The Monsoon is Coming! The Monsoon is Coming!

Last evening we had quite a fireworks display and a bit of rain; this morning when I headed out for my bike ride (at 5:30am since it's too darn hot to ride after about 8am) there were puddles in the road. Now, in most of the world, this probably isn't newsworthy, but believe me when I tell you that most of the year, when we are lucky enough to have rain, the puddles don't stick around but an hour at the most -- these puddles were still there hours and hours after they would have been vaporised a couple of months ago.

And the wind has changed, and so has the sky. This is what it has looked like much of the week:

That may not look like much to you, but here in Tucson, clouds of any kind are rare, and a sky filled with steely dark clouds can mean only one thing: the monsoon is on its way.

This provides buckets of delight for Tucson meteorologists who, face it, have a pretty boring job much of the year (how many days in a row can you say "sunny with a high of 105" before you start to go out of your mind?). For a few fleeting weeks, they have actual WEATHER to report. And when we have weather here, it's WEATHER in all caps. As I tell my family back home: it never rains in Tucson, but when it rains, it RAINS.

On Kureyon Sock

First, a picture:

This is the first Freedom Marigold nearly done. I am not yet sure if it's getting ribbing at the top or just a couple rows of garter to finish it off. Will have to decide soon, however.

I am loving how this socks looks, and I have to say that even without washing the yarn doesn't bother my foot (in fact, I've taken to putting it on my foot and leaving it there for admiration purposes while I work on Mystery Project -- I find its presence soothes me). The yarn, however. Well....

1) I have so far had to excise six (6!) knots. Fortunately, none of them interrupted the color flow too much, but, lordy how I hate weaving in ends on a sock.

2) What's with all the nearly un-spun sections?! I have to admit that they give the finished product an interesting rustic look, but honey, tryin' to ssk or k2tog with yarn that could be DK weight on 2.5mm needles ain't fun.

And yes, that's most of my lunch in the background: tea in the Eeyore mug, Diet Coke (caffeine free 'cuz, you know, I'm old), and tortilla chips. I swear there was also some yogurt, so there was protein there, too.

Mystery Project is right now at a standstill because, can you believe it, I don't have the needles I need for the sleeves. I only own about 200 pairs/sets of needles -- but none of them will work for what I need. Go figure.

Now, let's take bets on weather Sandy makes it into and out of Tucson Yarn without any extraneous purchases.

PS. Why didn't anyone tell me there's Silk Garden Sock?!

PPS. The book in the background? It's Richard Shelton's Going Back to Bisbee. It's a memoir which is also a loving tribute to the history (both human and natural) of this little corner of paradise where I now find myself. I am currently reading a more recent memoir of his, Crossing the Yard, about his years as the leader of a writing workshop in Arizona prisons. Fascinating, especially since I've often thought I would like to be a prison librarian.