Seeking shelter from the rain

GONE FISHING!

It started raining at about the same time we reached the river, so we took shelter in a cave and waited it out.

After awhile Tom decided to give the fishing a try.
I decided to wait a little longer.

Pulled out the camera to try capturing an image of how hard it was actually raining. Doesn't really do it justice!

As I tried different angles, this Old Man Of The River was captured on screen. I think you can find him in the picture, although the camera viewer captured it best. The "smart box" kept zeroing in on the mouth but you couldn't see it from the cave without looking through the camera.

Unless you squinted.

Updated to add:
No one here can see my Old Man of the River.
Not Sara.
Or Steph. Until I pointed it out.
((Sure, mom.))
Tom said he could but I suspect now I was being humored.

What is the matter with you people?
Maybe it's like one of those optical illusion pictures that you have to stare at cross-eyed and then when you finally see it, it's so obvious you can't believe you didn't see it before.

Or maybe their imagi-vison needs adjusting?
geesh!

Screw Auger Falls

The REAL one, that is

There are at least 2 Screw Auger Falls in Maine.

When Sara was an infant we tried hiking in to the Kathadin Iron Works version, off the Appalachian Trail to Gulf Hagas.

We took turns carrying her but after half a mile she seemed to weigh a ton and it was just too much walking without the baby backpack - which had been left home on this spur of the moment adventure.

Not well thought out adventures are still a part of our family history, it seems.

25 years later and I've finally made it in, using the official trail. There's a short cut to the falls at Gulf Hagas by driving much closer, along the back roads further in. Years ago the paper company clear cut a huge section of the land that the shortcut went through and so they "closed" it.

For our safety.

Well, they put rocks across the opening and took down the signs. Anyone with a memory still knew where it was.

The trail had been worn deep by a hundred thousand feet and would take an age to disappear completely back to the wild.
It's a much easier walk, with no river crossings and so was a much safer trek for children or the elderly. We took mom that route a few years ago for an autumn leaf peeping expedition and she was quite thrilled to make it in, at her age and with limited vision.

UPDATE:
The Appalachian Mountain Club purchased much of surrounding land and has put up restrictions for vehicle use, but Tom tells me you can get as far as the bridge to park near the shortcut, which is being maintained again. Big locked gates shut out all but the wealthy who can afford to pay membership dues & fees to much of the fishing in the area, but the trail is open once again.

They own it, that's their right.

But don't tout conservation as noble cause, if what you really mean is "let's keep the land pristine so rich people from out of state can continue to enjoy exclusive Maine Vactionland playgrounds." (i.e. Moosehead lake/Plum Creek controversy)

But I digress!

I made it to the falls. Tom even convinced me to climb down into the gorge and wade cross the freaking falls so we could eat our lunch in the most beautiful spot on earth.

I admit I never really relaxed completely until we were both safely back on top. But it was worth the effort, if only for the photo shoot. And the reminder not to be such a chicken, as it was not really as difficult as my fear imagined it would be.

Multitasking

Hiking, Fishing and lost Letterboxes

Tom has Fridays off as vacation days for most of the summer, so of course I checked on possible hidden Letterbox sites that might be along the way, once he stated his intentions of going to Blanchard for the day.
Most of Maine's Letterboxes seem to be in the southern part of the state and not much was listed past Bangor, north to Monson.
I did find one jpeg clue in Brownville Junction listed on a Yahoo group site that we thought we recognized. Pretty sure it's on the Appalachian Trail to Gulf Hagas.
(picture contains the clue.)

Our "Almost There" picture found us almost at Screw Auger Falls in the Katahdin Iron Works region.

Tom decided to go to Brownville fishing instead.

On the off chance we could multitask.

But first we went fishing. I caught the first fish!
We had our limit by lunch time and decided there was time to look for the treasure. And more hiking.

No Luck finding the box.
There's no updates on the letterbox.org site so it could be a very old clue and perhaps the letterbox has been long gone.

