What a weekend!

We've had a pretty good week since my last blog update.

Thursday and Friday, Shawn and I rented a couple movies and stayed home and cozied up on the couch to watch them. First we saw Turistas, which has made me pretty adamant that I will never, (ever), travel to Brazil, and then we saw Black Christmas, which convinced me that sororities really are evil. Both movies were cheesy, but good. Not the explicit gore and guts you'd get from an old "Halloween" or "Friday the Thirteenth", (which by the way, this Friday is Friday the Thirteenth, so beware).

Saturday we drove up to the zoo around noon and guess what the signs said: Parking Lots Full. We ended up having to drive back home. Normally the LA Zoo has a week of Easter activities around spring break. This year they only did the Easter stuff Friday-Sunday. So it was a no go. We are going this Saturday instead.

Since we didn't make the zoo, I headed over to the LYS earlier than expected so I could work on this:

That's right! They are Shawn's Stormy Socks. I finished the first one last night and cast on for the second one this morning. I still don't know what's up with the striping, but I am hoping I can get the second sock to stripe just as well. We shall see. But all in all, they are cool. Shawn tried it on and absolutely loves them. He was quite upset that there weren't two already. Talk about impatience! I swear!

Easter was really fun as well. I made some bunny cupcakes for Jem and the neighbor kids, (not that Shawn and I didn't eat like a dozen on our own or anything!):

Easter morning Jem went searching for his eggs. Out of 14 plastic filled eggs, he found 12. He needed help with 2. One of them got knocked over by Dalton's tail when he was laying on the couch. Jem made out like a bandit. He got a helicoptor set, froggy squirt toys, a load of candy, money, two pairs of jean shorts, and more I'm sure. Shawn got a 1/2 lb. box of his favorites chocolates from See's Candies and a card. Scout got a new dress and a blue and green musical dinosaur that she absolutely loves. She really loves music. My mom gave her a pink piggy bank and we both put some money in it for her as well. Me? Shawn said I could order some sock yarn, so I'm a happy woman! (Who wouldn't be?) But, I haven't decided on what I want yet. Maybe some Koigu? Or Socks that Rock? Or Lorna's Laces? I'd ♥ to order some yarn from Yarn Pirate but last week when she updated, she sold out as I was looking at the colors she had available. Literally sold out in like 5 minutes!

Anywhoo, we also took a few pictures, though I have to say I look pretty crappy after running in and out of the kitchen to make a turkey, (which my mom pretty much took over), and all the fixins. But I love this picture of us either way:

But my favorite is this one of Scout:

(You can check my flickr pictures for more pictures of Scout and the color version of this if you want to see the actual dress.)

In other news, I followed Abigail, (who is a GREAT secret pal, by the way), and joined the Hogwarts Sock Swap. I ♥ Harry Potter, though I will admit that I still haven't finished the last book. I'm maybe a 1/4 into it. (It's not my fault really, a friend of mine kinda ruined the story for me, so now I'm not as motivated to read it you know?) Anyway, I am in the Ravenclaw group and decided to post my swap questionnaire as well:

1.What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into? Ravenclaw

2. Shoe size? 9-9 1/2

3. Foot Length? 9 1/2

4. Foot Circumference? 9 1/2 (high instep)

5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length: I mainly work with Clover bamboos, usually size 2 or 3.

6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length? Sure, maybe Lantern Moon or Blue Sky Alpacas. Small size like 0's or 1's. Length doesn't matter.

7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference? Doesn't matter a whole lot to me!

8. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal? Yes

So that's about it. I'm happily knitting along and enjoying the change in seasons. And excited for another knit night this Friday night.

In With The New?

I'm on a sock kick. After finishing the Dalton socks, I started the Stormy socks for Shawn. Guess what? He wanted the same pattern for his socks like the ones I did for the Dalton socks. Guess what? I got the same gauge with the lightweight STR. Guess what? I am making the exact same socks for him, only a little bit longer for the foot. (I wear a 9 1/2 and he wears a 10 1/2.) So these are coming along quite quickly since I already know the pattern and have the notes for a size 9 1/2. The only thing I will have to change is a few more rows for length. Plus, he wants his to be regular socks. Not ankle socks. The only thing I'm not too sure of is the pooling and striping:

The yarn is doing this on it's own, which I wasn't anticipating. I think it looks sort of neat, but I would have preferred to have more variations like with the other socks. But as long as Shawn likes them, (which he does so far), that's all that really matters, right?

Yesterday, I bought these:

I am going to paint and decorate them this weekend and have Shawn drill holes in the back so I can hang them over the crib.

And this came in the mail yesterday too and I was quite delighted!

It's the Little Bunny Foo Foo and I am quite happy that the pink is subdued, because as you know colors vary from monitor to monitor and the STR website shows a much darker pink. I like it as it is.

Have a great Easter weekend for those of you who celebrate. We will be going on a trip to the LA Zoo tomorrow. Later I'll be hitting the yarn shop and Shawn is going to check out the R/C races. Don't know if I'll have an update this weekend, so just in case: HAPPY EASTER!