Weird.

So apparently Panera hates Blogger. Every site I tried to browse today while there that was hosted by blogger was blocked. “Content not authorized for viewing.” What exactly about a knitting blog is threatening? Could it be the pointy sticks? Ug. I was able to read most of my faves through bloglines, but couldn’t post to my own blog at all, and I couldn’t post any comments anywhere either. Frowny face.

But, what I wanted to post about was my recent obsession with socks. Here it is in photos:

The sock wars socks were the ones that kicked it off. I actually FINISHED a project. (It’s been a while.) (I did weave in all those nasty ends and graft the toes before I sent them!) I had forgotten how exhilarating that can be. So I immediately cast on for another pair of socks.



These are intended for my grandmother, who had an accident on Mother’s Day. She and my grandfather live in a mobile home and travel the country. They find parks where they can do short term jobs in exchange for hookup fees, etc. So this summer they have been at an amusement park/campground in Iowa. On Mother’s Day Gma was working a ride called the G-Force, checking to see that passengers were safely fastened. The operator of the ride started it before she was clear of the gears and she was…well…squished. She suffered a fractured pelvis bone and lots of bruising, but otherwise she is OK. She was released from the hospital yesterday and is happily back at home, taking it slow and easy. I know that she will have some difficulties moving around as she is using a walker while she is recovering and the trailer is v-e-r-y small. My sisters and I have sent her cards and some knitting/crochet stuff to keep her hands busy, but I thought these socks would warm her spirits (and her feet!). Send some good wishes her way, would ya? Thanks!

This past week I worked a couple of overnight shifts. The night before I started them I decided to try to stay up as late as possible to try and alter my sleep schedule in preparation. What could possibly keep my interest enough to keep me up until 3am? New socks! (Grandma’s socks were at the heel flap which is my least favorite part of a sock other than picking up stitches for the gusset. I hate picking up stitches.) So I cast on for a pair of Monkeys. I just had to see what all the fuss was about. The last time a sock knitting craze (rav link) of this magnitude swept the blogisphere I tried the pattern and was just not impressed. Don’t get me wrong-lovely pattern, love what some people have done with it, just not for me. The monkeys? Well….three repeats in and I must say…all these bloggers are onto something. Monkeys rock!


Last thing, before this blog post gets out of control. Ever have one of those weeks? You know…where NOTHING goes your way? I had one of those this past week. It started out with me being broker than broke. Like, ramen noodle broke. Doug is thankfully now employed, but went about 5 weeks without a job and we just hit that point where his last few paychecks had floated us about as far as they could. No worries, everything is under control now, but it was a tight squeeze this past week. S-t-r-e-s-s-f-u-l. Then things just got plain comical. Thursday morning we got a call from my sister who was worried because her husband hadn’t yet arrived at work but had left with plenty of time to get there on time. So we went on the search for him. Turns out he had ridden his new motorcycle to work and it broke down. Doug went with him to figure out the problem and it turned out to be….he ran out of gas. The funny part is he actually “broke down” at a gas station and it never occurred to him that that cold be the problem, so he pushed the bike about a quarter of a mile up 29 before giving up and walking the rest of the way home (no cell phone). We laughed it up for a bit and then Doug and I took my sis to the dump. We haul our trash to the dump because it isn’t far and a heck of a lot cheaper than paying for pick up. Well, Doug’s old beatup truck had a quarter tank of gas in it. Enough to get to the dump and back, right? Think again. We were about a mile from a gas station and we….ran out of gas. Ha! Serves us right for laughing about Chad’s little motorcycle incident. So we walked to a gas station, found a nice guy to give Doug a ride to the truck with a gallon of gas while Heather and I waited at the gas station, filled up, went home. So now we are even keel right? Two incidents is enough! But wait, there’s more….! Friday afternoon I got a call from Doug who was supposedly on his way to Richmond. Keep in mind that now I have done TWO consecutive overnights and been woken up one of those days to go husband-hunting for my sister, walked a mile in the sweltering heat for gas, not slept, etc. Doug had ran out of gas on mile marker 152 of I-64. For those of you that don’t live locally, we are off exit 124 by about 8 miles, give or take. Yeah…thirty miles. He could potentially walk to a gas station, but see the aforementioned broke as a joke statement. So I got the gas tank that we keep on hand for the mower and went to bail him out, turned around, drove the thirty miles home with exactly enough time to change clothes and go to work. That’s the kind of week where you just have to stop and laugh at yourself because otherwise you would go completely crazy. Ugh.
Novel-length post over. I’m going to go to sleep now. Well, maybe after I knit just a little bit more on my socks…..