Weekending ...

Weekending, I'm sure its a verb used to describe the activity that occurs in weekends. For me this weekend that means knitting, tidying up, and baking .. and for the cubs this weekend meant party time, for when you are a cub weekends seem to mean at least one birthday party or team event, or leaving party or plain old play date. The cubs also finally talked me into indulging them in the last of the unopened Christmas presents (Yup really = we made them wait that long). And I managed to balance all of that with knitting and an educational comic book.

Firstly the first of the second pair of Turkish socks is done and I'm well into the second of the pair. I played with the leg section of this pair, working an asterisk or snowflake on the front of the leg and

just introducing an ever widening triangle on the back of the leg. I didn't plan this and in hindsight perhaps I should have, if I had worked a few more rounds the triangle would have widened to full width .. but I'm being conservative with my yarn, making sure that I retain enough for sock two of the pair.

In the first pair, I worked a small 10 round repeat colour work pattern just below the cuff braid, but when those socks are worn the braid rolls down and covers the pattern. I wanted to finish this pair with a band of something that wouldn't roll, and the checkerboard edge of the Ccatca hat I knit ages ago. So my turkish socks got a little south american in their cuff ... it is a set up round knitting 2x2 colour work, followed by two purl rounds in the colour as set .... and then a set up round knitting 2x2 offsetting the colours. The purls squares seem to be a nice match for the Turkish braided edge.

Nightingale is singing along merily, every second night. Look how it grows, I've now got the head and shoulders of a second bird ... which means ...

that I'm mid way thru the heel flap! So far so good although I've not tried it on since the heel cup/flap started. That is the first thing I'll do once the heel flap is fully formed.

and this is the Christmas present that Toby and Poppy rediscovered, it was a kitset gingerbread house, complete with gingerbread panels, icing, foundation tray, and lollys. We had tucked it away in the laundry at christmas. There was so much food open and so many other treats that it just got tidied away and forgotten .. until we were packing away jams and pickles and it was noticed. I promised cubs they could make it Saturday .. and they did a great job - icicles and all. They both decided to leave it to 'look at' until today, and about an hour ago they finally broke into it. Toby gave in first ... lasting a good 10 minutes before coming to ask if I would mind if he didn't eat his half, he said it was giving him a headache. Poppy lasted only a wee bit longer before pushing it away ... I think that gingerbread houses, commercially made kitset ones are probably are way more fun to decorate and look at than to eat. I once read that sugar highs are a myth, that the body can only absorb so much sugar so fast, and that makes sense - I'm trying to raise cubs that can self regulate their diet in a good way .. and part of that is allowing them to indulge in treats like this when they are provided (usually by well meaning extended family). I'm so pleased that our standard daily diet is obviously so lacking in sugar that they find a sweet treat like this just to much. Score! Add to that we made snicker-doodles and chocolate chip cookies, and both cubs told me the house biscuit base was not as nice as the baking we did.

During the week we also discovered The Big Band Book, and I contacted James who nicely sent a pdf version to Toby and Poppy. James is a knitter, or as he says was, but a proactive knitter, in his own words "setting up the Knits of the Brown Table, a Monty-python loving group at Brown University". The knitting link continues as I discovered the Big Bang over at Kverulantinnen. As she writes "What's not to like about the theory of relativity and the big bang in rhyme?", having read Bang several times now I have to agree, its great with a hint of Dr Seuss rhyme. Even though my two are now 10 and 7 ... this has been a bedtime read every night since we got it. The dawings are fun and clever and clearly done by some one who likes drawing and is good at it, and there is enough sophistication in the message to satisfy parents and yet enough fun to entice kids, or at least our two. I'm going to buy a copy for the cubs school library to entertain and educate all those comic book loving kids they have (Toby is one of many).

so that was my weekend, its now nearly ended ... and I'm off to cook Spinach and chickpeas for Sunday tea .. or more properly espinacas con garbanzos if I can work out how to pronunciate it without mangling it. And tonight I knit on nightingale a leetle more ....

na Stella