Too bad we have no clear idea what "11 paces at 40" means.
Wonder if it's a compass reading?
Wonder if I'm doing the compass thing right?

Letterboxing Adventure

Our first Letterbox find!

Last month Stephani wanted an idea for fun things to do close to home, what with the price of gas and a rainy forecast for later in the day. In the course of researching directions to Chick Hill she stumbled upon an interesting new hobby, thanks in part to one of the first sites that popped up in response.

Letterboxing:

Letterboxing combines artistic ability with "treasure-hunts" in parks, forests and cities around the world. Look for hidden letterboxes by cracking codes and following clues found on the internet or by word-of-mouth. Items inside the box will vary, but must include a logbook and a rubber stamp - usually a unique, hand-carved creation.

(Purchased rubber stamps are allowed, but the creativity of carving your own is strongly encouraged :)

Letterboxers stamp their discoveries in a personal journal, then use their own rubber stamp, called a signature stamp, by stamping it into the logbook found with the letterbox, perhaps writing a note about the weather or their adventures in finding the letterbox.

The trek up Chick Hill found nothing. Except an exceptional view and a reminder that short little hikes up a hill when we were young can still be fun years later.

Searches at UMO's ornamental garden came up empty for her as well.
As did the two locations Tom and I checked out on the way to Bingham on the 4th. (The owner of the UMO box has promised to check on that one - just a muddy baggie was found on a nearby bench. An email from the last recorded finder of this one assures me it was there 2 weeks ago. We looked all around but perhaps the location was moved to higher ground. She said her very determined daughter found it farther up the hill.)

Today, Steph and I went to Bangor City Forest, walking the trails for miles and miles. (More like a heel-toe death march under the noon sun.)
88 degrees. Humidity at 90%.

Found: nothing.
(See 1st photo of where we think one might have been ;)

The clues were printed out in June when I first helped* Steph research more about this curious adventure of buried treasure, so perhaps they were outdated. This site seems more active and up-to-date.

*Okay: I became obsessed with Steph's new adventure and even made our log books, similar to my fabric postcard method for the covers. (And some help from this really cool kid bookmaking site I found!)

I tried weaving a tear drop/ tree of life "dream catcher" for the first time on Steph's log, per her suggestion and I like how it came out!
It'll be used in an upcoming fabric postcard swap as a tear.

Then we went to the Thomas Hill Standpipe: SUCCESS!

What fun to look through the logbook and see the stamps of those before us. A lot of "Our first find!" comments were noted in the log, ours included now. I left a fabric artist trading card as a gift with a dream catcher woven for the owner, to celebrate our first find.

Can't wait to go out looking for the next one.

The day after everything changed

My sister is Nola

I started the morning with a cup of coffee and my morning read of daily blogs.

A Modest Proposal for the 4th: Take back Old Glory caught my eye first. (quoted in part below)

The porch flag that went up on Sept 12th belonged to my father-in-law and came home with us when we cleaned out his house after his passing on Memorial Day 1998. He was a 20 year Navy man and it seemed like a good way to honor him, as well as our country during a time of our national sorrow.

It came down in shame the day our leaders declared war on a country that had nothing to do with Sept. 11th.

I've been thinking of having a second flag raising ceremony when our next president takes office. A new beginning. (Which ever one it is, I HOPE they bring change.) Being a proud American doesn't mean we get to put on rose coloured glasses and think our leaders can do no wrong.

But perhaps it was wrong to give up our flag to those who would spit the word liberal at us like it was a four letter word and call us unpatriotic for not going along.

Barack Obama, who earlier took some flack for his empty lapel, is on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone with flag pin gleaming. We should follow his lead. Everyone who's voting for Obama -- and especially those who are public figures (i.e. Keith Olbermann, Jack Cafferty, Rachel Maddow) must immediately procure a flag pin and not be seen without it before November 5th. If you can't do it with pride, do it as an act of subversion.

