Oh to Heel With It!

I've turned the heel on the first of the current pair of socks.  I've used the fish lips kiss heel and, in an attempt at being clever, have actually ended up being quite the opposite:

One of the two holes at each end of the heel rows

There is part of me who wants the socks finished on target, so is happy to fudge it (either by making new stitches to close the gap, or by sewing up the holes) and part of me knows that this will always bug me, so it's worth ripping it out and starting again. 

Next time, I will use a different heel construction.

Meanwhile, I've been chatting with friends about going to Unravel next months and discussing the possibilities of going to Dublin with Mr Knitty for Woollinn, combined with a weekend away, in May. 

To blow away the cobwebs, Mr Knitty and I have spent this afternoon feeding the ducks.  And the coots, and the moorhens and the gulls, and the swans and the geese.  

I never realised quite how big a coot's feet really are

The other visitors to the park were mostly families with small children or dogs, or both.  Mr Knitty was heard to comment: "There's a very happy boy dog with a big bit of wood" and he wasn't talking about the stick in the dog's mouth. 

A mute swan - just after it was trying to assert its authority

Feeding the birds took the ultimate in diplomacy, given how territorial some of them were getting.  The Egyptian geese in particular did not like the Canada geese, so he fed the Egyptian geese at one end of the inlet and I fed the Canada geese at the other.  We've got another half bag of bird food, so we can do it all again in a couple of weekends time. 

Egyptian geese - who always have better eye make-up than I do.

I have three more days at work - and I've already planned which hand knit socks I will be wearing on those days.  I just need to work out what clothes are going to go with them. 

What is on the horizon for you this week? 

All Day I Dream About Socks

Sometimes I have odd dreams.  At the moment, is one of those times.  

I've only got a few days left at work before my contract runs out.  I pretty much don't care any more.  I've let go a little bit, but I'm still upset at the lack of acknowledgement from my consultants. 

My current socks at the beginning of my journey to work 

I decided that I would be happier if I had something to knit, so that I could do job applications using  voice recognition software, so I cast on a pair of socks. 

My current socks at the end of my journey into work

I wasn't quite sure to start with about the single row of red, immediately after the toes - but I think it works quite well to delineate the toe from the rest of the sock.  The yarn is Regia Brazil, in colourway Multi (the only one which hasn't been discontinued, it would seem) 

My current socks at the beginning of my journey home

Last night I dreamed about them; that I had knit all the way up to the foot, ready to turn the heel - and that I had decided to turn the heel in red, rather than orange.  This is the first time that I've done the toe in a different colour to the rest of the sock.  

My current socks a the end of my journey home

I've decided to try the Box O Socks challenge again this year - the aim being to knit at least twelve pairs of socks for me, between January 1st and December 31st.  I tried last year, but only managed eight pairs.  Maybe I'll do better this year by starting in January rather than March! 

My socks just before bedtime

What have you been dreaming about this week?

I Totally Messed up a Hat

So, after knitting the hat for Mr Knitty, I then blocked it on a balloon. 

"But won't that stretch it" said a concerned Mr Knitty.
"Oh no, of course not" said I

It's not been stretched too big, honestly it hasn't. 

On the plus side, at least I found that dropped stitch. 

Of Pussies and Presidents

Job hunting sucks.  Job hunting when you're unemployed through no fault of your own, sucks even more.  I've managed my first week back after being signed off with work related stress.  I emailed all five of my consultants to let them know that I wasn't coming back to the department.  At the time of writing, not one of them has acknowledged the email.  Not.  One.  

On the plus side, this was waiting for me in my old desk drawer - a Christmas gift from one of my colleagues: 

She didn't realise that I read the Yarn Harlot's blog nor that I'm a little gutted not to have met her when she came to London last year.  The book is perfect; easy to read and was completed within a couple of days.  That's it's written by somebody I admire is a bit fat bonus.  

The book buying is carrying on unchallenged, as the book Protest Knits arrived this week.  (A gallery of some of the items can be seen here)  We live in strange times.  There are lots of things that I feel angry about, and if my knitting is a creative way of expressing that anger, then so be it.  Craftivism (craft + activism) is becoming more prevalent - and I can only see that being for the good. 

Craftivism in action - yarn-bombed trees protesting HS2, near Euston Station

Arguably, one of the more well known symbols of craftivism is the pink pussy hat.  I missed all the marches last year, as they happened just as Mr Knitty was in hospital; I was emotionally and physically wiped out, and my poor, poorly husband needed me more than the protesters did.  (Interestingly, there is now a move away from pink pussy hats, as they're not seen to encompass all women.  The Blaze has an article as does National Review

Protest Knits has a pattern for a pussy hat, so I could easily make up for lost time - especially as Donald Trump was reportedly coming to visit London in February this year (after my contract ended and I had time for protesting).  Pussy hat, here I come! 

Only, that's not the way it turned out. 

Twitter did what Twitter did best, and royally took the mickey, with the #IcancelledmytriptoLondon hashtag.  Sadly there were also anti-Islamic comments mixed in with the comedy.  As a result, my list of blocked users now has more people on it. 

