Finished

I have an FO to showcase today: DM's Paprika Toe-Up Socks

DM graciously agreed to be a foot model for her own socks, with the stipulation that she get to do suggestive poses. I said sure, since the only things being photographed were her feet. We had lighting issues, so these were the best of about 20 different photos I took.

I bought some extra size 6 needles for the HKAD, which has only 3 and 3/4 stripes left to go. This is what it looks like with all 4 sets of circs:

I thought it would be difficult getting used to working with that many needles and not confusing them, but I was smart and I put the two new needles that were both the same color on opposite sides of the work so I wouldn't mix them up (Happy accident actually, but I'll take what I can get). Anyway, it's been super easy so far, aside from the miles of stockinette in the round that kill.

I also bought a set of size 7 circs and all of the yarn required for DM's Christmas afghan, the Lace Panel Throw:

That yarn-eating project requires 7 6 oz skeins of worsted weight yarn. I chose Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Rose colorway for DM, who is a vegan and requested that I not buy any more with wool content for her. 100% acrylic it is! Caron is actually wonderful to work with, and I'm not really too picky about my yarn. I cast on and started working on it, but I cheated and did a backwards loop cast on, and I dropped like 8 stitches working the first row and had to start over. I measured out the right amount of extra yarn for the long tail cast on and just started casting on for the second time. I think when I'm done with the HKAD, this will be my naptime knitting project because I can't work on it at home or mom will see it. I'm a horrible secret keeper, too. She already knows what color I chose because I didn't want her to hate it after all my work, but I was careful not to show her how much yarn I bought because she could probably figure it out from there.

I picked up DS's Clown Lace socks this morning and knit 2 rows of the heel flap but I'm stumped trying to decipher the pattern. It says to work the heel flap in the lace pattern on the RS and work a plain purl row on the WS, but the lace pattern has a plain round for every even round, which I would think equates to the purl row on the heel flap, so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to include the plain round or not. I'm gonna look up the book's errata and see if there's a note on it. Those socks need to be done by DS's birthday in May, and I may make her another gift to go with them since she already knows what her socks will look like.

In my personal life, my car's exhaust pipe fell off on Friday and I had to get some random stranger's help to fix it enough that I could drive it home. The whole experience was trying because my sister and her friend were there and they knew how to fix it but the stranger wouldn't listen to them. Anyway, the next morning DM and I drove the 5 feet or so to the nearest mechanic, who charged me just under $60 to fix it. I was ecstatic because I thought it would be a $500 fix. I also managed to get the car fixed and the stranger's ratchet strap returned to him before 1 p.m.  and I had the house cleaned by 1:30. (Sidenote: Strange men who call me 'honey' and 'sweetie' are totally and completely not okay in my book) All in all, it was a productive day. Life never goes that smoothly for me, so I feel like it needs mentioning when things go well.

Quote of the day:
Kid: Where are my cookies?
Mom: Maybe your dad took them
Kid: That a**h**e took my cookies?