FO - Alafaya

Finally! I had hoped to have these in the mail by Monday, but much to my delight, I finished up last night during a movie (Jarhead, which is a good one to knit through - it's a Boy Movie, big-time.) So I packed them up and sent them off this morning.



Yep, one's wider and slacker than the other. Obviously that's the first one I made, the one I kept trying on. I didn't block them or anything - they're for Dad. I want them rugged and manly-looking - if he opened the package and found a pair of neat, pressed, perfectly matched socks, he wouldn't want to wear them. He's a very Dad-y dad, too, so I don't know if he ever will actually wear them. He may just take a picture of them to carry around in his wallet so he can show everyone the socks his daughter knit for him. (Best. Dad. Ever.) I hate that I knitted these in stocking (why??) and wish I'd done them in rib - they'll fall down within seven seconds and never find their way back to elasticity again. And yes, it's a heavier weight than socks should ever be, but another great thing about Dad is his poor circulation - he lost feeling in his feet years ago. I could knit socks out of twine and he could wear them without complaint.



I just really hope they're not too small. (Yes, they fit me just fine, but I have huge feet, okay?) For not having a pattern or any clue at all, really, other than "I wanna make socks that reasonably fit 1800s guidelines," I think I did alright. Assuming he can get them on....



Rooster and Indiana (the vaguely kitty-shaped object lurking under the desk chair) are not really crazy about all this organizing I've been doing. Yarn is not easily accessible anymore....they have to just skulk about and watch me carefully, waiting for a ball to hit the ground.

Oh, and I tried, for the third time, to visit the Knit & Needle Nook in Mount Dora today. (They are always freakin' closed.) So....I think I know where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. This place is a complete disaster! Having a tiny shop is perfectly acceptable, but you have to do one of two things - either organize obsessively, or control your inventory. This shop has done precisely neither of those things, and in a big way. There were shelves of yarn, but I couldn't tell you what was there because between me and the yarn was a four-foot long, three-foot tall barrier of Ziploc bags stuffed with all sorts of yarn, in no discernible order. I kind of shifted around in the 18-inch wide pathway between the register and the bags for a minute and left. Honestly, how can you POSSIBLY run a business that way?? I almost giggled myself into a coma on the way back to the car. My favourite moment was when the owner (tucked onto a stool between mounds of Ziplocs, completely unconcerned with the disaster) asked "Can I help you find something?" I mustered a wry "Um, just .... looking." What I wanted to say was "I seriously doubt it, but if you did, I'd be completely amazed."

I really almost drove to Sip & Knit just to bring my spirits back up. I mean, seriously yikes.