So, no pussy hat after all.  Now where did I put my pink uterus yarn?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Twelfth Night

Now that Christmas is officially over, I'm feeling a lot more Christmassy than I was before it started.  (Of course I am).  After listening to Arne and Carlos' podcast about Christmas and how they prepare for it, I decided to buy their book of baubles.  Apparently it's the first book they published, which explains why they look quite so young. 

If you're a sucker for a freebie, there are twenty four baubles designed by Arne and Carlos that can be found on this website.  Both the instructions and the charts can be downloaded - but they're downloaded separately.  (It took me a while to work this out).  From what I can work out, about four of the freeebie baubles are in the book, and there are about five book baubles which are similar to the freebie baubles.  One of these baubles may become part of a project that I'm planning for around summertime-ish.

The Christmas cards are down

Card decorated by my two year old nephew

The decorations are down.

Baubles of the non-knitted variety

Let's do it all again in another 49 weeks.

I Totally Knit a Hat!

Yesterday wasn't the greatest.  This is the end of my time being signed off sick with work related stress.  Given how the NHS is supposedly so stretched, it's odd that they choose not to avoid sickness levels in their staff - but there you go.

I don't have the inclination to go into all the reasons why I'm not happy with the situation - but suffice it to say, I don't think I've been treated fairly and my work clearly has not been valued in the way it should have been.  It's one of these workplaces where people who are lazy or cut corners are rewarded, and those who work hard and do a good job are treated badly or let go.  It's totally the wrong way round, and I don't understand how it's allowed to happen.

Yesterday I spoke to my line manager about coming back to work.  I'm not going back to the department which caused me the problems (hurrah!).  However, the thought of going back has made me feel teary and anxious, which isn't a good thing.

However, I do have some things to cheer me up:

Wednesday's haul from the charity shop

Whilst talking to one of my neighbours last year, she commented that I only read non fiction, which I entirely refuted - before realising the truth in the comment.  This year, I've decided to alternate a fiction with a non-fiction book.  Buying from the charity shop makes more sense; it's cheaper than first hand, and when I've finished with them, I can return them to the charity shop. 

Thursday's package.  Yes, we do have an underground bedspread.  All the best people do. 

Whilst on the phone, these arrived. Not all were for me; some were for Mr Knitty.  This package included books from Oxfam; radios and trains for Mr Knitty, knitting for me.   All my books were from the 50s, back when measurements were in imperial, and illustrations looked like this: 

Illustrations from Odhams Knitting Encyclopaedia 

and schematics looked like this: 

Schematic from The Complete Knitting Book, by Marjorie Tillotson

The bottom package was my (slightly drunken) Amazon purchase from New Year's Eve.  During the Design Your Own Lace class last year, Karie Westerman made mention of the stitch dictionaries by Barbara G. Walker - so they were on the wish list, and they are glorious.  

Today I finished knitting a hat for Mr Knitty.  It's slightly loose on him, but he says that's OK.  I had to let it swing, to try and untwist the yarn - and it was slightly hypnotic to watch. 

Pattern - Invisicrown by Sockmatician
Yarn - Regia, double knit. 

Right 2018, I've actually managed to achieve something.  I feel far more prepared for whatever Monday brings.  Bring it on! 

Bonjour 2018

I've been looking for my knitting resolutions for 2017 and can't find them, which either means I didn't write any, or I'm looking in the wrong place.

This was the year I conquered socks. I didn't manage to complete my Box O Socks challenge, but I do have seven more pairs of socks than I did in January.

This is also the year that I (sort of) conquered my bookshelf.  What started off as this: 

Now looks like this: 

It might not look that different - but it is.  There are more books for a start.  As I had more room for books, I had the desire to keep buying books to fill the space on the bookshelf.  The idea was to have all my knitting stuff together.  What you can't see is the stuff on the floor that I had to move out of the way to take the photo - so that clearly worked! 

Some of my favourite books from this year:

Books from March, when I was getting in to sock knitting

Bought in Iceland in August

Bought in October. Recommended retail price, £16.99  I got it for £3.00.  Bargain! 

There are so many more, but I got bored in trying to work out which ones to include (or not).  

I survived Mr Knitty being in hospital at the beginning of the year.  I didn't make it to Sweden, but we did go to Belgium.  I spent an amazing time in Iceland and have a list of things to show Mr Knitty when I take him back.  I want to run another half marathon this year, which will mean starting regular running again.  We're talking about finally buying a house. 

As for 2018, I don't really make resolutions.  I'd much rather make a list of things that I want to achieve by the end of the year, which are:

• Knit a sweater/cardigan
• Design a pair of socks
• Knit at least one thing using the Iceland stash
• Learn to knit continental style
• Knit advent calendar for nephew
• Finish the red shrug
• This Thing of Paper KAL
• Attempt to 'Marie Kondo' my yarn stash
• Complete my Craftsy class on colour. 

This time next year, I'll have a look to see which ones I've managed to achieve.  

What are your hopes for 2018, knitting or otherwise?