Spiders and Socks

Today was yard work day. It hasn't really been a good day for working in the flower beds yet, but today was the closest we've had for a while. It rained heavily a couple of days ago, so the ground wasn't rocks hard, and the sun wasn't out beating down on me so it was all right. I pulled up a 5 gallon bucket full of weeds from my beds, and there are still a lot of little ones coming up, but I'm thinking I'll deal with them using newspaper and mulch.

Husband was also working out in the yard after his tennis match, and while he was trimming back the ivy under the maple tree, he discovered that we have some new pets.

In case it's not really clear from the picture, that is about 200 baby spiders. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

That's as close as I can get with my Point & Shoot camera. The ivy leaves are about 2.5" across, so that makes the spiders... really small.

In other news, I finished some lotion socks while watching a hockey game earlier this week.

As the name implies, these are for wandering around the house in after I put lotion on my heels. I had another pair at the beginning of winter, but Daughter loves them and they have disappeared into the black hole she keeps her bed in.

I also started a Wallaby for Daughter. This is good hockey knitting as I don't have to look at it while I'm knitting. This will become more and more important as the Blackhawks get farther and farther along in their quest for Lord Stanley's Cup. The sweater is made out of Araucania Nature Wool, which I picked up two bags of at Stitches last summer for 50% off.

Most of this was done last night while Husband and I watched Proof of Life. And yes, that is one of the homemade stitch markers hanging there. I think it may even be the one that was being constructed during the "incident."

Odds & Ends

A few bits & pieces from the last few days.


1.
It took until 3 weeks ago for Daughter to learn to ride a bike. She then learned, became addicted, and rode the 11 mile loop from our house, around the forest preserve, and back.

2. The last few weeks of school the kids have A B C countdown. Each day has a theme that goes with the next letter in the alphabet. D was Dress like someone else day.

Daughter went as me. That's my shirt, my capris, and my sandals.


3. Son saw this in the parking lot at the mall and thought it was the coolest truck ever.

You need to be a Transformers fan to understand that one.

4. To celebrate my birthday and son's birthday which were both in the last month, we went to Texas de Brasil which is a restaurant where they basically walk around with grilled meat on sticks and cut you off a piece at the table.

Steak, pork, chicken, you name it. They even have lamb, but we all passed on that. I took another picture of the drippings all over the tablecloth, but I'll spare you that one.

5.
And lastly, the socks I've been working on. I'm making these out of the wool that my birthday swap buddy sent me.


They look very nice, but the foot is hugely too big for me. So now I face the decision: do I make the second one, or rip out the first one and rewrite the pattern so it'll fit.