Sock blanks

So, I received my sock blanks from Knitpicks today.  I’m excited – this is a wholly new concept, and I’m glad someone invented it.  Basically, it’s a long rectangle of knitted fabric, done with two strands held together.  You dye the sock blank however you like, unravel it, knit from the unraveled yarn, and lo! you have two socks with patterns that match precisely. You can do all sorts of interesting patterns – Knitpicks actually has a tutorial on the different dye patterns you can do (warning: it’s 3MB, so don’t click on the link unless you have a fast connection or a LOT of spare time on your hands).  I personally want to see if I can do gradated dyeing from pink to turquoise in vertical stripes (with smooth color blending) – and see what happens.  Since this is back and forth flat knitting and not knitting from a round skein, I doubt I’ll get a spiral, but I can’t really envision what I’ll wind up with.  Which is why I must try it!

However, this is mostly a theoretical exercise – I don’t have time or inclination for sock knitting right now, it was the new concept that intrigued me into buying them. I’ll probably dye them sometime in the next month or so and put off knitting the socks until the next time I go traveling, or need something portable.

Meanwhile, my head has been exploding recently, and I’ve concluded it’s because I’m trying to do too much analytical work at once.  The PHP/MySQL thing is proving extremely complex, more than I can really handle after a long day at work. So I’ve been beating my head against the wall, which is not fun and needs to stop.

Soo…I have decided to remand PHP/MySQL to the weekends, when I can devote half a day to deep concentration.  During the week I’m going to work on the web redesign and various craft projects, with weaving and beading at the top of the list.  I’ve ordered Gwen Fisher’s Lotus Beaded Bead and Sea Star bead patterns, and a few books on beading should be arriving shortly.  I’m also planning to start moving my weaving project along again, though I expect (what with everything else) it will go fairly slowly.