Bugs

The shop addition is fully sided and the windows and doors installed, and Phil's been working on the inside stuff. We had a lovely dry cool day yesterday, and I thought I'd get a start on painting the cedar siding. Now, understand that we live surrounded by woods-- urban woods, but still a habitat for lots of beasties. There is some law of nature regarding how long it takes for your house, or new parts thereof, to become part of the habitat-- probably a matter of nanoseconds. So I started to wield my paintbrush and can of primer, and came face to face with ecology. Our house has a ton of ecology: woodpeckers, flying squirrels, regular tree rat squirrels, carpenter bees, wasps, beetles, mice, blacksnakes-- they all aspire to be part of the family. I generally have a laissez faire attitude as long as nothing comes inside. Things with multiple legs are NOT welcome in my house, and will be squashed or sprayed (hairspray is pretty effective on spiders.) Don't even talk to me about ants.
So what do I find on the siding? Positive Roman legions of spiders. Brown ones, gray ones, striped ones, and daddy-long-legs dropping on me from above. I persevered. Also swatted, danced, and said impolite things. A few persistent arachnids are preserved for all time in the paint. Hey, it's not like they were paying rent.
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I started Phil's sweater. It's a conventional knit, in pieces, from the bottom up. Didn't like the rib stitch that was described in the pattern; it was really messy looking-- maybe an error? so the body is done in a garter rib, one stitch of rib with 3 stitches of garter between. It's lofty and should be warm. It's also dark navy, and requires awfully good light to knit. Wish me luck!
The striped shrug is done, very comfortable and easy to wear and the knitting ladies on Thursday night admired it generously. [Phil's reaction was "What on earth are you wearing?]
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The kids got their house sold, moved into a temp rental, and are looking for another house. Great weight off their minds, getting the old house sold in this market, even in Seattle. The rental is a beach house in West Seattle. I confess I didn't even know there was a beach; it must have been a summer getaway before the city grew out to engulf the area. Should be fun for a few months. I hope to get out soon.
Off to Monday knitting-- sanity reinforcement for the week.