Stress Reaction

…New.

Though a firm believer in tried and true, sometimes there is nothing so exciting as something new.

To go along with my new job (which you have heard about ad nauseam), there is the new drive to work. Now to fully appreciate the new drive, you have to be familiar with the old drive.

And the new drive. (And this would be rush hour)!

No more hubcaps or road rubber screaming past my head! Woo-Hoo!!

It is the perfect length. Long enough to either prepare for the day, or to unwind from it, but not so long as to seem tedious.

…New computer.

I finally took the plunge and went with a Mac, and I love it. While the switch from the PC has been somewhat costly, I am so happy with the OS that I am seriously thinking about replacing my kid's computers as well.

…and new socks.

While still in love with the CTH Cabin Fever colorway, I have concluded that my struggle with the original socks was in fact the colorway. I just don't think that it was a good match with my TT recipient. I am much happier with this choice in both color and pattern.

The weekend was fabulously relaxing. I didn't really even go near the computer, so I thought I would combine the Friday Eye Candy and Saturday Sky posts in one weekend roundup.

This weekend heralded the grand opening of my new home away from home! Super Target!! (This would be the Eye Candy part)!

Makes me so happy. While they don't sell yarn, they do sell just about everything else. And higher end stuff too! Fancy dark chocolate, and a whole row of serve yourself Jelly Belly jellybeans.! (Apparently I am stuck in snack mode)!

Saturday evening the hubby and I packed some chairs and headed down to the park for a little Shakespeare in the Park, performed by the local community theater. The weather was fabulous. Warm light breezes, no bugs. (This would be the Saturday Sky part).

I knit on the TT socks until it was too dark to see, then, inspired by Romeo and Juliet, went home and put Shakespeare In Love in the DVD player and knit some more. Alas, no photos. I am just about ready to turn the heels, and since I am knitting them both at once on two circular needles, they should be finished up well before the deadline.

I've also just about finished spinning the alpaca and should be ready to ply the two bobbins either tonight or tomorrow. I'll be sorry to see the end of this, since it is the only alpaca in my fiber stash. Good excuse to shop, I'm thinking. Any of you spinners have a must try fiber or fiber seller, please leave me a comment.

Finally, I put in some reading time. I'm about half way through The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. It's funny how attitudes change as we go through life. Never, when I was back in high school, would I have thought that I would enjoy reading history, and choose to read it for pleasure. But this book fascinates me. It is very well written and really brings to vivid imagination the Tudor court. I have The Children of Henry VIII and The Life of Elizabeth I to read as well. By then I should have my fill of the Tudor dynasty.

This may be a tad self indulgent, but in my humble opinion, this is the best eye candy!

My own handspun!

This is 250 yards of 2-ply lace weight (20 wpi) 100% alpaca from Spunky Eclectic. I spun it on Martha, my new Schacht Matchless double treadle spinning wheel. The colorway is Rocky Mountain High.

I am in love! Both with the wheel, and the alpaca. Must have more!!!

Another weekend has flown by. How does that happen? The week seems to drag on forever, then you blink and the weekend is gone? Personally I'm all for starting a petition for a 4 day work week. The motto could be: A Rested Worker is a Productive Worker.

It was another fabulous weekend. Saturday was our local Race for the Cure run in Oklahoma City. No pictures, loser that I am, but it was a beautiful day for it. It was sunny with mild winds and temps of 70 for the entire day (although it's a bit cooler early in the morning when the race actually occurs). My plan was to get a shot of the pink balloon arch that spans the starting gate of the race, but you will have to settle for the more traditional sky shot.

The weekend also included manna in the mail! My One Yard Fabric Swap pal treated me so right! Lynne* put together the most wondrous box of vintage fabric, candy and body care products I have ever seen. And she sewed me an apron! Just how cute is that?

Along with the apron and the beautiful chocolaty brown coordinated fabric and adorable sewing journal with pink pages (whee!) Lynne included some of the greatest smelling soap and hand lotion I have ever received (I am a lotion connoisseur Lynne, so believe me, I know)! From Blue Q, it's Chamomile and Fresh Thyme soap and Hand and Body Cream. The little pink and white purse was stuffed full of Memory Lane invoking candies such as Mamba, Pixy Stix, Slap Stix, “The Original" Smarties Candy Necklace, A Whistle Pop!!, and candy lipstick! So. Much. Fun.

And such cute boxes too!

Sunday it rained the entire day! The perfect day for cuddling up on the couch, watching movies and knitting. And that is precisely what I did. All day. The Toasty Toes socks are coming right along.

Nothing rocks harder than knitting two socks at once. Any sock knitter worth their salt just has to love it!!

*And yes that would be the same Lynne would knocked my socks off with the scrumptious sock yarn and hand knit socks to wear while knitting it during the Yarn Aboard swap back in September. It is indeed a small knit blogger world.

It's Indian Summer here in Oklahoma. The commute, particularly in the mornings, has been breathtakingly beautiful. I hope to get some pictures soon, but in the mean time I'll leave you with this.

It has occurred to me recently that I haven't had a lot of finished knitting here lately. I'm sure that part of the reason is the never ending Toasty Toes socks in their multiple incarnations. Now I don't begrudge anyone a pair of soft, warm hand knit socks, and I sure plan to enjoy mine when they come, but I am very much looking forward to getting back to some of the knitting I had going before the deadline knitting took over my life.

That's were Tuesday mornings come in. Tuesday mornings are my half day off. Now while it is customary to have a half day in medicine, generally they are in the afternoons. So best case scenario, by the time you have finished the morning work and any other work you having been saving up expressly for this particular day, its mid-afternoon and at best you have an early start on dinner. This being all I have ever known, I at first thought that having Tuesday mornings off was going to be pretty strange (being low man on the totem pole and all, I got last pickings for half day off).

Let me tell you, I love my Tuesday mornings! I get the kids off to school, and then have four and a half hours of total me time. First order of business is generally something thrown in the crock pot, so I don't have to cook dinner. Then I can exercise, shower, get a Pedi (which I think will be on the list today), knit, spin, watch a movie, read, blog, organize (who doesn't love to organize when the house is quiet and you can crank up the music and rediscover everything you had stored away in that closet)? I could shop, but generally I like to make my husband go along with me on those particularly fun missions to share the pain. The possibilities are endless.

Good thing too. Because this Tuesday morning I had to drop down about 10 rows to turn 1 knit stitch into 1 purl stitch.

But does it stress me out? No, because the toenails are fancy!

Alternately titled: I've Been Playing With My Food

I know I remember my mother telling me not to play with my food, as I'm sure yours has done. But in this case, I believe an exception to the rule is warranted. Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book says that not only should I play with my food, but also that doing so will help me master Adobe Photoshop. Maybe, maybe not. But I will say that it was fun. My little Chef man was created from these raw ingredients.

I could show you another twenty rows of the TT socks that have become the bane of my existence, my nemesis, and my burden to bear. But it is, after all, just another twenty rows of a pair of socks. Looks pretty much like the previous twenty rows of the same pair of socks. Getting out the camera hardly seems worth the effort.

I don't know why I have this attitude towards these socks. The pattern is pretty, the yarn is lovely, and the colors are delish. My pal is certainly worthy. Nonetheless, I will be so glad when they are done. This weekend, to be sure. Then wrapped up and off to their intended!