Monday, September 24, 2007

Oh, It's a Beautiful Day!

Hurrah for school! Princess is back at kindergarten today, I have the house to myself this morning and all is right with the world.

It is a beautiful day, so what am I doing? Well may you ask. I am uploading photos to my Flickr account, blogging and playing with Ravelry!!! Yay – I’m also intermittently looking out the window and deciding that I’ll take Destructoboy out to play when I bring him home.

So while my photos upload, I thought I’d update you all.

The Happy Clappy has been making progress – to the detriment of Juno – I’ve had a couple of evenings when I haven’t been able to concentrate much on the pattern for cables, so I’ve been working on the Clappy instead. I’m enjoying knitting it, although last night I frogged a row four (get that – four) times because I’d been so tired the night before I’d left cryptic instructions as to where I was up to when I finished for the evening. The instructions were SO cryptic I tried four times to get the counts right until I finally realised that my note meant I had FINISHED row 6 – and NOT THAT I WAS ABOUT TO START IT!!!!



Once this minor problem was sorted (and an hour of knitting time wasted) we were all fine. Now, I should have picked this up before – and, indeed, most people with half a brain WOULD have done so. The problem was compounded by my suddenly getting distracted (Look – something shiny!!! What was that again?) and attempting to knit row 6 of the next section. When I finally realised I needed to knit row 8, it was all plain sailing! (Some days I am soooo dumb!)

In the middle of all this, I realised that I would need some simple knitting – OOOOOOHHHH way back on Friday night – so I head-started myself on Summer of socks and cast on a Feather and Fan sock in The Knitting Ninja’s Tulip colourway. This is sooo pretty – dusty rose, spring green, pastel blue and wine. I have been knitting a plain sock in Patonyle blue faux fairisle, but I’m very bored with it.



Casting on a new travelling sock is breaking a number of self imposed rules. This brings my WIPs to 4, makes me put the Patonyle’s into hibernation, slips Juno down my list – and enrages the Accountant – mainly because I took Tulip to a party on Friday night, evangelised about knitting and chatted to a lovely Grandmother about the best heels!

I decided on another Feather and Fan for a travelling sock, because I have knitted so much of this pattern that I find it easy to knit in cars (or at parties), and I wore my other F&F socks in my Mary Jane’s the other day and was entranced by how pretty the pattern looked!

So, Southern Summer of Socks Challenges:

These are self imposed and I’m quite looking forward to all of them:
1. Knit at least 5 pairs of socks (in addition to normal knitting)
2. Knit at least 2 pairs of Red Bird Knit Sock club socks (yes, the September parcel has been posted and I have knitted no kits)
3. Knit at least one pair of Toe-up socks
4. Knit one pair of real Fairisle socks
5. Knit at least one pair of cotton socks
6. Knit socks only from stash (or socks kits) with one exception – I am allowed one ‘Get out of jail free’ card providing it is to meet one or more of the requirements above (eg. a purchase which assists me in knitting a fairisle, toe-up sock in cotton – well , maybe not, but you get the picture!)

If I meet all these challenges, I will do something nice for myself, like buy some more Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn or something – the reward needs to be thought on a little.

I’d also like to ensure everyone notices that (apart from the socks) all knitting is being carried out by Knitpicks Options needles – quick plug – don’t forget Donyale’s competition and the fact that you can get Knitpicks from her – including the new options later in the year in the lovely wood – but get behind me because I said I wanted some first!!!

Speaking of Donyale, I was a total Yarn Pig yesterday, and bought two of her lovely Yarn Cakes – remind me to stick them in my ‘In’ list at the weekend. I also threw myself off the wagon in order to purchase a Turkish Spindle from Yarn Magazine – who have their Spindle Special on again.

That’s more than enough for today – most of you are probably so bored you’ve already left.

I will have pertinent, witty and amusing stuff for you tomorrow – or the next day – bah!! Who am I kidding? It’ll be the same stuff – you know – wool, yarn, knitting, that stuff – see you then!

10 comments:

MadMad said...

I'll be here!

(But before I leave.... so glad to know I'm not the only person alive who can't read their own notes on where they are in a pattern...!)

Rose Red said...

I like your challenges! But is starting early "cheating"??!!

TinkingBell said...

Not if you have to have some knitting to take to a party and you don't do any more till the real start (I hope) - Yeah it's probably cheating - but I could frog it! What do you think?

2paw said...

I know the Unhappy Clappy feeling!!! Sometimes I am just too tired to be allowed to knit!!
I have started some socks too. I might count them in the SSS. They are waiting room socks, and I totally think they should be allowed too!! Good luck with your goals. I'm not setting any: very slack I know!!

Georgie said...

Your clappy is looking fabulous! How are you enjoying kniting that yarn? Ive been dropping stitches (as intended) and its soooo much fun!

I really hope starting early isnt technically cheating....I was hoping to carry over my current (ahem, first) socks, tehy cetainly wont be finished next week!

Nora said...

There will be absolutely NO cheating. Unfortunately. Ms RR is on the ball - and she's already cautioned me once. :(

Nora

Rose Red said...

Oh dear!! I was teasing, teasing people!!! I am NOT the knitting police!! (I will leave that to others!)

(Clearly though, I am the over-user of the exclamation point.)

Five Ferns Fibreholic said...

That is quite an ambitious to do list of socks. Wow, I'm impressed. Maybe this winter my goal should be to finish all my WIPs. HAH!!! in order to do that, there is no way I could start something new. And we can't have that.....

TrampledbyGeese said...

Hooray for self imposed challenges. You will have lots of socks!

Sometimes I wonder why I even write myself little notes on my patterns - I can never understand them the next day. Glad to see I'm not alone.

DrK said...

but what exactly is boring about wool yarn, knitting and stuff? as for cheating, or not, i have two socks that i have been working on for ages and theres no way theyre going to be finished before monday, so i just made them the first point on my challenge - considering i have a habit of only making one sock from a pair. so no, i dont think youre cheating in the technical, morally outraged sense of the word!