Waiting for the sun...

So while surfing the blogosphere I've been picking up some ideas on digital phototaking. Seems that my prime blogging time (nighttime at home) is not conducive to good pictures (duh, i know). So my pics often have this icky yellow tinge, and while the pics I take using a full-spectrum bulb are better, natural light is still wayyyy better.

So I have a bunch of FO's to photograph but no sun. Here in coastal north NJ we have had no sun for more than four days. And no sun forecasted until tomorrow afternoon. Ugh. At least the cool breeze is a nice change. So I have lots to blog about, but no pics. Still waiting for my sockapalooza socks too. Maybe the sun and my socks will show up together...

!#$!#$% Errata....And cool sockblockers.

Holy crap! I get my sock pal's package all neatly done up with gifties, beautifully blocked and sent out right on time . . . . then WHAMMO! I, the smug little knitter, decide to check out what other knitters' Merino Lace Socks look like on Ravelry so I can go, "Nah, mine look better". Humph, can we say, "pride goeth before a fall"?

I find out the the Favorite Socks book had an erratum on the foot chart. You know, the chart I followed to the tee. Yup, that loss of the purl stitches in between the lace panels - not a cute little design feature I thought was to reduce friction on the foot, but a big fat error. A bizarre error since the pattern's premiere in the Interweave Knits magazine was fine. If you don't see this error in your book, that means you have the second edition (lucky bastard) where it was corrected. ARRRRRRGGGGH! Though maybe it was better I didn't see it before I sent them out. I would have been tempted to stay up all night frogging and reknitting the feet.

So the other little misgivings I have about my socks are all put into perspective. I saw all of the cute labels people wrapped their socks in and realized that, whoops!, forgot to give my poor sock pal any info on the yarn I used. But no problem, that's easily solved with an email. I want to finally "meet" her anyway.

So, on to happier news. Remember the new sockblockers I mentioned? Wasn't convinced that sockblockers were completely necessary, but I have to admit that for gifting and phototaking, they rock. Plus, my sockblockers were custom-painted for me! I love Etsy! These my cool new sockblockers from Leggy Creations:

Leggy Creations sockblockers, originally uploaded by Saidagrrl.

Oh, just got an email from my sock pal, lostpurl (aka suzann), and I checked out her blog: she got her socks and all is well! They fit her and she likes them! Yay! Can't wait to get my socks! This has been so much fun. Definitely outweighs the funny looks I get from friends when I try to explain sockapalooza. The dh understands, but he's special :)

Ta-dah! Just Under the Deadline

Thought I might not be able to finish AND block in time for August 2nd. But things pulled together perfectly. I even got my new sockblockers in time for perfect shaping as well as some cool sock knitting tools as gifties.

Check these out:

And a close-up:
The pattern is Merino Lace Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks. The yarn is FlockSock yarn from vanCalcar Acres in the Crimson Rioja colorway (same as what's used in the Kitri socks). The lace markers and counter bracelet are from Hide and Sheep on Etsy. I have the same bracelet in purple, as well a few sets of the markers.

Here's a close-up of the markers:

I also added some knitting themed notecards I made from a Kaspareks stamp. I hope my sock pal likes it all. Most of all I hope that the socks fit. I think I made them to her measurements, but you never know until they get tried on.