Birthday Extravaganza

My mother in law and her boyfriend (guy? fella? significant other? boyfriend sounds weird) were here this weekend for a much-anticipated visit. It's been a while since she's come north; I think Sr. Jr. was in kindergarten the last time she was here. Friday was her birthday and Saturday was Mr. T's, so there was much fine dining and eating of rich desserts.

For an extra special birthday treat, we played putt putt. Here's Jr. Jr., lining up a putt:


Sr. Jr. tries to guide his ball to the hole:


And I do my best to break 100:


Both my MIL and her friend have leg/feet/knee issues that mean they can't do too much walking. That does limit our options a bit, especially when the weather here is as spectacular as it was this weekend. I can't remember an August when we've had so many lovely, sunny, not-too-hot, not humid days.

But my MIL decided that she needed some socks. Store-bought socks just don't feel good to her. She doesn't like the ridge by the toes, and the material around the ankles is too tight for her. Aha! I said, and had her try on some hand-knit socks. She said she wanted little cotton golf-style socks, so I had her try on some hand-knit cotton socks. I also brought some wool socks down so she could try those on as well. My personal feeling is that many hand-knit cotton socks feel kind of rough on your feet, while she was afraid that wool would be too hot for Florida. She loved the way the socks fit, but agreed that the cotton was a bit rough. So she put on the wool socks and kept them on for a while. Loved them. Soft, good-fitting, not too hot, even in summer.

So off we bopped, she still wearing my wool socks, to Knit Happens, to get some sock yarn for me to make her some socks. (Just in case you're wondering, no, I don't have what she wanted -- plain white or khaki -- in the stash. This is yarn that I'm buying as a gift for her, so it doesn't count against my stash-busting pledge, according to my very fluid rules.)


We got some Regia silk (so soft!) in white, khaki-ish, and grey, and for kicks, some Lorna's Laces in the Aslan colorway, because it would look good with khaki pants. Since all she wants are little socklets with rolled tops, I should be able to crank out several pairs from each of those Regia balls. It's pretty much as simple as casting on, knitting for a few rows to create the roll, then immediately doing a heel flap/turn/gusset.

How cool is it to have a mother in law who wants me to knit her some socks?

After we finished up at Knit Happens, we wandered down to the Alexandria waterfront to take advantage of the beautiful weather. It was nice just to sit there and watch people play with their puppies.

Unfortunately, they had to leave yesterday, instead of today, so they could get home ahead of Hurricane Fay. The storm is supposed to go right over their part of Florida, and MIL's friend didn't want to take the risk of not getting home and leaving his mother home alone during the storm.

I actually did get some knitting done this weekend. I finished the pattern part of the foot of the second Thelonious sock, so all I have to do now are the toe decreases and the kitchenering. That's easy enough to crank out, so maybe I'll get started on the next STR socks or my MIL's socks this evening.

School starts two weeks from tomorrow! Sr. Jr. is getting very excited about starting middle school. On Thursday (his birthday) we go an meet with his guidance counselor, and next Thursday is a big open house. I can't wait to start on this adventure with him.