Monday

The mint fudge is cut and wrapped in plastic wrap. The peanutbutter fudge is cooked and cooling in the fridge. Tomorrow night is butterscotch fudge night.

I would have been done with Ben's Christmas socks tonight, but . . . I ran into a very real problem when knitting for 5-yr-olds. They grow. I finished the first sock in this pair back in the spring and then it fell victim to a classic case of second-sock syndrome. I also wasn't wild about the way the heel turned out. I felt that when I turned the heel. I should have started out with more stitches--that the bottom was too narrow. But the sock was done and I wasn't ripping back.

Well, I hadn't kept any notes about how I'd made the first sock, and I wasn't really following a pattern--they're your basic socks, that's all. So I ran into two problems as I was coming into the homestretch on the second sock. The first was that I realized in measuring Ben's feet that my intended goal was now at least a half-inch longer than it was before. The second was that somehow the second sock was wider in the instep than the first sock. It's unlikely, although possible, that my grip on the yarn has relaxed that much. It's much more likely that the first sock was knit on 0's and the second sock knit on 1's (I know for a fact that the second sock is being knit on 1's :)

So I pulled out my scissors and did the right thing. I chopped the toe off, ripped back to the heel, put the stitches on size 1 needles, (discovered that I'd used reinforcing string for the first sock, too. Ooh, now you tell me. Well, too late. The second sock will just get a hole earlier than the first sock.) and re-turned the heel, picked up stitches again, continued on with the instep again. The good news is that now I don't have to hold back on the length of the second sock either. I can give Ben the full half inch and then a smidge. The socks will fit long enough for him to wear some holes in them, and they will be comfortable enough that he will want a second pair of socks eventually.

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I spent the first half of the day cleaning my office. I'd let it fall into its usual state of chaos during November and when I got back from vacation I sort of camped on top of the mess for a week--then retreated to the upstairs to work. Well, this morning was Carpet Cleaner Guy Day so I had to move back downstairs and let him try to salvage my carpet. I have a bunch of work due that I'm not exactly speeding through, so I started by getting a large trashbag and reclaiming my work space. It took a few hours, but at least work is going more smoothly since I can find the right piece of paper as I work.

Now, between the clean desk, the picked-up downstairs, the picked-up upstairs and cleaned carpet, the house isn't looking bad. Let's see if we can keep it this way for a week.