This is why I love my Prius — or it’s one of the reasons, anyway. This is what the “info” display in the Prius showed when I got to work yesterday.

See that, down at the bottom towards the left? That’s right my friends — 60 MPG! 60 Click on the pic so you can see it close up.

Granted I’d only gone 8 miles on this tank of gas, but still 60 MPG is 60 MPG.

Since then it’s settled down to its more normal 50 MPG.

That’s right, you read that correctly. I usually get 50 MPG. I’ll try not to rub it in too much.

And this is Little Cow II. I brought him home last night. His barn is the knitting bag you see right behind him. He is being permanently corralled there. He will not be wandering away to spend time with his missing buddy.

Not if I can help it that is.

And, yes, I know that anything called “cow” is properly a “she.” I really do know the he/she/it terms for our bovine friends. This just looks like a “he.” Don’t know why. I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that it’s hard to find and keeps disappearing…

I’ve turned the second heel on the Tipsy Knitter socks and I’m almost done with the second heel flap. Then it’s around and around and around again until I get sick of it and decide we’re done. I’ll post another pic when I get further up the ankles. I like the heel flaps now.

#1 Son should be home on Mother’s Day! That will be the best Mother’s Day present ever!

I’m pretty happy with this heel flap. I think I’ve managed to knit the cables so that they should flow right up into the pattern. We’ll see when I get the other flap finished. I think I’ll go with these flaps, even if they don’t flow right up into the pattern. These socks will henceforth be designated “clog socks” since I think those cables will not be very comfortable in a shoe.

I tried the sock with the heel on this morning and it fits well. Except the toes. I’m still not really happy with the toes. In retrospect, it would have been better to have ended to toe increases just a few stitches shy of the correct total, and let the YOs in the ladders do the rest of the necessary increasing. And, to be fair, even though I like the look of the star toe / pinwheel toe / whatchamacallit, more standard pointy toes fit my foot better.

I really love this colorway, though. I think these socks will probably see a lot of wear.

Last night I had a choice between turning the heels on Tipsy Knitter socks or winding a couple of balls of yarn for the incrementally-growing green sweater. Which would you do?

I turned heels.

I vote for cables, said Alice, nonchalantly. Cables it is, said I.

Last night I turned the first heel. I cabled the heel flap. I was not happy with it. (I have no pictures. If you’d seen it, you’d know why.)

Since the heel was turned, I tried the sock on. It didn’t fit. It was huge. Huge.

I almost ripped both socks completely out. Almost. But one of my two remaining brain cells suggested that maybe that wasn’t really a decision I should be making at oh-dark-30. After all, I liked the way the pattern was knitting up. Maybe I should reassess by the cold light of dawn. Maybe, if they just wouldn’t fit me, I could gift them to a bigger-footed friend.

I left all as was and went to bed.

By the cold light of dawn, I reassessed the sock. While it’s true that the toe has more width than I would prefer, the arch and the heel fit pretty well. The ankle seems to fit. The length is OK. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it appeared at midnight (isn’t that the way it always is?).

The heel still sucked.

Today I did something I rarely do — I charted the heel. Yeah, I know. Sometimes I have these ginormous “duh” moments. But I rarely chart anything — I just sort of wing it. After ripping the heel out twice, I decided winging it was, well, for the birds. (sorry, but I couldn’t resist) Heel chart in hand, I am embarking on the third attempt at a heel flap.

Yes, Alice, it’s cabled.

Pictures tomorrow if I get a decent result.

Little Cow has not come home. I tore the house apart again last night looking. Moo still insists she does not know where Little Cow wandered off to. It’s crazy, I tell you, crazy. My house is not that big. There no one there but me and three cats. I can’t even blame it on #1 Son. I can only assume that Little Cow has gone off to keep the missing single socks, disappearing pencils and vanishing hangers company.

Since I really liked Little Cow, I’m hoping that there’s another member of his herd willing to come home with me. This one is going to be locked in the barn.

#1 Son called today from Whitehorse. He sounded very tired. He was pretty sure they were leaving Whitehorse today, but not sure exactly where they were headed. I’m not too worried, since the general trend is South.

See this little cow tape measure with the tail pull? Isn’t it cute? I thought it was cute, too. That’s why one of them came home with me awhile back.

Last Saturday, I pulled out my little Cow from its safe place in one of my knitting bags and used it to measure my progress on the green sweater (which seems to advance in tiny increments smaller than the actual row gauge).

Last night I reached for little Cow to measure the new progress on the green sweater (still advancing in tiny increments). Cow wasn’t there.

Where is Cow?

I searched everywhere. In the cushions of the chair. In every single knitting bag (even ones containing dormant projects that haven’t been opened for way too long). On the ironing board. In my office, where I was knitting samples for the next sock class. In the stash boxes. In the pockets of the jeans I wore on Saturday. Even, lord help me, in the fridge and the pantry (this was Kentucky Derby Day, and I did have a mint julep or two, after all).

Cow was nowhere to be found.

I accused Moo Cow (that’s the cat Moo) of pilfering her namesake. Although I grilled her unmercifully, she just lay there looking innocent and purring. She knows nothing, or so she claims.

If you are holding Cow hostage, please post the ransom amount in a comment.

Poor little lost Cow. The grass isn’t really greener in the other pasture I just want you to come home!

I’ve been knitting away on the Tipsy Knitter socks. I’m up to the gusset increases — actually, I’m almost done with them since I’m further along than this picture shows.

Now I face that eternal question… Eye Of Partridge or heel stitch or something else on the flap. hmmmm… Maybe cabled flaps? That might be fun. I’ll have to ponder.

I do like the way the colors are pooling and how it works with the pattern. Usually I’m not happy with pools, but I think it looks cool. We’ll see if I still think that when I’m done!

I knit away some on the green sweater this weekend. I’m about 15 rows shy of the arm pits. I worked on it for a little while on Saturday while watching the Kentucky Derby. Since I had a mint julep in hand (I make mine from scratch) , not a lot of productive knitting was accomplished.

The rest of the weekend was taken up with busy but rather mundane tasks. Stuff to do. Bills to pay. Weeds to pull. The usual.

#1 Son is still off gallivanting around Alaska. He called me today from Fairbanks, where, he reports, it never really gets dark. He thinks it’s kinda cool.

They are heading back to Canada and expect to be in Whitehorse tomorrow. It will probably be a replay of their outbound trip, except backwards of course. He should be back in about a week.

I really miss him!

OK… you caught me. It’s not really a lane. It’s really just the way-too-narrow space between my house and the neighbor’s house. But it does have wisteria!

This is the view out my bedroom window right now. I love waking up in the morning and peeking out the curtain to see these lovely blooms hanging down.

During most of the summer, I have a constant battle to keep the wisteria from growing on to the roof and tearing it off, clinging to the gutters and tearing them down, and generally being a nuisance and taking over. But in the spring while the wisteria is blooming, the challenges become definitely worth while.

sereknitty72 asks:

Sockapalooza sounds fun! How does one join and can you tell me more about it?

Sockapaloooza is a giant sock exchange organized by Alison from the blue blog. I think this is the 3rd sock exchange that Alison has hosted. Sign-ups are only open for a short while. After sign-ups close, everyone is sent info on the person they will be knitting socks for, and then has three months to get the socks completed. On the appointed day, everyone mails their socks off to their sock recipient. This time 606 people from all over the world participated — check out the map.

It is a lot of fun. I’m not sure when the next one will be, but keep watching on Alison’s blog for news and updates.