mostly pix today

I'm going to update you with my project 365 photos.

July 15th I was working on the sock pattern I'm writing. Here's the pattern up close and personal. Pretty huh? I've finished and sent off the pattern to my sister to be tested. soon then I'll have it ready for sale over at Ravelry.


July 16th beady and I played outside. She played in the small pool jumping and splashing and having a grand old time.



July 17th I found a lone lettuce plant. a stray seed must have taken root. I'm letting it grow though b/c it's not hurting anything.


Friday July 18th I got a small package in the mail from renuzit. I'd signed up hoping to do a pay per post but I didn't get it in time. Oh well... the house smells wonderful!



Friday night the Bub came home from camp. She had tons of fun. I didn't get to take a photo of her sunny self until Saturday the 19th. She's such a goofball. We had a surprise for her when she came home. We took the girls to see Wall-E. it was a pretty cute movie.


Sunday the 20th we spent most of the day rearranging our guest room. We bought a new bookshelf to combine 3 small ones into one. and we also got a curtain for over the closet b/c the door was broken. We also picked up a small desk for my DH's school stuff. the room looks roomier now! In case you're wondering it's the only room in the house that my DH's allowed to decorate. that's why it's covered in sports stuff. it not only serves as our guest room and computer room but all the video game systems are in there also.

This past week I've been able to harvest some lettuce from my garden. Monday the 21st I snapped a photo of some of the leaves I gathered for a salad. I planted a gourmet salad mix and one of the type of lettuce tastes kinda nutty with a sharp spicy flavor afterwards. It really adds something to a salad.

Today I received a package in the mail that I've been waiting for. It's a tea order from stash. I'm excited to get drinking! they also a sample of some Lemon Blossom iced tea. YUM!

Ok so I've caught you up for the week.
how was your week?

It's so Quiet.

I know I have a lot of photos like this but this one is slightly different. these are new sheets! why you ask? b/c we got a new (bigger) bed! I'm sooo excited. We've moved from a queen sized bed to a king. YIPPIE! I've been wanting a king for a while.
If you look really closely at the ground near the kiddie pool you can see some sponge balls I made for the girls to play with. They loved them. Ok so back to my bed, you can't really tell it's so big but sleeping in it I can tell. I can't believe that we waited so long to upgrade! There is so much more room. (which is helpful when you sleep with a bed hog) I can say that b/c my DH doesn't read this. LOL
Today the Bub went off to camp for a week. She was so excited to go this morning she ran on the bus and forgot to say goodbye. then she quickly ran off the bus said good bye and ran back on. what a nut! It was a quiet day, I'll say that much. We do miss her though! To keep busy I started the community knitting project my LYS is doing. Everyone can choose what they want to make either the children's log cabin blanket where they would do 3 squares. or the Adult patchwork blanket where they can pick some yarn and a pattern and go to town with one or 2 squares. it's pretty cool!

How've you been?

We got back from our trip to WI on Monday morning. And I was excited to see that my garden had grown since I was gone. It won't be too long before we get some great veg from it.
Sunday, before we left we went strawberry picking. (you can see pix in my WI trip set at flikr) I was excited b/c we got to bring home some berries. I wanted to make some jam. when I get to make it, it's not really jam. Jam tends to have lots of chunks and I have this aversion to chunky jam. So I puree the berries until smooth and then can them. It turned out really yummy. And it gives us a reason to eat toast!
This week was probably a horrible week. all b/c the Internet was down. (at least in our neck of the woods) it was killer. To pass the time I made bubbles. it's really easy to make and rather cheap. Here' s the recipe

Bubbles:
4 cups water
2 tablespoons dish soap
2 tablespoons oil
mix them all together and using a wand blow bubbles! FUN for everyone!

I also got to read some books I picked up at the library while waiting for the bub's story time to be finished. It's always fun to read younger books b/c you can finish them in one day or so. I got the Ella Enchanted book b/c the girls love the movie so much I figured it would be fun to read the book. I haven't started it yet though since the Internet is working now I thought I'd catch up on my emails, blogs etc.
so sorry it's been so long BTW.

Breakfast anyone?

