And Again, It's the Little Things

Sometimes it's amazing how little it can take to make me happy. Today was going to be one of those average too much to do when did the people I hire become the same age as my niece kind of days. Then I played with my new find... Oh, wait, I'm jumping ahead of myself again.

A few weeks ago I saw a picture of the Knitty Cocktail Monkey bag. It was cute, but I thought it wasn't on the plan. Then I remembered that I had quite a bit of hemp cord leftover from a shekere I made last year. The problem was that I didn't have any monkeys and I wasn't going to spend more on shipping than on the monkeys. What to do? Then last night, the family wandered through Party City and they had their summer drinkware on clearance. US$4 later, I had 500 assorted drink markers. They aren't all monkeys, so I present to you (with apologies to Shel Silverstein and the Irish Rovers) my latest font of happiness:

You'll see green mermaid ladies and long-necked g'raffes
Some humpty backed camels and some monkey riff-raff
Donkeys, bulls and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorns

What can I say? They are great! I certainly don't need 500 of them (the picture is of one quarter of the whole), but I now have monkeys.

Knitting has also been very successful. I completed my character building exercise and I feel much better for it. Okay, so I just want to go shopping, but I still feel better. I finished my petticoat socks.

I also finished Branching Out and even finished blocking her on the same day I cast off. Do you see the error? It's a doozy and it was quite early on. I actually find it rather endearing. Yes, that is called making the best of things.

I still need to photograph Tivoli. I've already cast on my first Amble socks and joined several knit alongs. Silly, silly engineer.