Wrap Up

There were some leftover tidbits from my last post, so I'm trying to wrap up all those loose ends now.

First, this photo shows Treenah off a bit better:


Second, I promised more socks. I seem to have fixed my Ripples socks (November sockamania) so that they go over my foot comfortable now. Finished the first one last week and am at the arch expansion of the second one, so it will be done soon, I hope:

(some modifications are obvious, I'll post them with the FO later)

A while back I mentioned some new stash. I haven't been buying much since Christmas and the New Years PY sale, since I am buried in yarn. But I've given in to a few temptations recently:


Classic Elite Waterspun in Light Teal, 4 skeins. Impulse shopping trip to London Yarns after hearing they had some of this discontinued yarn in. I had never seen or heard of this before getting the email, so why I got it into my head that I had to get some, I don't know. They actually offered to sell me all they had for a discount, but that was maybe 20 skeins, including a bunch in a colour I didn't like. I settled for all they had in this colour.

Then I gave in to the Posh Yarn sale 2 weeks in a row. First I came away with this:

Baby Lucia in Kelpy. I had dreams of 2 skeins, but only snagged 1.

The next week I got 2 skeins of Eva 4-ply in Frock. It hasn't arrived yet, so photos later. Again, I had hoped to get perhaps 3 skeins to do a shawl, but someone beat me to it. I think I may still do a shawl, although socks in the luxury that is Eva could be a real treat....

Probably not much else to share. I've realized today that most of what I put on my blog is duplicating what I'm doing on Ravelry--I don't need a "queue" of patterns over here, or my progress bars, etc., since that's all over there. Same for photos of my projects and stash, really. So I may cut back on the blog and just post occasionally about other topics. I'm starting an online course in a few weeks, so I don't know how much blogging I would be doing anyway....hmm, we shall see!

Drying Out

Just a quick post to let you all know I'm still alive--and as you can see, after the waters receded spring really has sprung. Those were my first crocuses of the year, and lots more have bloomed in the 2 days since that was taken.

We ended up with 2 days off of school, and the waters receded enough by Friday to let us back in. We were just allowed back on the school playground starting yesterday, and there is a street sweeper coming today to clear the debris out of the parking lot. However, as far as I know there hasn't been any significant injuries or property damage associated with the flood. Life in London is rather removed from the river, unlike so many cities. There are parks along the water, but very few homes and businesses.

I have much to share in photos--and will try to get to a few of them posted here now. I have essentially given up control of my home computer to Stephen while he works on a big project, but I managed to upload a few photos the other day. I am waiting for my ride home now, so I'll get to as much as I can!

First, Monday was our monthly Ravelry meet-up at Wortley Roadhouse, and the first one I'd been to in a while. There was a nice crowd, including our first ever male knitters. Yes, plural--there were 2 of them! I have proof:



I also finally met another Strathroy-based knitter, Deborah, shown here modelling her sock:

It was very exciting to meet someone who lives so near me, and we will hopefully connect soon to knit without driving all the way to London!

In other news, I successfully completed a crochet project. Really:

Pattern: Treenah
Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss in Burgundy
Hook: 4 mm
Modifications: I made mine a bit more narrow, 8 stitches fewer, I believe. I also did extra repeats of both the solid treble section and the lattice pattern on the ends, since I was using a finer yarn and smaller hook. It's not perfect, but I'm quite pleased. I'll have to take another picture post-blocking that does it justice more than this one. The only sad thing is that I finished it just in time for the warm weather, so I've barely worn it!

On a less successful front, I began some fair isle socks. It's the April Sockamania pattern, Bluebells. My first ever attempt at fair isle socks, and I was trying to be very careful about not pulling too tightly. Despite my best efforts, this happened:

Yup, that's as far as I could get the sock on my foot. Not even all the way over my toes and it's too tight. Not a prayer of getting it over a heel! It is in time out for now and soon I may frog it and try again, MUCH LOOSER. (and maybe 1 needle size up, too)

OK, Stephen is here to get me, so that's all for now. More some day on other socks, scarves, and more. :-)

Underwater

Yup, I'm posting during the school day again. And once again, it's because of floods. However, this time I made it into school for a shortened workday, and I took some photos to share with you:


The view from my 3rd floor classroom window.


See the playground equipment? See the big tree to the right? Our school property extends several feet behind that big tree, and then there's a jogging path past that. Just to give you some idea of how far out of its banks the river is!


The road there is the street that goes to our parking lot.


The steps for our back entrance, which is where we usually come and go. Luckily there is a front door 4 stories up where I could get in today!

Given how high the water is, I'm not sure what tomorrow holds at this point. Our principal was optimistic that we would be able to re-open, and the waters did go down very fast last time....but the water is A LOT higher this time, so we shall see. In the meantime, I'm going to go enjoy some extra knitting time. More photos later with a few new stash acquisitions and some current projects.