Law and bored-er

Ugh. I hate myself for that title. Not enough to right the wrong I've done though!

This ghastly title refers to the fact that I have just been seated on a jury for a 2-3 day criminal trial. It's my first time having jury duty at all, so it's pretty interesting watching all the ceremony and lack thereof (as well as the ways in which it doesn't match up with my Law and Order watching experience!), but let me tell you, jury duty, like many of my previous jobs, consists mainly of being very bored while looking attentive. There are just a lot more gaps than they show on TV where they aren't doing anything that involves the jury, and yet the jury isn't allowed to pull out their knitting and relax. Oh, the humanity!

Anyway, I'm not sequestered at least.

I thought I'd give my Summer of Socks update while I was thinking about it (and before the media get ahold of me. Ha!). I've finished the Parashoots for the BikeJerk:

I think this is my fifth pair finished for the Summer of Socks. Not too bad, though I know there are people who are making at least a pair a week. Ah well. As I've said before, these are modified from a Charlene Schurch pattern. The modifications are on my last post, and I'm too hot and surly to repeat them, or even, apparently, link to them. Scroll down, my friends, if you're interested!

And this is my Shedir that I'm making for my mom's boyfriend:

It's made with the suggested yarn - Rowan Calmer - and it feels great! I'm close to being done, and the pattern has been fun.

I'm sure I have more to say, but my brain has been fried by the Suffolk County Superior Court!

Yes, it's my final answer

Thank you so much to all of you for your input on my Baudelaire dilemma! I feel like I would have gone on for ages knitting one repeat and staring at the sock for 20 minutes, if all your comments didn't help me to crystallize what my problem with the sock was: it looked _cool_ with the Fleece Artist yarn, but (as Peaknits put it), I felt like I was gyping the pattern. After thinking about it for another day and reading comments, I decided I needed to knit a bit of the pattern in a solid color and then compare. I pulled out some Lorna's Laces and knit 3.5 repeats while waiting for the bus (which is much more a comment on the lateness of the bus than on my knitting speed!):

The amount of texture that shows up in the solid color made my decision easier. I just don't think I'd be happy with that lovely pattern being so obscured.

But the Fleece Artist start will not go to waste!

I'm pretty pleased with how it looks in the (now toe-up) Charade pattern. I _think_ it'll stay in this pattern! ;)

A cry for help, the beach, etc.

No, this isn't a plea for a yarn-buying intervention, or advice on something to knit other than socks. I like socks! I need some input on this Baudelaire beginning. This is how it looks in a plain yarn, as intended by the designer, and here's mine:

I know mine looks different, and that it sort of obscures the lace pattern, but is it good or bad? I keep asking the BikeJerk, who says it looks 'fine', but I'm not entirely convinced. Opinions please!

To keep from thinking about it, I took the Parashoot when we went to Singing Beach on Friday (yes, I _am_ copying Claudia with this photo!):

I was a little embarrassed at first, sitting on the beach with sock knitting, my grad school tote bag (emblazoned with the school crest), and my New Yorker magazine, but then I looked around the beach and realized that a Massachusetts beach on a weekday is not the same as, say, a California beach on a weekend. I felt right at home, in fact - a guy nearby had a serious, thick, scholastic-looking book on his lap and was taking notes!

And finally - the Eleanoras are done, and they're fabulous!

The Louet Gems Merino worked really well with the pattern, I think, and I used my usual, trusty 2.75/us size 2 needles, despite being told to use a size 1 (my only act of disobedience, I swear!). I hope all will forgive me for wishing it were cool enough out to wear them!

I feel like the seven dwarves...

or at least Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, and maybe Doc. I forget the rest of their names, actually, and the heat is making me much too lazy to look them up. See what happens when I ride my bike to school in 95 degree weather, and then actually do my schoolwork (because I realize my next meeting with my advisor is in ONE week and not two)? Sigh.

So, a short post today - before I go collapse in front of the fan again. One Eleanora sock is finished, and the other done up to the heel flap. I love these socks:

Look at the patterned toe:

I felt a little resentful when I was working on the toe late at night that I had to continue to pay attention to the pattern/decreases longer than usual, but I do think that the result is stunning. Yay for Eleanoras!

Brief knitting notes, unaccompanied by pictures:
1) On chart 10 of the Hidcote garden shawl! Just 21 rows and a bind-off to go, Mom!

2) Sockergirl asked in the comments about the Parashoot socks and how I changed the pattern to look like it's (apparently) supposed to. The only real important change is that where the written pattern says 'slip 1, k2tog, psso', which makes a left leaning double decrease, I used 'slip 2, k1, p2sso', which makes a centered double decrease as shown in the picture for the Parachute pattern (in More Sensational Knitted Socks).

Finally, I'll close with a familiar sight around here - yes, she sleeps like this:

Happy Birthday to me!

Thank you all for your nice birthday wishes! Today's the real day, but the party was yesterday, and it was lovely. Not only was the weather terrific, and lots of friends there, but I also had two cakes! I should have taken a picture of the delicious carrot cake made by Claire (of wedding shawl fame) as it was not only yummy but also had a Kewpie doll creepily emerging from one corner, but I _had_ to take a picture of the other one, which was entirely a surprise to me and which took my breath away:

In case you thought you didn't see right, here's a closeup - not entirely PG rated, but the chef's three-year old daughter DID help her with the animals:

Yes, it was THAT kind of a party. ;)

Cloudy day blues

Blues, simply because I've moved back into my color comfort zone: after all those pinks and reds, I give you blue and green! Not that I didn't love my dip in the warm colors, and I know I'll be back, but it feels like coming home.

Despite my slow start on the cuff, I've been zooming along on the Eleanora socks:

The pattern looks tricky because it's full of charts, but after the decreases at the top, it's just continuing in pattern - detailed textural pattern, sure, but look how nice it looks!

I realize that it's based on a Renaissance sock, but to me it seems more medieval. Maybe wishful thinking, but since I study the Middle Ages, I'm going to keep on thinking that.

At the same time, I'm working on a sort of brainless sock for the BikeJerk. He picked the yarn and the pattern, which is more than he'll usually submit to in the summer - he usually just says he can't think about socks until the fall:

The yarn is Austermann Step, which is enjoyable to work with even if I find myself skeptical that there's really Aloe in there. What are they? Magic? The pattern is very liberally adapted from the Parachute pattern in More Sensational Knitted Socks - I replaced the yarn-overs with make-one-stitchs to make it less lacy, and then found that the written instructions don't make the pictured pattern! The center of the pattern is a double decrease, but the written instructions give the wrong one. So I changed that too. It was a bit frustrating, but I'm calming down. As I should, now that I'm past the heel and just doing ribbing...

And finally, an unsatisfactory picture of some handspun (this is becoming a tradition, no?):

It's alpaca from Spunky Eclectic, in Macaw, spun to fingering weight. It was a dream to spin, and the singles were so even and strong that I could have skipped plying...except that there was altogether too much white. I cannot abide white, so I plied. Still pale, but not white! Whew!

I'm off to contemplate my birthday (this weekend!)! I'm a little worried because it's supposed to be raining on Saturday, which is the annual summer BBQ and birthday party (Tinapalooza is the BikeJerk's name for it, of which I entirely approve), but it's still my birthday, and although I'm past the age where people are supposed to be excited for their birthdays, I love it beyond all other days. Yay!