Sock Design Hell

Okay, I'm starting to think that sock design is not my thing.  I knit things without a pattern all of the time!  This should not be so difficult.  I knit through the first 18 rows of a gothic lace pattern, and ended up with about 10 more stitches than I was supposed to have.  So I ripped it out, thinking I must have picked up too many stitches with every row after the 10th row.  So I started over.  Bear in mind, I knit two-at-a-time, so every time I have to tear something out, I'm basically tearing it out twice over.  So I knit again.  Same deal.  So I said, fine, I'll just table one sock and do this one sock at a time--thoughts of there never being a pair have begun to creep in--so I tore both socks down to row 9 and tabled one sock for "later".  And I began again.  And I tore out again, and again, and again.  And then I said the Hell with it, and decided to do a series of knit rows and yfwds to make a column of three holes beneath the V in the lace pattern by the cuff instead of following the actual lace pattern.  Hey, I'm designing! It doesn't look too bad except I keep ending up with too many stitches to return to the original lace pattern to finish it off.  Now I am to the point where the anklet is going to be a little long for an anklet per se; so is there a word for something half-way between anklet and full leg sock?  I am having to be crafty to hide the necessary decreases to get the sock back to the 64 stitches that I need to repeat the V pattern near the cuff.  I am spending my entire vacation on this project, and I am not actually sure why. The test will be to knit the other sock with this pattern of mine and have it turn out to be the same as the first sock. I am beginning to long to finish the maple socks because at this point those are a no-brainer and it would be nice to have one project complete before my vacation is over.  My goal was to finish the maple socks and start my fingerless gloves--for which I still have not found the right yarn and a trip to Main Street Yarns (affectionately known as the Yarn Barn around my house) is probably going to be in order for Friday. 

I have also finally taken the initiative to organize the spare bedroom to create a knitting work space for myself.  I got my table all set up and everything re-organized and stored, and now I just need a bulletin board and a book shelf above my table for "design and reference" purposes.  I have spent every possible moment, practically, in my new work space since I put it all together at 5:30 yesterday morning.  I'd say that I need to find a hobby, but obviously my hobby has taken over my life.

I think I would be in a much better state of mind if my children were not telling me that they are "the most bored [they] have ever been in their lives!" every 30 minutes or so because we didn't go anywhere for the break, and if my six-year old were actually letting me get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time each night--day 6 and I'm working on less than 5 hours of sleep for the last 5 nights. So much for a restful vacation. The thought of taking a nap occurs to me, but somehow that doesn't happen because I am obsessed with the purple/grey socks. I can do this.  It's only a sock.

I went outside to my other relaxing past time--the garden--to water it and discovered that it is a field of yellow pollen.  Everything is yellow.  Bushes, plants, grass, outbuildings, cars, the cats, the air ... I tried to take a picture of our pollinated cars, but the air was too yellow, I think, for the pollen to stand out in the picture.  The camera, however, after only being outside for about 2 minutes, went from black to yellow.  Better to stay inside and knit, I think.  I am starting to wonder if I should change the name of my blog to "Knitting Asylum".