What is Wrong With this Picture?

I know, besides the fact that it's blurry...
This is my second Monkey. I don't want to show it to you all until I have a matched set. Here's my problem. How many needles do you see? Four, right? Where's the fifth one, you ask? I WISH I KNEW! You see, it was a beautiful day here yesterday, with temps in the low 80s. #1 child was out, #2 child was entertaining a friend and totally absorbed in PS3, and #3 child was happily playing on her own. It was a perfect opportunity to sneak an hour of knitting in on Monkey. I knit away happily out on the patio in the chaise. My husband started sweeping (I love a man who cleans) and the dust started flying. I jumped up and quickly walked away, holding Monkey. I kind of meandered around the lawn. Not the whole lawn, just a small area. Then I went inside to check on #2 child, and to pick up where I left off on Monkey. The fifth needle had gone missing. I told the children (even the guest) that the first person to find it would get $5 and the hunt was on. "Is this it?" they asked. "No, that's a twig." And so it went for about 20 minutes, until I had to bring guest home and pick up #1 child. So if any of you find my Crystal Palace #1 dpn, I'll send you $5... And if Monkey doesn't get finished soon, it's not that I haven't tried.

For ME???

A package arrived for me today. My son thought it was his Naruto cards from Ebay ("and even if it were, you haven't worked them off yet dear..."). He grabbed it out of the mailbox and his face went from pure glee to the depths of sadness. A 10 year old boy can get pretty worked up over card collecting. He handed it to me, and sure enough, it was rather squishy, not at all like cards, or even a bill. I searched my memory to try and remember what I had recently ordered. I thought I had a self-imposed yarn diet going, and thought I must be going a bit daft, not remembering what was obviously a yarn purchase made over the internet. When I opened the package, I was greeted with blue tissue paper. Then it dawned on me. Could it be my secret pal was gifting me again so soon? I tore into the package (no time for the requisite wrapped present shot - I was a woman possessed - and was greeted by this gorgeous hank of yarn love:
Its Cindy, from Whatnot Yarns , made by Joni Miles of Union Center Knits. There's a pin that says Yarn Star and a stitch marker with it as well. Plus gift labels to attach to the socks. (How about "To Me, Love, Me"?) Her Etsy shop is terrific. Thank you, my SP10. I LOVE it!!! Hope you are being treated well too! Love from Long Island...

My SP10 is the Bomb!

My SP10 package arrived today, in this cheery mailer. Lola's secret ambition is to be a bomb sniffing postal inspector dog...

Sock Yarn!!! I'm resisting the tremendous urge to start a new pair with this gorgous stuff, called Inca Fiber. No content, but I'm suspecting baby alpaca and maybe silk? I've never heard of the brand before. The color and sheen are intense. Son wants another pair of green socks but I think these are very dh-ish, and will become Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks.
They'll have to wait until Monkey is done, but the candy is for NOW. My kids are grateful too, because now mom isn't raiding their candy stashes at 4 in the afternoon. Thanks SP10. You're terrific!

Jaywalkers OFF the Needles

That's a whole 'lotta Jaywalker there! Only 2 weeks behind schedule. They were to be an anniversary present for dh but since the weather here has been on the chilly side he wore them proudly off to work today. He likes them long. Here's a rare pose of the feet, which are attached to his legs, attached to his bum, actually sitting on the couch before 9:00 pm so I could post this pic in my blog today:
I promise you that little mark on his right foot is not a hole, but some schmutz that came from the rug. Schmutz abounds lately.

Yarn: Briar Rose Fibers Grandma's Blessings
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo Size #1 dpns

It's quite possible that he'll strut around the halls of the facility today (he's a post-production sound engineer for TV) showing off his present, pants rolled around his knees. People like that don't really stand out much in lower Manhattan in the television industry, trust me.
I loved the yarn, but something strange happened to it when I used my friend's neostphine and tried to wind it into a center-pull ball. It got super twisted and kinked alot. This caused me to have to stop knitting every so often and get the kinks out by letting the sock dangle from the ball. ANNOYING! I don't know how this actually happened, but I do know that it was from winding on the neostphine because before that I had it on a nice little hand wound ball and had no problems. If anyone has a clue as to what happened, let me know. For now, I'm blaming dh because he was the actual winder and since he's a tense individual to begin with, I charge him with the crime of winding too tightly.
Now that they're done, I'll finish up my Monkeys, and make some progress on my Storm Water Scarf. Keep me on track here folks. I just ordered some gorgeous lace weight yarn in the hopes that warm weather is around the corner, and a new shawl needs to be started. Oy.

My children just inventoried their sugar haul from yesterday. (Happy Easter!) When mom (me) says no candy before lunch, at least they can hold it and look at it. Kind of like us knitters with a new yarn and too many projects on the needles to cast on!