And I like the idea of solidarity & a flag pin.
An act of subversion, starting now!

Next stop on my morning blog rounds was MOMocrats. :)

Then my heart soared for moment when I visited Steph's blog and saw how well she represents. I asked her to return the repaired angel to my sister's gravestone. I didn't have the heart for a visit to the cemetery on the 3rd. I got through the day with no tears and a just a little wistfulness of things that could have been. A little sewing combined with a bookmaking project I'll blog about on another day.

This morning is the anniversary of the day I told Dad and Mom about Nola's death.

That fast. There were tears. As fast as the flashback of a memory of daddy's embrace as I told them she was dead.
Sobbing. The gut wrenching kind saved for 4 in the morning when no consoling is needed. It's just the healing my soul needs to get through another year without my sister.

Happy birthday, Daddy.
Her memory will see you through this day too.

Not so cute anymore, are you...

Sonofabitches eating my garden.

Oh sure. I was all so "How cute!" when Tom first pointed out where Mrs. Woodchuck had built her main entrance and out popped 2 (3?) babies.

And I was all "How sad" when a brown splat in the road was very likely the Mrs. (How will the babies survive?)

Very well, it seems.

Our section of land in this area has the equivalent of an underground railway system. The burned out potato barn that stood here before we bought the property had a system of cement drainage trenches all around it.

Woodchuck hole entrance number 2 was 30 feet to the right and 30 feet closer to my garden. The Mrs. stood at the edge of that hole screaming at me and Jazz while the garden was being planted.

At this point I began wondering What DO woodchucks eat?
Because this is MY GARDEN.
I'm fighting the weeds & wildlife for it this year.

Whatever it takes.

The Have-A-Heart trap came out. Babies wanted nothing to do with the strawberry I placed inside. They started with spinach. Ate a dozen plants right down to ground with just little bare stems poking out.
Fine. I'll plant more. And keep covering them up at night. Except they come out about every 3 hours. Day & night to dine. I'm thinking because there's no mom, there's no fear?

Next they moved on to zucchini.
Well at least they just ate the outer leaves (ALL of them). But the centers of the plants are still intact. They'll keep growing and I'll build fence cages around them.

Cucumbers. Yum! Little bitches got most every leaf off several plants - right through the fencing. Their little heads fit right through the mesh.

One even climbed down into the holes of the cement blocks I used to prop up windows as a barrier. Not sure which one of us was more scared as we found ourselves nose to nose, less than 3 feet between us.

Screaming KEEP OUT - I MEAN IT!
Not very effective, it seems?

Read on one man's blog about how he peed in the hole and they never came back. One of our friends stopped by after hiking Mt. Katahdin, working on trail maintenance all day and obliged at entrance number 1.
Too many underground railway systems to be very effective.
Or not enough friends?

Husband instructed to DO SOMETHING (else ;) !

DEAD EYE garden defender: 2 shots.
2 dead woodchucks.

(Tom thought there were only 2, but I think there are 3 showing in one of the pictures.)

Don't say I didn't warn you.

52 Pair Plunge II update

This makes 5.

52 Pair Plunge began June 1st.

I've finished 5 pair, including the 2 that were cast-on before June.

Since works in progress were allowed to encourage finishing things we start, I worked in my 2 WIP's.

All caught up now!

What are the odds?

Anyone lose a truck?

Tom and I went back to the river we fished a couple of weeks ago and tried to hike the section of AT again but a week of rain made the river too treacherous to wade across, let alone fish along the side. The current was raging and water levels were a foot higher than before.

So we gave up and went "exploring" - still looking for that shortcut back to Abbot. Yeah. Still didn't find it.

What we did find was frightening and I can't believe I didn't take a picture before we left. A truck had gone down over the side of the mountain!

