Bus Wheels Spinning, Song Birds Singing, Break My Heart

Those song birds that have been waking Frieda up at 5am are killing me, but hopefully it will be cool enough tonight too keep the window closed.

The School Bus Socks are coming along very nicely, I've finished the legs, heel flap & heel, and I'm working on the gussets. Here they are from the tops:

Here they are on the heel side:

The heel flaps stripe up a little weirdly, but I love the black triangle on the bottom of the heel. Right now I have three pair of socks that are at the "pay attention" stage (the Sockapalooza pair is an always pay attention pair), so I'd like to get these past the gusset in the next day or so.

Here are the Sailor Girl socks, which are just about at the heel flap point:

I'm not sure what happened with those wider stripes--I think I must have relaxed a little while I was knitting these on the way to Sasquatch.

That Pencil Smell Reminds Me of School

And my new knit in the car project reminds me of school buses:

This is one of the two projects I started last week in a rash of start-itis. I needed something to knit in the car while stuck in the commute (it staves off the road rage, to a certain degree) and I didn't have my Sockapalooza pal's info or my STR Grasshopper kit yet. These are basic, cuff down stockinette socks, knit in Lorna's Laces Bee Stripe Shepherd's Sock. I bought this yarn at Renaissance Yarns last summer (I think), the colors are great.

The two socks on magic loop works really well for the car because the socks are sure to have the same number of rows (i.e. no keeping track of anything) and the needles won't just slide out at random like slick dpns--they're either in use or the stitches can be moved back onto the cable. Very important for the quick drop when the light turns green. I also workd on these at Safeco Field last Friday, when I had to get to the park extra early for Ichiro Bobblehead night. These socks don't take a lot of attention (though I suppose they will when I get to the heel), so they go well with batting practice. I can't knit during the game itself, it interferes with the drinking and watching closely. Not coincidentally, the drinking can interefere with the watching closely, too--I tend to stick to a one (giant) beer limit.

p.s. I'm not sure what's up with using song lyrics as titles lately, but I can guarantee that it isn't going to stop. Two alternate titles for this post were "My name is Cheech and I am a School Bus Driver" and "Can I Buy Your Magic Bus?"