And Then There Was the Knitting

Okay, June to September and I've been talking about Ireland all this time, but of course there was knitting.  First the travel knitting. I already had socks on the needles but they were almost done, and not for me- so I set them aside, and cast on something new- I wasn't going to haul even a small knit all over Ireland when it would likely be done before the plane left the ground, and it wasn't something I could wear on the trip.  So, travel socks.

The yarn is some of the Deep Water Dye Works yarn that my sister gave me, and the pattern is Undine, which I modified with a picot hem cuff and my usual flap heel. I'm very happy with them.

I actually finished them a couple of days before the end of the trip- and while Ireland was full of yarn, none of the places I was had sock yarn.  So I brought home yarn for a sweater, but spent the last couple of days of the trip fiddling around with the leftovers from these socks- which I eventually frogged as it wasn't really what I wanted to knit.

Once I got home I whipped through the last couple of inches of the chevron socks, and barely had time to block and photograph them before catching up with the friend they were knit for and giving the away.

Naturally there was assistance- here's Biscuit helping me write Ireland posts.

Cookie would have helped but was too busy having a Big (closely supervised) Adventure in the driveway.

Jake thought I was boring and was off napping somewhere until the next meal. So he didn't get his photo taken.

With those two pairs of socks done, I had to cast on another set.  Because there must always be socks. It's a rule.  The yarn is my souvenir yarn from Berlin last fall.

These were my first completed WIP in the September Finish-Your-WIPs KAL that Holly over at Fish Belly Fiber Works is running.  She's got luscious new yarns in the store at the moment.  If you click that link, you can't say I didn't warn you.   And then - because there must always be socks- I cast on the next pair, out of another gift skein.

And then, because I was starting to feel like I never knit anything but socks, I took a pile of leftover sock yarn and cast on for a linen stitch scarf.  I'm really liking how the self-patterning yarns play with the linen stitch.

And then because a person can only knit so much sock yarn.  Plus the 600 stitch rows on the scarf were starting to feel kind of long, I came across a skein of worsted weight yarn in my bag and these fell off the needles.

There is nothing like kid mittens when you feel like you just want to finish something!

And that brings us up to the present.   Absent work, the house, a dying refrigerator (now replaced) and a social calendar that has had us doing something nearly every weekend since we got back.  And a few weekdays, too.  Whew!  I'm not really ready for summer to be over but September is buzzing along, so I guess it's coming whether I'm ready or not.