• 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?

This is exactly what I need. I have loads of sock yarn and loads of sock patterns, but I often find myself floundering in a welter of indecision over what to make with all these wonderful yarns. It’s as if I’m waiting for the absolute perfect pattern for each yarn, which is silly. So this challenge is just perfect for me. My books, and therefore my rules, are a little different to chocolatetrudi’s. Let’s see…

Over the next six months, I will knit at least one pattern from each of the following sources:

• Knitting Vintage Socks
• Knitting on the Road
• More Sensational Knitted Socks
• An issue of Interweave Knits magazine
• An issue of Yarn magazine
• An issue of Magknits
• An issue of Knitty

And I plan to knit one pattern containing each of the following elements:

• Lace
• Cables
• Colourwork (fair isle or mosaic)
• Textured stitch pattern
• Toe-up construction
• Top-down construction

And to help me with the adventure, I have just taken delivery of some serious yarn porn.

That’s my order from Rohrspatz und Wollmeise. Yes, it’s German yarn porn. Let’s check out the close-ups:

That’s Brombeere. It’s a beautiful deep claret, with some variations in and out of other wine-dark shades. Gorgeous.

And this one is Krauterbeet.

This one is Suzanne. Isn’t she beautiful? She’s my favourite.

I also ordered some samples of other colours.

Left to right, they are:  Rhabarber, Turkis und Karneol, Dornroschen, Poison nr 5, Pfauegnauge and Gewitterhimmel.

The samples are worsted weight (10-ply) wool, and they are gorgeously soft and squishy. The sock yarn is also soft and lovely, dyed with unusual and gorgeous depth and saturation, and in lovely big hanks so I can knit big socks!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some winding to do

I’m also hoping to be at the Bendigo sheep show tomorrow, bar ice and snow

This is the beginnings of my Diamond Fantasy scarf in Colourmart cashmere/merino. It’s going beautifully; the pattern’s well-written and goes fairly quickly, and the colour is so lovely for winter. I always feel like knitting red things in winter.

The sock blockers are made of wood, varnished very smooth and fine, with a cute picture of a lamb etched in. They’re bigger than I expected, but that’s because my expectations were out of whack – of course they’re big, they have ankles and calves. Duh. I just hadn’t realised how big a foot/ankle/calf is in flattened mode! They’re fabulous. There were no problems with the transaction and the blockers arrived promptly so I do recommend Natty Yarns for Australian sock blockers – look under ‘Accessories/other’ for the blockers. I think it cost me about $33 including postage, which is a good buy.

Next, Simply Socks Yarn Company, who sent me my latest stash.

Top to bottom: Two skeins Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in ‘Mother Lode’; two skeins ditto in ‘Irving Park’; one skein Schaefer Anne in ‘Scotch Thistle’. The yarn is beautiful – I had been wanting to try Anne for some time, and the Lorna’s comes in such luscious colours.

As for the vendor, I am very happy. I was quite surprised by how quickly the yarn arrived; I think it was exactly seven days, which is damn fast for shipping from the US. The yarns were packed in a little box, just right for the size of the order and well sealed. I will definitely use them again. That’s Simply Socks Yarn Company. Very happy with their prompt, accurate dispatching of my order!

I still have other vendors to try – most particularly the Loopy Ewe. I must admit to being tempted by the idea of free goodies and frequent shopper benefits I’m just waiting till she restocks on some of the yarns I am especially wanting – and she’s also going to be getting Wollmeise, so I think I’ll wait for that too.

I am eager for Ravelry to send my invitation and/or get out of beta testing. I signed up what seems like ages ago; I understand they’re going through them as fast as they can. I hear it’s absolutely wonderful and am itching to get in there; I’m sure it’ll happen! Reports from people who are using it are excellent. The creators have now quit their jobs to work on the site full-time, which means it will be ready all the sooner; I intend to donate to them as soon as I get my invite, because they deserve it. I hope quitting the jobs will be worth it for them