Yum Yum, I made breakfast this morning. I'm a member of Knit 'n Bake over at Ravelry. I happened upon a post about scones and it made me flash back to Thanksgiving 2 years ago. My family got together at a cabin(used loosely) up in MD. Well my Aunt made these Delicious scones that everyone gobbled up. and I forgot to get the recipe from her... So anyways while reading the above mentioned forum I started getting hungry. I put it off till this morning where I whipped up some scones. I smooshed a few recipes (found at allrecipes) together and made my own scone recipe up. So I decided to share it with you! In fact I'm eating one right now. (they're great as a snack too!)

Cranberry Nut Scones

Ingredients
1 C all purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick of butter
1/2 C chopped pecans
2/3 C dried cranberries

Directions
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. cream butter, sugar, sour cream and egg.
3. add vanilla, baking powder, soda, salt cinnamon and flours. Don't over mix
4. add pecans and cranberries until they are just mixed in.
5. it should be a clumpy mess dump it out on a floured surface.
6. pat into about an 8 inch circle 3/4 inch thick
7. cut into 8 pieces and place pieces on baking sheet 1 inch apart.
8. sprinkle tops with sugar
9. bake 15-18 min until golden brown.
10 enjoy!


if you make these LMK!

Procrastinate much?

So I'm almost done with my last Christmas present. I'd started them a while ago and never got around to finishing them.
I figured since I'll bee seeing my family for the 4th, bringing the finished pair of mittens should be joyous for my brother.
LOL seriously it makes me laugh. it's Christmas in July.
Giggle giggle giggle.

Breathe in deeply

Smell that? I've been waiting for a day like today to wash the sheets! I even had the girls take their sheets off their bed to wash them. Though I did forget to do mine, so I just changed them instead. I was worried about rain, but it held off till this evening. There's just something about sheets on a line drying. The whole backyard smelled wonderful! If you don't know what I'm talking about go wash your sheets and hang them outside to dry.... experience it.

A Fun Birthday Gift.

Sunday we had 2 birthday parties to go to. One was for our neighbor's son who was turning 3. He loves spider man and all kinds of super heroes so we got him some fun little figures to play with. The other party was for friends of ours youngest son, who turned 1. Since he has 4 older brothers (and one older sister) I figured that he probably has everything a 1 year old could want. So Friday I got out my sewing machine and fabric and started thinking.. If I were a baby boy, who was just turning 1 what would I want? The answer that popped into my mind was "Something soft, fun, bright, and from out of this world." using some ideas from some finger puppets I made for my nephew, and watching Ghost Busters for research, I came up with Radar.
He's an Mutant Alien. His species is Not Octo (as in not an octopus) He was born 6-22-08. Radar has 6 legs, 3 teeth, one eye, and a mop of hair on top. He's big enough to fill the Bead's (my 3 year old) arms. Sorry I didn't measure him before I packaged him. What do you think? Good enough for a 1 year old?
I started him Saturday afternoon and then finished him in the wee hours of Sunday morning b/c we had a baseball game that we went to on Saturday. And with the construction on the way home we didn't get home till 12. There's always construction here in PA. (rolling eyes). I did get to watch a fun original Star Trek at 1 AM.
When the girls got up the next morning they wanted to play with him, hug him and kiss him. They had to do each of them before I put him in the gift bag. So I think he passed the kid test!
When the Bub flipped him over she got all excited and said "He has a tag like you bought him from a store!" LOL the things that kids say. anyways we had to leave before they opened the presents so I'm unsure of if he liked the present or not. And you know me, I'm a worrier. So I'm a tad worried if they liked Radar or not.
if you'd like some more photos go to my Flickr photostream.
I'm pondering if I make a few more Aliens, if they would sell on etsy. What do you think?

it consumes everything.

