Mission Accomplished
Thanks everyone for your reassurance that the acopalypse was not at hand, and generations of in-laws for thousands of years had in fact managed to meet without killing each other . My parents met DF's parents with nary a hitch worse than several hours of awkward confersation on the first day. That's nothing that a good mango mousse and cat skinning (a.k.a. karaoke) could't alleviate. My apologies to all of you cat lovers out there. And *gasp* they found that they may have something in common: complaining about their children.
Also accomplished this weekend, a friend I've known for almost 20 years got hitched. It was worth the fondue set and the plane ticket to see half of my prom date get lassoed into matrimony while the other half stood by in utter shock like the rest of us. In case you missed that, I asked, strike that, told, two of my high school friends that they were coming to the prom with me. I believe it went something like this:
Me: Joe, you're not going to prom, are you?
Joe: No. *suspiciously* Why?
Me: Okay, you, Drew and I are going. I bought tickets for the three of us already. I think you and Drew should pick up dinner.
Drew: Huh. It's like an invitation and a bill all rolled into one.
Fast forward 19 years:
Joe: Drew asked me to be in his wedding yesterday.
Me: Really? Are you a groomsman?
Joe: No, I don't think so. He would have mentioned that. He just said I didn't have to do much.
Me: Are you sure? I was looking at the website and there were five bridesmaids and four groomsmen and all the other slots look filled.
Joe: No, I really think Drew would have asked me to be a groomsman, not just to be part of the wedding.
Me: okay... if you say so.
Two days later:
Joe: yeah. Apparently I'm a groomsman. I saw it on the webpage.
Poor Joe. How does he always manage to be on the receiving end of all of our crap? At least I managed to make roles clear even if I didn't manage to get around to asking for permission first. If only I could combine efforts with Drew, we could maybe get it right eventually.
To characterize Drew as saying that he's incredibly efficient with the words he does manage to utter would be selling him short. He's a genuinely good guy, and I'm happy to see that all the years of waiting to see if the right girl could possibly motivate him to date and move out of his parents' house have paid off. J is so sweet and giving, and he totally needs someone to take care of him. She brings out a side in him that we've never had the chance to see. That probably makes her perfect for him.
In less sappy news, I did manage to swatch for my Sockapaloooza Yukon Leaves socks. This Regia Stretch color is perfect. The variegation is so subtle that it just makes the fabric shimmer. And be proud: I actually SWATCHED and *gasp* blocked my swatch instead of making a full sized swatch. Roll your mouse over the picture to see Before Blocking pictures.
Incidentally, I found that my lace pattern gauge is the same as my stockinette gauge. Did you hear that? Not only did I swatch, but I swatched in two different stitch patterns! Hell is definitely getting a bit chilly these days.
I cast on Friday toe up again. I am all kinds of paranoid since I used up some of the yarn for the swatch and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't run out (my sock pal apologized for having big feet). I used the Turkish cast on yet again, and I'm still loving it. I had to rip out my first attemp because I was using raised left and right increases to shape a standard toe, but then I ended up hating the way it looked. I changed the increases to M1B (insert left needle under the loop between the sts from the back and K), K2, M1F (insert left needle under the loop between the sts from the front and Ktbl) and I liked that a lot better.
So far, I've finished the toes and have gotten 3.75 inches into it. I'm not entirely sure what to do about the foot length though. My sock pal gave me measurements of her foot, but she didn't specify what she'd like the finished measurements to be. I'm going with the guideline of 90% of actual foot circumference for the sock circumference, but I'm not sure about how long to make it. Should I go with 90% of the length as well?