Yarn Along:

Not only did I finish up these socks, but I also read the last few pages of Ross Poldark.  In one of the final chapters, a drunken party guest makes a bet that he can treadle on Elizabeth's spinning wheel.  The description of the wheel is spot on, but on one point, the author blundered.

"'You'll break it, John,' said Elizabeth, smiling.  'You're too heavy-footed.'"  

I'm pretty sure Elizabeth would not have been smiling.  If it had been me, I would have throttled the lot of 'em.

In other news, I have successfully reined in my insane urge to buy yarn to make matching socks for this dress (rather than just buckling down and finishing the dress itself).  A new level of procrastination avoided. 

 

I quickly found some good matches at Baby Gap, which is doing its level best to make sure all babies have some squishy garter stitch in their lives whether a knitter loves them or not.  I'm dreading the inevitable query of, "And did you make the booties?"  No.  No, I did not, dagnabit.

Now that I'm working on the yoke of the dress, I need a side project or two for when conditions are not optimal for involved knitting--i.e. when my children are awake or I am eating chocolate.  Is it any wonder this thing is not done yet?  I pulled out two hibernating projects--some striped leg warmers

and my TARDIS socks.  These have the distinct advantage that I'm not super excited to knit either of them, which ought to insure that the dress gets done by the deadline (9/26).  But there are forces conspiring against me.  Today this arrived in my mailbox:

It's a sock blank, a swath of machine-knitting that the dyer has splashed and stamped all over.  You're supposed to unravel it as you go, knitting the kinky yarn into a subtle, speckled wonder of a sock that is one of a kind.  From beside the couch, it sings its siren song to me as I knit stitch after stitch in plain, sad white.  I'll hold off as long as I can, using it as my big reward once I finish this gown.  That is, unless I succumb to temptation.