I had taken over the driving and we were on a very high mountain ridge. The trees were thick along the side but it looked like there might be a lake off in the valley so Tom said to pull over and he would go across the road and look over the side. I kept driving, thinking I would find a better place to see through the trees and also be able to be seen by other vehicles coming up the mountain.

So he got out when I finally decided on a spot to park and walked to the edge. And as he's gazing into the distance he sees a truck at the bottom of the ravine! Oh. My. God. We had no idea if it had just happened or not so he climbed down to see if anyone needed help. I'm at the top screaming are you okay...scared to death there's a body. I stacked several rock towers on the side of the road to mark the spot. Luckily no sign of anyone. Turns out it was reported stolen in April.

We called the state police when we got home - there are NO police stations in rural Maine, by the way! (You never find a cop when you want one and we don't have a cell phone.) We were not even sure where we were once we made it back to the main road, although we took notes and marked the mileage.

So my blogger camera priorities need some work. I didn't take a picture of Truck Over Side of Mountain? But I remembered to take a picture of my Sock on Vacation progress. (I turned the heel and got the stitches all picked up for the ankle :)

Sock photo caption: "It's all downstream from here!"

One week at a time.

52 Pair Plunge II

June 1st marked the start of the 2nd annual "knit a pair of socks a week" challenge.

There being 52 weeks in a year, should help with the math.

I didn't participate in last year's challenge, having seen enough of socks for a while at the end of Sock Madness 1. Sock Madness 2 has wound down now and still like knitting.

So I've joined another pack of sock knitters.

It's the end of the first week and I've finished the pair I started on Sunday, after a very rough start with chart VS written instruction. Charts really are the way to go. Plus a pair for week 2 that was started some time in May. I didn't jot down the date because I was procrastiknitting when I should have been doing something else.
With a deadline.

Sneaking.
(I've been watching the Lord Of The Rings trilogy again :)

I have one last pair under way that was started in April. It has 72 stitches on size 0 needles. I promised myself I would get them cleared out of the way before Summer Of Socks kicks off June 21st. No WIP's are supposed to count for that one, so a good a reason as any to finish half done things.

After that - anyone want some size 0 needles?
Because I'm NEVER knitting 72 stitch socks with 0's again!

Sock Details:
Pink ones - Snowflake Lace pdf by Melanie Berney.
Green ones - inspired by cuff of Giotto by Anna Bell.

I already had the picot top done and was looking for something different to do for the ankle. I have no idea what her pattern is, but stitch I used was part of "Fancy Horizontal Stripe" #160 from The Complete Book of Knitting.
Barbara Abbey/ Viking Press 1971.

(Striped yarn kind of defeated the look.)

One more thing!

911; what's your emergency?

SMOKE?

Thick enough you can't see the end of our field.

"Any known reports of fires in our neighborhood?"
"Any burn permits allowed today, with this wind? Surely not!"

"No. Nothing. We'll see what we can find out..."

And then within 10 minutes every firetruck and rescue vehicle from two towns arrived to take a look. Screaming sirens and all.

(At this point husband suggests they're coming after me for a false alarm.)

There's still smoke so I walk out to the road just as one of our volunteer fire fighters circles back around and I ask "what is it?"

"We don't know. We can't find it!"

More screaming sirens arrive. So at least they think "it's something".
I shouldn't need bail or anything! Time they put a plane up to take a look I suggest to husband...

Right on cue.

The helicopter has been circling for an hour. The whop, whop, whop is getting on my nerves. Smoke has cleared, although the wind is still gusting.

My guess is the train that went by a few hours ago set off sparks. We'll see.
Maybe I should go put some air in that tire that's almost flat on the jeep.
Just in case.

A horizontal view

More pictures from Monday


There's buffalo?

Somewhere. It may have been during that section of drive where HE was "going to turn around in 5 miles if this road doesn't come out."

Anywhere.

Luckily, we were just a couple of miles north of where we started.
But not the shortcut HE thought we were on.


