My Name is Amanda...

...and I think I have a problem. A knitting problem. Not the dropped stitch type of problem, but the omg I can't stop kind. Yesterday I decided I need a new pair of shoes to better show off hand knit socks this fall. Last night I stayed up well past my bedtime to start another pair of socks, just to see how the yarn would knit up. And today, well, today a red flag went up. I was in my office (really half an office, divided by a cubical wall-type-partition), when the CEO came in the lab. Now, my boss doesn't mind all that much if I knit while it's slow- so long as my work gets done. But there is sort of an unspoken agreement that I do not brazenly knit out in the open (except for at lunch) as to not make waves, or make either of us look bad. But today, when the CEO came in, I kept knitting, hidden by the partition. If he had taken a step inside the office, or even looked from the right angle at the doorway, he could have caught me knitting. But I couldn't stop. Truth be told, I don't know that I would have even gotten in trouble- maybe he wouldn't have cared? But it was a risky move... One that floated the realization that I care more about knitting than employment from subconscious to conscious.

The worst part is that I've never been reprimanded in any way for knitting while at work... so it's like accidental positive reinforcement. Today I brought my ball winder, and frogged the whole Leaf Tee, then started it over. I'm only 4 or 5 rounds into it, but so far so good. I showed my boss the ball winder, but he was less impressed than I expected. I guess it's hard to be impressed with a ball winder unless you've spent countless hours winding balls of yarn by hand. But he does enjoy discovering all the funny little parallels between knitting and winding fiber optic coils. He says next time we need to hire another winder, he's going to start with knitting groups and LYSs, haha.

I'm making decent progress on the Hedera socks. The heel flap is done on one, and halfway there on the other. The pattern calls for ridiculously long heel flaps though (48 rows long!), so I just went until I had a nice square like I usually do (about 34 rows). I love these socks. The lace pattern was easy to memorize, and they're so pretty.

The other pair of socks is in Red Heart Heart and Sole, and the colorway reminds me of Tropical Skittles. I've barely started, and I'm dying to know if/how the colors will pool.

Scott and I have been stocking up on art supplies for his new job, and naturally while we're at various craft stores, I drift to the yarn section. I got the Red Heart and some Bernat Sox to see what it's like. The Bernat is an acrylic/nylon blend, for anyone interested in a non-wool sock yarn (*coughKymcough*). I also picked up a skein of the new Michaels line, Impeccable. With that, I made a little coaster for my desk, and it isn't the most awesome thing to work with, but it doesn't suck either. If the knit up samples are a good indicator, it seemed to be softer than everything but the Vanna's Choice. But I liked knitting with the Impeccable better than Vanna's- Vanna's seemed more plasticy in my hands. I'm curious to see what the Bernat will be like.