what a day for a daydream

however, i sit here for the THIRD day in 2 weeks, and the fourth in 3, that i am home in the afternoon with sean. he threw up at school again. we are all (his teacher, the health aide, mark & myself) of the firm opinion that he is faking it. granted, he is really throwing up, but he knows how to force himself to. i was called out of work friday, and today. i understand that he's sick of school, and he's sick of his teacher (they have a lovely hate/hate relationship going on) but he's only got SEVEN stinking days of school left! (6th graders get out 2 days early, it's a part of tradition at his elementary). actually, this is the 5th in a month, but mark fetched him last time. mark doesn't have any vacation time left, and i had to take FMLA without pay to fetch him friday and today. granted, i don't want to be at work, but not this way!

anyway, enough venting for now. apparently my secret pal's name is . . . .. chicken lips. now that is an original email name. she even sent me a bunch of rednecks. a woman after my own heart!

and, now the pics i've been promising since last saturday:

these are the lovely ladies of Mason-Dixon Knitting. Kay & Ann. ok, i'm a dork, but i'm not quite sure which was which. i think kay is the one with the longer hair, but i'm not making any accurate suppositions today. they're talk was lovely, and they are lovely ladies. in fact, they've inspired me to try linen. hmmmmmm, hand towels (for me alone!)

and here's carin with her spinning wheel that saturday. i've got pics of her actually KNITTING somewhere, but be jiggered if i can find it at the moment. i THOUGHT i'd downloaded it.

and the moment you've all been waiting for!

finished Sockpal000za socks!
They went in the mail on friday, when sean admitted that he wasn't sick at all, (or said I'm all better now, mommy (yes, he said mommy)), so we walked to winter quarters bookstore to find a nebraska postcard, and then to the postoffice to mail it. they look a little odd because they slid off the blockers as they dried (grrr). i hope she likes them?

and now, for mine!

these came to me all the way from germany, lovingly knit by munna reichelt. i had forgotten to put that i prefer shorter socks (although anklets can drive me buggy!) and she got them right anyway! the blues are magnificent (and came out pretty accurately here for once!). she sent me the ball band from the yarn (it's superwash) and a nice post card from munich. the chocolate, believe it or not, still exists (that wedding date is looming up close, and i've got a dress to fit in to, or i'm gonna have to wear a corset! (lawsey!)), but i'm eating a little every day. very tasty! thanks, munna, they're great! and thanks to allison and all the sock sisters, too! particular thanks to ina for posting such magnificent updates! i even got picked for one! woot!

and now for some dastardly doings.


i bring into evidence item # 1. lucy neatby sock yarn. this is stuff that made all of us drool at SoP thursday night. (this will be referred to as LN for further ease of typing)

and now, i present for your inspection, item # 2. this post. you remember the one. where the all mighty government decided that they needed my wedding money more than i did.

and now, for the synopsis. jen was roaming about SoP thursday last deciding if she wanted to buy yarn or not. several people had fondled LN, and i kept saying "sock yarn, get thee behind me." i'm broke. well not exactly, but considering i've got a wedding to pay for, i'm broke. she picked up 2 skeins, broke them down to unwound hanks (still tied, mind you) and asked which one we liked. i spoke up for the crayola one, cuz i'm a crayola kinda gal. several of us agreed, but jen decided she liked the other one because it had pink in it. so, we're sitting there, watching jen & becky (lovely employee of SoP who has become friend as much as anything else) sit at the ball winder fighting the hugely tangled skein of LN, and sympathizing. finally, becky conquered it, and we turned away, lest we jinx the miracle (trust me, it was a miracle). next thing i know, jen plops this ball in my lap. WTF? "just shut up and take it" or something like that, in any case. i did thank her, but she's a stinker! dire doings indeed! like i NEED more sock yarn! (dont' get me wrong, i LOVE sock yarn, and maywell have gained an addiction to sock knitting, but hey, a girl's gotta call a stop sometime, right?)

and now i must stop, because i was a spinning fanatic this weekend (i promised jen & carin i'd teach them to do 2-ply on thursday, and thought i'd better be spinning up 2 bobbins-ful) and my wrist is crying "foul!"

TTFN