finished socks reporting for duty

Woo hoo! The socks are finished! I can hardly believe it. The feeling of relief is immense. As I've mentioned before, I'm so bad with deadlines. It's always been the same - at Uni, at work - I am nearly always late for life in general - I don't know why I thought this would be different! I've been feeling very guilty about letting down my sock pal, and being a poor sockapaloooza participant in general... anyway, no matter - I'm done!

I found the Jaywalker pattern very well written and easy to follow, once I got the hang of what I was doing and got going on the skinny needles and spiderweb-ish yarn (I think it's going to feel like knitting with spaghetti when I go back to Samus).

It took me a while to work out the pattern on the first sock. I am really hoping they my pal fit as the pattern is not very stretchy at all and the foot wound up a bit short (the toe was supposed to be two inches but only took about one).

I've blocked them now (my first blocking experience) now and it has really helped to smooth out some of the knobs and wrinkly bits, and they are looking good I think! The macro photo below is probably the best indication of the true colour - here are the socks relaxing in a cool bath :)

As for the experience, now that I'm at the end I can say I did quite enjoy the process but it ended up being a bit stressful and mono-project towards the end. I am happier when I can switch between things and not have the pressure to finish on time. I might try another pair of socks for me some time, perhaps with some softer yarn and a different pattern, but not in the very near future.

I'll post these off tomorrow hopefully, then I can sit back and wait for my own mail-sock-love to arrive!


PS. The first photo was taken on my desk at work - we are counting down to the shortest day of the year so it is still pretty dark when I leave for work and very dark when I get home so not ideal conditions for a photo shoot - the socks are resting on my next lot of work-related deadlines - eeek!

home is where your cat is

After being away for so long, I am suffering from a bit of blog-block so you'll have to forgive me if I waffle on a bit with not very interesting things. Life is busy as usual, but with everyday kind of stuff. Now that I think about it, I have missed blogging some bits and pieces and, as my profile puts it over there, taking the bloggy opportunity to reflect on the joy in ordinary life.

I really do feel a bit uninteresting sometimes lately. I tend to be quite unsure of choices I make and I look to others for affirmation. I imagine myself into other peoples heads and think up opinions on their behalf, then worry about what I think they are thinking of me!

Home and weekends are so good. When I am here with my fella and my kitten I feel so calm and content. There are good times ahead for our little human-feline family with a new house and neighbourhood, closer to friends and family and lots of space to create, grow and live!

These few weeks have been very up and down - characterised by busy and eventful work, lost then found cat, good family times, a wayward car, new life, tough times for friends, cold weather, lots of wood fires, exhaustion, nice hugs, junk food and cups of tea.

And sock knitting! I really have to leave this here as I am aiming to have sock II finished tonight. I have about one centimetre of foot to go then just the toe as the finale! I haven't received any socks in the mail yet and it would be so great to send mine off before they arrived. I'm so bad with deadlines. More on the process later when I bring you the finished product....

just dropping in

Oh such a loooong silence! Set to be longer as I don't have time to write much. Stay tuned for a weekend sock update and a return to your regularly scheduled programming!

"For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

a very very very fine house

Not much blog action going on here, mostly because I am too embarrassed about my lack of sock finished-ness. But things have been happening - we have bought a house! We will take up residence in early July. Woo hoo! It all happened very quick but we are very happy - it has lots of space and a nice garden with fruit trees - very handy location to family, work and play - and is right next door to some good friends to boot!

Now we're just navigating our way through the maze of paperwork and jargon. Yay for us :)

portrait of a sock

Just a quick update on sock progress, as the deadline draws near... Well the deadline is rushing past and sock two is still in progress, but sock one is done! Twas done this time last week but life gets in the way, you know...

As Douglas Adams said, I love deadlines! I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

I can now reveal my mid-sock project too (Childs Cotton Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts), after the timely arrival of my parcel in NZ and the early arrival of baby Madeline Ruby. I love her already and haven't even met her :) Welcome little one.



Category: _works in progress, _friends