Seven

I'm back from spending a couple of days with my two boys down in Girdwood, Alaska. (Remember - hubby is gone on a robotics trip w/20 high school students - I've been left to hold down the fort). We spent two nights at the Alyeska Resort in honor of my oldest son's 7th birthday. What a grand time we had.
The drive to Girdwood (36 miles south of Anchorage) was absolutely beautiful! Not a cloud in the sky nor ice on the road - fantabulous! Of course, this meant that I could not knit a stitch, since I've yet to read about how driving and knitting can be done simultaneously safely. After checking in, we met up with some family friends & headed out to dinner. What could have been better than to have your 7th birthday during Spring Break & spend it with your best bud?
After dinner we hung out in the hotel room, watched cartoons, read stories & colored. My youngest son has some sort of virus, so we opted for a lazy evening in the room in order to save his energy for the next day. Of course, this also afforded me the opportunity to knit. I was especially anxious to try the magic loop method for the orphaned pair of socks. As luck would have it - I had a 24" size 2 circular in my stash of knitting stuff. Hazah! What a slick trick! After reading about this method on other knitting blogs, I googled "Magic Loop" & ta dah = found a site (knittinghelp.com) complete w/a video to show how. So - the 2nd sock was flying off of the needle - until...
I dropped 2 (??) stitches. Arghh - I was so happy & then I noticed this HUGE ladder in the work - nothing I could save, so rip, rip, rip I went. Arghhhhh.

Monday morning - Orion's actualy birthday began w/breakfast in the room & opening presents. Books, a new bicycle, and money to go toward his GameBoy fund. After - we met up w/friends to swim in the pool before lunch & then some time at the tubing sledding park. Iain was still ill, so he & I spent some time in the room while Orion swam with his buddy -so - more time for knitting. Back to the magic loop. This time - all went well. The space between the two needles seemed a little slack, so I tried knitting into the back of the loop to twist the stitch & tighten up the gap. Seemed to work a bit. I almost dropped a stitch (tricksy stitches!!) - the back has a funky little spot, but otherwise, okay. Now - I'm ready for the instep & heel flap. My pattern calls for double points, so I have to figure out where to go from here. Will update later.

We're home & my Sensational Knitted Socks book has arrived! Yee haw! So - looks like I'm taking the boys to the knitting store tomorrow to help me pick out some yarn for some socks & to get some more addi turbos - I love those & this Magic Loop knitting deal is pretty cool.

Ciao for now - perhaps I should unpack before I knit some more? nah...