Back to the beginning

My knitting has been rather neglected recently for all the other activities in my life. Unusually for me, I have two projects waiting to be blocked and have details completed before I can officially declare them 'finished. I'm usually so pleased to near the end of a project that I rush through all the final tasks so I can see it in its glory (or otherwise), but not this time. Now that the film festival and I have finished with one another I hope to have some real completions in the next few days.

In the meantime I've allowed myself to cast on for two new projects. First, my next pair of 2010 PSC socks due on 15 July -



They are the absolutely traditional 'Oak Ribbed Socks' by Nancy Bush from my second-favourite knitting book ever - Knitting Vintage Socks. I'm knitting them from Knitabulous' Merino Sock in a colour she's labeled 'Count Sockular'. Much less imaginatively, I'm calling them my 'Ember Socks' as the colours remind me of glowing embers from childhood fireplaces.

I've been meaning to start the second project for some time - the oh-so-pretty 'Playful Stripes Cardigan' by Alana Dakos



[Forgive the quality of the photo - this was taken early this morning before leaving for work, when the light was not very good]

I've written before about how much I like Alana Dakos's children's patterns. She has a daughter who must be just a bit older than my grand-daughter, and so is designing patterns for her little girl that are at just the right stage of grown-upness for the dotee. Alana, by the way, as well as being a wonderful photographer, has what I think is one of the better knitting pod-casts. It's accessible from her website - 'Never Not Knitting'.

The dotee is presently visiting her Lolo (grand-father) in Manila in the Philippines while her mother does some work there. She'll be back in Brisbane by the end of this month and I'd really hoped to have this cardi finished by then so she can get some wear from it in Brisbane evenings before the weather warms up again. That gives me only about two weeks to finish it. Hmmm...I think I lost the plot a bit with my planning.

June busy summary
Bunches of flowers bought 4 (well, one is a pot of cyclamen)
Number of rows knitted - socks 175; blanket 1.5 rows of 650+ stitches plus one round of 3 stitch i-cord cast-off
Time spent tidying up 7.5 hours
Films viewed 15



I bought yellow tulips again from the Eveleigh markets, but this time I asked the seller where they came from. To my surprise, they're from the nearby Central Coast. He said they're 'ice tulips' - grown very quickly from refrigerated bulbs in totally artificial conditions. I'm not sure if this makes them any more environmentally acceptable, but at least they're local!