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.

Well, not really stewing. It’s too warm for stew. Scattered might be a better term. Too many things going on all at once.

My Sockapaloooza recipient, Lynne, received her socks yesterday. And they fit! Yea!

Well… OK, I know that means I will never get them back. But that’s OK. I know they’ve gone to a good home where they will be loved and worn.

Sock Pal tells me that my socks will be on their way to me as soon as they dry from their bath. And Sock Pal give no hints on who she is or which socks. NO. Hints. That means I would have to go through all of the entire huge list of participants to see which ones haven’t been mailed yet… Nah… I think I’ll be good and wait.

This is so fun! I can’t wait until the socks get here. I know I’m going to love them. (Don’t worry, Sock Pal. I’m really very easily pleased and usually sometimes patient.)

Julie asks

I love the Tipsy Knitter socks – where does that pattern come from?

The stitch pattern is called Tipsy Knitter in the Socks Socks Socks book and Tilting Ladders in Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I’m not really following the pattern in Socks Socks Socks, although I admit to being inspired by it. I’m using the stitch pattern with my standard no-pattern toe-up sock. It’s a stitch pattern that can pretty much be knit either top down or toe up and look the same.

#1 Son called last night from Anchorage. They will be in Anchorage today and tonight, and then travel to Soldotna tomorrow.

The title word means stew or hodgepodge, which is what today’s post will probably be!

Some knitting done yesterday: Another repeat added to the Tipsy Knitter socks. Two rows knit on the green sweater before I fell asleep.

sereknitty72 asks:

Love the yarn you’re using for your Tipsy Knitter socks! It is beautiful! Pray tell, what kind?

Thanks! That would be Socks That Rock in the colorway called Red Rock Canyon.

I love STR, too. It’s my favorite sock yarn. I have three skeins still in my stash: Beryl, Carbon and Lapis. It makes it hard to use any of the other sock yarn in the stash. My hand just seems to naturally grab out one of those lovely STR colorways every time I start a new pair.

But the other yarn in my stash is also lovely and deserves to be knit.

Must. Be. Strong.

sereknitty72 adds:

Aren’t you loving this weather? I think I must hit the coast again….

The weather is wonderful! Today I saw mama and papa goose with their little goslings out for a stroll by the pond. I need to get down to the coast, too.

Maybe when #1 Son gets back. Or maybe when he leaves again?

And speaking of which… For those of you who are keeping track, last night #1 Son called me from Tok, Alaska — a happening little place of 1400 or so residents. #1 Son said that it was really cold but the roads were clear and they were going to camp out because it didn’t look like there were any places open where they could stay. They should be in Anchorage tonight, if all goes as planned.

They play Anchorage on Thursday, Soldotna on Friday and Fairbanks on Saturday. (I’m not sure they realize how far it is from Soldotna to Fairbanks.)

But the really amazing (to me) thing about the call last night was that he made it from his cell phone.

That’s right. At a crossroads in the middle of nowhere (sorry, Tok, but you know what I mean) with a population of 1400. My son gets cell phone service. And here’s the real kicker: He wasn’t roaming!

The world is becoming a very, very small place.

I did manage to get a little knitting accomplished this weekend.

The Tipsy Knitter socks haven’t progressed much since Thursday. I’m working on the third set of ladders, which is the second pattern repeat. Isn’t it fun how the ladders and cables tilt first one way and then the other? I’m not wild about colors pooling. But I have to say that with this pattern the way that the colors are pooling is actually pretty cool.

I didn’t work on the socks that much this weekend because I decided that I really should actually finish one of my UFOs. We have sweater-weather at least through June, and I’d really better knit on a sweater before it got too hot to even contemplate.

This is a shirt-style sweater that I’m making up as I go along. It will be mostly stockinette stitch. But I decided I wanted my shirt to be ruffled. The twisted rib to the right in the picture represents the “ruffles.” This is the right front of the sweater.

I knit mostly on the sweater this weekend, and it has grown to be about 12″ long. I need about another 8″ before I start the armhole shaping.

I’m also getting ready for the next sock class, and knit a new color-coded sample sock.

On Sunday I drove up to Scapoose for coffee with K. I was very careful to look at my feet before leaving the house.

#1 Son called last night from Fort Nelson, BC. [Mom: Where’s that? #1 Son: In the middle of nowhere.]

(Sorry to any of you Canadians. I am not intimately acquainted with the geography of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. I have a feeling that will change over the next couple of weeks.)

I think they are hoping to reach Whitehorse by tomorrow, and Anchorage by Thursday. I am still thinking clear-road thoughts.