Redemption!

I gotta tell you, WHAT A RELIEF! We got home pretty late Saturday night – but I immediately pulled on my NEW SOCKS!

Thank you ELIZABETH! Not just for restoring my faith in the sock swap but for Lorna’s Laces, which I’ve never tried before, and a very well done short row heel, which I’ve never knit to my liking before and for an all around awesome pair of socks! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

And Amysue, my sock pal, seems to be pretty happy with her socks as well. Go on over and give her some get well wishes. She’s a bit under the weather these days! FEEL GOOD AMYSUE! Socks for everyone!!!

Alas, I’m pretty sure this is going to be my last sockapalanything. Too much anxiety. 😉
That’s it for me today – I’m on a deadline and then I’m going to relax. And tell you about Maryland. Just a bit of a warning: I didn’t take ANY pictures. So go around and visit everyone’s pictures and then come back tomorrow for a preview of my purchases and a contest. A kind of hard, hopefully fun contest!

Oh and GO HELP TERESA and her family HELP PEOPLE!

PS: It’s Not Easy Being Green

I’ve been on the phone the entire day today – most of it was really productive. Ann and I ate lunch together. Over the phone. We both had salad. She’s losing weight and I had a pudding pop for dessert. 😉

Speaking of salad, here’s some verde for your Project Spectrum May Day. Enjoy!

The roving is a new colorway, dyed especially for my Project Spectrum spinning by Tina at Blue Moon, called Hiddenite in Biffle (BFL.) I think it will be available from Toni at her booth in Maryland. The yarn is heavyweight STR in (dark to light) Beryl, Jade and Limestone.

Oh and here’s a look at my Sockapaloooza package. Which went out today because I’m slow and I suck – but I think I made up for my tardiness:

Don’t forget Claudia’s MS Drive!!!! I’ve already pledged – have you?

Simply SockapalOOOza

MY! Aren’t they lovely?

Simply Lovely Lace Socks
by Karen Baumer, IK, Spring 2006
Socks That Rock, Lightweight, Lover’s Leap
Two circulars, Addi Turbos Size 2 (3.0 mm)
Knit for SockapalOOOza.

I know I’m like a broken record, but oh my god I love this yarn. LOVE IT! (The color is actually a bit redder in real life. So hard to photograph red!) This batch of yarn was even softer than usual. The socks are really done, ends woven in and everything, but I still need to give them a nice lavendar Eucalan bath. That will happen soon. I’d just like to point out that I’m done with a week and a half to spare. Thankyouverymuch! One deadline down – one to go. Of course, I’m sure I will be plenty sidetracked. I started a new sock yesterday – and when I say new I mean new to you and me! YAY! But I had to rip it once I figured out that it was going to work. I need to knit it on bigger needles. But all is well, no fear. I’m hoping to have some decent progress in the next few days so I can reveal it. OOOHH! I’m so excited I could burst. It’s going to be really cool. (At least I think it is.) There are like fifteen million socks I want to knit. And I’ve got at least three singles lying around waiting for mates. And I MUST finish the shawl. I will finish the shawl in time. It’s just that it’s boring at this point and it takes a long time to get through a row and I’m looking at longer and longer rows. I’ve still got a week and a half for that and it looks like it might rain this weekend, so if I can get this new NEW sock on track, I’ll go back to the shawl. And Short Rows. I’ve been mulling the collar fix off and on for weeks. Here’s the problem: I picked up all the stitches I THOUGHT should be picked up (I’m thinking sock gussets here – didn’t want any holes) and then I decreased to try to get to the number the pattern said and I got lots of nice puckers. What if I just keep the number of stitches I think I need to pick up? It will work then right? I need to do some more research on this before I try again.

My dear deluded friend Ann yelled at me yesterday when I was talking to her about my many amazing knitty ideas. She said, “Why don’t you finish something first?” Hong Kong Phooey on you Ann! YOU CAN NOT HOLD CREATIVITY BACK!!!! You must let it be free to flourish and sing and eat freaking Spaghettios if it wants to. Godammit.

PS – Speaking of socks, head on over to Heather’s and help her with her school project. There might be sock yarn in it for you!

