Second Sock Syndrome? Never Hoid of It!

Send me my sock knitters' club card, because I have knit a pair of socks!!!

Please pardon me while I take all kinds of sock porn pictures!

I really had to take a picture while wearing a pair of shoes, just to show that I *can* wear these with shoes!

The yarn used is Lion Brand Magic Stripes in Color #203 "Purple Pattern". It's 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon. I knit some navy blue polyester thread in with the toe shaping for an extra strong toe. Toes and heels are what wear out really fast on commercially-bought socks on me. The heel is probably because most of my shoes are too wide and they rub on my heel. The shoes I'm wearing in the pic are an example of a pair that are normally a bit too big for me, but they fit quite well with these socks!

The socks are a little itchy, but I'm not used to wearing wool socks. I think I'll get used to them. Please pardon my gushing, but everyone should remember their elation at their first pair of perfectly fitting socks that they knit themselves!

Charlie

We have an office pet now. His name is Charlie.

He looks ridiculous in this picture on purpose. I love how turtle faces look straight on!

Charlie is a red-eared slider, bought by a coworker in NYC's Chinatown. I gave her a very gentle lecture about proper turtle care and the importance of washing one's hands after handling, feeding, or cleaning the cage of a turtle (and any animal, really, because you can get salmonella from any animal, not just turtles).

Charlie is very, very small -- too small to have been sold legally. Yes, I could have lectured the purchaser on impulse-buying of pets (and the fact that he was bought for a little girl who was terrified of him), but I instead offered to help her take care of him and send her links to red-eared slider care sheets, and let her know that Charlie will need a tank with a filter and a reptile light, and more to eat than the turtle chow that was sold with him. I told her I would feed him the icky stuff like bloodworms and mealworms, because he needs it or he will because malnourished and die.

I hoping for the best for Charlie, and that someday we will look at these pictures and say, "Wow, remember when Charlie was THAT SMALL?"

The little guy can sure tork when he's out of his vase, though -- I put him on the desk and he ran off like a toddler!

The Guest

We had a guest sleeping on the roof of the downstairs addition the other day.

We think he/she (let's just say he, okay?) slept there all day, and we didn't notice until we (ZMrK) were making dinner that night. Yeah, we just woke him up.


He looked especially cute when he stretched. I don't think he was sick; I just think he was sleeping there for the day. At least I HOPE that was the case, all we need is a rabid raccoon in the neighborhood. That's the only tree we have with leaves, btw.



This was a definite "threat" posture. He's trying to make himself look as big as possible so we will leave him alone. Don't worry, kiddo -- we don't intend to get any closer to you. At this point I suggested we close the window.


He went to sleep in another spot on the roof and was gone after it got dark, presumably off to do what raccoons do.

Cute as he is, I hope he doesn't sleep on our roof again. Our landlord's don't like animals hanging around. This morning our landlady was seen chasing a neighborhood cat out of the yard.

Seals!

Friday during my lunch break, I took my camera to the NE Aquarium and took some pictures of the seal tank outside the Aquarium. One of these days I am going to just use my membership to go inside for 45 minutes and see some more cute things.