Oom Pa Pa

I got back home from Tampa, Florida a day or so ago - at 2 am. My head and body are still a tad bit jet lagged - yet I'm here in one piece. The good news is that my luggage finally made it home too - yay! (two days after me)
I decided to wait to post, since my "road trip" knitting was in the suitcase (along with my entire set of dpns.... about $400 worth of needles) I wondered to myself, when they lost my luggage - what on earth possessed me to take ALL my dpn's with me..... (never did get an answer on that one)
I think that I had been more concerned about losing them than I was about my clothing, jewlery etc. It's a sure sign that you're addicted to the knit when you care more about losing your needles than you do about valuable jewlery..

Moving right along, here's the Socktoberfest Socks.. a completed pair (no laughing out there)- whoo hoo, and a big oom-pa-pa.
They are made from Sock Hop Yarn colorway "Respect"
size 1 needles
pattern Bluebell Rib
The best news is that they are actually for me. yumm. (and there are TWO of them ! (I know, I know, silly, yet true. Most of my knitting is either for the booth displays or gifts.) Can you hear the Oom-pa band playing those wonderful dance tunes as I twirl about in them? no? well, err, umm... maybe it's just me singing.

There was some other knitting that happened on the road as well:
I began these for my oldest daughter (it was a very long flight, with a couple hour layover)- They are a Christmas gift for this year (we hope) I have only one more repeat of the pattern (4 rows) and then I begin the toe decreases. I just love this yarn - the way the color dances around the sock never ceases to delight me. There will be a second sock for sure.

I wonder if anyone else out there has begun their holiday gift knitting?

It was a good trip to Tampa - and no, dear friends.. I didn't get to have a "cuban and a cigar" (I hear this is the "Tampa" thing to do.. ho ho...) All my hours were spent digging into a gazillion packing boxes, smooshing packing paper flat, and finding space for things to go inside various cupboards and closets. Cuban sandwiches will be the next trip. I must also confess, that the only sights of Tampa I saw were through the car window as we drove to my parent's new home. I have a feeling that there is another trip to visit them in my very near future.
We had a delightful time (believe it or not) and we got them about 90% unpacked; and we were hanging pictures right up until 5 minutes before my departure. If you're ever planning to visit Tampa, now is the right time of year. It is a glorious 70 degrees, with nights dipping down into the 50's. I loved seeing my parents - and their new home is beautiful (all except for the black widow spiders my brother discovered had moved into their encolsed lanai. yuck - and absolutely true.)

A few days before I flew out to the east coast, I began waking up at 4 am (excitment? or was my body just trying to change time zones ahead of me?) Truthfully, I didn't mind at all, for I figured that the extra 3 waking hours were totally MINE, to do whatever I felt like. Yipeeeee... so, now I can imagine, you are asking yourself - whatever did she do? spin (of course)
And here's the results:
This is the superwash merino that my friend Lisa gave me at OFFF this September. My fingers had been itching to spin it, but I hadn't been able to tear myself away from all the Sock Hop spinning. Now, finally I could. I am totally enjoying these vivid colors!. I spun it up in a similar manner to the way I normally spin our Sock Hop Yarn - so I can knit it up on size 1 needles. Look for socks to be sprouting from this skein right after my holiday gift knitting.

And back on the home front now, fall has truly arrived. It is my favorite of all the seasons - my flowers are in their final hurrah for the year - and there is a tad bit of work to be done at my office - do you see some jumping in piles of leaves in my near future? !. (*grin*)