The best things in life are free
But you can keep ‘em for the birds and bees
Now give me money (that’s what I want)

— Barrett Strong, The Beatles, The Blues Brothers, among many others

This bout of unemployment has been possibly one of the greatest tests of my will-power in a long, long time. I’m a very materialistic person: I buy name-brand everything, I tend not to skimp on clothes and shoes (although I’ll admit I do tend to buy off the sales rack more frequently than not), and I have a very hard time resisting the urge to buy things I want, many times going so far as to convince myself that I "need" these things. But money is tight right now, of course, so I’m having to go without a lot of the thing I’d normally purchase. My expensive shampoo and conditioner, cute new clothes, yarn. I’ve been keeping a list, though. Talbots was evil enough to send me their summer catalog, and oooh… I drooled over a few things in it (and then wrote down the ID # of a select few that I may try to find once I’ve got some money saved up again). A new router, because mine is acting wonky, and a new cell phone, because mine is seriously fritzing. I keep seeing all these blog posts about diving into blanket projects with Tahki Cotton Classic. So add some of that to the list. And turning on the AC (it was 92° today!!) And real food - not mac & cheese, ramen, and sandwiches. Real food. (Fresh produce and meat is expensive.) Oh yeah, and fixing my car. I know they say money doesn’t buy happiness, but it sure does let you stop worrying about the little things so you can go and find what does make you happy.

The second (fourth) Aurelia Sock is coming along… though a bit tediously. If second sock syndrome is bad, fourth sock syndrome is … well, some multiple of bad. But I want to finish it, and I am still enjoying the pattern and the yarn, so at least there’s that. And I won’t let myself work on a new design for my Sockapalooza pal’s socks until I finish Aurelia. Thankfully those don’t have to be done until August, so I’ve got some time, still.

One of my test-knitters for Aurelia, Miki, posted some pictures of her first Aurelia Sock (her post can be found here). She made hers shorter than the pattern called for, since she was using a heavier-weight yarn, so it looks pretty similar to my first pair. And it turned out beautifully!

Miki’s first Aurelia Sock, using Regia Sockenwolle 4-fadig, color 1259

The top of Miki’s Aurelia Sock, peaking out from under her quilt

It pleases me to no end that someone else was able to find pleasure in knitting from a pattern I wrote. Miki’s a student at Virginia Tech, and she started this sock the week of the shootings to help keep herself occupied, so it makes me happy, too (in a bittersweet sort of way), to know that I was able to help out in that situation, even if it was just one person and just a very, very minor thing.