The Beauty of Not Sleeping

Every once in a while I have a few nights where I don't sleep well. The downside, of course, is that I'm groggy in the morning. The upside? Sometimes my mind works better at 2 a.m., apparently. On Sunday night, the answer to Will Shortz's Sunday puzzle came to me unbidden (anyone else figure it out?).

And on Saturday night, after suffering through 2+ years of struggling with double-pointed needles, I finally understood the concept! It took a whole lot of willpower to keep from leaping out of bed and starting work on my sock immediately, but I managed to wait until Sunday morning. Of course, most of the credit for this breakthrough should be given to Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks, which has one of the most clear and comprehensive introductions to sock knitting I've seen--there's good reason why so many of us in the current Sockapaloooza beginner's group are using this book, I think!

Hence this somewhat bizarre still life:

The book is the one mentioned above. I plan to use the Baby Cable Rib pattern for my Sockapaloooza socks.

The little green sock is the "class sock" that Schurch walks you through. It's knit in worsted weight yarn and can be done fabulously quickly, meaning that you get a fast, straightforward project that teaches you the basics of sock construction before you launch into a full-scale sock project. And mine does fit a real (3-year-old) human's foot--he just wouldn't stand still long enough for me to take a picture!

The lovely pink yarn is the start of my Sockapaloooza sock! I hope my pal will like the colors--it's the "Love" colorway from Dani's gorgeous line of Sunshine Yarns. I originally intended to start the sock on my trip to the Pacific Northwest in a couple of weeks, but I didn't want to run the risk of having my mental dpn block revisit my brain, so I cast on right away.