Woolgathering

It’s a sock.

It’s a very pretty sock

It’s a very pretty sock, indeed! It looks gorgeous.

Alas, it is also a sock in need of re-knitting. It is much too tight around the heel and ankle. I knew this all along. I could see it. But I kept on knitting anyway…

The foot is fine - it fits like a glove. I shall need to rip it back all the way through the heel, though - and am not entirely sure what to do to fix it, given that the foot size is correct.

Any advice gratefully received.

EDIT: Hmmm… this is the point at which I regret using the sewn bind-off, is it not?

I must say, disregarding the trauma of the wrapped heel and toe, I do like this sock. It’s a pleasure to knit - the pattern has a nice rhythm to it and is simple enough to be error-free but demands enough attention to keep  boredom at bay.

I am just about to knit the rib on the cuff. I probably will not cast on the second sock until the second skein arrives - I am well past the half way mark on the first skein already.

So, what shall I do this afternoon? Spin? Start the second Cash and Burn sock? Cast on Something Else? Or maybe, just maybe, knit a bit more of the Grrreen ‘n Grrrowlly socks?

Don’t ask me - I have no idea!

If I had to confess, I might whisper something about being drawn to an Anne Hanson “little nothing” and that cone of Alpaca… but that would be plain silly/masochistic right now. Wouldn’t it?

I must have had an inkling today that I would be needed at home. It turned out to be fortuitous that I had not gone to spinning, when an emergency teleconference was called. I gathered up dogs and cats and took them away from the vicinity of the speakerphone, and addressed the lunch arrangements while Mr L did crisis management. Things would have been difficult had I not been here.

I didn’t get any spinning done.

And I made little sock progress.

I have been mooching. And I have been working on a long-overdue web project.

Is it Friday yet?

I got bogged down in something that I had to do today and it was half past eleven before I realised what was happening… I missed spinning (11am)! I could have arrived late but I have to confess that I really do not feel up to rushing about today. I feel very tired and leaden. I’ll stay home, cook the worker’s lunch, and feel virtuous for a change instead.

I’d better go get my wheel out and show willing at home! I can be with the ladies in spirit, at least. The cake isn’t as good here, though.

It is spinning day today - we are at M’s. The weather has broken somewhat and is grey and overcast with a little dampness, but scarcely any wind. I am trying to decide whether to take the car and the spinning wheel, or to cycle with my knitting. It’s a difficult decision.

I do need the exercise, badly. I can get exercise and work on the Teosinte sock, probably completing it by the end of spinning (the heel is finished and I just have to rattle up the leg now). But… I also am rather keen to complete the current spin, which is not getting much of my time at present.

It’s just a 20 minute cycle ride to M’s. I shall feel dreadfully lazy if I fold and use the car.

On the subject of the sock: I am still of the opinion that I shall never take to toe-up socks. They seem frightfully ugly after the graceful engineering of a cuff-down. Also… I seem pathologically incapable of achieving the entire section of wrap and turn with the correct number of wraps and stitches. I have no idea where they go to (or come from, in some cases.)

I have just realised that there are 3 more days left un May… and the PS3 Earth element. Three more days, plus some of today, in which to complete the Teosintes, knit the Rivendells, finish my DFV spin, and do something with the Tundra Handart.

Whatever was I thinking?!

I think I’ll just overrun on the Earth things - I don’t seem to have much fancy for Air (grey/white/yellow). I shall declare June to be Earth month also - at least, in this household. Yellow just isn’t “me”. In July I may try some lace with the cone of grey Alpaca that I have stashed. I also have 150 gms of natural grey BFL 4ply to do something with. Perhaps a Shetland Lace scarf that will grace the Sanday Spinners’ stall at the Christmas Fair. I must remember to make some stock as the year passes.

The Teosinte sock is cracking along - but not quite as fast as I had thought that it would. The heel is not yet in sight, although tea time has arrived.

It is a very pretty sock.

We are having a Harry Potter Fest. HP3 tonight. It’s scarcely taxing viewing, so I may get more sock done later.

I want to get these done quickly and begin those Rivendells. It is very difficult not to cast them on right away. The yarn is sooo tempting.

The Knitpicks needles are great - sturdy and slick, and just the right size for my hands at 6″. There are 6 sets of five needles from 2.00mm to 3.25mm - I am equipped now for any sock eventuality.

The Teosinte sock is now progressing rapidly, and looking very nice indeed. It’s a happy marriage between yarn and pattern, this one. I think I may be up to the heel by tea time. I love the yarn colour, it’s like a rich vanilla fudge colour - and quite good enough to eat.

I must admit that the toe looks shocking. I really should rip it out and begin again. This is one pair that will not be under consideration for Show entry.

I think that we may guarantee Second Sock Syndrome on the Burning Rings of Fire - my new Knitpicks sock needles just arrived. I’ll be picking up the Teosinte socks once I have grafted this toe.

Nell has developed a habit of joining us in the toilet. It is most disconcerting to have a small dog barrel her way into the smallest room and sit watching intently. Even more disconcerting is the fact that after a short period of intense gazing, she then does a low bow. Like a courtier to a Queen on her throne

This is, of course, Nell’s “play bow” - it’s dog language for “please play with me?”

I think that she has figured out that we tend to go for a quick pee before taking her out to play in the garden (it’s the wind -  it can be bitingly cold, you know) - so now, to her, a visit to the toilet means imminent playtime.

We are going to have to start locking the door.

Yes, I am trying to distract from the obvious “no, the sock is not yet completed.” I am at the knit-a-few-rows-more-try-it-on-again stage, and trying to judge just how much more room my stupid big toe needs before I launch into the toe shaping. The trouble with socks at this stage is that they just seem to stop growing. I knit and I knit and I knit, but I never seem to be any closer to the toe shaping.

Should be done by lunch, but I do feel SSS creeping up on me. This has been a tedious sock to knit.

The sock has been out in the garden. Just a couple more inches of foot to go before shaping the toe now.

I have named the project: Cash and Burn - though, according to this pic, it’s a bit more like Orbison

Had to laugh, having been sat out in the sun in t-shirt, sun-hat, and shades, when somebody walked past wearing woolly hat, gloves, and padded anorak… all hunched up as though she was feeling the cold. Not a local, I would hazard a guess.

I meant to post this last week - a not very good photo of the bog in the field next to my garden. I have been very taken by the variety of greens in it of late, and the lovely marsh marigolds.

I took this particular photo when I noticed some peculiar growth among the irises and sedges. Unfortunately it was far too difficult to reach.

Today I was at the top of the garden, mulling over the notion of a chicken run, when I noticed that we had the interesting growth on our side of the fence as well. Far easier to photograph!

It’s fascinating stuff.

Neither of us knew what it was. I said it reminded me of horsetails, looking very primeval as it does. Also slightly reminiscent of asparagus, in a way… Googling did not help, we clearly could not find the correct search terms. So I turned to those good folk at Flickr in the group ID Please - and received an answer in seconds. Literally, seconds.

This turns out to be a Water Horsetail (ooh, I’m good!)

Botanical Name:
Equisetum fluviatile
Other names:
Swamp horsetail , Jointed rush
Genus:
Equisetum
Species:
E. fluviatile ~ E. fluviatile is a clump-forming perennial with hollow, rough-textured, corrugated, jointed stems and often long, thin-jointed branches. Cone-like spore producing strucutures form at the end of fertile stems.

And, guess what? According to Plants for a Future - you can eat this, treating it as asparagus!

I’d say that my instincts are intact.

Anyway, it’s a very green photograph and thus a good PS3 Earth one.