Getting something done. Sure there are still some things on the shelf which need to find a new home. But I purged a lot and re-organized.

A kid that brushes his teeth before bed, without being asked to do so. What a kid huh? I wish this trait would rub off on his siblings.

Finally getting new Sockapalooza yarn in the mail and in an absolutely scrummy colorway. Cast on at 9PM last night, and given up at 12AM when my right wrist started to scream.

Come on, take a closer look. Sweet, eh? I've said a million times on this blog how much I dislike the color pink, but I think I've been swayed. Its all about companion colors.. and this colorway.. swoon. (For the interested, this was purchased from Etsy seller, Fibersnthreads. Pattern, Roza's Socks from Spring 07 IK.)

Other things which make me smile today?

My new Dansko shoes also arrived yesterday. I didn't know a woman could love a pair of shoes this much.

Richard finding more live Frames for my iPod (The Metro in Chicago 4/18/07) This Frames thing with me is becoming an obsession.

Its not 95 degrees with high humidity. In other words, I'm not melting today. In fact, its rather cool outside.

Connor said, not signed.. "uv oo mama"

I already mentioned the iPod last night. How cool, right? And just as I was about to start whining about not getting my invite to Ravelry yet, it magically appeared in my inbox. If I could only find a few more hours in the day to start plunking images and data in there, I'd be golden.

But the even cooler thing than all of that, is a contract knitting gig I was offered. Its super double secret, in that I can't really talk about it other than mere mention (like this, no details) and I certainly can't post pictures of progress (duh). But this is a really big deal as far as I'm concerned, and I'm incredibly excited to be working on this (and future projects). Vague huh? I will be able to share once the project is done and published, so stay tuned on that.

As for our holiday. It was rainy. Thats it. We didn't do anything special except make spiedies on the grill, in the rain. Richard's friend, Steve, stopped by to hang out for a few hours, but thats it. We were going to go to the state fair grounds for fireworks, but we were fearful of parking the car, getting in there, and trying to make it back to the car in a downpour with the tribe in tow. The kids were a little bummed, but there are more fireworks in the area through the weekend, so hopefully we'll get another chance.

Knitting? I have absolutely nothing to show. I started the baby set for Richard's sister (shes due in August), but admittedly I didn't get very far. I really need to whip this out though, at least while I'm waiting for new Sockapalooza yarn and the super double secret project packages to arrive. This little break is good though, because the next 30 days are going to be filled with time sensitive knitting. Fire up the coffee maker.. lots of late night knitting ahead!

They look beautiful, eh? But you didn't see me trying to squeeze them over my heel! I have almost identical feet to my Sockapalooza pal, and my goodness.. neither of these are going to fit her! They feel good on the foot and the ankle.. but its the getting them ON which is problem.

What to do? WHAT TO DO? I have one month.... 30ish days. Minus a week for newly ordered yarn to arrive.. if the mail gods are working in my favor, then pick another pattern, which I'm going to say right now will be Roza's Socks because they have a decent stretch, and won't require any special pattern tweaking to get the right size.

I can't even believe this.
Darn you trendy Monkeys!

Edited to add this tidbit..

Having a high instep myself, I'm accustomed to increasing the rows on the heel flap, and I did do this on the solid pink Louet Gems Monkey. But if anyone with a high instep has noticed, its not just the actual fit you need (longer heel flap to accommodate said larger instep, but the cuff and the ankle need strettttttching to go over that instep. This is the flaw in this sock pattern. It matters not, how many rows I add to the flap. Its the cuff and the ankle.. and this sock just isn't going to work. I've noticed in the knitty blogosphere, some murmurs about the lack of stretch in this pattern. Too bad I hadn't seen those murmurs before starting two separate pairs of monkeys.

One fell off and bumped his head (well sort of anyway). I'm not sure if its so visible in this picture, but the MamaLlama Vino Monkey has a flaw which requires some tinking back, quite a bit actually. Can you see that jog in the gusset decreases? I'm not certain as to what happened, but surely it can be blamed on late night, sleep deprived knitting.

And as you can see, I cast on the pink Louet Gems from The Loopy Ewe into yet another Monkey. Call me lazy but I already have the chart in my head. With the pink one I did the slip stitch heel vs. the flat heel I've already done on the Vino Monkey.

Not much knitting this week, as clearly displayed in this picture. Why you ask? Gaaawd its been hot. Oppressive hot. Hades hot. The kind of hot that makes yarn stick to fingers. What really kept me cool last night knitting, was sticking my feet in a bucket of cool water, then rummaging through my massive collection of skin care products to find a foot care kit one of my past Secret Pal's sent me. After a good soak, some pumice, and a gentle scrub, I finished it up with some foot lotion with a cooling effect. I always forget how wonderful a pedicure makes me feel, even one done myself.