I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without blogging! I’ve hardly been knitting either. That’s why you get to see a picture from my garden. This is one of my favorite daylilies. I don’t know the variety. I love the way that the yellow centers just glow from inside the maroonish petals. The blossoms last for only a day or two, but the plant has so many that it’s in bloom for most of the summer.

Instead of knitting I have been spending my time buried in the mundane world of work, which has taken nearly all of my time for the last month. 24 x 7 until we’re done. Should be just another couple of weeks. It’s taken so much of my time that #1 Son had been home from the tour for three days before I saw him as anything other than a mysterious lump in his bed. (The first morning I did make him wake up long enough to give me a hug. But I’m not sure he was really conscious, having come home in the wee hours of the morning, and I leaving not too long after. I talked to him on the phone, but it’s not the same.)

#1 Son was not too happy when he came home because he computer wouldn’t boot. You remember his computer? That lovely box cobbled together out of hand-me-down parts that I barely kept running long enough to get my own back together after the great WinXP auto-upgrade debacle? That wonderful, stable computing machine that worked great as long as nobody turned it off?

I turned it off.

I had good intentions. Just wanted to save a couple of $$ on the old electric bill, y’know. #1 Son was off on tour and not using it.

He came home and wanted to use it and it wouldn’t boot. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, and all the tricks that his mom knows, couldn’t get #1 Son’s computer to boot successfully all the way and stay there again. I had to face the possibility that #1 Son’s computer had reached the end of it’s useful lifespan. And, while he could use mine for checking email, etc., there were some things he could do only on his own computer because he has different software loaded than I do. After working all weekend, I managed to wrangle yesterday and today off. I spent Monday assembling a new computer for #1 Son as a slightly-early birthday present. Well… not entirely new. I reused a bunch of stuff. But a new power supply, motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM and disk drives. Everything else was reused, but that’s still a new computer in my book.

So I put stuff together Monday morning. I took a short break to have lunch with M. But I was so tired and coming-down-with-cold feeling that I could barely eat, let alone carry on a conversation. I had planned to go knit at Tangle for awhile, but decided that sleeping on the Tangle sofa might not be that attractive to store shoppers. So I went home and set the old drives to cloning over to the new drives and took a nap. The rest of the day went: check progress, nap, check progress, nap, start next drive clone, nap, check progress, nap, start reinstalling WinXP, nap… you get the idea. By 10:00 PM the new computer was booting as smooth as silk and everything installed worked, and I was ready for bed. And that should be the last of the computer woes for awhile, knock on wood, because I’m not planning on any more computer builds until Vista is at least to SR1.

I feel better today. I even knit a little. Only a little though. This picture shows my entire knitting output over the last week. That’s it. About 4″ on a pair of sock toes. That’s Sock Candy in Lapis. I’m enjoying knitting with this yarn (when I get to). It’s nice and stretchy for a cotton, but not as stretchy as Fixation. These socks will be nice to wear. If I ever get them finished. I did’n’t make too much of an effort to start them at the same place in the color repeat, and so they are very fraternal. But I like them.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. One of my neighbors is barbecuing something wonderful that’s heavy on the garlic. It smells sooooo good! I love July 4th, but it’s tough on my fur kids. Last night all three cats tried to sit on my lap at the same time. Since all three are fairly good-sized cats, and since I already take up a goodly portion of the chair, we all just didn’t fit. But I ended up with Moo Cow on one side and Captain Kidd on the other. Phoebe had to be content with cuddling as close to the chair as she could get. I reached down and petted her frequently. Just now Moo jumped up and planted her butt smack-dab on the keyboard. I finally convinced her that it made it very hard for me to type. I love the 4th. But I’ll be glad for their sakes when it’s over.

Oh… and in case anyone was wondering… I delivered the red Fixation socks to their designated recipient. They fit perfectly, she loves them, and they actually went with the outfit she was wearing that day. It’s funny how often that happens. I give someone a hand-knit gift and whatever they’re wearing that day just happens to be a perfect match. Coincidence? Or do I have some sort of odd fashion ESP. Yeah… It’s probably coincidence. 😉

I’m a fairly normal person. Or at least I would like to think I am a fairly normal person. My nearest and dearest may disagree with that. But I can (usually) get myself ready to face the world with some semblance of normalcy. I can usually dress appropriately. I almost always have my teeth brushed and my hair beat into submission before I go out in public. I usually have on a matching pair of shoes. Usually.

So what’s my excuse here?

You need to know two piece of information as background:

1) I was a little late leaving to meet M for lunch. M and I, as you know, have been meeting for lunch since the late 70’s. A long time. M’s lunch time is a little restricted. I don’t like to be late because it cuts into our chat time.

2) When I get home at night, I often kick my shoes off in the closet by the front door because I never wear shoes when I don’t have to.

I was running a little late because I’ve been running a little late ever since the demise of the clock that runs my life my treasured mantel clock, and the phone rang. It was a short call, a call to let me know that my new (old) clock was ready to pick up. I was now a little further behind. I hurried from the kitchen carrying my purse, a knitting bag, the box to mail to my Sockapaloooza pal, and a jacket I had picked up but not put on. My arms were full. I could barely open the front closet door. I fished blindly around with my feet until I found a pair of shoes. Out the door I went.

