Rainy friday

The little guy is home sick today. I was hoping we could get through the school year without a sick day, and here it is, not even a month in, and already he's felled by a stomach bug. I've been fighting it off, too. Yesterday my brother and I stopped by a new cupcake bakeshop in town and my stomach actually turned just thinking about  sugary frosting. (Although later I did eat half a pint of Ben & Jerry's ... shhh.)

In a few minutes I'm off on my bike to the grocery store to stock up on sick-day supplies: O's favorite chicken nuggets (Ian's gluten free), some orange juice, and tea for me. Yesterday I called my insurance company and made arrangements to put my car on a part-time policy effective October 1. In the last two weeks, I've driven it once --  to a parents' meeting at O's school -- so I'm feeling good about garaging it for the next year. My husband filled up my Charlie card (that's the MBTA's subway/bus card) when he was at work and my bike is mostly kitted out. All I need is another Trek grocery bag and some reflective tape to sew on my windbreaker. Last weekend I had fenders installed so I'm eager to see how they work on the wet trail; it'll be nice to walk around Whole Foods without a muddy bum.

Of course, autumn and winter biking means more knitting. After all, a girl's got to stay warm:

The top photo is another pair of wool socks. The colors are garish. I have no idea what possessed me to buy this yarn (Patons Kroy Socks). Oh wait ... yes I do. We were on vacation in Houston and each skein cost $3. And in Houston, bright colors don't look so garish. But up here in the northeast? Yikes!

O and I are calling these The Unicorn Socks based on a bumper sticker we spotted at Newbury Comics a few weeks ago, a picture of a multi-colored unicorn that said, "I'm so gay I poo rainbows." It's funny when you're 10. Except when I threaten to put the finished socks in his Christmas stocking.

On the bottom is another madelinetosh Honey cowl.  I bought another skein of Malabrigo Arroyo a few weeks ago at Hub Mills. I couldn't resist the colors, so deep and autumnal. I'm nearly finished knitting it and hope to have it bound off by this evening. And yes, that's a Transformer helping me along since my other pal is bedridden. Don't ask me which one -- I've only figured out the good guys are called Autobots, the bad guys are Decepticons, and that they are not Terminators but Transformers. It's tough keeping up with boy culture, lemme tell you.