"Hey look, a hiker pinned a note to the tree."

Well, that's what I thought the bark hanging off the birch tree from a distance was. Seems like a good idea though, if you knew someone was coming behind you.

I think I'll photo shop a message.
Perhaps, "I'm sorry (I said) you don't have the sense god gave a gerbil."

(Parenthesis make a big difference to the meaning, don't they? :)

It was a Memorable Day

Memorial Day 2008

Tom and I went hiking & fishing along a section of the Appalachian Trail.

(I caught the 1st fish - a bragging right I enjoy and only achieve by sneaking ahead of him to a better pool!)

We joined a section of the trail by driving miles and miles of dirt roads beyond Blanchard - perhaps at the edge of the 100 mile wilderness along the Piscataguis river.

The promising sunny morning turned cloudy and it sprinkled a bit off & on. Fishing was slow and as we approached the "best pool" 2 men were already fishing there. One of them admitted to having 4 so we got back on the trail and hiked a half hour ahead of them to give them their space. And find some river not yet fished that morning. Hiking was excellent and although my feet went numb with the first river crossing...it wasn't so bad after the first dip.

Sock Madness 2 - Round 6

Godmother's Socks

I finished the first sock from Sock Madness 2 - Round 6 pattern.

I LOVE this pattern. New techniques, well written pattern explained wonderfully on video. What more could you ask for?!

I haven't joined the cuff seam yet - will wait and do both at same time.

(Round 5 & 5.5 skipped for now. Round 4 deserves to be done again in a much better yarn choice!)

And then my head exploded!*

Mom . . . HE STARTED IT!

I swear. I got in a bubble.
I turned off the cable news and political talk shows and promised to just knit socks or work on this year's 14th Street Kindergarten Letter People.
A little gardening. I will weed faithfully and fight the deer treating my veggies as their personal salad bowl to the death.

NO POLITICS!

Until Mom's Mother's Day lunch. My brother was bitching about the high cost of gas.
I said he could thank GfWB. (Dad scolded me for swearing.) Kevin (confessed 2 time Bush voter) declared he "didn't know how any of this could be blamed on Bush."
And proceeded with the right wing talking points against Obama. *

I told him his right to vote for our next President has been revoked because he doesn't have the sense god gave a gerbil.

We fought like it was 1969.

If it hadn't been mother's day I would have walked home. And never gone back.
After half an hour of me cooling my jets outside. And waving off his first attempt to talk about it. We acted like it didn't happen.

Until it was time to go. (I kicked their ass at Scrabble.)
Got in the car. Like it was time for this day to be over.

Except my brother made me get out of the car to hug. And then he cried.

But I still feel mad.
Because he said sorry and I still feel mad.

Sock Madness 2 - round 4

Finished.

But not in time...out for round 5.
(thank goodness!)

Round 4 Sock Madness designer is from Maine! I teased her by renaming her Something's Shady to The Kitchen Sink Socks because every technique she could think up was thrown in there. I used up a new skein of Opal - no color name - just the the number 1430. Must mean Big ass random ugly stripes in German.

NOT a fan of after thought heels. Are you kidding me? Pick up 64 stitches off waste yarn at 4 in the morning? Took me an hour just to get stitches picked up and turned around facing the right way. At least 3 got away and had to be rescued with a crochet hook. Feels too much like leaving the hard part until last and I would rather get the hard part out of the way first!!

I looked at the Sock Madness website when I got up at 2am - there was only 2 spots filled. So I knit on. I didn't look at Flicker entries or I would have known the last spot was being filled just as I was getting back at it. I still had a repeat of the foot pattern, 2 toe pattern sections & 2 heels left to do. I knew it was pretty hopeless that I would go on.

I was good with that this year. Last years Sock Madness sent me into a funk and I put knitting them away for a while. I had made just 4 pair in the year since.