It’s just a fantasy whoa-o-o-o

Sometimes a fantasy
Is all you need

Georgie and I had LOTS of juicy, passionate discussions this weekend and one of them was about the merits of Billy Joel’s songbook. We both agreed that Glass Houses ranks up there as one of the all time best. All For Leyna puts it over 52nd Street by a knockout.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not throwing over one B Rock Boy for another. Billy isn’t fit to tie Bruce’s shoes, in my estimation, but he does have some really, really good songs. Really good. ( I mean, really, Captain Jack was one of the reasons I wanted to live in New York. Who didn’t want to get high in the Village?) We heard Sometimes A Fantasy on our way home the other night and cranked it loud. I love singing along with my G-Love! LOVE IT!

Anyway, we had a great weekend! Guess what I did? NOTHING! Well, nothing if nothing includes a ton of knitting and laying around in my bed and watching like ten hours of Another World. Frankie and Cass are engaged (my fave pairing) and the Sharlene/Sharlee multiple personality thing is about to hit the fan, although I much prefer the later, eviler Grant Harrison than the doofus playing him now. Josie’s fake stalker might be real. Rachel and Ken Jordan are about to do the nasty, only he’s working with Paulina and we all now what’s coming there. (I prefer the later Paulina as well. Who’s on Days (again) right now.) The whole Suspicion thing going on with the Amanda/Sam/Evan triangle is a yawn and I never, ever liked shrill Amanda to begin with and Sam’s almost as annoying as Evan, but send me over some Hudson love and I’m happy. I’ve always loved Donna. And Jake. And Michael and Vicki and Marley. I’m looking forward to Ann Heche being replaced by Jensen Buchanan but I have to give her props. She sure can bring it.

After finishing up the taxes on Saturday morning (just some last minute checks – they were really done before I left) and a trip to the post office (did you know it was like $50 to E-FILE?! How ridiculous is that?) we did a drive through of Branch Brook Park to see the amazing Cherry Blossoms. We thought we might sit outside for awhile since it was like 80 degrees on Saturday, but the park was CRAZY. The trees were beautiful though. No pictures. I don’t like to take pictures unless I can get really, really close. Or someone’s paying me. 😉

There were lots and lots of religion discussions too. Fitting given the Passover/Easter weekend. We watched a few minutes of The Ten Commandments and had a lively discussion of Cecil B. DeMille’s Passover meal. The kid asks why they’re eating bitter herbs and Chuck Heston says so we can remember the bad times. Um. WE eat bitter herbs so we can remember THEIR bad times. This is ostensibly the FIRST Passover. The seder didn’t come until the NEXT year. We talked about the history of the whole thing – what year did this happen, that happen, when did this one die, that one, who fought against who. G gets really into it and peppers me with questions. He thinks just because I studied all this stuff in college I should know it all. As the weekend moved closer to Easter we got into it about Christianity – and when I say Christianity I’m talking 70 A.D. and such. I watched a fascinating show on the Gospel of Judas. Fascinating! I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but oh my god. It’s amazing how much MAN’S decisions influenced what was supposedly DIVINE. Did you know that originally there were over 30 gospels out there? Guess who chose the four that got in the good book? Yeah. A guy. (Before you go telling me it was divinely inspired and all that let me tell you that when it comes to ancient texts, I am an academic all the way. If you’d like to read that as skeptic, be my guest. I don’t doubt the existence of many of these people and events, but there are academic criteria that must be met before we can say it DEFINITELY happened. My Jesuit Professor taught me that in one of my favorite classes in college – Jesus and His Times.) Anyway, lively debate all around! We love that.

The rest of the weekend I knit. It was heaven!

I started the second sockapaloooza sock and I’m already on the gusset. I will have this baby finished in no time! Deadlines Schmedlines! Still loving the yarn and the pattern and I can only hope my pal will too.

Most of the time though I knit on my Beaded Diamond Fantasy Shawl.

I’m already up to repeat 7. I have a little system going. I like to finish a repeat then start the first row (where you add the extra sections) of the next repeat and leave it on a purl row. This way I know where I am and I can just knit – I’ve already done the next bead row – which is getting slower and more tedious the longer I make this thing – and I don’t have to worry about beads again until the second section of the chart.

I still love it and everytime G looks at it he tells me how classy it is. I hope it fulfills its purpose of camouflaging how fat I have become (again!) and making me feel fabulous because I’m afraid the dress and the body won’t be helping at all. Anyway, that’s my problem. I have a plan. And the plan is to knit a FABULOUS shawl that takes all the attention away from how gross I look. ( It’s how I feel. You’ve all been there I’m sure.)

