Turning the Heel

I am so excited that I've taught myself how to turn a heel. I am going to be a sock-knitting machine! On Monday, I was knitting for about 16 hours and I finished a lovely little ankle sock. Next time, I'm going to use bigger needles, chunkier yarn, and spend less time on a single sock!

But I couldn't believe how easy it was--why on earth was it so hard for me to figure out? The gusset is so incredibly easy! It is all just a piece of cake. Making the heel flap, turning the heel, making the gusset--so simple. So if anyone wants a pair of socks, I will be more than happy to teach you how to turn the heel! You'll love it.

The socks I'm making are black ankle socks with a really pretty lace pattern. I knitted one whole sock on Monday, and then on Wednesday, I knitted about half the second sock and ran out of yarn. I thought I had enough--so I was kind of upset. It's dye-lotted yarn, so I can only hope that the next skein I get doesn't clash too badly. So, I'll probably get enough next time to make another pair of socks, too, so that I can choose to do that later on.

The funniest thing about knitting the sock is that the yarn isn't colorfast, so, by the end of the day, my fingers had turned greyish black and it was so deeply engrained into the prints on my fingers that I just finally got it all out this morning.

Massive Amounts of Projects Underway as We Speak!

**Spoiler alert--if you are expecting a Christmas gift from me and don't want to know what it is, please skip this part**

So, with all of the frustration of the Lover's Knot Afghan, which I have again dismantled, I have been working on Christmas projects. I can't believe how much I've gotten done! My sister's bag is done. My other sister's bag would be done, but the felting process went awry and now I don't know what to do to fix it because it looks awful. So disappointing! But I have also finished Amos's scarf and hat. I improvised both patterns myself. And they look great! But then, I started working on these slipper socks for Chelsea's family, and I've finished James's so far. They aren't turning out how I imagined, but they are going to be just fine, I think. I can't believe how fast I'm finishing them. I've gotten James's totally done. His are brown and grey--I held a strand of each together the whole way through. Now, I'm working on Yayo's--his are grey and blue. The top will just be grey and the sole I'm making with blue and grey held together for a little extra cushion. I'm hoping to get those done this week. Then just three more pair and I'm done with that group of Christmas gifts. I can't believe what I have done already! It's really fascinating to me how much I can get done if I just do it.

**End of Christmas spoiler**

I've gotten a season and a half of Friday Night Lights watched in the last week and a half while I've been working on all of these projects. And movies and court shows and so many other things. It's awesome. I am loving Friday Night Lights. It's a great show--really intense. It seems a bit unrealistic for high school kids, but it's just so good! I don't remember parents being okay with the fact that sophomores are out drinking and having sex all the time or that juniors show up drunk or with hangovers to everything. Even in a small town. But it's just so good, I can't complain. I think I'll watch an episode right now…

Level 80

The news is Leota is now level 80 in Hate Town. That means I can spend my time playing and not have to worry about leveling her anymore. But now I want to level all of my other characters, but I want it to be so fast. Getting to level 80 is like a dream. I bought Leota a bunch of new gear so she can be really good at the game and I can't wait to do awesome stuff. Like heal raids and big, fat instances, and hug everyone I meet!

I have also started new characters--I have a bunch of lower level characters now, and a few that aren't so super low. But I am really excited to level up my other healers--I'll have one in each armor class. I really want to stick with the server we're on now so that I can level up all of my characters. It's going to be so great! I will have Leota, Taevy, Sopheary, and Choum be the best healers ever. Healing has got to be my very favorite thing to do ever. I just love it. It makes me really happy to spend an afternoon playing Hate Town and healing all of my friends. It's the best. You should try it sometime.

Update on the Lover's Knot Afghan

I have to take the blanket apart again. I decided that I like the clustered braid with the XOXO pattern better than the Saxon braid with the XOXO pattern. Sad, because the Saxon braid is my favorite cable pattern (until I find a prettier one). The clustered braid isn't so bad, but it's kind of like the poor man's Saxon. I've been thinking about it for a couple of days, looking at it while I've moved on to other things to give me a chance to sort out how I really feel about the Lover's Knot Afghan. And I think that I am, finally, ready to start over and really finish it this time. But I'm sitting at my desk at work right now, so it's easy to just think it will be fine when I get home and actually take it apart and start over. I think that the Saxon braid was just too much to pair with the XOXO, so the simpler cluster will make a good choice.

I am going to do the tulip bud border. I really like that. It's a pretty border, and it's going to look great, I just know it. I stole the idea from the Tree of Life afghan that I haven't started yet, and I really think it's going to turn out well.