First, the first of the Happy Feet socks is finished -- bound off last night during a meeting about the closure of a major through road around here for 6 months so they can widen and straighten it. Along with all that construction and inconvenience come a new park (ball fields, open space, trees -- yes, Dad, trees -- and a dog park) along with a new library branch. Was able to meet the manager of said new library branch and sign up to be a volunteer. [Don't tell anyone, but she also gave me some interesting information about the county's hiring processes.] And we got some great information about Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and their education programs.
Oh, but the sock -- that's all but about a yard of one 50g ball of Regia Ringel Color #5048. It fits M quite well, so perhaps it'll stay here -- if it does go anywhere, it needs to find a home with someone with thin legs (it doesn't fit my genetically chunky calves well, sorry Mom).
And, speaking of Mom, she emailed with some information. Apparently, I knit that afghan after I graduated from college. That still makes it nearly two decades old, and still clearly the oldest FO in my possession (thought if I hadn't gotten rid of the Portuguese Fisherman Sweater* before we moved, that would definitely have won oldest FO -- I know that one's from high school).
Also, in an interesting coincidence, the people who gave her the Woolwinders Favorite Afghan pattern owned a shop in MD, though I'm sure it's not the one that exists in Rockville now, since that one's only been there since 2001 or so, and the current owners started it.
In other knitting news, here's a photo of the Dr. Who Scarf as it stands now:
There are a few inches hanging on the other side of the closet door as well. I'm about 2/3+ of the way done with the knitting and expect that it'll grow quite a bit when it's blocked as well. [Note our little K-man curiously investigating the ball of yarn on the floor. He does love his yarn.] This is proving to be exactly the kind of soothing project I need right now as our household routine gets disarranged by my new job.
* The Portuguese Fisherman Sweaters we made (they were all the rage in the 80s) looked very similar to the one I linked, but weren't it exactly. For starters, ours didn't have a ribbed bottom cuff -- you started the sweater by knitting a narrow band (2 rows knit; 2 rows purl) then picked up stitches for the body of the sweater. I don't know where the original pattern came from (there was some discussion on the Knit U group that seemed to point to Penny Straker, though it's not in her current catalog). I'm sure I'll get another email from Mom telling me. She's a walking knitting encyclopedia.
I leave you today with yet more images of Spring springing here in the Old Pueblo:
A volunteer petunia in the middle of our front yard -- this is the second place we've lived where random petunias have just shown up.
Something lavender in the back yard. The leaves look like mint, but the stems are round, and I've never seen mint bloom like this.
Something orange in the backyard. Again, leaves look like mint, but....
Our neighbors have these huge rose bushes -- they reach the eaves on the garage -- with these palm-sized blooms. This one's a beautiful peach.
And this one's almost as deep a burgundy as our roses.
