It's gorgeous stuff, and I want to do it proud. I'm going to try the Spring Forward sock pattern from Knitty.com, so I'm also going to be broadening my experience at lace chart reading [gulp].

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Wish me luck!

Hello, World. Remember Me?

Y'know, last time I was out of work I spent about 3 weeks sitting on the couch eating bon-bons and trying to wrap my head around the idea of being unemployed. This had unfortunate consequences for my scale, of course, and also didn't do me a lot of good in the coping department. Eventually I fell into a new routine that involved substitute teaching, walks, and some other activities. It really wasn't that bad, except for the financial issues and the weekly embarrassment of filing for unemployment.

This time around, I'm trying to move straight over to the new routine and bypass the bon-bon phase altogether. It helps, of course, that I knew this change was coming roughly 7 weeks in advance, and so had time to process it before it even happened. And it also helps that I now have my substitute teaching certificate, rather than having to start from the whole finger-printing, seminar-attending beginning - so I can still feel as though I'm technically employed.

Still, I have this sense of being in limbo. Instead of that trip to Rome (which I just typed as "Roam" in a classically Freudian fashion), I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love. I'm talking to people about photography gigs, but other than a new round of glamor shots in a couple of weeks, the calendar is not particularly full. I think I need a more comprehensive plan for moving forward.