F%*#@ the Pomatomus

Ah, Pomatomus, that lovely sock pattern. Mine were looking so lovely; knitted in Yarn Pirate's beautiful Sonoma colorway. The yarn is a joy to work with and the feel is so silky.


Until I hit the 2nd graph and the jog in the pattern, I was cruising. And then I spent a week knitting and unknitting rows 5-16 and another week on rows 16-22. Sure, I tried them on and couldn't get my foot into the ankle. I put it down to my fat feet and absurdly high instep. So, I promised them to my mother for Christmas.

Last weekend Muffy and I ventured to the family homestead in CT. I took the socks for my mum to try on. I was heading for the toes quickly and did not want to make them too long. Tragedy struck ...the damn thing was too small even for my mother and her narrow feet with normal insteps. She didn't even hesitate when I asked her if I should rip them out and start again.

You can hear me sobbing as it unravels in a squiggly mound of yarn, can't you?

All of that hard work and I really really love the yarn...now I have to start over and I have promised them to my mother. By the way, this is just the thing that my mother's highly selective memory will remember...sigh...I really want these socks for me.

A gal's gotta have a little consolation in this world, so I stopped by Rosie's on my way home and got the first crack at the freshly delivered Black Bunny Sock yarn. This "Saucy" skein should take away some of the disappointment. Oh, yeah baby!

Allons enfants de la Patrie...

Judy demands a new posting and I oblige. I was scolded on Sunday for not posting in ages. Life I am afraid has intervened, but there has been a lot of knitting going on. This is the first of two Beatrix, knit for little miss Shayna...

The last five weeks have been spent fighting a vicious case of viral bronchitis. Every once in a while I think my boss is going to throw me a fish for being such a good seal. Before that I was sans laptop, after Tosca danced on the keyboard, then settled in for a nice long toasty nap which fried my hard drive.

Saturday, I rallied a bit to celebrate Bastille Day with my friends. In Philly, the Eastern States Penitentiary stands in for the Bastille...nice, grey and very forbidding. There is even a working guillotine for chopping watermelons rather than Marie Antoinette's neck.

Marie grandly declares, "Let them eat cake!" and the crowd below is pelted with...Twinkies? It used to be so much better when it was Tastycake Butterscotch Krimpets...sigh.

It is fun though to see the little kids there with their catcher mits seeing how many they can grab. This is my editorial Twinkie shot...

But even better was the presence of one of literature's most notorious knitters, Madame Defarge. She was so pleased to show off her knitting and be recognized. Fortunately my name was no where to be found on her lovely scarf. My neck is safe for now!

Are you happy now, Judy?