The Middle of August

Can you believe it??? It's the middle of August & the 'Back to School' mobs are on the move in the malls. I tried to buy a couple of packages of paper in Staples on Saturday - OMG - I backed out & vowed to come back on a Monday or Tuesday morning instead!! The place was mobbed. I hate shopping this time of year but, the bargains are tremendous. I buy paper by the box, pencil leads by the 12 pack & big D-ring binders at close to half price during 'Back to School'. Even some software is very cheap but, oh, the pain of crowds, whining kids & long line-ups.

Finished the wild Regia socks that I had on the go & cast-on another pair in a rather scruffy 4 ply green/blue/red/white stripe that I had in the bottom of my bin. Looks like a cat or dog chewed on part of a ball but there's still plenty to knit a pair of short socks. If not, I'll put a solid colored toe on them. 4 ply is lovely for winter. It's much warmer than 3 ply when you live on unheated cement floors.

I volunteered to test knit a sock design. I got a lovely, squishy merino/nylon yarn with it. It looked much too fine in the cake for the recommended needle size - the Designer even wound the skein into a centre-pull cake for me - but once I started knitting, it became loftier than expected. I have to confess that I've never used a chart to knit a pattern before, I've always followed the written description. But, the pattern is so well charted & so easy to knit that I've had no problems at all. I even learned a new heel method in the process.