Socks and sick notes

I've been to the doctor and am on antibiotics. She gave me a sick note for another week(!) but I do very much hope I won't have to stay off that long. This cold / flu / upper respiratory tract infection has lasted two full weeks now...
I've finally finished the Tofutsies Tidal Wave socks for the Lab Rescue fundraiser. I do hope I'm a bit quicker knitting more stuff for them!


Not the best photo in the world but 'twill do for now. I think I could do with some sock blanks / stretchers / whateveryacallem!

SP Question 12

I'm sure most of us have a proudest moment when it comes to knitting. A project or technique that you've tackled and completed beautifully. What is your proudest knitting moment??
Hmmm... A difficult one, this. I was going to say the Shetland baby shawl that I knitted before my daughter was born in 1982. Heavily pregnant, I knelt on the floor to block it! I should have a photo somewhere but I need a scanner...
Or it could be the complicated picture sweater I made for my cousin's son (who very recently graduated in Law in the Cayman Islands!) in 1989. It was an underwater picture with tropical fish, underwater flora, sunken treasure and a diver swimming down the sleeve.
Or perhaps it was the first shawl I ever knitted, for my niece's christening in 1975 (one day I'll get all these photos on here).
And on the flip side? What is the one thing that you can't get right? What is that one project that you've never been able to complete? Or that you did complete but then hid away instantly because it was too embarrassing?
I've never quite got the hang of crocheting. I would like to have the time to try it out properly sometime.
I have a big Aran cardi that I started in 2004 when I first moved here which I'll probably never complete. A smaller version I knitted for my grandson didn't wear well - it was cheap acrylic yarn - so I'm even less keen to spend a lot of time on it. Besides, I've aclimatised to the cold by now!
Last winter I used some cheap acrylic to knit a scarf for my grandson (he was in dire need and I couldn't afford any nice yarn) which very quickly stretched beyond belief and which has now been assigned to the bin!

Socks and Rebus

Knitting these socks makes me think of Rebus, as there was a special showing of some of the episodes with Ken Stott last week as part of the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Season. These are my favourite kinds of tv dramas so we're in for about 6 weeks of it with different authors! Rebus is coming very close to my all-time favourite Morse, because it features the city where I lived for 25 years and which, rather strangely, still feels like home. I love working out where each of the locations are. I've always loved Ken Stott as an actor too and think he's just perfect for Rebus. John Hannah never did cut the mustard in that role!

Socks and sickness

I've been ill for two weeks now with a horrible virus / cold. Others have described it to me as a flu that goes away and comes back again. As I ache a lot anyway (ME), I didn't notice the aching bones but I did feel I was almost well towards the end of last week until, on Saturday, I felt like I'd caught a new cold! It's been very inconvenient at work as we have our AGM this Saturday but I'm glad to say they're managing without me! On top of it, I caught a sickness and diarrohea bug from my daughter via her son via a friend who was sick at his birthday sleepover on Saturday, and came down with it on Monday evening. That was no joke. I never want to go through that again, ever. I was weak and wobbly yesterday and still sleeping off and on, not even well enough to feel like picking up the knitting needles! So I'm very slow with those socks, but I am getting there and will have to get busy clicking on something else soon. Hmmm... now what...?
Tummy's still a bit wobbly today which, for an eater like me, is frustrating and pretty miserable!

SP Question 11(?)

What is the best thing you've ever received in the mail/post?
Now that's a leading question right in the middle of such a setup! But I have to avoid the obvious and say I think the best thing I ever got in the post was the notification of passing my Maths Higher in 1975, which meant I had enough qualifications to go to art college that year. I've never been so excited to receive a letter nor so happy after reading it!

Socks for Labrador Rescue

Labrador Rescue Scotland is holding a fundraiser on Saturday 20 September, so I'm knitting as much as I can to create stuff to sell and/or raffle. I started on a pair of Tofutsies Tidal Wave socks on Sunday 17th. I really should have them done by now!! I was quicker with Sock Wars III than I've been with these. A couple of things have held me back. One, I've been ill for nearly a week with a horrible cold which has left me with a very husky throat. Two, I've now broken 3, yes 3! of my 5 x 2.75mm bamboo dpns, as you can see from the photo!

Fortunately they're a decent enough length to still be able to knit a short row with. I guess they weren't very good quality to start with, they were a bargain straight from Hong Kong on eBay, after all!

I thought I'd also include a photo of Jet's usual nightly routine of cleaning Jazz's ears, something she's apparently done since Jazz was a pup.

SP question 10

What Olympic event would best describe you knitting/knitting style?
My first thought was the marathon, but only when I think of my Orkney Pi, which has been on the needles since February!
Knitting with dpns makes me think of archery! I like to knit fast with dpns, with fine yarn, and it feels like a precision activity(!), needing accuracy. And then there's fencing, and shooting, though I don't like the idea of the speeding bullet and the connotation of harm associated with it.
(I have a cold and am too fuzzy-headed to be witty so don't expect too much of me, anyone!)
What sport includes lots of false starts, I wonder? Perhaps trampolining - lots of highs with some false landings?!
What would denote lots of frogging and number crunching? Synchronised swimming perhaps?
I'm labelled (and sometimes criticised for being) a perfectionist and it seems to me that, with the notion of sharp needles and the need for precision, archery or fencing are the most appropriate Olympic sports for me. There! Round the houses and back again!

SP Question 9

Have you ever entered your knitting (or anything else) in the fair? Would you ever consider it?
No, not yet. I was going to do it this year but I've not finished what I was going to enter...! Last year, I entered Agnes' Feast (the textile sculpture in my header - see one of my early posts) into the Plockton Show, which disallows work by professionals. As I also included some RTT leaflets, I think it was discounted and thought to be a professional exhibit. But I can't be sure. Perhaps they just didn't like it!
As I'm about to teach a knitting leisure class, this is my last chance to enter knitting into the Plockton Show and it looks like I'll miss the boat (for those who know Plockton - no pun intended!).
Would I consider it? Obviously, yes.