The "Not Knitting" Time

Sorry for being away for so long.  My parents were in town, which was nice.  However, the day before they left my oldest threw up all day, and we subsequently spent two full weeks mostly sleeping, lying around, and recuperating.  That was mostly time spent Not Knitting.

You know how that goes.  You lay there and think "Gee, I could work on Project X."  And you think about it for a while.  And then you think "Or I could start a pair of socks..."  And you think about that for a while.  Or you ponder a lace chart you're working through, or think about exactly what went wrong with the sweater last week.  But you don't knit, for whatever reason.  That's "Not Knitting", and I do it a lot.

Healthy again, we are taking another two weeks (so far) getting back to some sort of routine.  HOWEVER, there has been some knitting going on since we recovered, so without further ado:

Here are the Jelly Bean socks, finished, except for sewing the last toe closed.  I don't need them 'til August (they're a gift), so these might be in limbo for a while.  I'll probably need the needles before then, so we'll see.

Next up, the Thlippers, which were presented on Christmas Day as yarn and a pattern, and cast on the day after Christmas with all due speed:

Coming along quite nicely.  I just need to knit the extra soles, and then felt them and sew some leather soles on the bottom.  I have high hopes of these being finished before too much longer...although, I hear that March will be unseasonably warm, so maybe not before it's too warm to wear them.  We'll see.

This has been an interesting project.  After the MIL Sweater and the Scarf Which Shall Not Be Named, I thought a bit of a break from fine yarns was in order.  I have since learned that the muscles used for knitting bulky yarn are different from those used for sock-weight yarn, and my forearms get sore every time I work on these, just to prove it.  Very intriguing.  I have also discovered that I really do prefer finer yarns.  Naturally.  Because those take the longest to knit up, so that would be the one I would prefer.  My Psyche sets out to make my life as difficult as possible, once again, by making me a Project Knitter who likes fine yarns.  I need to never try Orenberg lace, or I'll probably fall in love and decide I never want to knit anything else.  And that would definitely be a recipe for the Crazy to take over.