With Retro Rib Socks out of the way, I had to cast on for another pair of socks.
I know. I said I wasn't a sock person. I wasn't. But then, the belly thing happened, with attendant unpredictable sweater knitting. And before I knew it, I was in possession of beaucoup de sock yarn. Since then, even more sock yarn has found its way here. From Yarn4Socks.com:

various Lorna's Laces

Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Ebony

in its full glory
That's some of it. I don't want you to hyperventilate or think me too insane. I'll spread out the photos...
The new socks-in-progress are Waving Lace Socks (also from IK's Favorite Socks):

and the yarn

was dyed by Sheila of Wool2Dye4. Sheila was my Dye-O-Rama angel, since my pal went AWOL. I wasn't much of a sock knitter back then, so I was considering knitting a shawl, and waited for inspiration. I've been wanting to do something with this yarn all this time!
I wore my Flower Basket Shawl to my birthday sushi dinner, and it was all I could do to convince my mom she could not leave with it. Scott threatened to do a luggage check. She set out to tell me:
- all the reasons why it was perfect for her (size, color, drape; you know, all the reasons I love it)
- how much she really really really in-no-uncertain-terms liked it
If I weren't so attached to it, I would have waved bye-bye to it. Alas for my mom, I am. But, the only way I could:
- convince her not to abduct it
- feel okay about keeping my shawl
was to show her this skein of Sea Silk:

and promise to send her a like shawl in a few weeks. Because, you know, I have all this knitting time now. (Ha!)
I cast on this weekend:

and as before, am enjoying the lusciousness that is Sea Silk. Good thing, because I happened to order some more in an, ahem, recent sale. Ahem.
(It seems that buying yarn is a replacement for knitting when you're time-poor. Don't tell me you don't know what I mean.)
This weekend I also made time for spinning! It's been a couple of months and I was definitely rusty. But, like riding a bicycle, it slowly came back to me. I'm not quite in my old groove yet, but I'm sure I'll get back there eventually. I've got almost 4 oz of Amy's superwash merino spun:

(see the fiber)
Soon we'll see what I remember of plying.