THSS II sock 6

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As soon as I finished the Sailing School socks in Helen Stewart’s The Handmade Sock Society Season 2, I cast on for the final pair in the series.  A bit late but it is what it is.

The yarn is a combination of Knit Picks Stroll in Midnight Heather and Andromeda in Grumpy Gus (from the Sailing School socks).  I only had 58 grams of the Stroll and knew that wasn’t enough so I decided that the Grumpy Gus colorway would be a nice contrast for the cuff, heel, and toe areas.yarn used in Dorsal Socks

I’ve made lots of progress and am past the heel and gusset on the second sock already.dorsal sock progress

The sock is mostly plain old stockinette stitch except for the dorsal fins going up the back.dorsal sock backdorsal sock back

I’m beginning to have some arthritis issues with the ring finger on my right hand and knitting is a bit aggravating at the moment.  But I hope/plan to have these socks finished bt the end of the week.

Stay healthy and safe.

 

Something to do

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A long, long, long time ago Mr. Aitch had gifted me an origami kit as I was obsessed with this cool art form using a sheet of paper.  This kit included a great booklet that showed the basics of paper folding.  The last project in the booklet was the flapping bird. This is different than the famous crane.  The crane is a stationary object and the flapping bird can move.  I still have the original kit but loaned the booklet to a friend…and never got it back.

Last October I taught one of the twins how to make an origami flapping bird as she had learned how to make some shapes. We made several birds and she got quite good at it.  So I emailed her yesterday with a suggestion of something to do every day during this unusual period in our lives.Email to granddaughter

This is the flapping bird.

You can see that by holding it at the base of the neck and pulling on the tail…

…the wings move.origami, flapping bird

Here is a short video of the flapping bird in action.

There are several videos and written instructions on the interwebs that you can find but I made my own instructions based on how I learned how to make it.  If you are interested, click here.  Warning, you will need some basic knowledge of origami folds that I do not provide.

Explosive weekend

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At 6:44 Saturday morning Mr. Aitch and I were sound asleep in our bed when all of a sudden we were awakened by what sounded like an explosion and I swear that I saw a bright flash through my closed eyes. The sound was a tremendous clap of thunder and the bright light was a lightning strike. Close by.

Other than some thunder rumbles, the house was eerily quiet.  No aquarium gurgling.  No CPAP machine running. Nothing.  No electricity.  Fortunately, it was getting light outside and we could see.  I called the power company and about 45 minutes later the power was restored.  It took till 12:30 for the internet to return.

Then yesterday afternoon I heard another explosion.  It wasn’t real loud but it got my attention.  Mr. Aitch was in the garage and I thought something fell and shattered.  On my way out to the garage to check on him, I saw what exploded out on the deck.shattered tabletop

We didn’t see anything that might have hit the glass table.  The sun was shining and there was a puddle of water on a part of the tabletop.  I don’t know if the sudden warmth (it was 77 degrees) and the cool water caused the glass to shatter or what happened.  We did get some information several years ago that this particular tabletop could self-destruct.shattered glass tabletop

Some winters we cover the table to protect it and some we don’t.  This time we didn’t and we lucked out as it was a mild winter.shattered glass tabletop

The safety glass shatters into small pieces and looks like tiny ice cubes.shattered glass tabletop

And it is a royal pain in the backside to clean up!

We wanted to replace the deck this year and now that tiny pieces of glass are imbedded between the boards, that project has moved up the list to the number 1 spot.  I just wonder if I can get anyone to come and do the work…

Any excitement for you this past weekend?

 

A special shoutout to our son and son-in-law who both celebrated their birthdays yesterday and to our step-grandson who is celebrating his today!  Love you guys!!

THSS II Sailing socks update

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I don’t think it has ever taken me four months to knit a pair of socks.  But there were extenuating circumstances such as Thanksgiving, making Christmas gifts, knitting this and sewing that.  (Plus some other things I haven’t mentioned.)

So the Sailing School socks are finished.

I’m not sure this was the right yarn as the design details are mostly hidden in the variations of blues and greens.  A more solid/tonal yarn would have been a better choice.

The toe ended up funky…a bit pointier than I like.Sailing School socks

Of the five pairs of socks in this series, these are my least favorite.  I’m way behind in my sock knitting and I have one more pair to make in this season: Dorsal socks.  More on my progress at a later date.

The Handmade Sock Society Season III is already out and Helen has changed it up a bit this season.  Instead of publishing a pattern every other month for 12 months, she is publishing a pattern every month for six months.  I’ve already got February and March patterns in my cue.  I just have to find some yarn in my stash…

On another topic: Mr. Aitch and I are doing fine.  We went to the market on Wednesday and got most of the things we needed except for hamburger.  We are very glad we disconnected our cable TV many years ago (perhaps ten??) and are not subjected to the current barrage of doom and gloom.  I hope you are able to turn off the TV for your health and sanity.