Bad Computer, No Biscuit

I had some lovely photos of my finished Serpentine sock uploaded on my laptop Sunday. Apparently a power surge yesterday caused my laptop's brand new hard drive to lose its mind.  I think I deleted photos from the camera so I'll have to remember to take another pic.  Even worse is that I lost the before picture to my French Press Slippers.  The unfelted slipper was about 2 feet long.  The felted slipper fits a size 9 woman's foot quite nicely, albeit a bit loosely about the top opening. I love to document the huge differences between before and after with felted items.

French Press Slippers
These were a lot of fun to make.  I'd been enamored of them before the Yarn Harlot fell under their spell.  (They remind me of the ballet slipper-like house shoes my paternal grandmother used to wear.) Having had a not-so-fun day on that particular day, I used them as a spot of personal retail therapy. I used some stashed Plymouth Galway in navy for them.  I didn't whip out the pair in 90 minutes, but I did get them knit in perhaps 3-4 hours total knitting time.  I have neither put the straps on them nor purchased buttons. There's no telling how long that will take.

Crabby Socks!
I have started sock number 2 for my sister.  I foresee no reason I can't get these finished by Christmas.  I might not even have to work on them in front of her and pretend that they're mine. (She's used to seeing me constantly knit.)  I don't think I'll manage to get my pair finished, though I should be able to make a dent in getting them started. 

I think I have the hang of the magic cast on for toe up socks.  I had to look it up again for this one, but I think I've got it stored in my brain now.  The slip stitch goes on the top needle and the yarn goes round the needles from under/outside. 

The Russian cast off that Wendy describes in her book seems to be a winner in terms of stretchability and simplicity.  I like having an option I can use in case I don't ahve a yarn needle (making the sewn cast off impossible).  It doesn't always happen, but sometimes I don't always have extra tools available and I'd hate to get stuck with no way to proceed.

Pictures of all this stuff coming soon!!!