So much to say, so much to say

What happened to my summer? Its almost July and it seems like June just got here. I've been running around all month like a chicken with my head cut off and July doesn't look like its going to give me a break either. I'm writing this post on the fly as I just found out that our friends from California are coming to visit next week instead of the week of the 18th - yikes! Not only do I now have to tackle Mount St. Helens but I've got to do some serious cleaning before FRIDAY! Hokay, here's my quickie synopsis of my trip to DC last week:

* Traffic driving up 95 - SUCKED!
* Hilton Washington - Also SUCKED (except for the very kind housekeeping staff, the rest of the staff acted like we were doing them a favor by staying there and the temperature in the entire hotel was always set on "freeze your ass off" cold)
* Dinner at Outback with Heaz and little Miss Pixie - an absolute dream! The time flew by way too fast. I've finally met someone who talks as much as me (which is quite a lot). We love so many of the same things, very like minded and it felt like we'd known each other forever.

* Folk Art Studio Cafe - What a neat place! It has comfy chairs to sit and knit in, a yummy coffee shop (mmmm, aztec cocoa), a paint it yourself pottery section and of course yarn. Kathy, the owner, has such a verve for life and was bouncing off the wall over the Cheeky Little Monkeys.
Heaz and Pixie posed with the monkeys while we were there. I could have stayed there all night (we actually tried to but all good things must come to an end).

* Stash Enhancement - Heaz gave me the sweetest welcome to Maryland gift. I'm still overwhelmed at her generousity. Feng Shaun (why hadn't anyone told me about this book) and the pink and black Rio de la Plata were a couple of self indulgences. From H, there's the new Scarf Style which is chock full o' beautiful and unique scarf patterns. A pattern for fingerless gloves (forgot to include it in the picture), a needle roll with tulips on it that Heaz made (I SO needed one for the five billion double points I've accumulated as of late), a skein of gorgeous multicolored Manos (say it with me "mmmmmm, Mah-nos") and some fragrant wild rose french milled soap that she snuck in during our shopping trip. Ei gave me a set of Pony finishing (thanks Ei) needles that worked like a charm weaving all of the ends of my socks in. The gift that meant the most was by far the smallest and you can barely see it in the picture. Its a tiny stone with "believe" engraved in it. I'll keep it with me always to not only remember my trip but to also remember to have faith in myself. Thanks again, H!

* Meetup with Lolly, Ei and H for dinner - more fun than words can do justice. My sides hurt so bad the next day from laughing so hard.
Yes, as you may have already read on their blogs, the waiter sucked ass. I try to give people a break when they're not overly enthusiastic about their jobs. Maybe they had a bad day or maybe life has thrown them a curve ball. But this guy went out of his way to tell us that he "just comes to work and punches in and doesn't really pay attention to the menu". What the hell was that all about? In spite of him (and trust me it wasn't easy), we had a mahvelous time. Among other things - heh heh heh - we learned that we all use different cast on techniques. Who knew? These ladies are very talented knitters and it was great to be surrounded by such good knitting Karma. Thanks again for sharing life, love and laughter with me and plan to do it again soon.

Here's a retro picture of the goodies that Zira came back from MDS&W with. It's so sinful to have so much great yarn and fiber to play with.

And finally, I really have been doing some knitting and spindle spinning (my legs are still under doctors care but are finally starting to feel a bit better). I finished what I call the "Fuggly Koigu Socks".

See why I call them fuggly. I designed them for function not beauty. I wanted four things in this sock: 1.) I hate socks on my calves so they had to be only ankle high 2.) I only wanted to use one skein of Koigu 3.) I wanted the heel and footbed to be uber comfy and 4.) I needed some room for these dawgs to breathe. The ankle has a few rows of some Lana Grossa yarn (that so happened to be in my stash and so happened to match perfectly) double stranded with the Koigu which made it super soft.

The heel is slip stitched and the foot bed was purled so that it has extra bounce when you walk on it (I love how Koigu does that). The toes were left out so I can wear these year round and even with sandals if I want (yeah, if I want to get laughed at). I love these socks and have two more skeins of Koigu destined to make more. I can't imagine anyone else wanting to make a pair of these but if you want the pattern, let me know in the comments.

As far as monkey's go, Zira's road trip plans are being finalized and she's already booked through early November. This girl has plans to zig zag the east and west coasts of the US, Canada, Israel, Finland and even Singapore. I'll get her tour schedule up next week. The Cheeky Little Monkeys will have a site in the couple of weeks or so where you can buy your own Cheeky. There's lots in store for the Cheekies so stay tuned.

Gotta get back to cleaning. Catch ya later...