Seasonally Disfunctional

I still have no pictures of the pink striped toe-up socks. I just haven't managed to get them and the camera in operation at the same time. I have been wearing them, though, and they're nice and comfy. I loved doing the short row heel, and I like how it looks. I'm going to incorporate it into future socks, for sure. The cast off is not stretchy enough though. The first one is way too tight, almost impossible to get the sock over my heel (though it's comfortable enough when it's on). The second is a bit looser, but still completely unelastic (?) and a bit difficult.

Is there an elastic cast off technique that I don't know? I looked in my Knitter's Handbook and found nothing helpful.

I've since started on a pair of socks for M.M. (ridiculous really, since the weather is changing fast and the chances that she'll need these socks before she's too big for them are slim at best). They're in a nice bright purple/blue/pink colorway from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns (maybe 'Twilight'? Not sure anymore…). I started with too many stitches (68) and got about 3 or 4 inches down the leg before conceding to reality and ripped out. I've now started again with 60 and am hoping for the best. I've got a scant inch of ribbing and another of straight stockinette done so far and it looks more reasonable for a M.M.-sized calf, but I'm still a little nervous. Maybe I need to go down to 56? Or something? The nice thing is that reducing the number of stitches makes for faster progress on future iterations.

I also got a whole big freakin' bunch of yarn from Webs for a blanket (again, what the hell am I doing? Starting a blanket at the beginning of summer on the Eastern Shore? Certifiable, absolutely). I got a gifty box of blanket patterns on laminated cards for Christmas, and just happened to notice that one of them called for Cascade Pastaza. Which just happened to be on sale at Webs. And I guess I might have been in kind of a retail therapy mood or something, because next thing I knew I was ordering 12 skeins of the stuff. It's verrrrry nice, llama/wool, and if I actually get through the blanket, it oughta be lovely and cozy for cuddling on the couch. In, you know, like eight months.

I thought I'd be working on a tricky lace shawl this summer. Who knew it'd be utterly seasonally inappropriate items all around. And don't talk to me about my aunt's sweater. I'm not going to forget it.

Here is what my living room looked like the other day. You may extrapolate what you will about the rest of the house from this picture. This morning M.M. woke up and said "Mama today I want to get out all my toys again." Luckily the weather was finally beautiful enough to be outside all day picking flowers and mixing them up with mud, potting soil, sand from the driveway, and rocks and sticks to make "dessert".