My theory is that if you look confident you can pull off anything - even if you have no clue what you're doing. (Jessica Alba)

I finally finished my Something Shady Socks from Sock Madness. I can't believe these have been hanging around since MAY! I really, really don't like the afterthought heel, by the way. It turned out pretty. And I understand that it's supposed to be more convenient (keeping the design intact without interruption), but it just didn't seem worth it to me. Add in the fact that it was totally inconvenient to try the socks on for size (even cuff down socks are easier to try on), and it was a total "yeck!" for me. And I didn't even get to try the Kool-aid dye, which was supposed to be the whole point. (But if my daughter really prefers white socks, it wouldn't make sense to dye them and have her not wear them after all that work. I'll just have to wait and find some other excuse to dye something.)


Becci's hat is making slow progress. I decided to do it on the two circulars, and the needles are driving me nuts. Everyone says how much easier two circs are than the multiple double point needles. Personally, I think everyone is just lying. I have to keep untangling the cords and the yarn, and straightening out which is which. And then the cords kink as soon as I get a good rhythm going. The trouble might be that I bought the cheapest circulars that Walmart had to offer, and that if I invested in decent tools they would work better. I'm planning a trip to the local yarn store on Saturday, so maybe they'll let me try a pair of the nice circs just to see if I like it better.

Despite my decision to finish everything I already had in progress before starting anything new, I did start another baby hat. It doesn't really count as a "new" project, since I'd already started doing baby hats for charity. Right? I'm just trying to stick to my other decision of doing one charity hat per week. (No wonder I can't get anything accomplished -- my decisions countermind each other!)

And as long as I'm already speaking of going against the decision to not start anything new, I signed up for the Mystery Shawl project. It's a lace shawl with beads, but that's all I know so far. I've never done lace or beads, or even a shawl, so I thought this would be something fun to learn. And since the first clue doesn't come out until September 4th, I should have time to finish the Mystery Socks (that were supposed to be finished last week), the Ripply Retro Socks (from April's Sock Madness), the ipod cover from my handspun that I keep casting on and frogging, and the adjustments to my cabled bag that I want to get done. The projects that are in my queue can wait until after the shawl, since they've already waited this long.

And that's my final decision.

I think.