It was hot last week and the girls spent most of their time in the pool. My DH got in with them one day. They were having fun trying to squirt me with their toys. I liked this photo and thought I would share.
Last week i was concerned with getting my garden going. I know I'm a little late but I figured I should at least try. I was able to pick up some transplants but some I tried from seed. we'll see how it goes through the summer. I'm excited as I love fresh veggies. I'm also planning on canning some of the surplus and also sharing some with people who will need it. I planted red onions, garlic 4 types of tomatoes. some cucumbers, zucchini, beans, 4-5 different types of peppers, some basil, lavender, rosemary, thyme, pumpkins and watermelons, I'm sure there's some I forgot. we'll see when I harvest.
Being in the garden so much I've only been able to knit at night. My progress on my Death by Socks is going. Not as fast as I'd hoped but going. I'm still alive so I'm happy, I'm actually doing the heel flaps now. I hope to finish soon. The foot is all ST st so it should go faster. I'm really liking the pattern. though I think it would show up much better in a solid, but this yarn is what I got gauge in so I'm sticking with it. Lucky for me starting Friday and Saturday it rained. The 2 Advantages of the rain are 1 I don't have to water the garden, and 2 I get to knit almost all the time!
Though it's been dreary at times the sun comes out and we go out to play. Of course the bead finds the puddles to jump in. This one just happens to be in the pool cover, but I thought I'd snap a photo before telling her to stop b/c it's not safe to play there. shortly after it started to rain again so we came in. Fun fun!

This weekend

My bag is finally dry, so of course I had the girls wear them again. this one is the Bub, the bag shrunk considerably! I'll have to take a normal photo of the bag, looking like a bag not a hat... LOL
Saturday Night we went to a Pirates game for our family night. it was HOT!!! I don't know if I mentioned it but I don't like to sweat. esp if I'm just sitting there watching a baseball game. OK you got me I was knitting socks for Death by Socks. (like sock wars but on a smaller scale and a different, more clear pattern). It started Saturday so I took my knitting with me to the game and knit knit knit, and drank some water. I've decided I must be a slow knitter b/c I've only got about 3 inches on the socks done... sigh. Oh well it's fun.
Sunday Night we had another game to go to. This time it was with our church and a AA Baseball game, The Altoona Curve. After the game they had fireworks. They were great, and I got to use the fireworks setting on my camera. Much fun was had by all!

My first Social Spark

Remember just yesterday I was talking about Social Spark? Well today is my first post for SocialSpark! It was that quick that I was approved and able to take an opportunity.
So in other words I'm going to be paid for this post! It's that simple. One reason I like SocialSpark is because I can pick the opportunity's I would like to post about and there's other opportunities too, not to mention you may even be able to increase the traffic to your blog.
Another reason I'm all for this b/c with me staying home now I like to try and earn some extra cash for spending when we go out as a family or to support my knitting obsession!
When you think about it, this is a simple way to earn some money while staying home or on the side. You have control and Social spark has a Code of Ethics. Things they require in each paid post:
-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly
So you're not going to be posting secretly, when people read your posts they know it's a Social Spark post. That's important that they're not trying to be sneaky!
I'm just trying to get the word out for those of you who don't mind writing a post or two to earn some money. The site is really a social type of thing. At the site you can add friends to your profile and if you'd like to "hire" someone to post about your business you can create an advertiser's profile also.
If you'd like to earn some money using your blog, why not go and check it out?

Where's the freakin AC?

UGH! it's so freaking hot here I can't stand it. So I guess I owe you guys an answer to my photo question what exactly was this photo of? and how did it happen? well some of you were close in your answers.
It's a typical story of motherhood forgetfulness or absentmindedness.
Lately the girls have been at each other, I'm not sure if it's the age, air or the fact that it's summer. So on said day, The bub (the eldest and should know better) was complaining about unloading the dishwasher while she was doing it (it's one of her jobs) Beady (the youngest) was whining and saying she was hungry. So I got out her request (chicken nuggets, go figure) and put them on a plate to microwave them. Then the girls started bickering with each other b/c Beady was helping to unload the dishwasher and must not have been doing it the way Bub wanted it done so they were fighting (yet again) Finally I said "will you both stop it I need some quiet right now" and I put the dish in the microwave set it and walked away. As I cleaned off the table and just picked up the typical floor mess, I thought to myself "that's weird I didn't hear the ding" and "what's that smell" I went back into the kitchen and found that I'd put the dish in the toaster oven and turned the dial instead of putting it in the microwave like I'd thought. so we has spaghetti instead! **In my defense the toaster oven is directly above the microwave and both are white. ** so that photo is actually a yellow kids plate that didn't last long in the toaster oven.
Today it is so super humid and hot! Luckily we set up our pool yesterday.(it was a cheap easy set pool we thought we'd get our money's worth this summer) so today we took a dip. The girls enjoyed it. As did I! It's rather shallow (30 inches) so I simply sat in the pool cooling off. That is when I wasn't walking around the pool on my hands with a girl or two on my back. I think I may need to get new sunscreen b/c even though it's waterproof and I put some on....well let's say I'm a tad red. And that's not talking about my hair.
That's my goal for tomorrow morning, get sunscreen. Pretty pathetic goal huh? Oh well my DH is working (yet again) so we must do something, we may walk to the store down the street. We do have a Pirates game to go to tomorrow night/afternoon. So that should be fun.
I'm sure the girls will want to swim again. I think I may have to get a few chemicals to get the water to perfect pool condition. But I probably won't add them till the night time so it will give it time to do it's thing.
anyways I'm babbling and there's Raveling to do.

