Transmogrification and - Decision!!

I like to open the blinds in the morning and look out to see if there is anything new I can spy since the day before.  In the winter that's pretty limited to footprints in the snow; in the spring, there are lots of flowers and leaves making their first appearances.  Sometimes there is actual wildlife.

This morning there was a cat I hadn't seen before - not the orange one that tends to lurk around our deck (hopefully eating rodents underneath), but a darker one with white paws walking along the edge of the field towards the house.  I thought about scaring it off, but decided to wait as it paused, hopefully about to pounce on a varmint.  I turned away for a moment, and when I looked up again, THE CAT HAD TURNED INTO A DEER.

I nearly jumped out of my skin.  

OK, so it turned out that the deer was carefully watching the cat, which had continued its walk along the side of the house, but it was standing in the exact same spot where the cat had been.  After another minute or so, the deer turned and walked back into the woods, leaving me to wonder where it had been just before all of that.

For something slightly less mystical - on Friday I caught a glimpse of a red-capped bird wandering around in the grass at the edge of the woods.  I didn't get a good look at it before it wandered/flew off, but on Saturday I happened to look out the window and see a pair of them pecking away at the small stones next to the house and I got a really good look.  After some research, I learned that they are Northern Flickers (the yellow-shafted variety).  After listening to their call, I'm pretty sure I've heard them before but thought they were the the pileateds (the web site does say that their calls are similar, so I'm not too far off!).

In knitting news, the first (and I've decided left) FM sock is finished!

I don't love it, but I don't hate it either.  I really like the color, and the lime slices are super cute.  The rowing out isn't too bad, and I'm over the whole thing with the beads - it is what it is (although I'm still convinced I got the whole lace cuff backwards somehow).  There isn't much ease, I have really big feet, and it doesn't fit me - so I'm thinking it will make a suitable gift after all (my logic being that they will fit a smaller foot very comfortably).  What this means is that I'll want to get started on the other (right) sock soon, before I forget all of the small victories (and defeats!) I had with this one.  And someday I'll want to get started on something new (MONKEYSOCKS).

I'm also still working on my mom's slippers.  I seamed and finished one last night, but when I sat down to start the finishing for the other one this morning, I realized that I had somehow (probably wine was involved) knit the second sole on upside down.  I ripped it back and now have to re-knit that part again; it shouldn't take too long, but it is frustrating.  I've probably made a dozen or so pairs of these and have never messed up the soles!