Flying out on Friday

I'm flying out on holiday on Friday and have an overwhelmingly long to-do list.  So, of course the most important thing to be doing is writing blog entries!  

The multi-coloured fraternal socks are finished, and I had a happy yarn accident, courtesy of Phileas Yarns (with a 10% discount, it would be rude not to).  I went for the yarn/colourways of: Explorer - Reynisfjara, Rambler - Hot Dog in Coney Island and Rambler - Bac Ha.  There were at least three others I wanted, but I was being restrained.  There will be photos...

Pattern - Time Traveller Socks by Liz Sedmak
Yarn - King Cole 50 50 (discontinued)

I did try to make sure that both socks were started at the same point of the colour patterning, but somehow it didn't work as expected.  I guess that's part of the fun of knitting; seeing how it all turns out.  I also did a garter stitch gusset for a bit of variety. 

The toe-up Hermione's are going better than expected.  I was going to wait until after holidays to make them, but what the heck.

The Gender Games by Juno Dawson
Hermione's Every Day Socks - yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners

The Gender Games by Juno Dawson is the book I borrowed last week - and it seemed the perfect book to start reading over Pride weekend.  I don't always like the style of writing, but I agree with the points that she's making - so am sticking with it.

 Look at the waffle-y lusciousness of these socks:

Just look!

I love them - and I cannot wait to knit another pair (or several) after coming back from holidays.  I think I've worked out how to do the waffle pattern on the toes as well.

Yesterday, we went to a barbeque, held at a colleague's house, the other side of London and then some.  (Hertfordshire, to be exact).  That meant train journeys, which meant knitting time.  I decided to take the blue and red socks, on which I'd turned the heel too early.  Sock one has been sorted and knitted up to the point that I can do the gusset increase - but hadn't quite steeled myself up to sort out sock two - until yesterday.  On the down side, it's fiddly sorting out mistakes on socks.  On the plus side, I could get rid of this:

Remember - mistakes remind you that it's hand knit by a human.

I have no idea how it got there, and I had begrudgingly accepted it was there.  However, the perfectionist in me is pleased to get rid of it.

I put a lifeline in, trying to catch every stitch:

 and then pulled the needles out and ripped.  It's only on doing that, I found the two stitches that I hadn't caught on the lifeline.  Such is.

Counting stitches on the Thameslink platform at St Pancras railway station holds no fear for me.

59 stitches.  No, 61 stitches.  What ?

So - 59 stitches. Does that include the dropped stitches or not? 

No photos of the party - I was too busy having fun.  I knew a grand total of three people at the beginning of the party, and several more by the end.  We discussed French politics, built a fire and toasted marshmallows.  I also found out that one of my consultants is also a knitter.  We've already bonded over sharing a name and now this!  She's only been in our department five days and I already like her.

Do you have a summer holiday planned?  What's on your to-do list, and what have you been knitting?