oh no

The trouble with finishing a sock is...










you're not finished.

oh yes

You thought I couldn't. You thought I wouldn't. You tactfully stopped asking.

With my OWN HANDS!!! It has a heel and a toe and everything. And it fits! On a real human foot!

Fortunately, it was Spring on Monday (it's now winter again, thanks for asking) but that was all I needed to get on my bike and head to the wool shop with the half-finished sock and -gasp! - ASK them what to do next. Over that hump and it was plain sailing, up to the toe, which I just guessed at, but it is at least attached to itself (albeit not quite in the correct manner).

And now I must rest.

B-day

Ask me why I'm feeling good.

...

Because today is B-Day: the first day of the year on which I got back on my Bike!!!

The temperature is plus, the snow is melting, and this morning I pumped up the tyres, dusted off the saddle and headed off into the sunshine. I only needed one incident to reacquaint myself with the incompatibility nexus of the bicycle tyre and the icy patch, and then I was on my way.

I'm feeling so good that I am now sipping a smoothie that I made from fruit that's been in the freezer all winter, and enjoying it. I also enjoyed ripping out the scarf I started knitting last night with the one remaining feel-good skein from the original sweater nightmare, on the strength of some knitty stitchy friends' advice that I should use bigger needles. (Hence no photo of any knitting today). In a few moments, I will enjoy beginning it all over again.

It's B-Day, and Spring is just around the corner.

back on track

First of all, I've been away, okay? I've been spending time in the Land of the Free - or the Land of the Three, that is, 1. my sis, 2. her other half, and 3. the bairn of their union. So I have been mostly on bairn duty, learning the baby sign language for "more", supplying fish crackers (which taste of cheese, not fish, incidentally) and juice on demand, and watching more Pingu than I ever needed to. And altogether having an absolute whale of a time (or "weevil" of a time, which is the bairn's version of "whale", I know not why).

Before that, I recall I was in the land of going off on one, and I think it was mainly because I did not have any knitting on the go that I had the brain space to devote to political and environmental matters.

So during my off-duty time in the L of the 3, I have rectified the situation, and lo: see the work that verily cascades from the needles, above.

This is a jumper for my mum, and it is the reason I didn't have any knitting on the go during my political phase. We had been together to the wool shop to choose very carefully the 3 colours in this stripy magically-diagonal sweater pattern, and then I promptly sat and looked at them for 3 weeks. Now usually, when you buy your wool ready to start a new thing, you barely wait till you get home to start knitting, but with this...nah. Just looked at it.

When I finally began knitting with it, I was horrified and disgusted by the miserable soupy mess our choice created. So horrified, in fact, that I took advantage of the wool shop's return policy (anything you haven't used can be exchanged) and changed the whole lot for something else. This is purest 100% wool in blue and brown and another sort of brown, and I love it wholeheartedly, which is why my time in the L of the 3, despite being primarily bairn-related, produced quite this much knitting.

When I got home, the airport's suitcase-dredgers looking for explosives in my underwear had nicely tangled the 3 separate yarns into a hopeless mess, which required lengthy untanglement procedures. But I'm ready to go again now.

And by the way, I do solemly declare that I fully intend to follow the actual pattern actually to the actual letter on this one. I really do. There's a first time for everything.