The only teensy tiny regret I might have is the yarn. Sundara did a fabulous job dyeing it for me and it’s perfect, but a little bit scratchy. She told me that would go away with washing (it’s from the overdye) but I’m thinking I should’ve gone with some kind of silk blend for utter luxury. I know it will block out fabulous though, so I think this regret is only from knitting a TON on
it this weekend (four repeats?) and that I’m a bit bored of it. Still and all a FANTASTIC pattern and I’m loving the beads.

I’m way behind on the ABC A-Long but not for lack of trying. I had a G all lined up and I took a bunch of pictures this weekend and I hate them all. I hated them while I was taking them and I hated them when I looked at them and that G won’t be working. So I’m moving on to another G and I hope to have it up soon. You can’t put a calendar on inspiration. I’m trying. I will hopefully get back on track soon, although H and I aren’t really helping either. Damn alphabet. One thing that has been working is my knitty imagination!!!! I’ve got some HUGE plans. HUGE. I’m very, very excited.

Rare Gems

I guess I might as well admit it. I’m a sock knitter. I know you all think I’m a sock knitter, but I’ve been avoiding the label because, well, I DO knit other things besides socks. Although it might not seem like it these days.

I finished three socks while I was at my sister’s. The first one I’m going to talk about is a mate – so now I have a pair.

Yes, yes. I ran out of yarn. I’m still using the old put up – I’ve got a lot of STR skeins to get through – but it wasn’t all the fault of the yarn. The colorway is a RARE GEM, which means no one else in the world has it but me! Sometimes mistakes are made in the dye pot and Tina transforms these “mistakes” into gorgeous unique colorways through overdyeing. I was worried from the start that I’d run out and in this world of self-fulfilling prophecies I did. The funny thing? I made a mistake in the pattern. I hope you’re laughing because I certainly did – this is my 11th pair of jaywalkers? I’ve lost count to be honest. So here I am knitting on this sock and I decide to do a stitch count and I realize that somewhere I added an extra stitch. The best part is that I made the mistake in a place that’s completely obliterated by the pattern! That’s why I couldn’t see it. (For those of you intimately acquainted with the jaywalker pattern, I added the second ktfbl on a knit row down the middle of the sock so on the next row the pattern was unchanged for the first ktfbl. And if you understand that – maybe it’s time to find a new sock pattern. 😉 ) When it became clear to me that I was going to run out of yarn, I called my favorite dyer Tina and asked for some Spinel, which I thought would work perfect for the toe.

And I think I was right! I love the sock. Then I had to decide whether or not I wanted both socks to match, since I had already finished the first sock with the Rare Gems yarn. I decided I liked them different. Truly a pair of Rare Gem socks.

I love them. They will sit in my (soon to be determined) sock drawer and wait for the cold feet of fall.

I also finished one of my Hot Flash jaywalkers:

OH MY GOD! I have GOT to start counting more. This time I made a very similar mistake (left out a ktfbl) and ended up a stitch short. I’m getting better with the whole perfectionism thing though because I didn’t rip it out and fix it at the source (the mistake was on the cuff and when I figured it out I was on the foot.) I fixed it where I found the mistake. Same as the Rare Gems sock. Love the sock. Will be making another one.

And in the biggest news of the day, I finished sock ONE of my Sockapaloooza socks:

LOVE the yarn. LOVE the pattern. LOVE the sock. (That’s three loves for sockapalOOOza.) It is SO hard knitting socks for someone other than yourself – especially someone far away that can’t try them on for you. They are pretty loose on me so and a bit long so I’ve got all my toes crossed that they will fit the recipient.

I think it’s pretty funny that the jaywalker looks bigger than the sock pal sock. So not the case.

Anyway. That’s what I knit while I was away. It was excellent to see the kids and hang with my sister but I’m VERY glad to be home. Look for lots of black and bead lace knitting to come and another sock pal sock. That’s going to be pretty much it until the end of April. Deadlines loom. Oh and if anyone has any ideas about sending expensive and IRREPLACEABLE jewelry through the mail (fedex, etc.) please let me know. I left my fancy wedding ring at my sister’s and I want it back in my possession ASAP. I don’t feel like going back down there to pick it up and I’m missing it desperately. But can you really send that kind of stuff?

