cosmicpluto knits!

so many socks!

I finished up the pair of plain stockinette socks I started in Dublin – one skein of fingering weight merino from Dublin Dye Company, 2mm needles, 64 sts.

Since the socks are really speaking to me these days, I decided to start a new pair – these ones are my first pair of Monkeys, believe it or not! It turns out that although I don’t knit much from other people’s patterns these days, following a pattern for a pair of socks seems to hit just the right knitting sweet spot.

Fingering weight merino from Indigo Moon – it’s been in the stash forever!

what I made while I was away

I took just 3 projects while I was traveling – a sweater (which isn’t very far along still), a shawl and a blanket.

A blanket? That doesn’t seem like a good traveling project! Well, that’s true, but my blanket is made up of many many individual crocheted hexagons. So they were actually great for going around – the yarn didn’t take up a lot of room (two 100g skeins) and the individual pieces were easy to start and finish. Plus, I mailed the completed ones back home as I went! I’d made over half of the hexes in the last several (okay, many) months, but the deadline is approaching and I needed to step up my game.

Of course, now I have to put the whole thing together! I’m not sure if it’ll be quite as big as I wanted, but it’ll be fine. I’m out of yarn, so it’d better be!

The other main project I worked on was a shawl, out of two colours of Handmaiden Casbah. It really makes such a lovely fabric, and this texture stitch is easy and fun.

I’m hoping to get this shawl pattern out to you soon – just have to find some time to block it and take photos.

When I got home, I picked up a project that I started before I left, a pair of Conwy socks (from Knitting on the Road). I substituted my usual toe, not really on purpose but because I didn’t read the instructions very carefully! I made these as a birthday present for my dear friend Jane. I missed her birthday while I was away, so I wanted to give her something special!

1 skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in “Ruby Slippers”, 2.25mm needles. Fun! I’ve had tons of socks on the needles lately – they’re such nice comforting, soothing knitting.

May 21-24: Belfast and home

On Saturday morning I got up, got some breakfast, packed up my things and headed for the O’Connelly train station in Dublin, which was conveniently located just down the street from my hotel! It took some doing to figure out when the train was from their website – it’s pretty terrible. But I eventually sussed out that it was at 11:00 (or 13:20), bought my ticket and hopped on the train with some sock yarn that I got at This Is Knit. I got pretty much to the heel. Ah, soothing stockinette.

From Belfast Central station I hopped on another train to get to Botanic station, where my hotel was – I stayed at Tara Lodge, a B&B I’d highly recommend if you’re ever going to Belfast! The rooms were spacious and clean, the bed was comfy and they have free wifi too. Oh, and breakfast was delicious. I felt really comfortable there. It’s a bit outside the city centre, but it’s very close to the University and the Botanic Gardens, and it’s just a 10 or 15 minute walk to the city centre anyway.

I was a little early to check in, so I left my bag and had some lunch, and checked out the Ulster Museum. It was really rainy and windy (my umbrella kept flipping) so lots of other people had the same idea of going to the museum! I also walked to the city centre and looked around, but by then it was getting late enough that many of the shops were closing. I ended up getting takeaway, going back to the hotel and catching up on Doctor Who.

Belfast is really a lovely city. But by this point in the trip I was having a bit of sightseeing fatigue, and I have hardly any photos. Plus the rain and wind didn’t make for great conditions! Sunday is a very quiet day in the city, and if businesses are open at all, it’s limited hours like 1-6pm. It made for a pretty relaxing weekend, actually, since I didn’t feel a lot of pressure (self-inflicted, of course) to really go out and about and see a bunch of things. In the morning, though, St. George’s market is open so I went and had a look there. It’s a lot like St. Lawrence market here in Toronto. The Saturday market has the fruit + veg, which I’m sad that I missed, but the Sunday market is pretty interesting too. It’s mostly ready to eat foods, crafts, and vintage stuff. There was even a yarn booth!

The only thing I bought was a bag of hand-fried crisps (potato chips) with sea salt and pink peppercorn – they were frying right there in the market. Yum!

Then I went and hung out in a coffee shop for awhile with my Kindle and my knitting, before heading to check out some of the shopping areas. I decided to do a bit of a spa day, so I bought some body scrub and stuff at the drugstore and also got a manicure and pedicure. Unfortunately the woman who was doing my nails really didn’t do a very good job – I ended up buying nail polish remover and a bottle of polish too, and redoing my nails in my hotel room.

Victoria Square has a dome at the top with a viewing platform – it’s a really lovely view of Belfast. And that day was mostly sunny and clear, so you could actually see!

There wasn’t much else to do that night – I went out for Japanese food (udon soup and some sushi), did my nice long hot shower body scrub thing, and repacked my things. It was a really short stay in Belfast, but I enjoyed it. It felt really restful and was perfect for recharging before my long journey home.

