Two Toe Tuesday: Too Darn Hot

I have a confession, one that will probably neither shock nor surprise you. It's simply this--I usually write my "Two Toe Tuesday" entries on Monday night. Sometimes even earlier! There--I've come clean, and I have no regrets. Monday is very convenient for me, but "Two Toe Monday" just doesn't have the same ring at all.

I'm telling you this because it explains why I'm settling for pretty crappy photos of the Strawberry Van Dyke socks that I finished tonight (Monday). I had only the ribbing to knit, in sport weight yarn, but it took four hours to get through because it is so freaking hot in this house. 11pm, and the thermostat reads 88 degrees. Usually, if I'm close to finishing a sock in the evening, I will knit as fast as possible in hopes of getting some daylight for the photos. Tonight? Knit half a row. Get up for water. Knit a few more stitches. Spray some cold water on the ungrateful dachshunds. Knit a row. Get up to let the sweat pools evaporate. Etc. Same thing with the blog post--I can barely sit in front of the computer, and am having trouble concentrating.

Anyway, back to the photos. It nearly killed me to put on wool socks, so even though the photos aren't great, I am still going to use them. Above are three versions of the same photo, it's really hard to capture the intense redness of these socks (though maybe easier if I'd wait for daylight). The photo on the left is as-shot--no correction. The middle is the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button in Picasa, followed by changing to black and white. The right photo is the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. I think that somewhere between the right and left would be perfect (both colorwise and sharpness), but I'm much too hot to tinker. The pattern is most visible on the black & white photo, but what I find most interesting is that these socks are medium value--I would have guessed dark.

It's not supposed to cool off until next weekend, which is not nearly soon enough. No air conditioning to sleep in, and a hot dachshund glued to my side? I have a feeling it's going to be a very cranky week, saved only by hiding in my cubicle during the daytime hours.