March is a wash

Ok, that's it. I am obviously not going to finish my March socks. I am just about to turn the heel on the first sock, and it's not going well. I've had to "un-knit" it twice; the pattern calls for a garter stitch heel with wraps (short rows), and I've miscounted several times. It's the Timberline sock from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks Warm Feet. It looks like a short sock in the picture, with a garter stitch heel and toe that I thought would be fun and different, and a quick knit. I even blew off the tubular cast on and used the regular long tail cast on instead. I don't feel like ripping it out--the Scarlet Fleece is wonderful and so pretty, but I'm not making fast enough progress--obviously, since March ends Saturday and I'm not past the heel yet.

Honestly, I thought I'd get some knitting time yesterday evening (meaning before 10 p.m.) and I'd be fresh enough to not make the same mistakes on the heel wraps yet again. But as I was walking out the door at 6:20 p.m. last night, the babysitter said, "Do you smell something burning?" And I did. And it smelled electrical. I loaded the children into the minivan ("Who wants to have an adventure? Let's put on our shoes and watch a video in the car!"), put my nanny and babysitter in there with them. Then I called the police because I was too embarrassed to roust the volunteer fire department for something silly.

Long story short, I had the entire fire department (4 trucks) and 2 police officers at the house. It turned out to be related to my ceiling fan, and they told me it would have become a fire. Yikes! Nobody ever thinks they could have a fire in their home, certainly not me. One of the firefighters was someone I went to school with, too--that's what happens when you move back to the small town you grew up in. But here's the key point: the fire chief told me that the two mistakes people make with fires is (1) not calling the fire department because they're too embarrassed (yep, that's me), and (2) trying to fight the fire themselves (now that, I wouldn't do).

So an hour later, with the house cleared for occupancy by us, I got everyone back in, but only had time for a quick dinner with my folks before I met my girlfriend for ice cream, which was part of the original evening plan. I got home around 9:30, reviewed events with my husband (who was working at the time of the event), and got into bed around 10:30, and then, being exhausted yet all nerved up, proceeded to screw up that heel once again. So basically, for the past few nights, I spent the nighttime knitting time screwing up the heel, and nap time knitting time un-knitting it.

I think it's become a Sisyphean task, so I'm giving up the ghost: no March socks. Besides, the April Socktopia newsletter just came out. Here are the themes:

...Orange you glad I didn't say bananna?

Let's get Physical.

Bumblebees and Butterflys.

Sunshine on my shoulders.

April Showers

What am I going to do with these themes?! I don't even know where to start.