The first leg of my trip home was on Monday. I had breakfast in the hotel again, hung out and then left my luggage and had some tea at a cafe, and sat in the park reading for a little while. Though it was sunny, it was VERY windy! It was almost hard to walk at some points. I took the train and the bus out to Belfast International Airport, which is quite a ways outside of the city – I’m glad I didn’t try to take a taxi! It was a pretty straightforward trip out there, but then I ended up spending rather a long time in the airport. My plan had been to fly to Edinburgh, pick up some things I’ve left at Ysolda’s flat, then take the train to Glasgow and stay the night there. Then I’d fly home to Toronto from Glasgow on Tuesday morning.

Well. The flight to Edinburgh kept getting delayed, and finally they just cancelled it altogether! It was quite a large plane, so there were a lot of irate people. We had to go back through to the check in desks in order to talk to someone about our options. I gather that the wind and storms were worse in Edinburgh, and something happened at the airport that made them cancel a whole bunch of flights (a roof coming off a building? something like that). Luckily I was near the front of the queue, and was able to rebook onto a flight to Glasgow that evening. It actually worked out fine, though I had to leave a few purchases in Edinburgh (I’ll get them later sometime, mostly whisky!).

I spend from 3-9 in the airport, got my 25 minute (!) flight to Glasgow, then went straight to my hotel, which I’d booked right next to the airport. Got in around 10:45pm so it was convenient to just walk to the hotel from the airport! It’s pretty much on the airport grounds, I think. My flight home from Glasgow the next morning was slightly nerve-wracking, because many flights were canceled due the volcanic ash cloud! Sheesh, when it rains it pours. Lots of people were being bussed down to Manchester (which isn’t super close; about 4 hours’ drive) to catch flights out. Luckily, my flight seemed to be just fine. It was a little longer than usual, about 8 hours, because had to take a more southern route to avoid the ash. Due to the magic of time zones, I left Glasgow at 10:30am and got home to Toronto at 2:30pm.

Though I had to cut my trip short, I’m glad to be back home. I missed my bed, my shower, my laundry machine and my own cooking! I saw lots of great sights and had fun walking around cities that I hadn’t been to before. I don’t know if I’m cut out for really long-term travel, but after going around under my own steam for 3 weeks, I think I’ve got some good travel confidence built up. I was definitely lonely sometimes, and I think it would’ve been fun to have a companion to share experiences with, but all in all I’m glad I went on my own. Now I know that I can do it in the future if I want to!

moving right along

Yesterday I went on one of my favourite types of sprees – a finishing spree! I finished up three different projects yesterday, and today I’ve given them all a bath so they’re soft and ready to go.

I got about 2/3 of the way through the foot of the second cabley sock before I had to join a new ball of yarn. I do think you could do a pair of plainer socks out of just one skein – these ones take more yarn because of the ribbing and cables! A little while later…

The cables really keep this pattern moving, and of course, the thicker yarn helps with the speed too! I hope the recipient likes them.

This hot water bottle cozy is knit from 2 strands of Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton on 6mm needles. Just needs a couple of buttons at the bottom.

These aren’t a gift, but I’m still glad to have finished them! A pair of flip-tops with the same details as my Fred+Ginger Cardigan, so if you’re not quite ready to commit to a whole sweater you can still knit some pretty ruffles. These used less than 1 skein of Sweetgeorgia Superwash Sport and just a little bit of the CashSilk Fine.

They’re sized to fit my tiny hands, but the pattern will be written for three different sizes. Look for it in the new year!

I’d better get back to it, these presents aren’t going to wrap themselves. Darn.

P.S. A few people asked about the snowflake lights – they’re just from Ikea. I think they’re probably on sale by now if you’ve got one near you!

progress!

Worsted weight socks are so so fast and satisfying. Just 1.5 days of knitting later (and no, I wasn’t knitting the whole time) I’ve got one whole sock done. Squishy, cabley goodness.

(Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays)

catching up

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? It feels like I’ve been spinning my wheels a little bit (but unfortunately, not the yarn-producing kind) – I keep starting and stopping on different things, and I have so many various projects on the go that even though I’m knitting all the time, I’m not actually finishing anything!

That said, I’m putting a bit more effort into trying to finish things up for the end of the year. I guess late fall is a good kick in the pants, since it gives me a reasonable amount of time before the new year to get things off the needles and my to-do pile. I even have some photographic evidence of said effort!

This is more backward than forward, but I ripped back the body of my mitten. It just wasn’t working out the way I wanted. I’m not sure what I want to do with this now, but it feels good just to admit it wasn’t working. Maybe I’ll just do something really simple, like an all-over colourwork lattice pattern or a checked pattern. I could use some new mitts!

I picked up my neglected Hanne Falkenberg kit – Diva in Olive/Cyclamen – and finished a sleeve! That is a whole lot of fingering weight garter stitch right there. I’m almost done the body, but it’s too big to carry around so it’s not seeing a lot of time at the moment. I’d really love to get this done my Christmas, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. It’s more of a long term project.

And, I finished a pair of simple socks that I started a few months ago! They’re meant for a Christmas present. Just my basic sock recipe, 64 sts on 2mm in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock. I’d really love to get another pair or two of socks done for presents, along with some woven projects. I guess I’d better get on that, hmm?

How’s your year end knitting wrapup going?