vanessarama.net

It’s been a long time since I last posted! It’s been a hideously busy time for me. Within the past month I’ve spent:

• three days on the Gold Coast
• four days in the Northern territory (well, five if you count the overnight flight back which makes the next day pretty much a write-off)
• three separate day trips to Sydney
• several functions in Melbourne

And each of those trips required some kind of public speaking, speech or giving of workshops – especially the NT which involved three four-hour workshops in three days). But it’s over for the year now! No more public speaking and no more travel! I’m back, baby!

Given all of that, I haven’t had much time to get any decent knitting in. The Gold Coast and Darwin were both too hot and muggy to think about knitting, and the Sydney trips were all day trips meaning I had carry-on luggage only and couldn’t take needles. Since I do most of my sock knitting on the train or whilst otherwise travelling, this prety much knocked out most of my sock knitting for the month.

The other hassle has been that I’ve been going through a kind of sock-related ennui. I haven’t really found any satisfying patterns that work well with my huge and ever-growing sock yarn stash. That sounds ridiculous, but I think it’s partly through too much choice. I have also had some discouraging moments. I was working on the Embossed Leaf Socks from ‘Favorite Socks’ in Fleece Artist Sea Wool. I was very happy to have found a pattern that worked with this yarn, which I have had a lot of problems with; either my tension is too tight, or it’s too loose. I think the kind of ropey/stringy texture (albeit a silken rope!) has something to do with it, Anyway, once I got down onto the foot, I tried the sock on. It’s too small. Too bloody small. I can’t get it over my instep. I am torn between keeping going and making the socks for someone else, or just ditching it altogether, or frogging and redoing the pattern with a few more purl stitches between repeats. Trouble is, this yarn’s been frogged so many times already that it is looking seriously ratty.

I’m also making the ‘Gentleman’s fancy sock’ from ‘Knitting Vintage Socks’, and while it’s not going to be impossible to get that over my instep, it will be discouragingly tight.

So I’ve made a decision: If it’s not toe-up, and I can’t modify it to be toe-up, I don’t make it.

I feel much better now

In the meantime, I’ve been knitting non-socky things. I’m partway through a top from a back issue of Knitter’s, which I’m making from Lincraft Bamboozle; and I’ve also begun on ChicKnits’ ‘CeCe’ using Cleckheaton Bamboo. The Bamboozle is quite splitty, and I suspect it will look a bit crap after a few washings. The Cleckheaton, though, is beautiful to knit with; silky and shimmery and soft. I’m really enjoying it and only wish the yarn came in some better colours (what is with that pastel mix? It looks like baby yarn!)

On the bright side, I am typing this on the train, using my latest toy – the Eee PC. If you don’t know the Eee, let me just say that it’s a laptop which is small, has built-in wireless and heaps of open source software and comes ready to use right out of the box, costs $499 AUD and weighs less than a kilo. I love it madly and am going to find it an incredible boon to take on business trips with me. There’s apparently a waiting list of thousands, but for some reason I managed to just walk into Myer in the city and walk out with my own Eee

And it’s nearly christmas/generic December holiday! Yay! This means that the Riverkids Shop is open again and this time they have some stuff that will be utterly fabulous for knitting. I’m already using the silk pouches I bought from them last year to organise my knitting bag, but this year it’s even better. The pencilcases (made from recycled mosquito netting) are perfect for crochet hooks and DPNs, and tough as boots. The Pretty Packs are just the right size for small knitting projects (I can fit sock, needles, 100gm ball of yarn and folded up pattern quite nicely) and I reckon the Mary Poppins bag would be the perfect knitting bag. And they’re recycled, and $5 US flat shipping to anywhere. What’s not to like?