The real reason you come here

are for the pictures. Don't deny it. It's not my witty repartee. Although I may delude myself into thinking that some of my ramblings may amuse you, I remember the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. That said, here are 4 thousand words, plus some babbling to accompany them.

First, you will find a pair of socks that I've been working on for nearly 9 months. Why so long for a pair of very basic socks, you may ask? These were the infamous car socks. They were worked on during traffic lights and sometimes when I remembered to stuff them into my purse when I'd be waiting in doctor's offices or line at the grocery store. Ok, I've not yet knitted in line at the grocery store, but there were times I certainly thought about it and wished I had brought in the socks. For the record, they are knit from Woolly Boully Meanie in the colorway Luna Moth. I used Magic Loop, which I absolutely love instead of using double points for the knitting. I used size 1 needles. I didn't bother to check for gauge since I knit them toe up and could make them to fit exactly. I did use Lucy Neatby's short row garter stitch heel over 60% of the stitches in case you enlarge the photo and think I've gone bonkers around the heel area. Check out Lucy's book Cool Socks - Warm Feet for the technique. Needless to say, but I will, check with your local knit shop for it first. They need your support in these uncertain times. Briefly, back to the socks. Any color inconsistencies you see are due to a certain knitter not thinking of the effects of heat and sunlight on dyed products, and the first sock definitely shows some fading. I learned my lesson and keep any car knitting in the shade now.

Next, you will see pictures of the request scarf.

For the details. Noro Silk Garden in colorways 258 and 8. There was a certain amount of inconsistency in the yarn, as is true in Noro yarns, so some areas are wider than others due to the yarn changing from sport weight to bulky and back again. I used size 8 needles and it knit up very quickly, but it took me longer as the calendar goes since I was reading those Amelia Peabody books. (I've read 5 of them. When I wrote the post about them being a one time read, Amelia was being particularly annoying. I must admit that I really like her son Ramses, but I've always had a thing for brainiacs. I used to have crushes on the supersmart guys when I was a young girl even though they weren't always the cutest. Enough about my strange childhood now.)

Now I must share some sad news. Ricardo Montalban passed away yesterday. Now, like some of you, I will admit that I'm not sure if I'll remember him always as Khan , or as Guitierrez, the super villian on Freakazoid, or even more improbably, as a Japanese actor in Sayonara (which I saw about 20 years ago when I sick with bronchitis and home from work with a fever. That may have added to the surrealism of it).