This is what my street looked like last night.

Tonight it looks exactly the same, except without the pretty white stuff on the ground. Tonight it’s just wet. Dark and wet and cold. That’s because it’s winter and this is Oregon.

#1 Son is in LA. It was warm there today. Very warm. Warm enough not to need a jacket. He gloated only a little when I told him it was cold and icy here.

The good news is that it appears the fear of ice for tonight is ill founded. We will have rain the rest of this week, and probably next. Oh goody.

Knitting: I’ve started a pair of socks. Who knows, I might even get them finished before the end of the year, in which case the list of FOs will grow a tiny amount.

I’m ready for spring now.

Here’s a better picture of Sock Scarf Two, posing on my bed. (Click the pic for the larger version in a pop-up.)

Knit of Cascade 220 in color # 4002 (dark gray), #8010 (off-white) and #2401 (burgundy). Knit on two size US#10-1/2 circs. I knit both socks at the same time toe-up, and then grafted together at the top in the ribbing.

[ed. 10:10 am -- it occurs to me that unless a miracle occurs and I actually finish something over the holidays, this might be the last FO of the year.]

Five lessons learned from Sock Scarf Two:

1) I’m not fond of knitting scarves. I should remember this next time I have a sudden urge. Remind me if I forget again, please!

2) Knitting toe-to-toe like I did on Sock Scarf the first was more successful. I don’t like the way the grafting looks between the ribbing on Sock Scarf Two, and that’s why I didn’t make more of an effort to get a good pic of the ribbing. One row of straight knit at the top of each sock might have looked better. Or maybe a provisional cast on at the top, and then worked both socks top-down.

3) I could do a lot better at the “jogless jog.” That technique may work great for some people. My jogless jogs still jog plenty.

4) I do like the way the garter heels stand out against the main stockinette. It makes the scarf look even more “socklike.”

5) Some people have no sense of humor and do not understand why a sock scarf is a fun thing to wear. These people will never get it. They should be treated with kindness and compassion nonetheless.

In totally unrelated news, #1 Son has been doing a good job of keeping in touch with his poor, worrying mom. He is having a wonderful time playing in California. We will now make small sacrifices to the weather gods that any ice that hits Portland will have come and gone by Wednesday next.

Yeah, OK. So I promised Sock Scarf Two pics and didn’t get them up. Life is very busy right now!

Here, however, is the bad-cell-phone-camera version of Sock Scarf Two draped around my coat.

I rather like it. It’s just the right length and width. I’m not all that happy with my grafting at the point the two socks meet. If I ever make another sock scarf that turns into a project from hell and that I’ll end up hating by the end sock scarf 3, I think I’ll either go back to the toe-to-toe method I used with the first sock scarf, or use a provisional cast-on and work both socks top-down.

I will also put some kind of cable or other interesting pattern like I did with the first one. Six feet of stockinette… ugh.

Ya live and learn.

I’ll try for decent pics by the weekend.

#1 Son called. His band played to rave reviews in Grants Pass last night. Tonight they hit San Francisco. I wonder if the city is ready for this?

Yea! I have another finished object (almost)! Sock Scarf Two is finished. It just needs a wash and block and it will be done, done, done! You can see it crossed out in the list in the right-hand column.

Pics tomorrow.

Tomorrow AM #1 Son leaves on his band’s whirlwind tour of the west coast. Think good thoughts for good weather.

Yesterday #1 Son and I, along with E, my brother J, sister-in-law L and niece Z, attended our traditional yearly visit to The Trail Band Christmas Show at the Aladdin Theater. This will be the ninth year that #1 Son and I have attended this concert, a benefit for Friends Of The Children, and I never get tired of it. If you live in the Portland area or will be visiting next Christmas, please consider attending.

Buy your tickets early.

Unlike me. Usually I buy my tickets as soon as they go on sale. The tickets I buy for J, L and Z are my Christmas present to them. This year I waited to get tickets until L called me one night and mentioned that she thought the tickets were almost gone.

We don’t need to mention the words that came out of my mouth after I hung up the telephone.

If you are paying careful attention, gentle reader, you will note that there are six of us that go. And, strangely enough, we sort of like to sit together. Since the tickets sell out fast, the choices can quickly be reduced to single seats in widely scattered locations.

The next day was spent tracking down tickets. I managed to get the last six ticket for the last show of the last day of the concert series. And, needless to say, they were not the best seats. But the theater is small enough that no seat is truly bad. Unless, like me, you are short and end up sitting behind my son, who has tall hair. I had a wonderful view of the back of #1 Son’s neck through most of the show. Those around me who could see the stage tell me that the view wasn’t bad. The music, as always, was wonderful!

But I digress.

Before the concert, we all had dinner at Salvador Molly’s in Hillsdale. I had a wonderful lamb curry. Those of us who are omnivorous decided I made the best entree choice. Those of us who are vegetarian voted for #1 Son’s stuffed eggplant. For dessert, J and I shared a slab (there is no other word) of pumpkin bread pudding. It was heavenly.

At dinner, J, L and Z presented me with my Christmas present: A BCD clock (that’s Binary Coded Decimal for all you geek-challenged readers out there). It tells the time in BCD using little blue LEDs. For example, the time on the clock in the picture is 07:17:27.

Of course I had to play with it a little bit to figure out how to set it, how to make it a 24-hour clock, etc.

It is now sitting on my desk at work, with the seconds flashing away in little blue dots. People walking by have said: What is that? Is that a clock? Is that a binary clock? Cool!

I work among geeky types.

On Saturday I added printer-friendly versions of the Freebies pages so that the recipes and patterns can be printed out in black and white sans sidebars, etc.

I also finally finished playing Myst V: End Of Ages, which I will review sometime later if I get around to it.

I tell you all of this, gentle reader, to explain why Sock Scarf Two remains unfinished. I only have one stripe repeat plus the ribbing left to do. That’s about 50 short rounds on whopping big needles. That’s it. Then kitchener together. And done.

But I’ve hit The Wall with this project.

You know The Wall. I hit it with every project. It’s the place where I’ve sworn to myself that I will work on no other project until Project X is finished. So I slog on, looking for distractions trying not to get distracted because I would rather be doing almost anything else just love working on Project X. I eventually (usually) get past the wall and love Project X by the time I get to finishing. But sometimes the wall is high and thick and very hard to penetrate.

Sock Scarf Two is the current Project X. I know I’m going to love this object when it’s finished. It’s cute and funny, I love the colors, etc. But right now I hate the sight of it and I’d rather be cleaning the cats’ litter boxes outside naked in the dark and freezing cold with rain dripping down the back of my neck and icicles forming on my nose than to work a round on Sock Scarf Two. I have to force myself to pick up the needles. I’m going to try really hard to get the damn thing wonderful project completed tonight.

Do you ever hit The Wall with your project, knitting or otherwise? How do you motivate yourself to keep going?