Socks

 It's not quite Fall yet, and more importantly it still feels summery even though the light is now distinctly autumnal, so these count towards the Summer of Socks. Not sure if the next pair will make it under the wire or will be part of the Autumn of Socks. Assuming the sock mojo continues.

The black dye ran a bit on my hands as I was working the toes, it actually looked a bit like my fingers were rotting off but fortunately I'm not diabetic so I did not panic when I noticed it. I will rinse them really well and wash them to hopefully get the dye out before they dye my brother in law's toes black. I must remember to warn him about the possibility.

These duo cakes do not create identical socks, or at any rate, the two colourway's I've worked with both have not. Both this pair and the pink socks for my Niece definitely stripped differently. I'm not worried about it, fraternal socks are fine as far as I'm concerned, but if you're expected matching socks from this yarn you might be disappointed.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Gradient Duo in Pet Rock
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

Health

I continue to engage with my Frenemy the Treadmill, we're up to half an hour most days. Feeling fitter than I have for a long time so calling that a win.

Current Weather
23C and cloudy. High today was around 27C.

Socks

Finished my Dad's birthday socks, which are not needed until January, Mom's were finished a couple of weeks ago. These did not start off well because I cast on far too many stitches and had to frog the entire first sock back to the very beginning after turning the heel. Urgh. The colour is really cool, it appears to be a light grey in most light but sometimes it looks blue. There was also a white stripe just as I started the second sock. Meh, it adds character.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock

Yarn: Lang Yarns Twin Soxx in 216

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Also played a bit of Yarn Chicken with these socks, this what was left.

Ahab

The old pooch had his annual physical last week and the blood work came back as the picture of health except for signs of some arthritis, not unexpected given his age. Excellent stuff for a 14 year old life-long tri-pawed.

Health

My Word of the Year for 2020 is "Health" (bizarrely appropriate, right?) however, I haven't really done much of anything with it. I didn't want to make a New Year's Resolution because no one keeps those, so I chose a word to concentrate on instead. Then promptly did nothing. Well that's not quite true, I had a mammogram (Mom's breast cancer diagnosis was a terrible wake-up call) but that was technically in December. Then I found out my blood pressure had spiked so I got on some medication to get it under control. 

But, I have been lacking in exercise. Mostly because I hate exercise. However, I have been making myself go on the treadmill for 15 minutes every day for the past week.  Some days I even manage 20 minutes and today I noticed that my distance was a little bit further which I suppose means I've been going faster since I still stopped after 20 minutes. 15 minute is what I plan to do though because I can handle 15 minutes mentally. And so far this seems to be as much a mental thing as physical, although I haven't exercised much for many years so, yeah; start slowly. Here's hoping I can keep it up.

Current Weather

28C and partly cloudy. HOT! HOT! HOT! We seem to be getting some actual summer weather. Sweet! Even my home office in the basement is getting warm.

Weekly WIP Update

A day late but not, I hope, a dollar short. Only three things grew or changed enough for pictures this week.

Fist is the Coral Camo Blanket; now working on the edging. I got the edging idea from Frankie's Blankie. Frankie has some really neat designs, click here to see her Ravelry page, it's definitely worth a look.

The Cotton Vest has grown, it's getting close to splitting for the yoke. I'm slightly worried the fabric will be too loose but I have found that the other vests I've done with this yarn really ended up with a fabric that is slightly too tight so I'm soldiering on. I will NOT have an accident and end up dyeing this one and unfortunate colour.

And the Olive Green Sweater has been split for the yoke although I don't think the picture shows it well.

And finally, since I finished my Dad's birthday socks I cast on my Nephew's birthday socks. His 14th birthday and I'm making him Men's Medium socks. The same size as my Dad and he's got years of growing to go yet.

Many other projects were worked on but none deserve pictures yet.

Other News
In what passes for excitement around here I hired someone to clean the house and I'm delighted with the results. I will definitely have to get them to come back regularly.

Especially given the bad news my Mom got recently. She's been on the list to see a surgeon about a hip replacement for months and then, just when she finally gets in to see him, she found a lump on her breast. Which turned out to be cancer; the good news (such as it can be) is that it's a slow moving cancer and she caught it early. But all this does mean she needs to treat the cancer before she can get her new hip. We're coping.

All of this did make me realize that I haven't been to see a doctor for a long time. So I've now had a mammogram (I'm over 40 and as soon as I mentioned that my Mom had found a lump out came the mammogram form), a heart test (my Dad has a heart condition) and a complete blood work panel. All of which came back normal. But, I do have high blood pressure and I really need to loose some (a lot) of weight. I guess I know what I'll be doing next year.

Current Weather
-4C and clear with periodic clouds.