I've come to the halfway point of the alpaca sock yarn I have on hand, while knitting what is intended to be a pair of felted alpaca socks for Tom. Since they are to be felted, I'm knitting them as enormous bags, so they'll shrink to fit when washed. At the halfway point, the leg on the first sock is only 2" long. Since men don't wear anklets, and I can't get any more of this yarn, I'm faced with pulling out the whole thing and starting over.

I do have a skein of the same yarn in a different, but coordinating, colorway. If I pull the first one out, I can make a pair with contrasting heel, toe, and cuff. There's even a slight possibility that I can do this before Christmas. I'm glad we don't exchange gifts for Chanukah, since that's extraordinarily early this year.

On the restaurant front, I've performed the first irrevocable act; I've bought a commercial bread slicer. As with all commercial equipment, it cost twice as much as I had figured. C'est la guerre.