I could die from the cuteness

I've been open about my inability to knit socks. I've tried a few times before, and always seem to get bored or frustrated then frog them and use the yarn for something else. I went so far as to say that I have no desire to knit them. Just when I thought I had written off socks for good, something came into my life to turn all that resolve into "maybe I'll give socks one more try."

Let's back up a little. Last weekend, there was an Alpaca festival near me. So I took the girl with me, and we went to go meet some alpacas. There were something like 400 of them there. Plus vendors. I love any place with vendors. We watched the judging of young male Huacayas. Nora was really happy to see the one win that she was rooting for. And a few minutes later, a young girl (maybe 9 years old?) was walking her baby alpaca around, and let Nora pet her. How cute is that?? I am still angry at myself for leaving the house without my camera, but at least the phone has a camera-like feature on it to immortalize the day. If I had some farm land and a spare $10,000, I would have brought one home with me. They are lovely creatures.

As for the vendors, Marie from The Fiber Station was there. I had "met" her on Ravelry, and was happy to finally meet her in the real world, too. And she had the cutest little needles there. They are Hiya Hiya brand, and only 9 inches long. These are not straight needles, they are 9-inch-long circular needles. For knitting socks. Have I mentioned that I luuuve them? At first the novelty of them was what won me over. But now, it's the fact that there's no fumbling with DPNs involved. I know Magic Loop and two-circs methods are great, but I've never been able to convince myself to really try either one. I'm stubborn that way.

I cast on yesterday for a ankle sock, as I was anxious to get to the "meat" of the sock. I couldn't imagine wasting the time on a bunch of cuff right now (this impatience is mostly why I've failed at previous sock attempts). It took a little trial and error to get used to knitting with the 2" tips. I finally got the hang of it, got the cuff done. I turned the heel last night, it was a piece o' cake. I'll be picking up stitches for the gussets later today, I think.


Now I must go finish getting ready to play outside with the kids. it's supposed to be 63 degrees out this afternoon, and sunny. Cannot waste good days like this. All too soon it will be 90 and humid.