Social Spark

SocialSpark is a new way that you can make money on your blog. If you are a stay at home momma like me it's an excellent way to connect and help support the household. I just signed up and you can also. (just click the link to get started) I'm just getting used to the site so some of it is unfamiliar to me. So far it's OK. I was a little annoyed when at first when I tried to get my blog approved, supposedly it (my blog) wasn't able to be searched for in the major search engines, which is weird b/c it truly is. Go ahead Google Star Knits. OK see what I mean, then it said I didn't have enough posts and I almost didn't continue on with it. Then my friend Pam said to try again, so I did and I was approved. So now I've been reserving opportunities. It's similar to Pay Per Post where you have qualified opportunities to choose from but from what I've seen you put the ones you want into a queue and then you are contacted when it's available. It could be that the ones I'm picking are the ones everyone is picking, I'm not sure. LOL But that's the only thing that's bothered me. I like the site and I'm sure you will too! (go sign up!)
If you do sign up here's My profile, add me as a friend. Just a little shameless plug for myself. I'd like to be popular and get my name out there Star Knits.

I'm off to go make some money

this post has been brought to you today by Pay Per Post

Search Game

A lot of people in blogland are doing this flickr pix search and I love photos so I thought I would do it also. If you'd like to do it here's how it goes. The bold italic are the words I put in the search.

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name? Allena
2. What is your favorite food? Bread (homemade of course)
3. What high school did you go to? many but I graduated from Sheboygan South HS
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Vin Diesel
6. Favorite drink? Coffee
7. Dream vacation? Cruise
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate or Brownies
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Coffee and Yarn Store (co) Owner with my sister
10. What do you love most in life? God and Family
11. One word to describe you. Creative
12. Your flickr name. Star Knits

if you'd like to see who's photo's these are here's the links
1. il silenzio che allena la mente, 2. A Loaf of Bread, 3. South HS Band, 4. Verde no Aquarius, 5. Vin Diesel, 6. Coffee and cinnamon, 7. small ship, radiant sky, 8. Chocolate Brownie of Death, 9. The yarn is everywhere., 10. Psalm 42:8, Painting With Light Art*, 11. "Creative Hands" - Mindy, 12. Star Pillow Mock-up 001

Can you Guess?

What is this? can you figure it out? If you do I may have something for you! Go ahead guess.

The funny things

Friday night we had a birthday party to go to. So I decided to make some small amigurumi and a small purse.
I made the cute little bird and a purple hamster. The hamster is from the Amigurumi Collection Vol 3. (that's a ravelry link) they were pretty simple to make. I forgot how much I love to make amigurumi. It was so hard to decide which ones to make. I switched like 10 times when I was making what turned out to be the bird. I'm going to have to make some more. (it's an addiction I swear!) Since the party was for a 3 year old I had the Bead try out the gifts. She immediately started playing and putting the little critters in the purse, I snapped a photo while she wasn't paying attention. (B/c if she was paying attention she would pose, the little ham!)
The purse was a cute little bag that is based on a pattern in the book Bend The Rules Sewing. I say based b/c I changed it a bit. I did use her idea of putting flannel in the middle instead of iron on interfacing but I don't think I liked that method. It was still really floppy and for purses I like the sides to have somewhat of a backbone (so to speak) But then again that's my personal preference. Anyways at the party it was a bit crazy but Julia seemed to like the amigurumi and the purse. She actually screamed at her brothers when they tried to take them... I took that as an approval.
Today it rained on and off. While it was off we were outside playing. Jump roping in fact. We played this game where we sang and when she stopped on a letter we came up with a word for that letter. Here's how the one of the rounds went

