winning streak

Having re-knit the leg, the heel and the gusset - correctly this time - I feel like I'm on a bit of a winning streak. And the nice thing is, now that I'm almost at the point where I ripped back last time, I'm almost at an end of curly, splitty once-frogged yarn. What a relief! The pattern is spectacular, the colours in this yarn are glorious, and I'm happy, happy, happy that I took the time to redo this correctly. Barring any new disasters the first sock should be done in the first day or two.

The Leafs are also on a winning streak, beating Detroit last night for their second win of the season. Only last week we wondered whether they'd go "0 for November". Thank goodness. At least now they're playing more entertaining hockey!

Pomatomus Redux

Now that's a happier picture! My restart of the Pomatomus sock is well underway. And I've given a lot of thought to where I went wrong the first time. Here's what I think: the pattern is so simple and intuitive that after a few rounds I went into autopilot. Then, after working the heel, I just blundered ahead without paying attention to the differences in the charted pattern for the top of the foot.

Note to self: READ AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS

Only time will tell if I've learned my lesson. Hard to say, because re-knitting this sock hasn't been very onerous. It's a really enjoyable knit - just challenging enough to make it interesting. And the result is really spectacular. No wonder it's been knit by 3060 Ravelers and is in the queues of 3600 more.

socks and more socks

Sad, huh? That's my Pomatomus sock. I ripped the whole thing out and started again. Which puts me back at the ribbed cuff. Progress is likely to be slow - this poor frogged yarn is very splitty and curly, meaning I have to take my time and mind my stitches. I know it'll all be worth it; I knit enough of the sock last week to see how beautiful the pattern is.

Thanks to Beth LaPensée, my queue grew another project. I fell in love with her Thomasina Sock pattern months ago when I saw it in the parade of new patterns in Ravelry. But the pattern wasn't available yet and as time passed I'd almost forgotten it. Yesterday Beth pm'ed me - the pattern is now available, and it's a free download 'til November 14th! An early Christmas present! Now that I'm caught up at work, I should have more knitting time.

days like today

With all those traveling stitches, K2togtbls and yos, ripping back and then picking up all the right stitches again proved frustrating. So I've given up, ripped out completely and am set to start again at the beginning. It's a shame, but the yarn and pattern are so pretty that I really want to do this right. So far the Lorna's Laces sock yarn is living up to all its hype - it really is "the cadillac of sock yarns". Hmmm. That account I have at The Loopy Ewe might prove dangerous indeed!

Today would have been my Mom's birthday. Which makes me sad because I miss her so much. On days like today I like to look through the photos I have of her and remember all the fun things we did together. Last year we were at a bookstore shopping for birthday and Christmas presents when a terrific storm developed. Storms and lightning made Mom nervous, so we treated ourselves books to read while sipping hot chocolate at the in-store Starbucks. Neither one of us required much convincing - we're a family of avid readers. It turned out to be a very pleasant way to wait out the storm, and one of many very happy memories.

Thank goodness for happy memories, because days like today would be impossible without them.

elven accessory patterns

These Arwen patterns and ads are among the projects that have been keeping me so busy for the last couple of weeks. I test knit the slippers for Tabitha several weeks ago, and have been helping her out with the design and format of her PDF patterns. The slipper sock pattern has been well received, prompting Tabitha to design, test knit and publish multi-size patterns for a series of accessories - slipper socks, cowl, cloche hat and fingerless gloves. Thinking that they may be popular knits for gifts, we've been racing to get them out promptly; in time for Christmas knitting.

Monday morning finds me caught up on a few fronts. And I'll have some much needed knitting time on the train to work. Oh yeah, work. Can't wait to see how far behind things are there.

meanwhile in Cambodia

Here in Toronto, I haven't been knitting at all. Not one stitch. My poor Pomatomus sock is calling out "Knit me, knit me". Coming back from vacation finds me so far behind on my work projects, that I have no choice but to keep my head down and plug away. And it doesn't help at all to know that I've brought this all on myself. Biting off more than I can chew, as usual.

Meanwhile in Cambodia another Canadian woman has started something really ambitious - Cambodia Knits, a knitting co-op of sorts. Monika is training 33 members of the Toul Sambo community to knit. Yarn and patterns are provided to knit toys for sale. With training, supplies and a market for the finished goods provided, the co-op provides accessible, flexible employment. Phew, that's quite an undertaking!

That's not all. As the program develops and expands, Monika hopes to create self-sustaining "knit centres". And then plans to reinvest the profits within the community - building schools, providing scholarships, and investing in development projects. I've sponsored these two knitters shown and I have my fingers firmly crossed.

an end to pub lunches

Thursday was a bright, sunny day with mild temperatures. A perfect day to spend wandering in and out of the shops in downtown Fredericton. And a perfect day for a lazy pub lunch at the Lunar Rogue. That really makes you feel like you're on vacation - idly sipping a pint while business people grab hurried lunches all around.

No trip to Fredericton would be complete without a visit to Briggs & Little. I'd planned to buy SoftSpun, but was waylaid by these darker Heritage colourways - midnight blue and brown heather. On the drive home I knit a hat based on B&L's free pattern, All Dressed Up by Ann Marie Cunard.

Now that I'm home the frazzled business person is likely to be me. Time to buckle down - work has been piling up for the last week.