Hissies and Their Fits

You know, the older I get the more I learn from my mistakes. It’s all part of that growing up process my 85 yr old grandmother promises me NEVER ends. We’re ALWAYS growing and hopefully learning and even more hopefully APPLYING that knowledge. One of the things I’ve really been trying to learn and apply in my life is knowing when enough is enough. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our bodies and our minds were like our gas tanks? I get a nice little reminder on my car – it’s called DTE. Distance Till Empty. Along with the little orange light that blinks, DTE gives me plenty of warning on when (not if) I will run out of gas. If that should happen, well, then, I’m the only one to blame. I mean, really, the car TOLD me it was going to happen.

I guess, in reality, our bodies do have a warning light – it’s just so much easier to ignore. But last night was one of those LOUD AND CLEAR warnings. Sirens wailing. Smoke detectors going off even though you took out the battery an hour ago. A camel dehydrating in the desert. DUDES! I was DONE!

I ended up going to be very late Wednesday night – even though I hadn’t planned on it – and then I didn’t get anything done I needed to get done on Thursday. Thursday night was great though! I went to see Ann and Kay read at Knitty City – a new shop in NYC on 79th (btwn Amsterdam and Broadway). What a wonderful shop! Great yarn selections – TONS of Cascade 220. Lorna’s Laces. They’ll be carrying the full line of Koigu next fall. Cottons, wools, alpaca, sock yarn, fun yarn – everything. A nice book selection. Classes. A full service yarn store and the staff was very nice too – the complete antithesis to that OTHER yarn store on the UWS. Give it a try. Anyway, it was great to see Ann and Kay and meet some new to me knitter and bloggers! Hi Mary! Hi Marcela! (Marcela and I have the SAME BIRTHDAY!!! How cool is that?) Hi Margaret! Hi Sahara! And there were so many others that I’m sorry I’ve forgotten! It was a great crowd and lots of fun knitters. I’ll definitely be back. ETA! I forgot to say Hi Ina! And look! Ina has a picture of my funkycoolfabulous new shoes on her blog! Thanks Ina!

So I came home, kind of early, with the hopes of knocking out what I couldn’t (wouldn’t) do during the day, so that I could leave today to go to Philly and see Ann and Kay at Loop. I have to be in Philadelphia anyway – today is the baby’s FIRST BIRTHDAY! Can you believe it?! Tomorrow is his birthday party and next week is Passover. But last night my printer decided to fuck with me. Really really fuck with me. It’s been happening a lot lately – when it spits out a piece of paper it either wrinkles or tears the top of the page. So I’m trying to print client stuff to pack into the box I need to send out today and all it will do is rip the top of the page!!!! There were things thrown. There were curses yelled. There were tears. Lots and lots of tears.

I ended up in bed, crying, watching the HBO documentary on Rosie O’Donnell’s Gay Family Cruise. Now, I’m NOT a Rosie O’Donnell fan. Annoying doesn’t even begin to cut it. But I cried and cried watching all those beautiful happy families. I don’t know. I was jealous I was happy I was sad that our fucked up country can’t see family for what it really is and should be. Whatever. I was really, really tired. G was giving me space because I yelled at him because I was pissed and all I wanted was someone to rub my back and take care of me. But I didn’t ask for it and I did say leave me alone so he did.

This morning when I woke up I realized that I don’t have to kill myself to get to Philly tonight. Ann and Kay will be fine without me. My sister will be fine without me. My nephew (the older one) will forgive me for not being there when he comes home from school. I can show up to the birthday party tomorrow afternoon and be there until Thursday and get what I need to get done and relax a little bit and help myself.

So far today I’ve sat on the couch and knit on my sockapaloooza socks! And I LOVE THEM!


This is Lover’s Leap (lightweight) from Socks That Rock and it’s absolutely PERFECT for this pattern. I’m using the Simpley Lovely Lace Socks from the new IK and it’s beautiful! It’s hard for me, though, to knit for someone else – let alone someone I don’t know and can’t try on the socks. They seem pretty big – I’m knitting them on size 2s and using the 60 stitch pattern – but I only be really relaxed when my pal gets the socks and tells me they’re perfect! And SO FAST! I’m only about a repeat away (four rows) from splitting for the heel. I’ll have at least one done by the time I get back from my sister’s. And hopefully the other one will be just as fast because I really need to start working on my BDFS if I want it done by the 29th.

