I Have a New Toy

Well, okay, it's not new. It's a very nice older computer that was well-taken-care-of and passed along to me. I have a friend who does a lot of work with databases, which apparently require large amounts of computer power to manipulate. He gave me this computer because he massively outgrew it months ago, and he'd bought it a couple of years before that. He replaced it with a computer that I suspect he will outgrow in a year or so, and also not suck three years from now. In the meantime, I have a computer that's much nicer than anything I would likely have bought for myself anytime soon, so all in all I'm feeling warm fuzzy feelings for old friends. :)

I have an up-and-down relationship with computers. I learn what I need to in order to do the things I want to do, which means that there are times when I'm blazing along at the cutting edge of technology, and times when I'm giving my friends blank looks and saying ".mpwhat?" I tend to use the technology I have so long as it does what I want, and keep using it until it absolutely does not work anymore because I get entrenched and don't feel like learning new systems all over again. This is why I resisted moving to OSX until this computer arrived with it already installed. I had programs on my other computer that I'd been using for more than ten years--sometimes the same version--and I knew that some of them would be irreplaceable. (*weeps single emo tear for Fetch*...*then does Google search*...I'll be darned)

It's been interesting, switching from Mac to Windows to Mac the last few months. I know lots of people do it every day, but it was all new to me because I had never really used Windows until I stole started borrowing my husband's PC a few months ago, when my iBook's modem finally gave up the ghost. I mean, I could get around on public computers and find things, but now I had to actually work with it, and for a while there was quite the steep learning curve, accompanied by a lot of cussing when Boo wasn't around, and growls when she was. In the end, though, I made the PC do everything I wanted it to, more or less.

So far, OSX and I have been getting along fine. There were moments in the learning curve when I longed for OS9, but a few minutes with the preferences and the dock and I are getting along much better now. I also have pretty pretty Stargate Atlantis pictures as my wallpaper, and they change every five minutes. I give myself another week before I'm sick of it and go back to using the same wallpaper I've used for the last seven years.

Boo's Sparkly Socks

Pattern: Boo's Sparkly Socks.
Yarn: 1 100g/425m skein South West Trading Company Tofutsies (50% superwash wool/25% Soysilk fibers/22.5% cotton/2.5% chitin) in #730 (Light Foot). 1 87yd skein Lana Gatto Crystal (63% viscose/20% Nylon/17% Polyester) in #4112 (Pinks)
Needles: 2.5mm (US 1)
Gauge: 9 sts = 1"
Notes: Flush with the success of the Fixation socks, I decided to make Boo a pair of pink socks. I showed her the pink yarn I'd bought, and she asked if it was "sparkly." I said I'd see what I could do. The next day, I went back to where I'd bought the Tofutsies, and found a matching pink eyelash yarn that certainly qualified as "sparkly." (And it was on sale.) So, I cast on more stitches than I needed, added the sparkly yarn, and ribbed the cuff in sparklies. After the cuff ribbing, I reduced the stitches to a more normal circumference and just knitted a basic sock. If I had it all to do again I might not double the yarn, and I almost certainly won't rib the eyelash parts, but the effect of the cuff was exactly as I'd hoped: big and floppy and foldable down to a nice anklet, but also capable of staying up.

( More Pictures )

( More Pattern Details )