G is for...

Gazpacho

But not the kind of gazpacho you're thinking of. You are thinking of the cold soup, right? I thought you were. In our house, however, gazpacho is this:


Confused? I can see how you might be, so let me explain. First, let's revisit the 1970s. Back in the day there was a fashion item that had a brief moment in time called the gaucho pant. For those who are woefully out of touch with the fashion world I will tell you that "gauchos" are pants that come to around mid calf and have wide flowy legs. They are inspired by the pants worn by Argentine cowboys. My first, and to tell the truth only, 4H project was sewing a pair of gaucho pants and a matching vest out of some burgundy colored fabric. I may have even worn them once or twice outside of the end-of-the-year fashion show.

This lovely (?) fashion came back into vogue last year, and Daughter decided that she would like a pair of these pants. The only problem is that she can't seem to remember what they're called. One morning she asked me to get her her brown gazpacho pants. As with most family legends, one time was all it took. She now owns several pair of gazpacho pants, and there's no hope that she'll ever call them anything else.

F is for...

Well, several things, actually.

First, F is for Footwear. Well, not footwear as in the typical shoes and boots, but more in the sense of the foot coverings you put on before you put on your shoes or boots. In the course of one week, I worked on these:


Clockwise from the top they are 1. A pair of theoretical socks. The Yarn Harlot recently made a pair of socks in honor of one of her favorite TV shows. This got me thinking, and I decided that I should make a pair of World of Warcraft socks. The cuff you see here is the beginning of that project. The yarn isn't exactly what I was hoping for (I ordered is from KnitPicks) so this is definitely not the final pair, but hopefully I can work out some of the kinks with them. 2. Socks for Daughter. You'll note that there are three socks in this picture. This would be evidence of the fact that Gauge LIES! Before I knit sock number 1, I made a gauge swatch just like I was supposed to. Based on what that swatch told me, I did the math and made a lovely little sock for Daughter. Because I am a simple person, when it came time to create the second sock, I naturally just copied everything I did for the first one, assuming that they would turn out the same. HA! Sock number 2 ended up being significantly bigger than sock number 1, even though I used the same needles, stitch count, etc. FYI, if you have bamboo needles and are knitting in a near zero humidity environment, then move to a 35% humidity environment, your gauge changes. 3. Socks I made for myself that turned out just like I wanted them to. 4. The ball in the middle represents the socks that I made for and gave to a friend, even though I really wanted to keep them for myself.

F is also for Family. On Mothers' Day I got to spend a large chunk of the day with my whole family which is unusual because Son generally prefers not to hang out with us. Husband took the hint I gave him 3 weeks ago and made reservations for us to have brunch at Pappadeaux's. After stuffing ourselves full of as much food as we could we came home and I was given my gifts. Chocolates, bandanas, and a couple of projects from school from Daughter, Chocolates from Husband and a Gnomish Warrior action figure from Son. We then played a little Magic: The Gathering.

All in all it was a good Mothers' day. And I got one other gift from the whole family. My Happy-Day-After-Mothers'-Day gift.

Thoughtful, no?

And finally, F is for Flowers. My favorite scent in the floral kingdom comes from these guys, who hang over my neighbor's fence into my backyard.