Fixing what wasn't broken, progressing on a WIP, and luck

Curly is 8 and a half months old ... he isn't very happy with me (Note the extended talons of death on his right paw).

We had him "done" on Friday, and today is the first day that he has started to act like himself -- he is as saucy and spunky as ever! Any changes? Every morning he has been greeting me with purring and a kiss on the nose -- makes me giggle 'cause I get the kiss from within his space man collar! And he now has become a groomer - he was always a 'just a lick and a polish' kinda kitty, now he is a 'head to toe and back again' fella.

Our steps are done! Finished and have been christened with the mark of 2 clumsy dogs! ah well, they were beautiful for 12 hours, now they are "rustic". T worked away on the house for his entire vacation ... we now have the freshly painted hallway, moldings where there have been none for 11 years, a new 'click' floor in the upstairs hall, repairs to all the 'thunder, fireworks and firing-of-muskets-during-local-historic-reenactments' damages wrought by terrified poochies, and the new steps going upstairs - it is just like having a brand new home!

I am working on a pair of socks for T's dad -- and they are going soooo quickly, considering I usually take forever to knit socks for men (the size 11 feet usually seem to take an eternity!) ... I am crediting the speed of my needles to this being the first time I am flying without a map (yes, I am now brave enough to knit socks without the use of a pattern!) Mind you , the socks are pretty simple (2 x 2 cuff, and a 3x 1 leg and foot) but I made all the decisions and am not bound or restricted or constrained by some stinkin' pattern (I tend to be a knitter who takes the written word to heart - if the pattern says "Pick up and knit 18 stitches" and there are gaps, I fiddle with it until I can PU and K 18 - I never just add a stitch or 2 so this has been quite exciting for me!)

The Yarn Harlot has empowered me to take this leap (she is very teeny in the picture in front of the backs of all those knitters heads -- but you get the idea!)-- after reading "Knitting Rules", I realized that having made at least a dozen pairs of socks, that, yeah, they are all basically the same -- I don't need a pattern to tell me how to make a simple sock (something fancy like a Cookie A pattern, sure, I need a pattern - I am free and easy as a knitter now, but not a flipping math genius!!!); I am bright enough to manage a simple sock on my own, and that is very liberating indeed.

The "Thank You For All Your Help With the Renovations" socks specs: Cast on August 13th at 6 p.m. First sock done on August 18th at 6 p.m. (freaky eh?) Second sock is done to the heel flap (August 20th 11 a.m.). Anticipating being done ... Wednesday evening (Aug 22nd) at about 10 p.m. (It would be quicker if I didn't have to work! But 1 week for a pair of man's socks -- is a new record for me). I am using Austerman Step in colour # 07 (which looks nothing like the pretty turquoise on the colour chart (but is different enough from the #3 Gras that i knit for T a few months ago, that I am not bored with it)! It is the 'treat yarn' that T bought me), and have given them an Eye of Partridge heel. I am liking them a lot and think my FIL will be delighted!

Speaking of delighted ... I won a contest over at Pick Up Sticks (squeee! I love to win yarn, and I enter a lot of contests, but rarely win!) -- Dream in Colour Classy yarn in a worsted weight is coming to me in a gorgeous colour (Connie let the winners have 'pick of the litter'!) -- pics will be posted when it arrives. What is a fun sock pattern for a worsted weight yarn? Horcrux is on my list, but any other ideas to use this stroke of luck are appreciated (I have only knit vanilla socks with worsted wool and would like these to be funner than that).

Also ... in case anyone likes fish stories -- on Friday evening, I notices our multies (the smallest breed of cichlids) had babies! little teeny tiny little specs of fish! We only have 3 adults, so it is a little surprizing that they bred, as they are a colony fish, and really, in a group of 3, the odds weren't great that we would get a breeding pair. Yay! Baby fishies! They are too tiny and timid to get my own pictures of them.

In further fish news, we drove to Yarmouth on Saturday in that wicked rain storm (2 hours drive) to see the weigh in for the Shark Scramble there (T enjoys shark fishing, I read that there was a yarn store there ... hehehe!). The Derby website assured readers that they have a big tent, so activities would take place rain or shine -- it didn't say that in the event of thunder, the weigh in would be postponed to Sunday. It thundered and lightninged, and rained like crazy. So no sharks. No pictures because of the hideous amount of rain.

I did get to go to the yarn shop. The selection was quite small, but they had some colours I had not seen in Austerman and in the Patons Classic Wool (Rustic Red is quite nice!). I had just bought Austerman the day before (#10 Melba-- it is gorgeous) and have my eye on another one at the lys (#11 Dune), so held back on making any purchases.

Gotta go do some housework on my "just like a brand new house' ... there is still a lot of reno mess laying about, and everything could use a good vacuum and a flick of the mop.