This morning my throat was so sore that swallowing woke me up. That has eased somewhat, but my chest feels like I’m trying to breath through a dust cloud.

I wasn’t supposed to get sick this winter. Yes, I know that “everybody has it.” But I wasn’t supposed to get it. I was to remain well and happy and knit up a storm.

Instead I’m lying around drinking tea and hot toddies and feeling sorry for myself. Ugh.

Make it go away.

I’ve done a little redecorating around the old place today. Not a lot. Most of it is under-the-covers clean-up. But you will notice a few changes:

I’ve removed the background tiles in favor of a green-to-blue gradient.

The woman has gained a right shoulder, and she and the coffee cup float outside of the header box. The coffee has new steam.

If you are browsing with IE, you will see a couple of buttons at the bottom of the right-hand column suggesting that you get a different browser. If you are not here using IE, the buttons will be absent.

Despite that suggestion, everything should look substantially similar in either IE or Firefox. I don’t have access to Safari, but I’d be interested in knowing how it looks like in that browser. The left-hand column has problems in Opera, but since less that 1% of PI’s visitors use that browser, I’m don’t really feel like taking the time to fix it.

PI looks best at 1024 x 768 or above, where the majority of visitors keep their monitors. It should be OK down to 800 x 600, but maybe not quite as pretty.

Under-the-cover stuff includes cleaning up some of the closets, getting rid of stuff that isn’t used any more, and moving the 2005 fo gallery to the gallery.persistentillusion.com subdomain with the rest of the galleries.

And I did get some knitting done.

The Gold Hill Socks that I started just before going to Las Vegas are finished, finally, and here they are! I wrapped these up last night, mostly at Tangle Thursday knitting night, but a bit after I got home, too.

This is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway “Gold Hill.” I knit them on US#2 Inox Gray needles. The pattern is basically a 2×2 ribbing, but every other knit pair of stitches is twisted in baby cables every 5 rows.

I made these to be “clog socks.” The 2×2 baby cable pattern continues on the heel flaps. I’m rather proud of the way the cables twist over the ends of the gusset rows. Not bad, eh?

I’ve heard of others having problems with Lorna’s Laces pooling. These did pool a little over the instep, but when on it’s not very noticeable. On the whole, I’m pleased with the way the colors knit up.

This was my first experiment with this yarn. Even though I swatched (really!) I made about three false starts with the gauge too big before settling on 64-stitch rows. I have skinny feet, and the socks are still a little big and the heel could be shorter. But I don’t care. I’m wearing them anyway.

I’ve started a new pair of socks in the “Vera” colorway, and I’m going to try 60-stitch rows. That should be just about right, I think.

Welcome to everyone finding their way here via the Knitting Blogs Webring.

And a special welcome to my ring neighbors, exile in knitville and Knitting on Trial.

Sit down! Put your feet up! Stay awhile.

And (shhhhhh… don’t tell) the socks are almost done!

Look! Look! I have a finished object!

OK… so it’s not a very big finished object. But it’s an object. And it’s finished.

The idea for the tiny little socks bookmark I borrowed from the free pattern on Cat Bordhi’s website. I made my own pattern up as I went along. The yarn is a bit of Wildfoote left over from the Waffles With Brown Sugar socks I made last year. It only took a few yards. US#3 Inox gray needles.

Click the pic to see the bigger version in a pop-up.

It was fun and fast — my idea of a great knitting TV knitting project. I’m not sure I like the gusset-and-flap heel. Simple short row heels might work better. I think I’ll do another one that way and see. I also might have used smaller needles, but my #2’s are busy right now.

The bookmark is posing on Mary Thomas’s Knitting Book. This is one of my favorite references, even though it was first published in 1938. Ms. Thomas covers the basics thoroughly but economically, and I always learn something new every time I open this book up. (Clicking on that link takes you to Amazon.)