Thumb Gusset rawks

I've always used the afterthought thumb method when making gloves because the gusset looked hard and difficult.  That's really no excuse not to try a new pattern though.  And therefore I took the plunge.  I actually knitted a thumb gusset. The world didn't end, the stars didn't fall, and the thumb gusset worked marvelously!!!

  This is the best color match to reality.

I finished my Storm socks in the Fawkes pattern.  So scrumptious!

Color shift

I just noticed that on this computer monitor, the sock I'm displaying a post or two ago looks to be different colors.  The second, grayer, stormier, looking sock is the proper color.  The first picture all of a sudden looks too green to me. 

No SSS for me!

No indeed!  I have cast on for my second sock already and have just about finished the ribbing for the cuff.  Almost ready to start the lace pattern.  :)

Sock #1

Yay!  Storm sock #1 finished.  The yarn is knitting up so beautifully.

fanTAStic

We loved the Cirque du Soleil performance of Michael Jackson Immortal world tour.  The entire day was so much fun.  Metro into D.C., tour of the Spy Museum, lunch at La Tasca's tappas bar, gelato in the afternoon (sounds like a pop song title), then walking around looking at architecture, visiting the National Portraiture Gallery for some inside cool air and sitting down time, then the performance.  I would recommend it to anyone who likes MJ's music accompanied by outstanding acrobatic agility.

As for my sock in progress - I've reached the toe decreases, yay!  I have begun limiting my time on FB as I discussed, and already it's been paying off.  Should finish Sock #1 tonight or tomorrow.  :)

catching up

So, since the last time I was on here, I mentioned that I was going to knit the pattern Fawkes in the Storm colorway.  I almost have the first sock done, and it's lovely.  I should be finished with both socks by now, but there's been a hindrance.  One called:  Facebook.

It's vastly apparent to me that Facebook has become a major time sink and keeps me from knitting more in the evenings.  This is really unacceptable.  I am going to try an experiment and grant myself no more than 30 minutes a weekday evening to be on Facebook.  Weekends can be unlimited.  It's a start.

In June my in-laws came to visit us for the first time since we moved to Virginia.  We had a lovely three weeks, no stress, no running about, no feeling that we had to be on the go go go.....  There were a few times that the stairs caused them some problems, but nothing that required any ER visits, so we're calling it good. 

One of the highlights of their visit was the trip to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport, which is the companion facility to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in D.C.  They were thrilled to be able to actually get up close and walk under the wings of the space shuttle Discovery. 

The weather has been really hot in the last month.  Hot and humid.  It's a totally different kind of heat than from Oklahoma.  In OK, you step outside and feel like you're walking into a giant hair dryer set on Scorch -- it just slaps you in the face.  Here in VA, you step outside and begin to drip.  The humidity is different. 

I'm really excited about our trip tomorrow.  Hubby and I are going to take the metro in to DC around noon, then sightsee and eat our way around the area.  In the evening, Hubby and I have tickets to the Cirque du Soleil performance of Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour.  Happy happy!!!

i've chosen...

I will knit the lovely Storm yarn in the Fawkes pattern by Monkey Toes. :)

It's Spring

Our town is fully in the grip of Spring. It's really gorgeous, all the trees are flowering, the bulbs have popped up through the earth, and people are out in droves to get their yards in order for the first time of the season. We mowed the front and back yards yesterday, cleaned out some flower beds, and also did a little cosmetic mulch work around a tree base.

I received my yarns from Deb of Fearless Fibers a week or so ago. I ordered Another Wildflower

and Storm.

Not sure if I want to knit just straight stockinette or do something lacy or cable-y. I'll probably end up doing one color in one method and the other in the other, if you know what I mean.

Our kitties have been with us for three months now. Thomas is the more social of the two by far, although neither of them will sleep on our laps or allow us to cuddle them for any length of time. He does curl up with us every night on the bed, though, and gets very distraught when Sally tries to join us. The bed and its contents are HIS, not to be shared. lol

Sally is our problem child. We actually think she is related to Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde. You can pick her up and she'll just purr up a storm, but if you feel her tense or she turns her head and looks at you just so, be ready to put her down --- she's going to turn inside out and be nothing but teeth and claws. It has been so bad at times that I've seriously thought of taking her back to the rescue organization. It came to a head yesterday when she gutted my wrist again. If they had been open, she would have been gone. But, after a day of considering, and today was very good, too, Hubby and I decided to keep trying.

The other day I felt like doing some mindless knitting, so I grabbed two colors of worsted weight organic cotton, my size 9 Fiddlesticks, cast on about 30 stitches, and garter stitched myself a dishcloth. It gave me a weeks worth of gentle knitting without any worries, and I'm really very pleased. Just what I needed to get back in the saddle.

Of course, there's always this sock I started from stash before my yarn from Deb came in:

Been a long long time.....

Wow, it's been awhile. What's happened, you might ask. Well, we moved into our house over Thanksgiving, and unpacked most boxes, except for those in the basement, garage, and the room we've designated as the office. Our son came to visit us over Christmas, and we took him into DC to see some of the sights and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

I looked for work, and was lucky enough to land a contract job as a Concierge Desktop Support Analyst at the VW headquarters. I've been there almost three months now, and I think I'm finally beginning to find my place.

Richard's new job (the one we moved here for) is going very well. He's also finding his place in the new company and we enjoy meeting up with his co-workers every week or so after hours at the local pubs for food, drink, and trivia night. They are really good people.

Our daughter got to come visit us for a long weekend. We also took her into DC to see her museum of choice: the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We really enjoyed seeing our kids, and can't wait to have them visit again!!

I've been doing some knitting all this time. I finished the socks I had started when we went to England last September, and mailed them off to my SIL. I hope she likes them and that they fit.

Life is pretty good here, but I do miss my friends back in Broken Arrow and my job there..... things will work out .

Happy New Year!!

Welcome, 2012. You promise to be a bright and shiny new start to a whole new year of opportunities. I'm rather pumped about it all.

Today Hubby and I visited our favorite breakfast place in our new hometown: Virginia Kitchen. They already know us and what we like to drink, and usually what we want to eat. Then we went to Lowe's to pick up a few items to install new wood blinds in our bedroom. We made one more stop after that. One that changed a lot of things.

We stopped at PetsMart to look at the adoptable kitties. We've moved into our house enough to be ready for new family members. We found a brother/sister pair, and brought them home. The boy is a sweety and very vocal, adventurous, and seems like he'll fit in well. The girl is still under the couch. We did extract her once, and she lacerated me before going back to hide again. It's early days, she's scared, and we understand that she isn't at all sure about this place, nor the big black dog who just wants to sniff her up one side and down the other. Hopefully she'll come out in the next day or so, and prove to be a good fit.

Both the kids enjoyed their New Year's, Roger with his girlfriend Chelsea and their group of friends call the Pent (there are five of them, plus the newly added two husbands of two of the gals), and Katie with her boyfriend Dillon and his family. So happy they all had a safe and happy new year's celebration. Hubby and I spent a quiet evening in, watching the DIY Disaster Renovation Realities marathon, eating pizza, and drinking various beers.

May 2012 be good to us all, and good to the earth.