in which her good sense is removed with her bone spur

So, I had this clapotis that I made, that I love so much I want to wear it into the shower with me. I love it so much that I want another one, this one in bright, rich, lush colors to contrast the caramel goodness of the first one.

And I had this leftover hand-dyed sock yarn. About 250 grams of perfectly perfect Lisa Souza hand-dyed "wild things" sock yarn, just longing to be knit into a bright, rich, lush clapotis. The only problems is, the clapotis patterns calls for 400 grams of yarn.

Here's the part where I lost my mind.

I'll order some more! [sensible brain: that's hand-dyed yarn, idiot. It won't be the same!] It will be close to the same! [close only counts in horseshoes, dummy. Have you never knit anything before in your life?] I'll put the lot that I like best at the ends, and the other lot in the middle, and then the difference won't be noticeable! [Have you ever seen a scarf before?] Yes, I got well into the straight rows still convincing myself that it would be workable, several rows into the new dye lot, now thinking things like: it looks obvious when it's spread out, but when it's bunched up around my neck the difference with smooth out! [I give up. Pass her some orange acrylic--she'll knit anything. Hey, anybody got a martini out there?]

But at some point, the most denying knitter has to face facts. Which is how my two-toned clapotis became this:

perfectly lovely, not-its-fault
Lisa Souza superwash merino hand-dyed
colorway "wild things"
new lot on left, old lot on right

I find, miraculously, that frogging is not all that painful for me. It's like getting to start a new project without finished the old one. And we all love that, right?

After some thought, I still think that clapotis is what I want to do to show off this yarn's jewel-toned glory, so I'm going to knit a smaller, thinner version. I've begun already. And I've got lots of time to knit these days because of this:

This is my left foot, two days after surgery to remove a bone spur from the outside of my big toe (does anyone see that I got someone called "Randy Moss" to sign my bandage? hm...). This surgery's been a long time coming. Apparently a long-forgotten dance injury (first thing the doc said when he examined my toe: "do you have a dance background?" Number One common injury for dancers--arthritic big toes), over the years it became arthritis, which morphed into a big fat old bone spur wrapping around the joint. A few shots of cortisone were miraculous for a few days each, but clearly weren't going to return me to my yoga and 3-mile dog walking routines. So I bit the bullet and off came the spur.

A note is appropriate here to thank my fantabulous husband for taking over all of the duties that I normally perform for our family with graciousness and good cheer and remarkable competence. Also to my dad for chauffeuring boys to trumpet lessons and myself to doctor's appointments, and to my best buddies for bringing me lunches and company. The kids have been a big help too, reserving the bulk of their complaints for the usual things. Thanks, everyone.

Now that a week has passed and the ginormobandage has been removed, I've graduated to a smaller bandage encased in, what else, a slightly oversized (because it was the first sock I EVER KNIT) handknit koigu sock:
True, it hasn't been signed by Randy Moss, but MAN is it soft and comfy. So I think I'm ready for a 4-day ski trip, don't you? No? OK, it's true: I'll be the one not skiing. But who could resist 4-days of r & r in the mountains of West Virginia at my friend's brand new house, where 10 other women will do the skiing and the cooking, and I'll do the knitting? What better way to recuperate from foot surgery (and give the family a chance to recuperate from me)? So I'm off.

Before I go, one more pic from the Christmas knitting. This morning my aforementioned wonderful guy came downstairs wearing his Christmas vest, and although it was not a sunny morning, and therefore not auspicious for photographing, I seized the moment and snapped a pic:

Peter Easy Vest
knitpicks swish worsted, colorway lilac heather

Overall I think we're both quite pleased. Ideally the armholes would be larger and the v-neck smaller, and I don't yet have the tweaking skills necessary to change a pattern that way. But it fits, it looks excellent, it's warm and soft and woolly, and I think it might be safe to say that I'm not afraid of sweaters anymore. Time to knit one for myself... ? http://www.knitty.com/issuespring07/PATTtahoe.html