Bub: Momma can you sing the song while I jump?
Me: OK
Bub: ready go
Me (while she's jumping): Report Card, Report Card What did you get? A B C D E F G H I J K L (and she stepped on the rope and stopped)
Bub: L?
Me: Lovely!
Bub: Yeah OK I know I'm beautiful.
Me: smiling trying not to laugh
Bub: ya know lovely it's the same as beautiful, pretty that's me.
Me: yeah you know it!

I'm still laughing at it.
Have a great weekend!

Fun Find!

I found these great books at my local library. There are quite a few skirt patterns in the book that i may make and a bunch of yummy things in the Bend the Rules Sewing. I was surprised to find some newer books in the library collection. lets just say that most of the craft books could be categorized as "vintage" but not the cool vintage! But it just goes to show, if you'd like to sew, check out the library.
I was looking for an apron book but didn't find one. Though the Bend the rules book has a fabulous section on aprons so I'm happy. I love aprons, in case you've never noticed. It started not too long ago you can see a few I made for various presents in my flickr account. Fueled by blogs like Sew, Mamma Sew, Whip up and TipNut's list of free apron patterns (can't go wrong there). I got The Apron Book a while ago and really loved reading about the history of the apron. not to mention the fun patterns in that book. If you're thinking about aprons and interested find this book. So naturally I look for others who share my obsession, er I mean passion, this past weekend I joined the Apronista group. (it's an online social network you'll need an invite to join) there's also an Apronista blog. Even an apron swap! I'm totally loving this and just itching to get sewing again. If you like aprons too but haven't joined the apronista LMK and I'll hook you up with an invite!
On to yesterday's post and a review on the Indiana Jones movie, I liked it. but if you're looking for a meaningful movie, skip it. It was an action packed movie, some of it was cheesy but still fun. But I also liked the original movies and really like Shia LaBouf. (sp?) I can't really go into depth with my review b/c I've only seen it one time and I don't want to ruin if for those who want to see it.
Last weekend we went to see Narnia, we liked it. My Dh really liked it better than the first. I like them both, but that's b/c I enjoy series and watching a story unfold over time. I don't really remember the book, I have to re-read them I think.
Normally we don't go out to movies much but those 2 we've been waiting for so we were super excited to go see them. Plus going to the drive in (Indiana Jones) is really cheap and fun. Though I'm sure I missed a few scenes b/c of the kiddos.. next time I suggest we go alone DH! (not that he reads my blog.. sigh)
well that's it for today my blog readers.

I should blog

I should update everyone on what's happening here but the problem is that there's not much happening. so I leave you with a funny photo I took Sunday night when we went to the drive in to see Indiana Jones. The whole family went, that means my MIL, FIL, BIL's ans SIL's and my nephew and my newest niece.
Discuss!

My Pattern Day

Yesterday and Today was my day in the crochet pattern a day calendar. It's just a small pattern I made to teach crochet in the round. (back when there were classes offered at michaels) If you like it it's over at ravelry for free. It's something that little girls like to carry around. it could be made larger or not depending on what you'd like.
it's always fun to see your name in print.

10 Things that annoy me today and lately.

In no order at all.

1. Subway- they really skimp on the veggies lately, and look at me like I'm crazy for asking for lots of veggies.
2. crazy drivers who cut me off.
3. dogs who sit under the table begging for food while you're eating.
4. bad coffee
5. cats that get up on the table or counter where food is prepared or served . (out comes the spray bottle)
6. parking on the side of the street so that no one can get by.
7. stupid people doing stupid things.
8. cheaters
9. unclear directions that make things crazy.
10. when my girls whine and cry when they want something instead of asking in a normal voice.

My Sock Wars.......

