What did YOU do today?

Other than waking up pretty sure my eyes were going to explode out of my head, and not making it up to AG for knitting, today was a pretty good day. I was a good girl and got all my chores done first (we won't discuss how loud the music was playing or how loud I was singing along to it!), then finally got to sit and finish these before class!

Project: Groovy Socks (HSS2 Socks)
Yarn: Razzy Tazzy Knits, Ravenclaw Movie colorway
Needles: 2.5mm/US 1.5 KnitPicks fixed circ
Date Started: September 7, 2007
Date Completed: October 22, 2007
Notes:
-I was actually pretty good about writing down what I did for the first sock and being able to repeat it for the second this time. I made the extra effort since I rarely make socks for anyone other than myself and I'm terrified these aren't going to fit. The measurements say they should, though! Minerva, if you're reading this and they DON'T fit, I'm SOO sorry! I really liked working with this pattern, though, and surprisingly, I even like the finished pattern, even though it's pretty lacy. I might have to make this pattern for myself!
-I actually really love the way the heel ended up striping! I wish it had gone that way for the entire sock, but alas, it was not really designed to stripe over the gauge I needed for it. But it's still fun!

Anyway, those guys are currently drying and should be joining the rest of the package and begin winging their way to my pal in the next day or so! This was my first swap and it was fun! (I totally snuck a peek at Minerva's socks on Ravelry, and omg, the colors! They're so pretty!)

Now that those are done, I can focus on holiday knitting. I have the first three pieces of the afghan complete: I had to adjust the color balance on the pic a little bit, as for some reason the red and the blue just really wanted to look like the same color for the camera, but you get the general idea. I'm going with burgundy, navy, white, hunter green, and then the fifth color is still a toss-up between grey or tan. I keep waffling back and forth. I don't have to make a decision for a while, though. I actually am really enjoying this project, but I've decided this can't be my project for the show. The needles are too heavy to keep from clicking loudly. Plus, I can't keep the darn cat off of it! Teddie usually has little interest in my yarn unless I'm actually working with it and it's dangling and moving, but apparently the cat loves Thick & Quick!
He's partially unwound two not-currently-in-use skeins across the living room floor, and no matter where I put the WIP, he's sitting on top of it. Maybe he's trying to tell me the fifth color should be the tan by adding his hair personally? Maybe he knows it's for Kelly, who seems to have been one of his favorite people ever? Who knows? He's curled up again on it as I type!

Mom did get back to me before I finished the socks, although her choice of color somewhat surprised me. She wants mittens to match the scarf I made her out of some cheap Red Heart about four years ago! Finding the colorway isn't a big deal, but Red Heart?? I didn't know there were, like, real yarns out there when I made that scarf! I wonder if I could get Amy or someone to match the colors with some nicer superwash. Is that legal? I'm actually thinking more along the lines of how itchy mittens made of Red Heart would be than about having to work with it myself; I'll probably do one pair of mittens out of the stuff. I'm just also thinking of backups. Those are going to be my backstage project instead of the afghan.

On top of all that, class was great. I got to hang out with Mrs. S and baby between classes, and Sir promised we'd do the new board break on Thursday. It was hot as hell today, though, and the sky is all brown from the fires to the south. It's not too bad here, but it's harder to breathe and it's hard on the eyes. Mine constantly feel dry, itchy and puffy, and Mrs. S mentioned that it was really hard on the contacts, too. The Santa Anas are definitely blowing, and they're drying everything out, including people! I talked to John tonight, and he said things weren't bad where he lives, but Jen, one of our crew who lives in Burbank, said that she and her partner could see the fires to the north and south and the air quality was pretty terrible there. Please keep Southern Californians in your thoughts and prayers. It doesn't seem like there are too many injuries or fatalities yet, and we should be thankful for that, but lots of homes are being destroyed. I look around my single apartment and think "man, if I had to evacuate now, what would I save?" I can't imagine having to make that decision in a house full of memories! (For the record, my first things to grab would be cat, phone, car keys, wallet, shoes and sweatshirt. Then the three pictures of family and friends I have framed, and a few pieces of jewelry that have more sentimental than monetary value to me. As much as I would hate to lose anything, a lot of the stuff I have here honestly could be replaced if I absolutely had to.)

On a lighter note, two trips to Disneyland - one with people from PCPA and one with John & the magic crew - are in the planning stages! I've been to Disney with PCPA peeps, and that's a ton and a half of fun, but can you imagine me, John, Jen, Sarah, Alfonzo and Nick teaming up to descend on the Happiest Place on Earth? Me either! I hope the place survives us! The PCPA trip will probably be the Monday/Tuesday after SoM opens, and other will probably be closer to Christmas. Can't wait!