Dude..

After walking my daughter to school, I came home to this.

*Edited to add - I think it is an araneus.diadematus, an orb garden spider. I'm completely grossed out and can't search the web anymore to get an exact match. As is, I'm going to have some serious nightmares. BUT last time we looked she (females are larger, so I'm calling her she) had at LEAST 10 skeeters in her web.


*edited AGAIN to add this. I still can't believe I got close enough for this one.



He's freaking HUGE. My youngest said, 'Have daddy squish it when he gets home!' I shuddered to myself and then said, 'Honey he's outside and that's where he lives. If he were inside, TOTALLY different story.'
Would I like him to move on?
You bet.
But do you remember this picture?


The damn skeeters are still around and these pictures come from the exact same place...so the spider stays for now.
I just hope he stays in view...I think I'll be more nervous when I can't see him.

Still around!

We had a teaser of fall, but are back in the 80's here in Wisconsin. It gets into the low 60's at night. I always notice the change of light this time of year, the angle and the color are so different than high summer.

Between getting kidlets to school, soccer and fun things like that, I have managed to knit a bit. My biggest accomplishment is... *drumroll*
I have finished knitting the Perfect Sweater!
Whooot!

As seen, the front and back have been blocked. I have also put them together and knit the collar. It fits like a dream. I was so afraid it would be crap after spending all the painful time knitting miles and miles and miles of SS. :P But no! It really is the perfect sweater so far.
I need to block the sleeves out, seam them and then place them into the body. I was doing fine, until our cool snap ended. 80 degrees and wool just don't go together. But I WILL get to wear it this fall. I'm so proud of myself I could pop. It's the most labor intensive project of any kind I've completed. :) I'll be sure to share official FO pictures.

Baby knitting has continued, but alas, can't be pictured here since the mommy's recipient stalks (views) my blog! ;)

I had to give the rainbow monkeys a rest. The colorway is just not me and I honestly don't enjoy knitting it. I'll finish the pair for my mom before Christmas, but I have to have socks to travel with. So the UGLY socks were born.


Granted, Socks That Rock can't really be ugly, but..it makes me smile to call them that. It's leftover sock yarn from my fair isle socks I made last year. I have more of the Covelite than the Rock My World, so I'm just doing random stripes. I weighed each ball before I cast on, so I knew how much of each I had per sock. It's rather entertaining to knit. Plain SS so you don't have to pay much attention, but the random stripes make it interesting. Needless to say they will be a fraternal pair!

While we were having our mini cold snap, we had a frost warning, I was able to break out the handknit socks. I honestly forgot how comfy and WARM they are. Love on your feet! Anyway here are my Sherbet Monkeys in situ!

I'm looking forward to this fall so I can break out more of the handknits. :)

Slacker..

Yep I'm slacker and slapping! Wisconsin had a serious boute of rain over the past few weeks. The weather was wet, but at least cooler than normal, but we are seriously paying for it now.


Those dots? Right outside my front door?? SKEETERS' Almost forty of the fuckers. My poor kids and I are chewed to bits. My oldest has 5 bites on her face! It's just insane. There are over 4 hundred down the side of our house where there was standing water. But how do you NOT have standing water when there's rain for weeks? Ugh.

I'm so ready for our first freeze! Kill them all! ARRG!

Other than chasing the suckers that got in the house, and painting said house all weekend, I haven't been up to a ton of knitting. My hands are sore from painting trim. It messes with my hands everytime. I live off of Ibuprofin for a few days. Our attic addition is actually moving along. I hope to have the girls ensconced there by first snow.

My neighbors just came home today with their newborn baby girl. I don't know any of the particulars since I haven't visited yet. My oldest is dying to go and see the baby, but I was trying to explain that your first baby is such an adjustment. :) I've already knit up a hat for her and am working on a knit ball as well. I should be able to keep Abby back for a few days at least!

I hope you are all knitting like mad. I seem to be constantly casting on for various things only to rip and try something else. Nothing has caught my fancy, so I work on baby knitting and my mom's monkeys. :)