Lisa sent me an email wondering if I was suffering from blog block again. Well, sorta. I just thought it was monotonous to keep posting about socks in progress and the alternating gloomy and sunny weather. But, lest you think I have disappeared, I am still up to the same thing.

I ripped the first attempt at the Fast Florida sock as the whole thing looked like it would be too small. So I added more stitches and changed the height of the heel flap. It does look better to me. I'm into the foot part now. Part of this sock works with the purl side out, the underfoot area. I'm having some trouble moving from one needle to the next on the purl stitches. It's hard to pull the stitches tight on a purl side. And also in the area where you switch from the knit to the purl stitch. That's the same problem I always have when I have to switch from knit to purl, for example in rib or after a cable. That first purl stitch always gives me fits. I've tried purling through the back, wrapping the needle in the opposite direction and just pulling as hard as I can on the yarn. I still get a loose purl stitch. I'm hoping that because the Fixation has a lot of stretch to it the stitches will eventually even out.

I finished the K2 P2 ribbing on the top of the first basic sock from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. I'll try to get to the heel flap on that later today. I made the leg about half an inch shorter than the pattern called for because I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn. I'm a few yards short of what the pattern calls for so I think this will be enough. Otherwise I'll have to redo the toes later on with a different yarn. Could be cute.

The sock that I work on only when watching TV has been idle since last Tuesday. Haven't been home to watch The News Hour so, since that's the only TV I generally watch, nothing has happened with that. But the first one is done and the second one is almost to the heel. That should also see a little progress today.

And on the seemingly almost mindless scarf. I've started the third skein and have at least two more to go after that. I've only been working on this while I'm at Skein. Customers seem to really like it even though it's just a single strand. It does make some nice semi-stripe patterns. I do have to keep an eye on the stitches as it's very easy to pick up the top of the loop in the row below. I'll be happy to see this one done.

I treated myself to a copy of Socks, Socks, Socks. (From XRX, the people who publish Knitter's Magazine.) I'd been drooling over it for a week or more and decided that I could use some of my store credit to purchase it. I think it will be useful and some of the patterns are fascinating. Who knows if I'll ever actually make anything from the book. I get almost as much satisfaction from reading the patterns as I do from knitting, and it's a lot faster.

And while I'm going on about sock knitting, did you see this? I got this link from Fillyjonk, one of my daily reads. I love her point of view and always feel like she's sensible and at the same time playful. Anyway, I really, really want one of those kits. I don't usually pay that much for a pair of shoes, let alone a pair of socks. But, wow, they're fantastic!

About the weather. It's still gloomy here. The weekend was off and on again sunny and pleasant. But today could be confused with February. I'm planning to do some in depth housework (spring cleaning?) but this weather is not really helping. It would be better suited to reading, knitting and napping. Maybe if I just get started I'll forget about the weather.

Easter was nice. After an all-you-can-eat Chinese lunch I went to Skein for three hours where there was very little business. After we closed I went to dinner at my friend Robert's house. Robert is my oldest friend and I've know him longer that practically anybody. Dinner at his house is usually a matter of endurance. It's almost never ready until 9:30 or even 10:00. But then it's generally worth it. Last night we had a pretty traditional dinner, ham and scalloped potatoes. The salad was fresh artichoke hearts with cherry tomatoes and avocado. The ham was glazed with a citrus based sauce. And for dessert, tiramisu. We had deviled eggs beforehand along with some merlot that I had received as a gift from my friend Doris. And I have leftovers as well as a bunch of homemade cookies and dyed eggs, neither of which I'm supposed to have, but, hey, it's Easter! Or was.