Welcome to the Deep South

Man oh man. We made it. I think to myself at least 85 times a day: "I am a Southerner now." And then I panic a little bit. A few notables:

1. When the cable installation guy was here, we were chatting about what channels were included in the package and decided to upgrade, because my beloved HGTV was not part of the basic package. The cable guy was over the moon because the SEC channel comes with the upgrade, and "now you won't ever miss a college football game!!" People bleed college football down here.

2. Related to thing #1. At the farmers' market today we found purple and gold fleur-de-lis shaped pasta, for the true LSU fan. A few days ago at the grocery store, it was LSU-shaped jello molds, which you just know are getting made into jello shots. Duh.

3. There was a neon green puffy-throated lizard on my deck yesterday. That was neat.

4. It took us two hours to open a checking account at the bank, because in the South, we stop to chat. A lot.

5. I put a wet sponge outside to dry two days ago and it's not dry yet. This makes me worry for blocking wool things.

6. I found this chandelier in a corner of the backyard. Equal parts perplexing, maddening, and kind of awesome.

I never thought that my life would lead me to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but here we are. Life is nothing if not a grand adventure, right?

Knitting! That's why you're here, after all. I started these socks a week or two before we left Delaware. (This is pair #6 of my 2014 goal of 6 pairs, so: winning.) It's Petunia Dursley's Double Eyelet Socks in Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock (colorway Campbell), a pattern that I will admit I chose mostly for the name. I do love me some Harry Potter references. Aside from the name, this pattern fits my sock bill in all ways: easy enough that I can drink wine and watch a movie whilst knitting, a repeat of 4 (or 2) so that I can go down to 60 stitches, and free. Even though I am a designer by trade, and people buying my knitting patterns is what keeps me going, I admit that I can't bring myself to pay for a simple sock pattern. There are so SO many free sock patterns out there, so.... I knit them. As an act of good karma I should write a free sock pattern, probably.

One sock done, the ribbing finished on the second. This pattern uses the Eye of Partridge heel, which I hadn't ever heard of before, but I like it. Cool texture.

The black granite in this photo is the bar from our bomb-ass outdoor kitchen. Best part about this new house. I have grand plans to sew myself a 1960s tiki dress, then throw the best tiki party you've ever seen, complete with plastic tiki-man mugs and cups made from coconuts. Like you do.