A couple of months ago I wrote about the two large Douglas firs belonging to MNTHD (my neighbor two houses down), and the possibility that I would end up in bed with one of them some dark and blustery night.

I hate it when I’m proven semi-prophetic.

Last night when I got home, I thought that one of the trees looked like it was leaning at a slightly different angle. Now it’s at a really different angle! (click the pic for a bigger version in a pop-up)

I didn’t hear the crash, which I understand came about 4:30 AM. When I woke up at 7:30, given the high-wind-warning situation, the first thing I did was look out my bedroom window. I only saw one tree. Now, this isn’t entirely unexpected, given my eyesight. So I put on my glasses. I still only saw one tree standing. So I threw some clothes on and ran out the front door.

Only one came down. And it didn’t come near my house (thank goodness). It hit the house of MNTHD. It smooshed his roof a bit and tore off his gutters. The top 30′ or so broke off and hit the corner of the garage of the next house beyond MNTHD and also did some slight damage to their van. You can see from the pic that my direct neighbor’s fence was pretty well destroyed when the root ball pulled up.

I spoke with the neighbor three houses down, whose garage and van were hit. She had run to MNTHD to make sure that they were OK (they are) and asked about the remaining tree. He said he was

going to have a guy look at it

If you read my earlier entry, you will know that “having a guy look at it” was what he has been promising to do for the last 6 or 8 years while these two trees slowly died. I hope the “guy who looks at it” explains to him that the remaining tree will probably not be standing for long and needs to be removed.

I hope the wind isn’t as bad as predicted!

I finished the Wavy Raspberry (aka Vera) Socks last night! Yea!!! Bound off at Tangle Thursday knitting night and washed when I got home.

Aren’t they pretty? I’m so not a pink person, but I just love how the raspberry color sets off the browns and creams and little dabs of teal. I love how the colors sort of spiral up the ankles. I love how it ended up reminding me of grandma’s old afghan. Usually when I get finished with something, it’s sort of like… oh yeah, another pair of socks; oh yeah, another sweater; meh. But every now and there’s a finished object that makes me just want to stop people on the street and say, “Look at what I made! I made this!” And that’s what I want to do with these.

The particulars:

• Lorna’s Laces Shepherds Sock, colorway Vera
• Inox Gray needles, US#2 (2.75 mm)
• Cast-on: My own invention, which I will hopefully be able to share soon
• Bind-off: Tubular bind-off
• Sock Pattern: My own standard pattern that fits my feet
• Heel: Eye of Partridge
• Stitch Pattern: A standard wavy stitch pattern with every 6th row purled.

And all of you Thursday night Tangle knitsters… I saw you guys. You were were all looking at these socks and carefully not saying… so these aren’t going to fit…

Well, here’s the proof that they do, indeed fit my feet perfectly! And my feet are very happy.

so there!

I’m wearing these today with clogs, and despite the wavy, purly nature of the stitch pattern, the ankles are not at all slouching. As always, clicking the pics will get you a bigger version in a pop-up. I wish I could get decent natural-light pics at my house in the winter, but the bottom picture colors are fairly close to real life, at least on my monitor.

Next up: Blue Moon Socks That Rock in colorway Falcon’s Eye, which is a mix of lovely soft greens. I’m currently thinking that I’ll do them in an all-over staggered ribbed cable. We’ll see if I still like that after I’ve knit a few inches.

I also need to find just the perfect yarn for my Sockapaloooza pal’s socks. I may need to do a field trip this weekend to Woodland Wool Works. They tend to have unusual yarns that the rest of the Portland metro area LYSs don’t carry.

I also need to find the perfect sock pattern for my pal, but I usually find that the yarn speaks to me and tells me what to knit with it. I want to make some really great socks, because my pal makes pretty great socks!

I was hoping to report that the Vera socks are complete. Alas, I fell asleep in front of the TV last night, and I didn’t keep knitting so progress stalled.

I have been known to knit in my sleep under these circumstances. But the results are rarely happy ones. It usually looks as though I were knitting an entirely different object. (Can you say “frog city?”)

I have just a few rows of ribbing and then the bind off left and I’m done! done! done! I already have the yarn picked out for the next pair. Now I just have to decide if I really want to knit an entire pair of socks in 1×1 ribbing.

Oh… why the hell not…

I worked on my taxes last night. Mine and #1 Son’s. I don’t have all of the necessary stuff yet to complete mine, but I did have all of his. I don’t think he was too happy with the result. Alas, becoming a responsible, tax-paying citizen is tough.

In good news, today I received the info for my Sockapaloooza pal! I can’t wait to get started, and I already have some ideas. I know what color she likes, so now I just need to find yarn. Oh, gee, I have to go yarn shopping… I already know what I think I’d like to get.

I’m almost done with the Vera socks. I have two pattern repeats and the ribbing left to do. I might be able to finish tonight, if I go home and actually knit!

When the Veras are done I have to start on a small project that I need to have finished in two weeks. There’s plenty of time! And then the next pair of socks is taking shape in my mind.

I’m really on a sock kick this year for some reason.