It was a pretty ordinary day at work. I'm working on an audit of our library of permit reports.  Sounds exciting doesn't it.


We went to the pub for lunch. It tends to be busy and last week we sat at the bar.


This week we found a table for two tucked into one of the corners. Don't mind the weird green lighting, the food is great. My drink is milk with ice (so good) if we're heading back to work after the meal.


Stopped at the ski-doo crossing on my way back to work. No ski-doos to see though.


Afternoon break was spent with my co-worker. We enjoyed the view and fresh air though her window. Sadly she was missing a needle and unable to grow during our daily pause.


Hit the bookstore after work hoping to find Fruits Basket #2. Unfortunately (but as usual when I'm looking) they have #1 and #4 but not #2. They'll be getting it in next week though and my name's down on the list.


Next stop was the coffee shop where I wait for Rob to finish work.


At home there is some space for quiet time and a cuddle with Zeke before dinner preparations begin.  Zeke was being super cute but refused to stay cuddling once the camera was out so this is a close as I got to a picture.


Dinner was pizza according to a new favourite recipe from The Small Object. So simple to make and so good. It matched the sock.


While the pizza was in the oven I got out Fruits Basket #1 to refresh my memory in preparation for next week. In case you're not familiar with it, Fruits Basket is a manga about a girl who ends up living with a family of guys who change into zodiac animals when hugged by someone of the opposite sex. There are some deeper things going on in the plot but the basic premise makes it pretty funny. (They change back to normal after a little while ... naked.)


Dinner came out of the oven and onto the coffee table to be enjoyed with some Stargate (season 9 - we're proper geeks) and some nice Albertan beer in our favourite beer drinking mugs, obtained after the tour at Alexander Keith's Brewery in Halifax this past October. (If you have a chance to go on this tour do. The guides are dressed up and everything is set in the 1860's. They don't skimp on samples either - you get a least two glasses if you can drink them fast enough and you could probably get a third. The gift shop is right after that.) Don't mind all the DPNs; I need to make them a case.


Last stop is the computer to upload my pictures and start my blog entry. Too late to proof reliably though; that will have to wait until tomorrow.


All done and posted. Time for a cup of tea with my spouse and some fabric sorting (it's everywhere!).

In preparation for the Yarn Harlot's day of Inexplicable Knitter Behaviour , and the opening up of the "Freestyle Sock Pictures" category to knitters outside Toronto, I will be spending the rest of my evening getting my current sock ready for it's big day. I think it needs to grow a bit, don't you?

There is going to be a Flickr group . I can't wait to see what people do (the knitters and the non-knitters). I see there are a few pictures already...

Pattern: Hemp Lace Tank (#329) by LanaKnits
Yarn: allhemp3 in Dusty Rose
Yardage: 3 skeins
Needles: 2.00 and 2.5 mm AddiTurbos

It's so exciting to be finally finished this project. I started this just after our wedding last summer (so about the end of July) when the weather was really hot. Hard to believe right now - it will be a few months before it is warm enough for me to wear this outside without a sweater. I found the AddiTurbos a bit slick for this yarn and will probably try to find either some bamboo or AddiLace the right size for next time.

It was a close finish yarn-wize. I stopped knitting about half an inch earlier than called for before adding the straps. My waist is a little higher and shorter than a dressmakers "standard" so this put the centre of my waist shaping in the right spot. I think if I had knit that extra half inch I'd have run out of yarn half way through the cast off. The underarm (body and strap) is grafted together with kitchener stitch. It's not too bad to do but it was a lot of stitches and I ended up with an extra one on the first side. I never figured out where my mistake was - I couldn't find any dropped stitches - so I jut threaded my yarn through it and bound it off with everything else.

There are actually quite a few spots like that in this top. Places where I was sure I had counted each and every stitch at least twice but when I got to the next shaping step discovered I was off. It was a lot of little stitches to count. I couldn't see any of the mistakes so I decided not to go back and fix them.

I tried the top on as soon as it was off the needles but it really needs a bath and blocking to soften up and loose some bias; when I first tried it on the centre lace panel slanted sharply to the left. I gave it a bit of a pressing too (mostly in an attempt to make it dry faster) and it made the fern lace pattern look so crisp.