Twisted Flower Socks–at long last

I keep meaning and wanting to post regularly, and then things get in the way.  The past couple of weeks has been a Festival of Migraines! here.  Calling it a festival does give it a more upbeat connotation than I actually experienced, but when one has two migraines in one week with auras of lightning rainbows flashing around the whole left side of one’s field of vision, it does seem rather festive in a macabre sort of way.  Luckily, the headaches weren’t too bad, as the auras, which I usually don’t get, signaled that I should take some Imitrex immediately.  I have managed to do some knitting, and even with showing this FO, I still have two more in the wings.

The Twisted Flower Socks were part of the Single Sock Swap, and Jean of Golden Purl knit the first sock, and then sent me it, the yarn and the pattern. The yarn is Lana Grossa/Meilenweit Seta/Cashmere (65% wool/15% silk/16% polyamide/4% cashmere) in a lovely light navy, and of course the pattern is by Cookie A. I managed to knit the second sock so that it is identical to the first!

Even up close!

So this swap was a long time ago blogwise (but not so long when considering earth plate tectonics), and I received the package from Jean last November. I put off knitting until after the holidays, and then things went pretty well until I got to the heel flap, which had SSPs on the wrong side rows. The sock asked for a time out before I killed it. That purling two together through the back loop after twisting the stitches was, shall we say, unpleasant. After a couple months rest, I went back to the sock in a fit of guilt, and now all was easy. Even the twisted motifs, which had been doable, but I was looking at the chart almost every other stitch, now seemed logical. How could I have ever been so confused before? My brain did something in that intervening time; I don’t know what, and I’m not asking. I did check, and I can still do long division of two digit numbers into 4-5 digit numbers in my head, so that wasn’t what went in gaining understanding of what twist goes where. I can still sing the alphabet song too, but I’m sure something vital has flown the coop.

Anyway, I’m even contemplating knitting another pair of socks with twisty patterns in the future. I was going to also post the Stansfield 27 socks today, as they are also done, but they need a little bath and some blocking to be camera ready.

Plus, NELOSYS the first is done and blocked, but it has been too hot for modeled shots, so that has been on blog-posting hold too. And I have made several acquisitions, and I have a couple more on the way. But Archie, my computer, is again sick! It is something different this time, which even M doesn’t understand (this is very hard for me to understand as M thinks like a computer–he usually makes Mr. Spock seem overwrought with sensibility). Archie, when running on his battery, knows he has battery power left, but he shuts down anyway. He’s not overheating, he just goes to a black screen. Sigh. And then he won’t restart unless he’s plugged in. I’ve calibrated the battery and both his battery indicators indicate that he still has battery power. I fear Apple will want to see Archie again, and then I’ll be away again from the blogosphere. Good thing I have a lot of yarn…