too early in the season...

to have a cold. one walk in the brisk morning air on thursday and i come down with something nasty. its not a full blown flu but enough to be annoying. people told me when i finished the pensky i could expect to come down with some evil sickness but i have been spared till now. at least now i feel like my mental malaise is at least somewhat justified!

i am still struggling a bit on that front, it is a difficult transition to make and i think i expected the whole world to be changed by my doing a phd but it has not, and applying for jobs is proving difficult as i am still less than enthusiastic about academic life. i am trying to focus on its personal advantages, but even my own once innovative theoretical ideas seem not really worth fighting for anymore. but i am putting one foot in front of the other hoping that enthusiasm of some sort will return.

i am enjoying the rest of my guilt free life immensely however, and i think i am actually reaching the stage of being guilt free now. i have settled into a bit of a personal time-management rhythm (altho slightly disrupted with illness this week) which includes walking dogs, eating properly, enjoying flyball, and knitting! ah yes, the knitting.

i am pleased to announce the latest Finished Object, and i am glad to have these finished in time for the end of SSoS - the Fancy Silk Socks:


once i came back to these with a clear head they were a dream. they are delicious on, the pattern feels lovely and the yarn is gorgeous. i will put full details over on the sock blog.

i am about 19 centimetres into the leg of the first of trents lichen rib socks in burrawool but it has been delayed because i am now quite addicted to the shetland triangle:


there is an issue however, that because you increase by 4 stitches every row, and its a 10 row repeat, when you get around to the second, third, fourth repeats etc, you need to do multiples of the red-squared 'pattern repeat' section. this is the bit that makes the fir cones:

but it doesnt say how many times to do it for every row, of course, and i am finding that when i do as many as i can, i sometimes dont have enough stitches left before the centre stitch say, to do the normal specified stitches in each row. that doesnt make sense without me showing you what i mean on the chart. i have figured out which are the important stitches to do, eg, always a yarn over on either side of the centre stitch, so i am concentrating more on making sure the stitches for the fir cones are lined up, and i think for the most part it is working. there is one part i can see i have botched a bit, but i am not ripping this one back. this is my practice shawl - it has no lifelines and i am working without stitch markers, and once its blocked i doubt very much you will see the bits where i knitted four instead of three, or knitted two together where i had one too many! it is a lovely pattern though and will make a beautiful shawl.

now im off to eat eggs and drink orange juice and rest some more. hope you canberrans are enjoying your frosty mornings!

k xxx