The time was right. So in between each round, starting a few days before Sock Madness was to begin, I started knitting socks again.
I finished my 8th pair since March 10th. I have my next pattern all picked out and ready to cast on another pair.

Remaining Sock Madness designs will have to fabulous if I'm to be coaxed into another crazy knit along. Next pattern comes out Sunday.

We'll see if I can resist!

Sock Madness Round 3 Complete

Finished in time... Moving on to Round 4!

So I've equaled last years effort at Sock Madness if I finish this pair even if I miss out on going on. Only 6 of 12 in each group go on, but at least it's a Monday MORNING pattern delivery. Last pattern came after 8 pm and I was just too tired to work on it before taking a nap.

Round 3 pattern: Slippin' Stripin Socks, designed by Tina Lorin.

Yarn was a combination 2 strands of lace weight held together.
I used Brown Sheep Co. Alpine Violet Nature Spun wool (slightly thicker than the second strand) and Done Roving Farm Periwinkle Angora/lamb.

I would knit myself some 100 % angora socks if I could be carried around and not let them touch the floor! So soft. I would knit the leg portion again so long as I didn't have to cut a strand off every 10 rows again. Too many stripes.

And too many ends to weave in!

Took the picture of 4 balls of yarn and the 2 sock progress report in the cake pan I was using to keep the balls from rolling all over the place.
Creative photo submission caption:
Place Sock Madness ingredients in cake pan and knit until done!

(So I made Steph stand in the cake pan for the final shot when they were done :)

My Sock Pattern

Pretty in Pink socks

Materials Used:

Yarn: Bernat Sox - Pink Hot

Patons Kroy - Winter Eclipse

Needles: 4-5 DPN’s - 1.25

Cast on 64 stitches using pink. (20-24-20)

k2, p2 rib for 15 rows (or length desired)

Rearrange stitches (16-32-16)

Knit 3 rows

Begin 2-color design using chart.

(at row 9 of chart I rearranged stitches to 16-16-16-16; returned to 16-32-16 on row 22)

(Optional 1 or 2 stitches could be added between each repeat for more give around the ankle. This pair done without yellow or orange squares shown on the chart.)

Cut design yarn after row 29, leaving a tail to weave in later.

With Pink -

Knit 5 rows and then begin heel Flap:

Knit 16 sts on needle 1.

Rearrange stitches from needle 1 & 3 together for heel flap - joins between rounds will be in center of heel. Divide stitches on needle 2 in half for now.

Turn for heel flap starting on purl side:

1. Knit 3, purl across row.

2. Purl 3 * sl 1, k1 * to last 3 stitches, k3.

3. Knit 3, purl across row.

4. Purl 3 * k1,sl 1 * to last 3 stitches, k3.

Repeat these 4 rows for 30 rows (or desired length.) Ending with a row 2 or knit side - begin heel turn:

Purl half plus 2 (18 sts). P2tog, p1, turn.

(11 stitches were left undone.)

Knit to 1 before gap (14 left) ssk, k1. Turn. Continue back and forth on heel flap to 1 before the gap - P2tog, p1 on purl side. SSK, k1 on knit side until 18 sts remain. You’ll end on a knit side so there’ll be no need to knit back across to begin gusset!

Pick up and knit 16 stitches

Knit across front (32 stitches are back on needle 2.)

Pick up and knit 16 stitches and then knit 9 of the stitches from the heel turn. Put remaining 9 sts on needle 1. (25-32-25)

1. Knit to last 3 sts on needle 1, ktog, k1

Knit 32 sts on needle 2 (front of foot)

Knit 1, ssk, knit remaining sts. (24-32-24)

2. Knit 1 round.

Repeat 1 & 2, decreasing every other row until 16 stitches remain on needles 1 & 3. (16-32-16)

Knit desired length - 1 ½” from end of toe.

Begin decreases:

Needle 1. knit to last 3, k2tog, k1

Needle 2. k1, ssk, knit to 3 remaining, k2tog, k1.

