Monkey Socks

Finished! Triumph over second sock syndrome!

Pattern up close and personal:


Finished pair:


Specifications:
Pattern: Monkey Socks from Winter 2006 Knitty
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in color Life's a Beach
Needles: Size 2 Addi Turbo circs, per usual

Comments: Love the pattern - it is visually interesting and easy to memorize. I am very happy with the finished product. The yarn is from my stash - I picked up several skeins during a going out of business sale at a LYS (local yarn shop.) I love it - it is wonderful to work with, and it wears well. I used this yarn for Raul's Jaywalkers, and it has stood up beautifully to many wearings and washings and dryings. For those of you out there looking to get into socks (JPo! - though it's superwash merino wool, so I recommend carrying an injectable pen syringe filled with epinephrine to deal with the anaphylaxis), I highly recommend this yarn.

This is going to be a gifty to one of you luckies out there. I suppose there is no need to keep the identity of the receiver secret seeing as how the element of suprise was blown when I told that person they were going to receive them as their birthday gift. Love you Grandma Lo.

House Painting

Photo documentation!

At the beginning:


Dad on a ladder:


Raul on a ladder with Raymond providing ladder stability:


As these projects usually go, it was a huge job - much too big to finish in 4 days and much too big for me to finish on my own. As of now, two sides of the house have been primered and painted. The other two sides required significantly more scraping - which I am happy say was finished yesterday by a very nice young man that does this sort of thing professionally. Given the rain we are currently experiencing, painting may be finished today or sometime this week. I get to put all the trim paint on when the painters finish putting the main color on the house. So, not quite done but in the home stretch, sort of.

The decision to hire painters to finish the job was made the day my dad returned to California (sorry Dad.) And after that, Raymond and I were able to enjoy a few days of leisure - our days were spent in search of good food and air conditioned havens to escape the heat. Coffee houses were frequent haunts given that such establishments could satisfy both of our aforementioned needs.

There has been knitting! I have another FO to show you! Vacation is grand.

A Very Lovely Wedding

As you may or may not know, my little brother was married last month. Not so little anymore, though, I suppose. He's a total adult now, with a house and a job and a 401K and a fuel efficient, hybrid vehicle. Time goes by so fast...and I was struck with that realization whilst guests were seating themselves and my brother and his groomsmen were lining up for the wedding ceremony. I do not cry at weddings - not that I am not touched by all the sentimentality, but it is just something that I do not do. However, while I was sitting there minutes before my little brother was to be married, I thought back to when we were young - mostly, I thought about the little 4 yo Ryan, always so vigilant in his efforts to beat me at tetherball, and me never letting him win. Yes, what a good big sister, I know. Anyways, the waterworks struck with a vengeance. And my poor brother - I decided in the midst of trying to hold in some torrential sobs that it would be a good idea to run up and give him a quick hug. My apologies, little bro.

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was great fun. Here are a few pictures from the weekend - none of the actual wedding night, though, not sure what happened to our camera..

The parents and the Grandpa poolside:


Three generations, with my mom and the famous Grandma L.


Self portrait by my lovely husband


Breakfast at IHOP with my grandma and brother (who gave the most excellent best man toast!)


House painting update - all is well. We are primering. Pictures soon!

Breeze

Finally an FO!

Neglected half-finished knitting projects fill my house. I will not name them as that would just be bad for the self-esteem. Instead, I will repeat my current mantra. "I am quite capable of finishing what I start." And to prove it, my father and brother are arriving today from California to assist in painting the outside of my house. How fun does that sound?! Scraping and painting in the sweltering heat of summer - I can hardly wait for the fun times to begin. The primary goal is to have everything completed in one week. There will be four of us doing most of the prep work, and we are hiring three other guys to help with the painting. And the house is small. We can do it! (Appreciate any helpful thoughts and prayers for the timely completion of this house painting endeavor that are sent my way.) I will photo document progress as it happens.

So, back to the FO that is the pair of socks called Breeze from the current edition of knitty.

Photo of finished pair:


Close-up of heel:


Specs:
Pattern - Breeze, as mentioned above from current issue of knitty at www.knitty.com. Sorry, for some reason, I lost the link option on blogger. Maybe as a result of switching back and forth between Mac and PC? I will have to ask resident technology guru, Raul, to take on this case.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock merino in Loden
Needles: Size 2 Addi Turbos
Modifications: None!

Overall, very comfortable. I am a huge fan of ankle socks, and they're such a quick knit (though you would not be able to tell by the speed at which I finished them.)

And long time no post because I have been on vacation! A lovely wedding, time with friends in SF and the most incredible yarn store in the world! Pictures to come!

Mouse in my house. Oh my!

My father-in-law was here last weekend. He told us a story about how one morning, the dog and the cat had tag teamed to corner a small mouse in the house. It seemed that this story was intended to be endearing - how cute that the dog and the cat would cooperate, brought together by their mutual desire to stalk small rodents. Not so - this story meant that I had a mouse in my house, and the teller was unable to provide me with key information - where did the mouse go? is it still alive and in my house? Tonight, my questions were answered. Raul and I awoke from an afternoon nap to the sound of the dog attempting to squeeze himself in to the 3" wide space in between the bathroom vanity and the wall. He'd again cornered the mouse. After wondering what to do, I called the keeper of all answers, my grandparents, who suggested that we roust the mouse with a broom. I will spare you the details of what followed, but I will say that Raul is a prince. He handled the whole situation while I hid in the bedroom with my ears plugged.

Take home points: if you have sudden onset, substernal crushing chest pain or a focal neurologic deficit, I'm your woman. If you have a mouse in your house, call someone else. And Raul is a prince.