Almost one round a day…

… since my last post. (I missed a day or two.) But the socks are growing, despite the slow pace. Check it out:

Just a few inches more…

The socks now measure 11 inches in length, all done on a US size 000 circ. On the most recent round, I switched to a size 00, to allow for shaping changes without my having to add stitches to accommodate my calves. I am not one of those stick-leg ladies, so there’s definitely gonna be shaping required.

Not sure how long I’ll make these, but they will continue at least until I run out of yarn in the original two skeins (one skein per sock). I do have a third skein, but I don’t know that I want the socks to be that long. We shall see.

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My participation in WWKIP week has been minimal. And by “minimal,” I mean that I knit a couple of times at work this past week. That’s it.

What fun in-public stuff did you do while knitting this week?

 

Knitting continues apace…

… a very slow pace, but regular progress is regular progress, and I refuse to judge myself harshly.

In truth, I’ve set a truly amazingly low goal for my knitting on the purple socks for me: one round a day on each sock. And I’ve kept to it for the last week or so, including today.

The resulting socks-in-progress now measure 10 inches long, knit from the tip of the toe upward. If I get my legs shaved motivated properly later today, I’ll slip one on and take a photo to post. ‘Cause I know how you all like that photo-documentation stuff.

—

In non-knitting news, I’ve been working less regularly but still surely on my novel-in-progress. I’d set a goal of writing 350 words/day, but only 5 days a week. And my average word-counts on the days I do write don’t suck at all, but I can’t seem to get the “write 5 out of 7 days” thing done. Instead, when I do sit down at the keyboard, I write more words per session.

Again, that means my averages aren’t bad, but the point of the exercise is to get in the habit of writing almost every day.

So there is frustration.

On the other hand, the words I am writing? I like them very much. I’ve heard that first drafts are supposed to suck and therefore require much work to make them readable, but I don’t find my first draft to be high in the suckage area… not yet, anyway. Perhaps as I get into the finer points of pacing and plot (you know, the dreaded middle section of the book), I will change my tune.

I look forward to seeing.

Next non-word-adding goals: split the main doc into chapter docs, then do a cursory outline of the story so far… oh, and a cheat sheet list of characters and their main characteristics. ‘Cause I’m at almost 9000 words, and details are already becoming hazy. (e.g., The main character’s eyes are what color? Sigh.)

I’m off for the next two nights, so I hope to make some real progress on both my works in progress. Wish me luck? Thanks!

4 more rounds!

On each sock… so that’s like 8 more rounds on one sock… which isn’t too bad, now is it?

That is all… for today.

Please feel free to resume your previously scheduled Wednesday activities.

 

3 more rounds…

… that is all.

And no picture, of course, because there’s not really a visible change.

My knitting time has been sharply decreased at work, as I’m training someone, which means it’s work and only work there*. And my home knitting time has been challenging, because of four now-eight-week-old kittens who are like little fur rockets zooming around and getting into everything.

Excuses, I know, but not without factual grounding.

And, sadly, even this little bit of knitting left my right hand/wrist feeling strained. Guess I need to get it back into knitting shape by, perhaps, knitting more and not less? Yeah, probably.

* The training thing should be over after another work week, if all goes as anticipated. (Fingers crossed, knock on wood, throw salt over your shoulder, etc.)

 

(Very) slowly, but surely

As I said in my last post (two weeks ago – yikes!), I got the socks back on one needle. I knit about 10 rounds on the pair over the next few days, and on May 6th, I took a few pictures of them while the hubs and I were having breakfast at Steak ‘N Shake.

Here’s the best of the bunch:

Looking rather more socklike than before, don’t ya think?

It’s taken me this long to get my camera, cord and computer in close enough proximity to download the pictures and post this for you here. You’ve all known me long enough that I’m sure you weren’t holding your breath in the interim. And I’ve knit only a few more rounds since, after establishing a k1p1 pattern all ’round. That meant increasing a couple of stitches, and the socks fit better as a result.

The urge to knit has been intermittent these last two weeks, so I’ve been carrying these around everywhere and knitting a round here or there whenever I feel motivated. As they’re for me and I don’t have a project waiting in the wings (pestering me for a chance to take center stage), I’ll just let myself toodle along on these oh-so-pretty purple socks. Eventually, I’ll finish them. I always do.

—

On the writing front, I’ve decided it’s time to, um, write again.

More specifically, last night I took up the romance novel I abandoned at 5400 words about 6 years ago. I’m planning to post my progress on my writing-specific blog, but only as word counts. I’m not brave enough going to post the fiction itself as I write it, as first drafts have a tendency to, um, suck, and none of us needs that all over the interwebs!

My first night’s progress: 442 more words! (The writing plan I’m following was suggested by Chuck Wendig, my unofficial online writing guru. It involves writing 350 words/day, 5 days/week.) After a year, that would add up to about 91,000 words and 260 days of writing.)

Wish me luck!

Imagine, if you will…

… both sock heels done and the pair reunited on one long circular needle, plus about 5 rounds on the leg.

And the reason I titled this post “Imagine”?

You guessed it:

No new photo of them.

(I know.)

(And I’m sorry.)

Here’s something else to distract you from the crushing disappointment brighten your day:

Ohmyyes!!

FYI, if you turn your TV onto TNT weekdays from 9-12 a.m., you can watch these fine young men (Jared Padilecki and Jenson Ackles) saving world over and over again. (Why, yes, Supernatural is playing as I type this! How’d you know?!)

 

Half-heeled: sock progress

Friday night, I worked on my purple K1P1 socks, stopping when they were about  7.25 inches long. I compared them a previous pair, one that fits well, to see where I wanted to start the heels. Then I knit the top half of each sock and split the pair, each on its own circular needle, as the heels are much easier to work when there’s only one sock per needle.

Saturday night, I started the heel of one of my purple K1P1 socks. Here’s how it looked when I finished the first half of it:

All blinged out with stitch markers.

Last night, I picked up where I’d left off and finished the heel of the above sock. Here’s how it looks now:

The view from the top…

And one more shot:

… and of the sole.

Knitting the heel hurt my left hand quite a bit, especially in the picking-up of the wrapped stitches. OMG, so tight, so hard to work with, especially in this mostly-not-wool yarn. That’s the reason I didn’t get to the second one yet: my hand needs time to heal before I mess with another heel.

I’m off work tonight and Tuesday night, so I hope to get through the second heel before Wednesday. Then I’ll recombine the pair on one circ and work the legs.

Yay for progress… and yay for getting through with the painful bits soon, without further damage. (Knock on wood.)

One of these days, I really am going to have to learn how to do the short-row heels without wraps (and without holes). There are tutorials about it, but I didn’t have that resource when I did the heel above. And since I want my socks to match, I won’t be trying it on sock #2 of this pair.

Perhaps on my next pair?