Bad blogger

I've been such a bad blogger lately I feel really bad about it :-( But things are rather hectic around here, and that will continue the next two weeks, and then, bliss, four weeks of vacation. In Australia. I'm really really looking forward to it.

First we're having a short stop-over in Singapore. Just two days and one night, mainly to break up the long trip for the kids. After that we go to Sydney for five days. We'll mainly stay in Sydney except for a one day trip to Blue Mountains. Then we fly over to the other side of the continent, to Perth where my sister lives with her husband and three boys. The only thing we have really planned is a rented cottage some 200 k south of Perth for a week. I'm thinking beach, trips to the beautiful forests down there, and not to forget, the wineries!

On the hectic front, E's birthday is coming up, and he had a party last Sunday for 12 little kids, I'm glad that's over! Well, the party wasn't bad at all, but the preparations cleaning of the house... And on Saturday we're having both sets of grandparents, two of M's siblings with families, and my grandmother over. At least the cleaning is mostly done. And they're not getting dinner.

And now for some knitting content! Socks! I'm knitting socks! The sock for my Sockret Pal is coming up great. I love the yarn and the pattern and I hope she will too. I've turned the heel on the first sock.

The pooling is hardly visible at all in normal light, and the little leaves are much more visible. Apparently I suck at photography. Or can I blame the lack of daylight around here these days? I'm amazed at my progress, because the yarn is on the thin side and my pal's feet are on the wide side I have 80 stitches on each row. I think they will fit her nicely.

I'm also knitting a pair of plain stockinette socks in an Opal wool/silk blend. And talking about fast... I knit the toe on Tuesday night so I would have something to knit on the train on Wednesday. I was on that train for maybe 90 minutes total, and I actually had to stop knitting in the end because I was afraid to make them to long. I turned the heel last night. Of course it helps that 56 stitches was enough for my foot. This really surprised me, I have a rather wide foot and the yarn isn't all that thick so I had to rip out a bit of the toe because it was getting way to wide for me.

I'm not all that thrilled with the colours and pattern of this yarn, but it is so comfy! The colours are a bit more muted in real life. But is a nice sock anyway. I have not quite decided what to do with the leg. I think I'll do a short bit of stockinette and then a k2, p2 rib or something.

I tried a new way of picking up the wraps on the short row heel this time. I've always used Wendy's method but I haven't liked the look of the picked up wraps all that much. Then Lolly posted a link to a great tutorial of another way to pick up those wraps. So I tried it. It was *very* fiddly but it looks *very* nice. Maybe it gets easier next time. The idea is to pick up the wraps from the right side of the fabric, and to do it from the bottom up. Do check it out!