Woohoo! Lookie here, It is the second incarnation of the Friday 5. Although I have to admit, I would have fallen off this hard today if it were not for my Accountability partner, Deane. Check out her Friday 5 here.

No. 1: I love sock knitting

I know, shocker. But really, I have fallen off the sock knitting love pretty hard for about a year. Last night dug through the stash and unearthed a long forgotten skein of Lanitium Ex Machina and cast on. Now if you have been following me for a while, You know there is really only one sock yarn pattern that I make…ever… And I offer it for free here. It is actually a formula. And I have it memorized. Considering that my foot has not changed size in the last 20 years, once I check gauge, a simple calcutaltion in my head and I am good to go (yes… I said just 20 years, because my foot did actually grow 2 sizes  in my early 30s….it is a weird phenomenon on my mother’s side of the family).

No. 2: Graphite rocks

A solid 96% of the reason I was itching to make socks is I haz me some sweet new Knitter’s Pride Karbonz needles. Graphite…with super slick electroplated brass tips…***swoon***. There is something just amazingly gratifying working with DPNs. But working with the Cadillac of DPNs is pure heaven. I recently got myself the Karbonz sock collection. I also got an extra set to put in the shop because I know someone out there is dreaming of having one too. If that is you…find it here.

No. 3: Garden Inspiration

Here’s how it went down:

Bruce: what are we watching?

Me: A movie.

Bruce: I know that, but what movie.

Me: One that I am watching, OK?

Bruce:

Bruce:

Bruce:

Bruce: So, this is not up for negotiation?

Me: You got it.

I knew for a fact that a period piece staring Kate Winslet about Rocco garden design is not the kind of movie I can talk Bruce into unless there is some guilt-related incident leading up to it. But I was really into planning that awesome garden in my head as I watched Kate Winslet express her art in gardening, totally bucking traditions and following her heart. Living in a garden-less condo for more than a year will do that to you. And directed by the late Alan Rickman, rest his beautiful soul..I’m so in. Any way, I think that the movie is curiously named A Little Chaos, but should have been named something like The Constant Gardener. Ironically, The Constant Gardener was a movie Bruce really did not want to see, thinking it would be a snoozer of a period piece staring someone like Vanessa Redgrave, when in fact it was a political thriller which he ended up loving.

 No. 4: Don’t google “hot pot” at work

Because you will get sites that could get you fired….just saying…. I have been craving some serious Chinese food ever since I have been back from Raleigh. We had some terrific meals that were not like the silly faux-Chinese buffet shit you get in Asheville. These bowls of awesome were made without MSG and were gluten free and SO CHEAP. Most of these places had two sections to their menu, the Americanized section where you find the General Tso Chicken, and the OTHER section. I was so excited about the OTHER section. Anyway I will save you the Google woes of looking for some hot Asian food p*rn, by linking my favorite Asian foodie YouTube channel. This is their hot pot 101 video, but I love all of their food videos.

No. 5: Grocery shopping service

Holy Crap. The best $5 I have spent all week. Harris Teeter has this thing where you go on line order your groceries, set a time to pick them up, and get them at the drive thru at designated time. For $5!! I can recoup that $5 just by being able to compare prices easily through the online interface. Better yet, I save way more than $5 by not succumbing to ninja merchandising tricks meant to trigger impulse buys (Good Lord… put the potato chips down and step away from the end-cap, I repeat… step away from the end-cap). Hell, the hour I would spend physically doing the shopping myself is worth more than $5. And let me just say I am way more organized with my menus knowing that I can easily schedule this service weekly. No more breaking my work rhythm trying to figure out what the hell should I make for dinner, panicking and saying fuck it–pizza and wings delivery.

So what are you rocking for your Friday5? Post it on your blog, leave me a comment below with the link and share on social media using the hashtag #friday5.