I posted awhile ago about knitting some socks for my MIL's birthday.  I finished them last week and presented them to the lovely lady earlier in the week!
My MIL's socks
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Finally! 06/15/2010
 
Black alpaca Simple Luxury socks done!  I would have finished them earlier, but we've had so much going on that they just kept falling behind.  I'm so happy with them, though.  The yarn is probably the nicest alpaca I've knit with in awhile, and they're delightfully silky soft.

I planned on making a green pair next, but realized that my mother-in-law's birthday is at the beginning of next week.  She mentioned that she'd like a pair for that, so I need to get cracking on that.  I have some fun self-striping sock yarn that's got a lot of red in it that I plan on using.

Anyway, here's the long awaited black socks.  You can find them listed here, in my etsy shop.
Simple Luxury Alpaca -- Black socks
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I've posted about a bazillion times about the alpaca yarn I've ordered, but today I'm very excited.  The Bolivian post service update shows that the yarn left the country three days ago.  It's not tracking in the US yet, but it's so nice to see it finally moving along on its journey.

It takes an average of two weeks to arrive, according to them, and it's only been one week.  I'm champing at the bit to get my hands on those lovely little skeins!  Until it arrives, I'll be compulsively running the number through track-trace and the USPS website to see if there's any news on its location.
 
 
I've been playing ring around the rosie with the supplier who I buy my alpaca yarns from for the past few months, and I finally gave up on Tuesday.  My refund is being processed and I've already placed another order with another supplier.

About a year ago, my favorite tabi yarn supplier dried up and I had a mad scramble to find a new source.  After that, I apparently learned my lesson and have spent a few hours each week keeping tabs on prices, shipping times, etc.  I'm very glad I did because it was much less painful to lose a supplier when I had another two lined up and ready to go.

I originally ordered only three colors (green, blue, black), but I decided to rethink the colors with this second order and I have black, gray, olive, and a lovely, soft lilac on their way.  I'm going to pay back twiddletoes for some of the lilac because I have a few women in my life who will love a pair of socks out of it over the holidays.

So we'll see how this goes.  I've been itching to play with more alpaca, and the brick/rust red that I ordered retail just isn't doing it for me, for some reason.  I'd like to have some blacks, grays, and greens ready for Father's Day.
 
Grumble. 05/02/2010
 
A few weeks ago, I got notice that a bunch of yarn that was backordered was on its way to me.  I've been waiting and waiting and planning, and it still hasn't arrived.

I called and it turns out that it won't be shipped...and they haven't refunded my money.  I've spent several hours trying to rectify the situation, and it's pissing me off more and more.  I'm itching to knit more alpaca socks, but I'm tired of making them in blue!

I'd like to make a black pair, definitely, and maybe I'll start on a green pair for my brother for the holidays.  I'm craving alpaca and I can't have it.  I'm even shunning a lovely yak blend that I was itching to use.

Gah!  The frustration.
 
 
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm working on knitting up some wayward yarn from my stash.  I just finished a pair of gray tabi (size L) out of the wool/acrylic blend, and my mind just took the gray and wandered the entire time I worked on them.  I wanted so badly to pick up and knit another pair of socks that it made it very difficult to finish.  

It's not that common that I finish a pair and immediately, like within two minutes, dash to pick out yarn for a new pair, but that's what happened today.  The new pair will be gray with a few hot pink stripes.  I hate to list two gray pairs in a row, but I can't let this one go!
 
 
I finally got around to taking some pictures of the newest addition to my sock 'drobe, and here they are!
Blue Striped Socks
 
 

I'm not a fan of Focus on the Family, no worries, but this week is going to be my week to focus on my family. I spent about a week with my mother and my grandmother and also got a short visit in with my uncle and little brother, so I'm all fuzzy with thoughts from that. My mom's family is very small and we all live very far apart, and it's very rare that more that more than two of us are in one spot at the same time.

Even more exciting is that my dad should be on American soil this evening, returning from the Middle East! He's been gone for 6 months, and I'm so excited to see him and my stepmom in a few weeks.

We came back home last night, and I've already started made a start on projects for us all:

  • A pair of new slippers for my husband.
  • Finishing a pair of socks for me!
  • Digging through my sock yarn to see if there are any self-striping colorways that my mom would like. She was really impressed with the pair I was working on this week.
  • Starting a shawl for my uncle's wedding in May.
  • Making more progress on the lace piece for my grandmother.
 
Completed goals 03/21/2010
 

This week has been a productive one!

I've:

  • Finished the experiment and listed it. I'm calling the section 'The Pharmacy' because it makes me giggle.
  • Finished the pair of cotton/wool tabi.
  • Bought some fake feet. I can't wait to get these! They completely crack me up.

I plan on:

  • Starting and finishing a pair of cashmere socks.
  • Making myself a new pair of socks.
 
 
I forgot to go over what I managed to accomplish last week, but I'll go ahead and do that now.
  • I finished sewing up all of the sock sleeves I cut out.
  • Finished my Simple Luxury Alpaca socks.
  • Knit up a new pair of tabi.
  • Worked on a new pair of cotton/wool tabi.
  • Printed out a bunch of new sock bands.
  • Started a lace piece for my grandma.
  • Finished weaving in the ends of a bunch of pairs of socks!

This week, I'd like to:
  • Finish up the cotton/wool tabi.
  • Start a new pair of cashmere or yak blend socks.
  • Finish up the lace piece for my lovely grandma.
  • Work some more on my experiment.
  • Possible take some more pictures, including some action shots.