Needle 3. k1, ssk, knit remaining stitches.

Knit next round.

Continue decreases every other row until 24 sts remain.

(6-12-6). Combine stitches so there are 12 stitches on front, 12 on back and Kitchener the close.

(REPEAT immediately to avoid 2nd sock syndrome!)

Email me if you would like the Word or PDF file.

lwalton521 @ gmail.com (without the spaces)

Socks given away freely

...can be cast-on again.

Deciding what to knit before the next round of Sock Madness took a couple of false starts. I finally settled on a remake of the Pretty in Pink pattern I made up as I went along at the end of 2006. They were given away to Sara's boyfriend's mom for Christmas. I'm making another pair!

Cuffs were knit and ripped out for several different patterns before deciding on this one. I tried a Mystery sock with clues being given out one at a time on Ravelry. None of my yarn choices made me happy and it's a cuff being knit inside side out.

At least 5 attempts were ripped out like they never happened before I gave up.
Lots of backwards knitting. PURLS. All over the place.
I need a break from that after Reversai!

I also tried a couple of Spring lace sock patterns but the YO's kept disappearing in the next row. I kept coming up missing stitches every other needle. This does not bode well if the next Sock Madness pattern is lace.

Just Because I'm MAD

Madness lives here.

So I'm joining in conversation on Ravelry's Sock Madness forum and mention my over cautious weaving of yarn after the Kitchner close of Reversai (Sock Madness pattern 2) is the only give away to which side is which of my reversible socks.

And someone comments "There's no Kitchnering in this pattern - it's a round toe."

GULP. It would seem that if you read pattern directions in the middle of the night and then you look at the picture and see it has a garter toe...no problem. All of the carefully written directions (that must be followed) blur into whatever you want it to say.

When it's the middle of the night....
You've been in a cave knitting for 2 days.
You just want them to be done...both of them.

So after the discovery....
Denial.
Defeated dejectedness.
Confession to host of the discovery of failure to follow directions.

YOU DO THEM OVER.

I cut the toes open, unravelled and reknit them.
Using the actual directions.
All afternoon. And a good portion of the evening.

(SciFi was doing a Battlestar Galactica marathon. It took about 4 episodes of Season 3 to knit both toes. Again.)

AND if you turn a reversible sock inside out to cut the toe open. (And forget)
Don't ask why the yarn is going the wrong way after you pick up 72 itty bitty stitches and put them back on the needles.

Stupid.
Or just MAD....
SHUT UP!

Is there an Ethical Award, maybe...

Steph muttered something about suicide watch as I trotted off to my room with a pair of scissors. Judges said it was an honest mistake and knitting 3 repeats of the chart was more work than needed in the first place. So no short cuts had been taken.

I had already cut open the toes and offered to be eliminated if I couldn't finish before the 20th person.
There's 17 finished in my group now.
I'm in for round 3. Again.

SHUT UP!

Sock Madness Still

Pattern 2 complete.

Ouch!

For 2 and a half days I've purled as many stitches as I knit. The pattern is called Reversai by Le Cras Designs, specially invented to challenge this years Sock Madness participants.

The words "I QUIT" actually flew from my mouth after a couple of hours attempting my 2nd ever short row heel. I swore I would never do a short row heel again.

FREE WILL, that is.

(leaving some wiggle room if one were forced upon us by evil Sock Madness designers!)

I thought I must be the slowest Purler in the history of Sock Madness but this pattern seems to be taking its toll on everyone. Not just my imagination: This one was hard!

(Picture was after lunch on April 2nd; finished socks after midnight so technically it was April 3. Finished photo shot was picture of socks shoved onto sleeping kid on a couch. She never woke up. Fully. Didn't come out all that well. And the puppy holding the last of my Claudia Handpaint is cuter!)

I can't imagine what's in store for us for Round 3.