Some time yesterday I passed a milestone of sorts. The socks, despite the 90° turn at the heel, are now too long to fit on the scanner bed.
Now that I have finished the gusset decreases, it is straight knitting around on 72 stitches (same number I cast on originally) until I get within an inch or two of the end. I have kept the top of the foot stitches centered on one needle and transferred 6 stitches of the 36 it held while shaping the gussets onto each of the side needles for 24 stitches on each needle. This is optional, but I think it helps keep the stitches even when moving onto the next needle. You can distribute the stitches between your needles any way you want, but be sure to put a marker or two at critical dividing points of your work so that you can easily find where to position your decreases for the toe.
Ling Ling seems to approve, but in addition liking to snuggle in it, he has a history of chewing wool. I suspect that the cone wool I am using (still has the spinning oil in it) will be fairly non-palatable so this is just curiosity.
I discovered his wool eating penchant when he was a just out of kittenhood. He worked on some socks I had placed in a basket on the floor with the intention of mending some day. As I recall, this was at a time when I was a single parent holding down a full time lab job and a part time teaching job, so I wasn't too heartbroken at having one less chore to finish. The socks became cat toys and had an interesting life of being tossed for Ling to catch and kill with full ceremony. To keep peace in the household, I am careful to put wool garments and balls of yarn away in fairly cat-proof locations. I later learned that not all Siamese cats do it, but that the breed is notorious for being wool eaters.
Most people are aware of protecting wool from moths but be careful for your companion animals sake too.
More tomorrow.