I was able to knit a few more rounds on the second sock. I’m hoping to finish it this weekend, especially since we’ll be spending a lot of time in the car. On Saturday we’re driving to Redlands to visit an old friend, and on Sunday we’ll be going to L.A. for another Galaxy game. Hard to believe that just a few days ago, we were in Florida.
A couple weeks ago, Sean installed our new front door. It needed to be painted, and the hardware needed to be changed. Sean painted six different color swatches for me to look at. I agonized over which was the right color for our front door, but I finally settled on one.
This was the old door.
The painter finished painting our house including the back deck and the front door two days ago. We’d put off buying a door handle and lock for the new door until today, when the particular finish and style that I wanted was back in stock. This afternoon Sean installed the hardware, and now the front entrance to our home is complete.
This is the first time in our lives that we’ve lived in our own house, not a rental, and one that we’ve customized to our personal taste. We’re pretty pleased with how it turned out.
I knew I would be struggling with jet lag after our quick trip to Florida and back, so when I submitted my time off request a few weeks ago, I purposely added one extra day off in order to catch up on my sleep and rest. Given the prison environment and inmate population, it would have been foolish for me to go to work today less than alert.
I think I’m rested now, but it’s going to be a challenge to get out of bed tomorrow. I just want to stay home and finish my sock.
I started this sock early Thursday morning at LAX and bound it off today when we returned to the Morro Bay house. It’s the first sock I’ve made in which I knitted the fish lips kiss heel. When I first started knitting socks, I made them from the cuff down, with heel flaps. Then I learned how to do Judy’s Magic Cast-On and started knitting socks from the toe up. I liked following Wendy Johnson’s gusset heel pattern because it was an easy one to remember, but I noticed that the finished sock never really fit the recipient properly unless I custom-fitted the foot part to the person, where I’d have them try it on so I could see where to start knitting the gusset.
Anyway, this sock is for my mom, whose foot measures a little over eight and a half inches, so I will probably have the second sock finished by the end of the week. Also, I promised Aunt Georgia that I would send her photos of the completed pair, so that she would know I successfully managed the second fish lips kiss heel on my own.
Hard to believe, but it was just this morning that Sean and I were waking up at the Hilton on Cocoa Beach and going out for breakfast at Bagel World in Cape Canaveral. Now it’s almost midnight, and we’re back in Ventura on the opposite coast, having just gotten home from LAX.
This afternoon, Aunt Georgia taught me how to knit the fish lips kiss heel. I wanted to take a photo for the blog and needed some sort of background for the sock. Then I spotted the antique spinning wheel in front of the fireplace.
Perfect way to display a sock.
At the gate and on the plane, I knit a few more rounds of ribbing for the cuff. It’s ready to be bound off, but that will have to wait for another day because now it’s time for bed.
Today was another activity-filled day of catching up with family and friends. I did find some time this afternoon to add a few more inches to my sock. Tomorrow I hope to get the heel done.
This was the view out the hotel window while I sat comfortably in air-conditioning and knitted. Believe me, it felt a lot more pleasant indoors than it did outdoors that time of the day.
Tonight we celebrated Sean’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. I didn’t have my camera, so I have no photographs of the event, but here are some other photos I took today. Good times.
It’s been a long day of traveling, but we are finally here. I started knitting a sock at the airport this morning (we were at the gate by 6 AM). I managed to knit a few inches of the foot during the flight and meant to take a photo, but forgot. I’ll try to remember to do that tomorrow. In the meantime, it’s time for bed.
View of the Indian River from the front lawn of Sean’s parents’ house.
I just got home from work and wanted to make sure I wrote today’s blog entry before we leave Morro Bay for Ventura. I still have to pack, and we’ve got a lot of traveling ahead of us. Tomorrow morning we have to be on the road by 4 AM to give us enough time to make our 7 AM flight out of LAX to Orlando. I still have to decide what knitting project I’m going to take with me. And whether the coloring book and pencils should come along, too.
This week I’m only working two 10-hour days because we’ll be flying to Florida on Thursday. Yesterday was my regular day off, today was my Monday, and tomorrow is my Friday. I stayed late at work today because I’m essentially cramming in a week’s worth of work in two days.
I have, however, found a new way to decompress and relax after spending all day in the state penitentiary. I color in a coloring book. Have you heard of these new coloring books for adults? I purchased mine last month at a local bookstore in Morro Bay and have been quietly filling in portions of pages, a little at a time. I thought about bringing it along on Thursday to pass the time at the airport and on the plane, but I may feel too self-conscious coloring in public. Knitting, on the other hand, I could do easily and not care if anyone stared at me.
365 Days Handmade 