M and I met and settled ourselves in to our accustomed table in our accustomed restaurant. Judy…, said M. Are you wearing a matching pair of shoes?

With growing horror I looked at my feet. Oops. It appeared I was not. (Notice how gentle M was. She could have easily said, you idiot, haven’t you learned how to dress yourself yet? My nearest and dearest are very patient with me.)

I was on a little bit of a tight schedule. In my mind I ran through all of the places I was going to have to visit before I could go home and put on a matching pair of shoes that actually looked the same. But I took comfort in the fact that I was not likely to meet anyone I knew in any of those places. For example, in all the years that M and I have been meeting for lunch, I’ve never seen anyone out there that I know.

Until now.

I left the restaurant, and there across the parking lot was someone I know from work. Someone in a higher position than mine. Someone who needs to see me as a competent, take-charge sort of person. We waved at each other across the parking lot while I attempted to keep at least one car between us. No go. We had parked next to each other.

I don’t think my feet were noticed. I hope not. And I hope the people at the post office didn’t notice. Or the bank. Or the clock repair shop.

I will hopefully be on time now. Or at least I have a better chance of being on time. The new (old) clock is now gracing my mantel, chiming out the hours. It’s a Gilbert. Made some time between 1890 and about 1920 (I don’t know enough about clocks to get closer than that). Lovingly restored in 1980 and sitting since forlornly on a shelf waiting for a new home. I loved it at first sight, even before I learned anything about it. I think it was waiting for me.

Note to self: Look at feet before leaving the house.

The Sockapaloooza socks will shortly be winging their way to their intended recipient. I gave them one last stroke and pat before packing them away with a few other little goodies. I need to mail them today because my chances of actually getting to a post office on Tuesday are non-existent. I hope my sockpal enjoys them. I hope they fit!

This is the African violet that sits on my desk at work. It blooms almost constantly since I moved to this location. It really loves the morning sun through the window.

I’m getting better at capturing the color with my camera. I did photoshop this a wee bit — but only to shift the color back towards red a tiny amount. The camera shifts towards blue. The little specks that almost look like digital camera noise are, in real life, the most amazing multicolored metallic sparkles. I defy any camera to capture them.

The socks are almost the deepest purple color around the edges of the violet petals.

Today I get my clock! Yea! I will finally know what time it is again. Yea!

#1 Son called last night. He and his cohorts have crossed the border into Canada. If all goes well they should arrive in Anchorage by next Thursday. He has promised to keep in touch. Think good thoughts.

Sharp-eyed readers will note that there are two items crossed off the things to do list! I don’t recall ever finishing two things in one day before. It was a very good day!

First up are the replacement Fair Isle fingerless gloves for #1 Son.

I finished the last finger in the morning and then wove the ends in while waiting for my oil to be changed. There was another woman in the waiting area also knitting. I think she was working on a pair of socks, but since she was very heads-down with her pattern I didn’t want to intrude.

Next we have the Beehive Cabled Sockapalooza Socks. I finished these up while watching a little TV on Saturday night. (Don’t I lead an exciting life?)

I just love these socks. The finished product is so soft and cushy. And I love the cables and the heel and the toe and the bind-off. It’s one of those finished objects that I look at and have a hard time believing that it actually came off my needles.

If my sock pal doesn’t like them, I will take them back in a heartbeat!

The particulars about both projects can be found on their own permanent project pages. You can get there via the link in the right side-bar, the FO-2006 gallery, or by clicking on the links in this post.

Happy birthday to you!

And many more!

And which birthday is this, brother dear? How many years? Can you remember???

oh…. should I have wrapped this cake up in black? 😆

Just to prove that I have been working on my Sockapaloooza Beehive socks, here’s the latest picture. Yes, I realize that they’re not as far along as one would wish. But after all I did stop to knit four cupcake hats and get ready for the sock class (a continuing effort).

This yarn is extraordinarily hard for my digital camera to handle. In real life it’s the most beautiful dark plum color. If I could take a picture on a day when we have sunshine, I might be able to capture it. But, on a cloudy spring morning, this was the best that I could do.

You can just see my new ebony Suzanne needles in the corner. I’m finding that I knit tighter with these needles than usual. Actually, I knit fairly tight anyway, so with the increased tightness my gauge is almost too tight. I tried these needles with wool first and found that they grabbed the wool too much. But with this slick alpaca/silk/cashmere blend they hold on just right.

I’m wondering if others also find that they knit tighter with these needles?

And, OK… the other reason that I’m not as far along as I could be…

My naked Inox grays were seduced by the dark side this lovely Blue Moon Socks That Rock in colorway Alina. Isn’t this yarn yummy?

It doesn’t look anything like I thought it would. In the skeins, it looks like there is more blue and green than yellow or orange. When I wound the balls on my trusty nostepinde (I’m a hand winder), I could see that it was actually more multicolored and bright than it had looked. The Socks That Rock repeats are so short that even on the toe rows the multiple colors blend beautifully. I can’t wait to see what this looks like once I’ve increased to the ends of the toes.

But I will wait, because I don’t want my sock pal to wait for the Beehive socks. I will have them done soon!

But I can’t wait to get back to the Alina. This yarn has a very special date with destiny!