YOP #50 or Nearing the End

I'm only 3 days late for this update, but to be fair, I've been in a car since Sunday morning. There have been breaks to charge the car but not enough to pull out my netbook and update this blog. I had thought about writing before Sunday and letting the blog update itself, but I've had a huge show this past weekend.

Overall, it's been a good 10 days of knitting for me (I might as well write about the last 3 days as I'm hoping to write about the entire year next week). During the course of the show on Saturday night, I finished the Vanilla Eyelets. I've decided that they are keeping that name as they are a simple "vanilla" sock which works for some of the crazier yarns I have. The yarn I used was a Christmas gift that I've tried at least 2 other patterns with before designing my own. I even managed to weave in the ends (and not miss any of my cues) and wore them the next day as the family and I headed out west in our Tesla. It was a tad warm to wear the socks but they were very comfortable and I enjoyed the warmth of them when we hit the motel we stayed at in South Dakota.

Husband and I have been taking turns driving. This has allowed me to finish the first Mint Twist sock. Well, mostly finish it. I haven't woven in the ends yet. When we stopped in Colorado to have dinner with Mom, I managed to show off my progress. She was very impressed. She hasn't started socks from that shipment yet. I also gave her the rest of her birthday present, yarn from the Yarn Shop Hop that was being dyed as the shop had run out, which I was going to ship to her. I'm kind of glad I didn't as I was able to give it to her in person and she got to pick which two of the four she wanted. Husband pointed out that they were "exactly the same" but any knitter will know that yarn can vary not only between dye lots but also within a dye lot, especially when hand-dyed.

While we were in Las Vegas waiting for the car to charge, I started to cast on the second sock. I didn't get very far. Antsy children and dry heat making everyone cranky meant I needed to do some intervening. The heat also slows down the charge of the battery, so we were reaching a point that our next stop was going to be later as we waited for the last 5 miles. We ended up skipping that last bit of charge and headed out. It also meant I didn't get to finish casting on the sock as I was driving.

I've brought along two other projects to cast on. One is a knitted top and the other is one of the June 2014 Cookie A sock patterns. I've yet to start either of them. I think this is mostly due to the fact that it's not fun casting on in the car and there have been other things to take care of during our charging breaks. I probably would have cast something on before writing this if my knitting was in the hotel room. Alas, it is the car with Husband who is charging it, so you get a blog entry with pictures instead.

Sock progress as we were leaving South Dakota.

Knitting as we entered Utah. My sock was a source of comfort in the drab landscape. The landscape did improve so much that I stopped knitting for a while.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier
• Ladders to the Sky Socks (Test Pattern)
• Waves of Love 
• Colormatic  
• Here Fishy Fishy I
• Gingy
• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Japan Scarf II 
• Scarfowl
• Here Fishy Fishy II 
• Gilligan
• The Angels Have the Police Box  
• Mini-Socks 
• Grandma's Tam
• Neck Hugger 
• Blood Orange Newtons
• Alpaca Tam 
• Trip 
• Police Box 
• Vanilla Eyelet Socks 

Works in Progress

• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks