Lately, originally uploaded by rahime.

Okay, I have some explaining to do. I'll start by posting the things I've been (not) working on since my last post. Right to left, you'll see: the Congo socks I claimed were done in October - and if you look closely, you'll see that they're still on the needles. Well, they're almost done - they just have to be bound off. And they've been sitting on my bedside table gathering dust for over a month.

Next to them is a sock out of Scarlet Fleece in 'popsicle,' which I'm just so not into lately and can't get myself to pick up. On the left, is Zeliha Abla's sock, which needs to be tried on her foot to check whether it's time to turn the heel. I haven't been to her house in about a month either.

Underneath it all is the back panel of a Bump maternity sweater from "Natural Knits for Babies and Moms." Yes, that's my excuse for not blogging for so long, but now that I'm in the second trimester I'm hard pressed to claim that morning sickness and fatigue are keeping me away from the computer. So... I promise to try and blog more... but honestly, there isn't much knitting going on here anyway. But I'll do my best.

Oops?

Has it really been a month since I posted? Big Things are going on here, and I knew I was distracted (not just from blogging, but even from knitting) but I didn't realize it had been that long. I've still been peeking in at other people's blogs at least...
Anyway, the Autumn socks are done, finally.

As you can see, they ended up pooling a little, but with the way they're dyed it's not overwhelming, so I'm fine with it. I think, though, that they have a little bit of the Fleece Artist "two halves of the skein being noticeably darker or lighter" syndrome that I've seen others mention. The second sock, which is on the bottom in the picture, is definitely a bit darker than the first. That kept this pair from being the Best Socks Ever, but I still like them a lot.
The Congo socks are done too, but I'm holding them back in order to blackmail myself into posting again in a reasonable amount of time. I don't like being MIA from my own blog!

What is it about orange?

I'm not sure why I'm so drawn to citrusy colors lately, but I'm crazy about this Fleece Artist (Autumn). No pooling, no striping, just a subtle play of pretty colors. Yay!

Soon it'll be time to cast on some socks for someone else; on my list I've got my mother-in-law, Zeliha Abla #1, and Zeliha Abla #2 (abla means older sister, a common form of address for women older than you, but not so much older you can call them "auntie"). Zeliha Abla #1 is probably going to come first, just because I know which yarn I'm going to use for her:

Her kids say she likes blue, on the lighter side. I think it's going to be perfect...inshallah!

Actually, I've already frogged the new sock - I made it too wide, and then it was pooling badly. Which means when I do restart it (um, I've cast on two completely different new socks since then) I'll have to do a short-row heel and not a heel flap - if I don't want the pooling, that is. And I've discovered that heel flaps fit me much, much better. Hmm, I wonder if this could be a sign that I might want to knit this yarn up for *gasp* someone else? I recently decided to do just that, and have two wonderful women in mind, and I think one of them would like this yarn. It might be fate...

The Happy Orange Socks are blocking! I finished them late, so I'm going to wait for better lighting tomorrow before posting a picture (hopefully... assuming I get home while there's still light).

Sweetie's birthday was yesterday, and we had a nice dinner at Dervish, yum. At one point Sweetie left me alone at the table, and I had a brief inner conflict about whether or not it was appropriate to pull out my knitting in a fancy restaurant... especially when I was on the cuff and so close to being finished. At first I was intimidated, but finally decided that if knitting in public is gauche, I don't want to be right, and pulled it out. (There was no visible reaction, unlike once in a less fancy Turkish restaurant when I got an eyeroll from a girl dressed like Paris Hilton, which I thought was rich!) None of the fancy people there who know my husband (apparently we just missed a chance to meet Emine Erdogan , and I am so sorry we didn't. If you ever thought a big deal was being made over Hillary's hair, then you should see the press over Ms Erdogan's headscarf. She's banned from attending almost all government functions because of it) seemed to notice.

I cast on for a new sock! I'll try to post that tomorrow as well.

Baby Love

Either babies love yarn, or I found a little knitter. This is what happened to my Trekking after about 1 minute with the seven-month-old sitting on my lap:

(Sorry for the poor lighting.) She alternately waved the yarn around maniacally as she thrashed her whole body and shrieked "Bah! Bah!" and tried to stuff it in her mouth - good thing Trekking is superwash. (I'm sure at least some of us would be tempted to do one of the two with prize stash members if it were more socially acceptable.) When her aunt took the yarn away she freaked out, but I substituted the finished sock and it was just as fun.

I felt too shy to ask her mom if I could put her baby on my knitting blog (I was imagining the lengthy explanations and incredulous looks - she's a non-knitter - in my head) but trust me, it was very cute.

My goal is to finish the second Happy Orange Sock before I go back to work on Monday... so I'd better cut this short and go knit.

They're done! And the fit is amazing. The colors aren't my favorite ever (I think it's the greeny-yellow flecked stripes - I really really wish they were just green) but they fit so well that I just don't care.

Now I'm fighting the urge to cast on something new, and trying to finish my second Happy Orange Trekking sock - today is my day off and since I'm exhausted, I'm not planning on making even the pretence of doing any housework. I'm going to knit and watch my Netflix movies, and that's it. (Can you hear the sigh of relief?)