Sock Wars started Friday. And I was super excited to be a part of it. I got up at 7 and got ready, put the bub on the bus and checked my email. No dossier and pattern. Not to worry I'll clean and vacuum (since there won't be much of that this weekend) And so it went most of the morning inserting different cleaning things. Until about 11 am I just happened to see a post on ravelry about the pattern being uploaded on the site. I quickly downloaded and got to knitting. I left for my LYS's sit and knit and had fun knitting. Though, I was starting to feel a little bummed and not so excited about the war. But I just figured it was the nervousness of not wanting to die and the frustration of the un-clear pattern. I got a call from my sister about 2 or so that she got her email with her target in it.. so I was hopeful. When I got home I ran to the computer to check, Nope, nothing! That is how much of my Friday night went checking email and getting nowhere, I couldn't focus so I only had a small part of the socks done by bedtime.
Saturday we went to a Pirates game, not to worry I brought my knitting. We went a little early b/c they had a chance to meet and take photos with a few players. My DH was excited he got to take a photo with Jason Bay, his favorite player. After the photo opt, we went to watch batting practice. My DH got a ball that Ian Snell (#45) threw up to him. I tell you what, watching the batting practice is fun but freaking scary. you watch the balls go up and follow it through the sky and then the sun blinds you and you freak out b/c you can't see the ball anymore and the players in the out field are turned around saying "watch it" or "heads up" (those baseballs hurt if they knock you out) To begin the game, the US Army Golden Knights parachuted into the stadium. it was really cool to see, if you go to my flickr page I've uploaded the pix from that day. The Pirates won BTW, it was a good day. When I got home I actually had my dossier in my inbox.That was a relief.
Sunday was of course Mother's Day. We went out to eat at Lone Star and had a wonderful dinner. (brought half of it home) We then went home and all took a nap (from staying up late the night before) I didn't nap but the girls and my DH did. I was knitting of course. But seriously by this time I was ready to be done. I think a lot of my problem was I couldn't stay away from the forums and reading them. The pattern was a tad unclear and I'm not sure my socks were being knit right. but there was no way that I was ripping at this time. And I really liked how they're looking.
I continued to knit and ended up turning the heels of my sock on Monday. I was really struggling to continue completely bummed and totally not having fun. I know that's a horrible attitude to have. And I'm not crying or whining just want to vent how I feel about this installment of Sock Wars. I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. Over at ravelry is a thread for ways to improve the next Star Wars, I hope it helps. So far the consensus is (and I volunteer to help! those that know me know I like to be in charge and organize things) some of these are my own ideas though too.
1: There needs to be more people to help be in charge of organization of the war.
a. to answer questions that arise
b. help get the dossiers out
c. help take the stress off of just one person and spread it around.
2: The pattern needs tested (preferably by those who will help with the organization)
a. by more than 1 person closer to 5
b. by people from different countries so the terms are accurate and clear.
c. it will prevent a lot of confusion.
3. Close the sign ups 1-2 weeks before the start of the war.
a. this will help the pairing up of the assassins and targets.
b. open the sign ups earlier if this is a problem.
4. Send out the Dossier's earlier (like a day or 2 before start of war)
a. enable the pattern to be sent as a mass email instead of individually
b. pattern could be posted at a specific time on the website
c. mind games are sooo much fun and part of the game.
5. the form for filling out shoe size should have a line of length of foot from toe to heel. instead of shoe size b/c it's not always accurate. maybe even the size around the ankle and calf.
6. clearer rules on things like:
a. wearable socks ie: dropped stitches, big holes etc
b. pattern following what's ok and not ok. ie: adjusting CO to fit target

OK I'm done sorry to go on and on... my DH says me and my sister should get together and start something ourselves. I think he's sick of me talking about it. My sister and I called back and forth the past weekend talking about the war. That was fun for me. Like this morning at 10 AM, I was getting ready to work out and there was a knock at the door. Upon opening the door the UPS man was walking away and there was my death, in an envelope. I called Jessica and left a message saying help I'm dying (who lets voicemail get their sister's call for help really?)...Upon opening my envelope I found my socks. They're very pretty and soft too! The colors are lovely. I promptly got my SIP's off the needles and packaged them up and mailed them off. Good luck assassin. Thank you for the lovely socks. (and for relieving the problem I was having) I'm such a brat, I know. I'll be looking forward to the next, I hope the problems will be working or worked out.