I cast on for a new pair of socks yesterday evening. I’m using the yarn that Christina sent me for the tea/yarn swap. After grabbing my trusty size 1 double pointed needles I cast on 64 stitches and knit a 2×2 rib for almost an inch before I ran out of steam and went to bed.

I have a stitch pattern picked out of one of my stitch guides; I modified it a bit for socks. The stitch looks totally cool but requires a bit of fiddling, so I don’t know yet if it’ll be worth the trouble. It very well may as it looks totally cool, but that remains to be seen. I hope to get as far as the first fiddly bit at lunch today.

By the way, the new swift worked like a dream winding up that yarn. It even continued spinning on its own when the last of the yarn came flying off it. What a concept. It sure is nice having a functioning swift again!

Since I’m nearly done with Clapotis, I also knit a swatch yesterday with that pretty blue ribbon yarn I have, and size 6 needles. I’m a very bad girl, and almost never wash my swatches. I’m really glad I washed this one, though. It, uh, grew. I wish I’d measured the row gauge, or at least Newton’s in July when Kristie and I went the over all size of the swatch before I washed it, but I didn’t. I may need to knit a new swatch before I cast on for a sweater. The stitch gauge went from 17 stitches in four inches to only 13½ stitches in four inches. That’s quite a difference.

I have four 160-yard hanks, and want to knit a sleeveless top. This should be quite doable. The question remains: which pattern? Do I start with Wendy’s wonderful Sizzle, and modify it to work with this yarn (and a slightly less sizzly neckline) or do I dig through years of books and magazines to find something I like that starts closer in gauge? The yarn has enough texture on its own that I don’t want to do a pattern stitch. Nope. Even this small swatch has a fabulous texture and drape on its own, so simple stockinette stitch will be just fine for this, me thinks.

Fire update

The smoke wasn’t quite as bad last night. We managed to have the bedroom door open all night, and Dave even went for a half-hour walk this morning without causing undue stress to his lungs. The wind shifted though, and the air’s all smoky again. The fire that’s nearest to us is finally 50% contained. Fingers of it are going down canyons that are uncomfortably close to an old friend’s house. I talked to her yesterday, and told her that if they need to evacuate they can come here. For their sake I hope they don’t have to, but she’s glad to know they can come here. Here’s a picture of the fire marching up the hillside.

I heard on the radio a few minutes ago that more than a million people have been evacuated throughout the area, most of those down in San Diego. They said that it works out to one in three homes in San Diego have been evacuated; thousands of homes have burned to the ground.

We’ve heard from the three families we know down there that have been evacuated. They’re all fine. Two families know that their houses are fine, and are looking forward to the okay to go back home. The other family’s home may well have been destroyed because of where it is, but they don’t know yet and probably won’t for at least a couple of days. Yet another friend in San Diego will probably be evacuated, but all the roads going out of her area have been closed. Luckily she and her husband have a jeep, so if they have to bug out they’ll be loading the dogs in that and heading across country to the beach.

This is officially the biggest natural disaster that has plagued our state. George W. has declared a state of emergency, and he’ll be flying out some time today to see the damage for himself. I’ve always wondered why presidents spend their time showing up for stuff like this. It’s not like they can do anything here that they can’t accomplish in Washington. Frankly, I’d rather the money spent on his trip out here was spent on something that’s actually useful, but that’s just me.