Wednesday, October 13, 2010

There is a hole in a sock in my house!

Yes a hole. Yesterday my youngest cub announced that there was a hole in her favorite pink socks so she solved the problem by putting a pair of commercial socks underneath. Clearly while she knits she is not yet a knitter who recognizes that holes are bad things and must be fixed. Darning that sock has now been added to my to-do list, along with knitting the grey band around the sheltand yarn blanket, finishing the cat mittens for elder cub. There are new toys in my house .... some fibre from a scrappy swap which I totally forgot to photograph, and a new vintage mechanical pencil that is so pretty I want to write every thing in pencil, and a neat magnifying glass.

Socks with holes are not allowed. This is a fear of mine, that if I use yarn with no reinforcement there will be holes, so I tend towards yarn with nylon in it to avoid this very thing - and so far my strategy has worked. Oh there have been holes, perhaps 2 others to date, one in a bamboo-wool blend sock, and the other in the first pair of socks I ever knitted. These socks date from January 2009 - so I guess I should be happy they have lasted so long on a growing 8 year old. The problem may just be long nails - trimming those with this cub is always a battle involving cajoling and bribery. I can't blame the yarn totally, and they are as she said her 'favorite socks', so have been worn often.

In those times when I need to knit and not really focus on my knitting - and there are more of those than I'd care to admit, I have been knitting on the blanket shawl in shetland yarn. The grey garter border grows - slowely, but this is a nice peaceful mindless knit.

Last night I finally returned to my other wip's, or at least one of them, the Cat Mittens by Jorid Linvik. At the end of last night there was most of the third cat, sans tail. Some how charts such as this with different patterning every round seem too difficult for busy times - but then as I knit I realize that charts are not as demanding as i think they will be. Now I have reminded myself of that I should continue to work on these and have them done soon - except we have a weekend away. We are to visit my brother in Christchurch and as we are driving up and back I will need car knitting, portable knitting, and this is not that project.

Monday when I arrived home I found a lovely surprise, well three surprises on the doorstep. A vintage pencil to match my Burnham fountain pen, it isn't a perfect match - but close enough for me. These vintage pencils have 1.1mm lead which is stronger and seems smoother than the modern 0.5mm pencils, and the vintage one has a nice heft and smoothness which feels nice to use.


The second parcel was 140g of spinning fibre, an amazing mix of colours, as the result of a scrap swap I signed up for. I totally forgot to photograph the fibre - but I will next time. I'm curious to see what the others in the swap do with their mixes, singles, two ply, or Navajo ply. The third parcel was a little back ordered item from the Auckland Map Centre. Some time back I found a Lumagraphy magnifying glass in a second hand shop, and it was fantastic but the light was a little unreliable. I googled and found modern versions and ordered one, this is a 6x magnifying glass with a powered light which just makes things easier to see. The light also functions as a torch. I bought 3 of these, they were so cheap, that I figured they would be in use and claimed - and I was right. Bear has already taken one to work and asked for one to give his brother as a gift. This one is mine - I'm not letting it stray far from my work basket.

so ... no post this weekend,
enjoy the sun - or what ever your climate brings.
knit some ... rest some ... laugh some
na Stella

5 comments:

Wanderingcatstudio said...

My mom knit me a pair of those cat mittens and I LOVE them. I also LOVE your choice of green! I wonder if I can get her to knit me another pair (I don't do colour work)

Knitting Linguist said...

I love that little magnifying glass - -how useful! And the cat mittens are looking good; they go fast when you sit down with them :) (And, I don't know how helpful this is, but I actually finished my niece's pair up in the car.) Enjoy your weekend!

Alettesiriane said...

I love your blog!Always something good to read .

KathyR said...

Oh nooo! A hole! I was so sad when the first home came in my handknitted socks. I had worn them constantly for a good number of years (nylon in the yarn) but it was still sad to see the heel wear thin and eventually give way. I don't darn, at least I haven't learned to darn nicely, yet, and didn't want an ugly, thick darn at the heel, so those socks were laid aside. Another pair have since joined them. Isn't it great that we are able to knit new pairs to replace them?

bittenbyknittin said...

Holes in toes is one reason I prefer to knit socks top down - easy to replace those holey toes. Thanks for all the great knitting!