California Girl in Oz

Found some lovely MadTosh Merino Light at Knitterly in Petaluma yesterday, to start this gorgeous pattern for sister, Tracy: Evergreen Socks Can't decide between these two yarns: The top one is more purple (the color is called Flashdance) but also has more variegation, which might distract from the pattern.  The lower one has more of a red-violet cast, and also has subtle variegation, though not quite so much.  Sigh...I guess this is one of those cases where you need to do a swatch, huh?  I'm always so anxious to jump right in and get knitting.  Patience, Dianne!

Yes, Australia is still home for us, but we are continuing our peripatetic lifestyle, making about 4 trips to California each year for a month or so each trip.  Over the last 8 years, we have made do with a very small one bedroom condo in Oakland that we viewed as a sort of hotel-room-away-from-home, and it served us very comfortably and well.  Still, after 8 years, and realizing that our back-and-forth life will continue for some years, we realized we'd be a lot more comfortable if we had a bit more space to live in when we are in California.  And so, a few months ago, we bought a larger condo in the small village of Glen Ellen, in Sonoma County. This trip to California has been about getting the Oakland condo cleared out and ready for sale, and getting the Glen Ellen place set up as our new U.S. pied-à-terre...a comfortable place with room for occasional visitors, still near enough for Ross to visit clients in Silicon Valley when needed. Wednesday was the final trip from O