Fewer Witnesses, More Fun!

After a week of doctor's appointments, less than fruitful banking and various social activities, it was rather nice to have a day all to my Sheepie little self. I'm one of those whose batteries charge best with a little solitary down-time and I get my grump on something fierce if I'm denied. With the exception of a quick trip out this morning to refill the gas tank and play a little Tourist Tag with some of the visitors driving around our fair state, I was in for the day.

To say this was for the best would be an understatement. I hopped back on the Broadripple Bandwagon and knit the day away in glorious, unwashed, unkempt splendor. For reasons that don't entirely make sense even to me, I have taken to calling them, "Bripple Socks" and am given to shouting out a hearty,

"BRRRRRRRRRRIPPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

whenever the mood happens to strike. The more of a lip-flappin' vibration you can get into the consonant blend at the beginning, then the more's the fun. There is neither rhyme nor reason to the timing of the Bripple Battle Cry, but if there happens to be a cat somewhere in the vicinity then the fun potential rises to near criminal levels.

Don't let the complete lack of maturity fool you. I did more than run around the house blatting, "Bripple" all day. I actually spent some time knitting on the socks as well. A good deal of time, actually:

See?

Don't let the deep, rich color fool you. In an effort to sharpen the image, I successfully managed to edit out the true hues. These are bright green. Very, very, very bright. In the event that passers-by aren't alerted to my presence by the shrieking of the new favorite word, they will certainly see my socks. I will not be ignored.

While these have certainly been an easier knit for me than the doomed Jaywalkers, there have been one or two issues. I had something of a brain cramp with regard to needle size and somehow thought that a size one would be the best choice. Had I been in need of a nice broom handle cover, I would have been well on my way to the finest handle cozy since the beginning of time. Since it was socks I was really aiming for, a consultation with the pattern was in order and larger needles were procured. There have also been some discrepancies between my thoughts on sock construction and that of the pattern author. I'm not so excited about switching over to four needles for the foot from my comfortable five and I've also picked up more stitches on the heel flap for the gussets. I always pick up more stitches. I have a deeply ingrained inability to see a slipped stitch and pretty much pick up enough stitches to ensure gap avoidance with blatant disregard to what the pattern assures me will do. It seems to work, although I question whether I am going to be happy with this particular heel in the long run. I'll have to get a bit further along to see if I've snagged every possible opening or if I missed a spot and it is hiding itself behind a needle. But, in the end, I will follow The Sheep's Cardinal Rule Of Sock Knitting which states, "anything that will live inside the shoe doesn't count." I'm sure it will be fine.

I'm sort of hoping I can add one more pair of socks to the summer knitting total before school starts up in a few weeks. The overall production rate for this vacation time has been far less than I'd anticipated. One more pair of socks might go a long way towards soothing my stinging ego. I'd probably be really depressed about the whole thing if not for my newfound giggle-maker:

BRRRRRRRRRIPPLE!!!!!!!

SA