Busy busy weekend, but really, there’s only two types of weekends aren’t there? There’s the kind where you lay around in your pj’s and do absolutely nothing for two days ignoring all outside life, and then there is the more common type, where you run around like a mad person trying to get everything and anything done.  You always have things left on your list that weren’t finished because, you, (and I!) over estimate our time. 

First off, knitting content.

Pattern:  Koffieboontje
Yarn: Yarn Nerd 900 MHz colorway Terra Firma
Needles: US 1 circs
Verdict: OMFG LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

I absolutely love these socks, they were mindless but fun to knit, the slipped stitches really show off the yarn beautifully and they are super stretchy which is always a plus. Especially coming in off my Meida’s Socks which for the second time don’t fit.

I did an eye of partridge heal here and I love the result. This yarn is just so beautiful that it calls for slipped stitches to show off all the wonderful colors. These colors are very fall to me. They remind me simultaneously of being back in Minnesota in the fall and camping in the redwoods up in northern California. Adam really out did himself when he dyed this colorway. Just stunning.

Why, yes I do walk the back cuff off my jeans.

A huge thanks goes out to Mintaka for translating the stitch pattern for me. I loved hers so much but grieved at the fact that I do not know Dutch so that I could read the pattern, she graciously PM’d me on ravelry with the stitch pattern.  Thank god for Ravelry and bringing all us like minded thoughtful generous people together. I don’t know where I would be in my knitting life with out it!

I also started knitting my FIL’s sweater on Friday. This is in Knit Picks Shine Sport colorway Hollyberry and is BEAUTIFUL! I love this yarn (pima cotton) and I think the st pattern is pretty.  This is much more red than it looks here and I think will be quite lovely to wear. The Mr has requested a sweater in this yarn too.

And here is a better picture of the color.

This is color accurate.

Besides taking pictures of socks I went pumpkin hunting with the Mr.

"I don't know if these are big enough"

The Mr always has to have the biggest pumpkin he can find. Which meant, as per usual, that we had to go to more than one pumpkin patch to find “THE” pumpkin. But honestly, if he makes him happy do I care? Naw

I also went to the Channel Islands CSU campus this weekend for the Ventura Spinners & Weavers Guild thing-a-ma-bob. It was nice, but it’s geared toward (DUH) spinners & weavers so there wasn’t a whole lot for a knitter like me. Thankfully the campus is awesome and my friend Beatriz (who works for the school) took me around & gave me the tour, which means I got to take a lot of pictures Most of which I haven’t uploaded yet.
Some of the campus is clean and beautiful and restored, some of it is not. See this campus is the “Hotel California” that the Eagles sung about and used to be a mental institution.  Some of the hallways are dirty & badly light & down right creepy. I made it almost to the end of this hallway in front of me when I creeped myself out & had to walk out…briskly.

The great part about this campus, besides being completely gorgeous, is the court yards. So many court yards and they are all amazing.  You almost forget that all the court yards have huge imposing gates on them (for obvious past reasons).

ALSO! God like that wasn’t enough? We gardened a bit yesterday. Step by step & slow as a snail with a bad back we are fixing up the remains of the yard at our house.  After the “Great Haul Out Of Everything Resembling A Morning Glory” and filling an industrial dumpster full of yard waste.  It’s taken quite a bit for me to even look at a plant with anything but disdain for a few months. But now we were ready & we planted a bit.

Here's what the front looks like now

We cleaned & planted along both sides of the sidewalk (sorry for the low light quality), pruned existing plants & put some more plants in pots. I now have a potted herb garden and a new succulent.

Living Rock

And now for the side patio planting.

Two “Little Red Riding Hood’s” (which are actually pink???) and one lavender plant in the middle. These should all fill in really nicely hopefully bringing the humming birds in and some butterflies too. We moved the one potted grass plant to the middle there because when people were coming up the walk they would pass by the front door & end up in the back yard (where they don’t belong).  So this creates a good barrier I think and protects our personal space.

And lasly I leave you with a little something I found on the inside of the women’s bathroom door the other day.  How unbelievably true!