new project time

 I actually started these at my mom's over break but didn't get that far; tonight I got up to where I start for the heel flap on the first sock:

It's a String Theory Colorworks self-striping yarn - the color way is called Schinia 

I think this is the inspiration, or it's a related species. 

Though also the dyer referenced this creature:

The pattern is Jaywalker socks, by Grumperina (you can search on the pattern: Ravelry has it if you use them, or Grumperina will e-mail one to you upon request). These were SUPER popular quite a while back, if I remember rightly the original was on the old MagKnits site (which is long gone, Because of Reasons)

I knit a couple pairs of these back in the day, one of which barely fit because I knit very tightly in those days (I knit more loosely now and I am also using US 1.5 needles rather than the US 1s, which does make the gauge just a tiny bit looser)

The yarn would make horizontal stripes on its own but every other round has paired increases matched with double decreases, which makes the chevron pattern. It's simple (and easily memorized, which I like) but clever and it looks good. 

The creature it is sitting on is one of the mochi cats that came in a Japan crate - I have the big "sakura" one there, and then two smaller (well, the white and red one is, I think, a "kitsune" - a folkloric Japanese fox):

I did two transects today. I was feeling pretty shaky by the end of the second one (there was not a single breath of a breeze, and it was a lot more humid again) so I noped out of there at the end of the second transect of the day

This wasn't in my sample but I snapped a photo in case I had to identify it later:

I've gotten really rusty at species I don't see all the time, this is some kind of thistle, possibly Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense (whose distribution in OK is centered right on my county). I don't think it's tall thistle or bull thistle - the leaves are wrong for those and it's not as densely spined as many thistles . At first I thought it might be basket flower but that part below the flowering head doesn't look right - not "baskety" enough.

At any rate: wasn't in any of my samples, if later on I get one I'll take one - maybe it will be further along - and will actually key it out rather than merely comparing against photographs. (I admit I don't love keying things out; all too often the keys expect you to have BOTH flowers and fruit, and in natural settings there's only a tiny window of time when you can find both, or else if you miss the flowers you have to wait a whole year....)

Tomorrow I think I am taking off. I suspect I'm going to be sore - the ground where I was was more uneven on top of it being more humid and harder to breathe and I can feel it in my back and hips; I'm going to try taking a bath in epsom salts before bed to see if that helps