Mindless knitting has its rewards. Especially when the yarn is yummy. And the results are full of texture. Knit a few rows, purl a row or two, knit, knit, purl, changing yarns now and then.

I actually knit sixteen rows yesterday evening.

When you back away from it it’s rather hard to tell that this is the long side of an afghan. I have the right number of stitches, though, and I’m getting gauge. It’s just that they’re all crammed onto a twenty-four inch needle. That must be why it looks so short.

I hope that’s why.

I’m thinking I should have gotten longer cables to go with the KnitPicks Options I got. It would be easier to see how wide this really is.

By the way, so far I really like these needles. The join is nice and smooth, the cable flexible, the points sharp, and the needles are light weight.

I wonder how I can justify getting more of them. Hm.

You’ve been wondering. I know you have. Yes, I did finally cast on for the second toe-up sock this morning. Here it is. Along with proof—by way of also showing the first completed sock—that this isn’t just a second showing of an earlier photograph.

The stitching of the Iris is continuing at lunch and after dinner. You can see the full width of page one. Finally. And see those few stitches stretching down toward the bottom of the photograph? That’s how far down I have to go to complete the first page. Yipes. Good thing I’m still loving this flower. The blues are quite amazing. I figure I have about 3,500 stitches in now, and it’s 2-1/2 inches wide and 3-1/4 inches high.

I was taking a peek at Kristie’s blog this morning—you need to go check out her black cable socks; they’re fabulous—and saw that she’d been visiting Blue Moon’s site recently. And that they’re now selling three new yarns in familiar colorways. Including a laceweight mohair/silk blend. I shouldn’t have gone over there. They have some sock yarn in a colorway called Nodding Violet. Oh. My. Be still my heart. I love it. Let’s see. If I don’t buy the expensive black laceweight yarn with the gift money I have left, but buy something less expensive instead, maybe I can get a ball of this. Or…

On another note, Knitty put up it’s mid-winter releases. I like the Thermal sweater best. It’s somewhat tempting, actually, especially since it calls for KnitPicks Gloss, a nicely inexpensive merino/silk blend. I could get all the yarn for the sweater for just under $32. I wonder if I have stash yarn that would work. Probably not. I usually buy thicker yarn than that. There’s certainly enough gift money left to buy yarn for this sweater. But then there’s no money for Nodding Violet socks.

What’s a girl to do?

Too bad my LYS doesn’t carry Blue Moon sock yarn. I may have to talk to them about that. It’s a serious oversight.