I know what you all are thinking.  “I wish Gail would post some pictures of her Drunken Bees socks.  I hope they are fuzzy, and almost show her underwear!”

Well, you are in LUCK!

(In the above picture (which Barb took for me - thanks Barb!), you can see my car, part of the moose sweatshirt I’m wearing, the fact that I badly  need a pedicure, and far more pudgy leg than most folks would like to see.  Oh, and the sock.  Sort of.   My cell phone picture taking capability is low, and god forbid I carry around a camera.)

In any case, you can see that I’m on the foot.  I’ve decided that I lack the brain power to keep up the partial cable chart down the sides of the foot, so I’m doing 1×1 rib, with the main cable panel down the center.

(In this picture, you can see Barb’s shawl, my pudgy toes, and some brickwork.)

If I reknit this this pattern, I think I would use size 1s, as the pattern calls for.  The 0s are making a pretty dense fabric, and are a smidge tight on the legs.  I like how the foot is fitting though.

Yes, its time for the WOW! Selection for September (and August cause we’re slow).

First up, August. I selected some lovely Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Crazy Color 6-ply / 6-fädig that I had bought at Little Knits when they put it on sale for like 10 cents a ball or something cruel like that. I was worried that with the low yardage and the sport weight yarn I’d be making anklets for everyone, so I used Kim Salazar’s Pine Tree Sock pattern, because it was toe up. As you can see, I had more than enough yardage to make a very nice pair of size six hobbit feet socks.

Hunter is not impressed with the regia. He didn’t try to eat it once! I was lazy and did an Estonian Cast off on the cuff, which is why they are so wavy. But they are good and stretchy, unlike my first “normal” cast off. (Yes, Barb, you were right. :)) I’m not sure its actually called Estonian Cast Off, but I learned it in a Nancy Bush class about Estonian Lace.

Now on to September! In August, a group of friends bought me this skein of totally awesome Socks that Rock Lightweight in the very very very very wanted Oregon Red Clover Honey colorway. Why?  Because I rock.  *preen*  Hee.

I cast on for Drunken Bees in September, which meant it was stashed for a few days, so it TOTALLY COUNTS as a WOW! selection.

Henri Emile Rat says it ought to be called Rat Colorway, cause it matches him. Here’s a close up of the sock.

I so love Socks that Rock.

Guess what?  Hunter Cat is Super Famous Again!   He made it on to icanhascheezburger.com!

I didn’t write that caption - mine was not nearly as funny.  But when you upload an image to the lolcat builder, other folks can use them to make their own.   Laurel actually took that picture, and I know I’ve posted it to this blog before.

Knitting wise, I’ve been working on the “Flower Shawl” from Couture Knit Elegance 11 Knit that Monica lured me into buying.  It’s a Japanese knitting book.  I cropped out this picture based on the preview.

This super nice blogger posted a better picture of the book and pattern.  Japanese patterns are actually standardized by the Japanese government, so once you know the chart symbols, it ought to be fairly straight forward.    However, I was having a heck of a time figuring out the yardage required.   Luckily, the above link translated the critical bit, and I was able to figure out that it uses a little under a 1000 yards of a DK weight yarn.   I had some dark green Rowan Felted Tweed in my stash that is working perfectly for it.  Mine is more rustic, but I love how its looking.

However, apparently I’m too lazy to take a picture, so you all will have to wait.

Speaking of Japanese Knitting books, YesAsia.com has a ton of them, and they do free international shipping if you order over 25 dollars.   Best yet, their site is largely in english.  What I’ve been doing is finding a knitting book, and then clicking my way through the suggestions.  Many of them have pictures of the inside of the book you can preview as well, which helps.

Dee tagged me for the “7 Random Things About Me” Meme.  But, I’ve decided instead to have it be 7 Random Things instead!

1.  Hunter has a tiny head.   Yes, it is true.   His head is tiny.   Very small.   Here is proof.

2.  Katie’s head is normal sized.   Mainly, this point is so Katie’s picture is in the blog. :)  But her head is quite normal sized.

3.  I just spilled Cherry Pomograntesomething orther Crystal Light all over myself.  It even defeated the power of the Tide Pen.   Yes, I look very professional right now.

4.  Here’s my desk at my new job.   Except the whiteboard is no longer up on the wall, because the sticky part of industrial strength velcro, not that sticky, it turns out.

5.  Check out the awesome necklace Dee, Lynette and Monica bought for me!

They bought the necklace as a thank you for me taking care of their blogs and paying for their domain names.   Personally, I ought to pay them, because I’m constantly breaking things and being completely unhelpful.  But, thank you so much guys!   It came from this etsy seller.

6.  My purse weighs 7 pounds, including my book and bottle of water.   I had to sneak over by the postal scale to weight it.

7.  Finally, look, I’ve been knitting!

Okay, its a little small.  Apparently in my uploading rush this morning, I didn’t quite upload this one right, because the big version is no where to be found.  The good news is that Hunter has not yet eaten it, despite his best efforts.   Also, I’m on the decrease portion.

I had this really really great plan to show you my almost completed Fake Clapotis. Well, its real name is Diagonal Drop-Stitch Shawl from Vogue Knitting Shawls. I’m knitting it out of Fleece Artist Blue Face DK, which is 100% Bluefaced Leciester. It’s full of lanolin, and is really very soft.

It was turning out beautifully. So why am I showing you this picture?

Because Hunter decided that he really likes bluefaced leciester, and ate two wholes into the shawl. At the very beginning of the shawl. And he managed to eat the holes in such a way that it was impossible to repair. So, I had to rip it and start over.

Don’t worry, the cables and twists really stand out once you drop the stitches, even in the variegated yarn. This pattern is much more fun that Clapotis, which is so boring to knit that I almost died the last time I had to knit it.

So, clearly I need a solution to Hunter’s Yarn Eating Ways. My solution?

A new basket yarn safe! It’s huge, has a liner, and a LID. You’ll notice Hunter is not eating anything, because its safe in the yarn safe! Yay!

In closing, I saw the neatest web site on Frontline/World. it’s Kiva.org, where you can loan businesses in the 3rd world small sums of money. It’s called microlending. Often, a business will only need, say, a 1000 dollars. However, either they can’t get a loan at all, or the loan is very expensive in their country.

However, at Kiva.org, you can loan a business as little as 25 dollars, which as many people do it, add up to the loan amount. Then the business in the 3rd world pays the loan and you can either take your money back out, or reloan it. It’s a really fascinating concept. I have a lender page, although I haven’t done anything interesting to it.