Road Knittin'

I had to attend an out-of-town meeting yesterday. The location was a little over an hour away from my workplace, and luckily I was a passenger in a van full of other attendees. This meant about two-and-a-half hours of uninterrupted knitting time! *happy dance*

I knew right away that I'd need to take a project that met certain criteria:

1. It must be small enough to fit into the purse I planned to carry. I didn't want to have to keep track of anything more than one purse and my portfolio. This narrowed it down to socks.
2. It must be simple enough that I wouldn't have to reference a pattern. Too tough to balance everything on my knees in the van. Not to mention the fact that I didn't want anything that required a lot of my attention so that I could knit and carry on the conversations that were certain to ensue. *LOL*

I already had two pairs of socks that have been languishing on needles for awhile, waiting for me to finish up my Christmas knitting. So, Monday evening I rummaged in my UFO basket beside the recliner and fished them out. Unfortunately, both pairs were really close to the point that I'd need to start the heel. Not that heels are all that complicated, mind you, but I never quite trust myself to do them correctly without referencing my notes.

So, my solution was to cast on yet ANOTHER pair of socks. *LOL* Since I wanted to cast on some plain vanilla socks, I wanted to use lovely colorful stripey yarn. I chose the yummy yarn that I won in Pretty Knitty's contest back in August. I sat down to watch "Dancing With The Stars" (more about that later), cast on, and knit the toes (2-at-a-time, toe-up, Magic Loop) so that all I'd have to do during the ride Tuesday would be knit across the sole of the foot, and do my favorite K3P1 rib across the top of the foot. Wonderful mindless knitting. *happy sigh*

Tuesday morning I contentedly knit all the way to the meeting, the knit my way back home that afternoon. And now I have THREE pairs of socks waiting for completion. That's okay. Holiday knitting will soon be completed and I can get back to my true love: knitting socks.

Holiday knitting has been odd. I've thought I was finished several different times. I'd finish a project and say to myself, "There! All done now." A day or so later I'd see a neat pattern for a small project and think, "Say, that would make a nice little gift for So-and-So." I think I have only one more small gift to make. I think. Maybe the solution would be to finish up this small gift then not look at any more patterns until after the holidays.

Naaaaaaaaaah. *LOL*

Back to "Dancing With The Stars". I have to confess that there are only two reasons I watch this show. One reason is that I think Derek Hough is cute as a speckled pup under a red wagon, and I love to watch him dance. The second and biggest reason is that Mom is a fan and watches it devotedly every season. It's fun to spend a little telephone time with Mom discussing which dancers did well, and which of them sucked like a Hoover.

I will say, though, that I have a real issue with the title of the show. "Stars"??? Normally I've only heard of one or two of the contestants. Another problem I have with the show is that they allow the home audience to vote. This usually results in some of the better dancers getting booted too soon because a lesser dancer has a bigger fan base. It's not fair. It's supposed to be a DANCING competition. *climbs down from soapbox*

One of my favorite things about DWTS is that it provides lots of good knitting time. Monday nights are a two-hour show. The actual dance routines are really short, leaving lots of "don't-have-to-look-at-the-screen-just-listen" TV time, great for knitting!