The Eternal Sock

So maybe this single-minded, knit one thing until it's done, is not my thing today.
I caught myself wondering if winding yarn counts as knitting something new. I think it does not, and I think I shall wind with abandon.



The eternal sock, or at least the first one. It's out of Lorna's Laces "Pioneer" and is in this slip stitch pattern I got out of "The Little Box of Socks," by Charlene Schurch, which, honestly I was going to pass over until I ran into an open copy at a yarn store and realized there are some cool sock patterns in there, including many that seem to work well with variegated yarns.
In the background, you will notice Angus, cattus non grata (my Latin is doubtlessly faulty.) During his pre-dawn "wake the humans! wake the humans!" routine, he took a short break from stomping around and nudging to nibble gently on Jamie's head in the manner of someone taking a bite from an apple. Not hard at all, but it made Jamie cry in surprise, woke me, woke the Fool and resulted in Angus' instant and violent eviction, especially because Jamie decided he was up for all day after that. Clearly I'm going to have to keep an eye on Angus from now on.
It's tough; the little squeaker obviously doesn't get why he's been displaced in our affections by this wiggly pink creature, and we're trying to play with him and pet him ... without inadvertently giving him attention when he's acting bad and we realize it's probably because he wants to interact with us. We actually talked about getting Angus a pet, someone who is rambunctious and will keep him entertained.
Geez. Longest. Caption. Evar.



Front yard in snow. The birch trees are to the left of the frame.

It's snowing today and hasn't stopped yet, so I can't go out and shovel. I got some new boots before Christmas and I'm excited about giving them a try. In the meantime, isn't that beautiful when it sticks to the tree branches like that? For all that it can be a pain in the neck, I love fresh snow.
In other news, our contra dance caller friend Adina messaged me via Facebook to inform us that her monstersocken had a hole. The Fool and I are debating whether to knit her one monstersock to replace the damaged one, two monstersocken, because the second one is probably worn out too, or whether she should get upgraded to a matching pair (fraternal, not identical.)
I'm leaning toward the latter. I have a ball of self-striping OnLine yarn that I've been trying to knit into socks for some time now, but it doesn't want to be anything I've asked it to be, (toe up, Mermaids, lace, weird triangle short row thing with bizarro heel) and perhaps it should just be made quickly into something fun and sent elsewhere before it spreads dissent in the stash.
Anyway. Back to trying to download iTunes.
ME: So, wait, do we have Windows XP on this machine?
FOOL: Yes.
ME: How about an IGH, oh, wait, 1 Gzh...what?
FOOL: Yes.
ME: Do I click on this thing?
FOOL: Yes, that's the installation file.
ME: Aren't you glad I won't be accidentally filling our hard drive with downloaded porn from the Internet? As I can't figure out how to install something I want.
FOOL: It's not the pornography I mind so much as the viruses and malware.
ME: Good to know.