"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."

Sunny skies, balmy breezes, puffy clouds? No, RAIN -- glorious, blessed rain! We've had no moisture in August until now, and the parched red clay soil was beginning to crack. You can almost hear it sighing with relief -- here's hoping there is more in store.

On the knitting front, one toe-up, gusseted sock is done, and here's what I've learned: 1)Although a 200 yard skein of fingering weight yarn is slightly less than I usually work with, it is entirely sufficient for socks with the leg length I prefer, and the foot length I need. Ergo, no need to knit toe up again for myself (well, except for the mate to this one!) unless I want to -- which I probably don't. Longer or wider socks, even less yardage -- OK, I'll do it then, but I have discovered that I really prefer knitting top down. The whole time I was knitting this I felt like I was twirling backwards!
2)It is possible to have a bound off edge that is stretchy enough to pull over my high-arched foot and feel comfortable around the leg.
I used this one: Work first two stitches in pattern. *Return these two stitches to the left needle, then knit them together through the back loop. Work the next stitch in pattern, and then repeat from the *. The last stitch leaves a bit higher gap, so take care in attaching it to the beginning when you're done, but there you have it. You'll notice in the photo (click for bigger, if needed) that the top of the sock is ruffled looking when off the foot. This disappears when worn, but may not be due to the bind off alone. I also worked the final few rows (4?) of the leg in garter stitch. And with bigger needles. Yes I know -- excessive, but then I'm a "belt and suspenders" kind of a girl. ("Belt and braces" to UK speakers, although maybe that's not a familiar colloquial expression for you anyway.) At any rate, it worked for me, although if I do another pair I'll try it without the garter stitch, but still using larger needles.

So, I'm calling exercise in toe-up a success.* Now, what's the next challenge?
*Fear not, that second sock will get knit at some point. We will leave no sock behind -- sometimes it just takes a while!