Okay. G was home all morning working so the computer was busy and I’ve been knitting and I feel SO MUCH BETTER! As soon as I post this I’m going to eat some lunch and go out and buy a new printer then come home and do the work I need to do and then have dinner with my husband and sleep another night in my own bed and then go to Philly tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. After all. Tomorrow is another day!

Lesson learned. Lesson applied.
Have a great weekend!

PS – Blogging will be sporadic at best next week. I’ll be home sometime on Thursday. Knit well!

The following preview may not be suitable for all audiences.

I’m giving you this preview of future projects because the ones I have going on right now are either, stalled, boring or in a time out. And really, all I want to do is spin, but I can’t because I have work to do and I’m procrastinating. I tried to work on the collar for short rows yesterday and it looks awful. Really awful. Did I ever tell you Claire’s inspired idea? You know the whole “should I stripe it or not” question? Well, Claire suggested I stripe the FRONT, but not the back. Great idea, no? I liked it anyway. So I started it and the thing needs to be ripped. I love the sweater so much and I think the knitting is really done well (if I don’t say so myself) and I refuse to fuck up the sweater with a shitty collar so I’m putting it aside for the time being. Maybe for Maryland, instead of Passover? We’ll see. I might need some help on it, and luckily help is coming soon. Current socks are boring. YAAAWN. BDFS is ready for action, but all I want to do is spin. See a pattern? But deadlines loom. Like this one:

Here we have my choices for my Sockapalooza Socks! That’s HOT FLASH Socks That Rock and the Simply Lovely Lace Socks from the current IK. My pal likes bright colors and ankle socks, so I’m pretty sure these fit the bill. I’m a little concerned about sizing though, as she wears a full size (or more) bigger than me and I’ve never knit for someone different than my size. The pattern says cast on 60 stitches on size 0 needles, but I plan on knitting with size 1s. It’s a six stitch repeat – do you think 66 stitches will be too much? She said she’s a bigger girl, so that’s why she wears ankle or crew socks. The best part? I know the person who made her SockapalTWOza socks, so I sent off an email this morning. Hopefully I’ll get some good advice. Of course I want these socks to be perfect. I’m going to try something new with them as well – two socks on two circulars! This way I can also be in the Cirque Du Socks KAL!

Neat, huh? You need to knit socks on two circulars, but if you’ve done that before, then try something new. So I’ll be casting on soon – 2circs2socks style!

Here’s another preview:

Thinking ahead to April’s Project Spectrum spinning! (Even though I’ve still got like 12oz of March spinning left to do. Did I mention all I want to do is spin? 😉 ) This fine fiber is from AmyBoogie. It’s her Almost Solid series in Corriedale, Sunflower and Marigold colorways. I saw some of the Sunflower spun up over at Marnie‘s, and even though I have some batts on order from Graton Fibers, I couldn’t resist. I LOVE Amy’s fibers. LOVE LOVE! And her dyes are wonderful too. Look what else I got from her:

It’s Amy’s Handpainted Tahiti biffle and if I had all the time in the world to spin, it would be a nice transition fiber from March to April – it’s got yellow, orange, pink, reds – just a whole lot of sunshiney goodness. YAY!

A-a-a-CHOO! Snooort. Cough, Cough.

Ah. The soundtrack of my life. I’m sick. Sick. Sick. Sick. I’m kind of a rotten sick person. I expect to be waited on hand and foot and I complain and whine a lot. I think because, secretly, I’m excited to actually HAVE something to complain about. Something tangible like snot running down your face. Like your teeth itching so bad they hurt. Like a drippy eye. You know what I’m talking about.

See that? That’s the couch. That’s where I slept last night. Believe it or not it was more comfortable than my superfantasticsuperdeluxesuperspecial bed. Now, I think, you know how really sick I am. Thankfully TCM is showing Alfred Hitchcock this week. I watched Notorious last night, and then Rebecca came on, my all time FAVORITE! And after that Suspicion. I taped Rebecca and Suspicion. Gotta look and see what’s on tap for tonight.

Want to know what a selfish knitter I am? I’m already on record saying I don’t knit no holiday gifts. If I decide to knit something for you, I decide what you get when you get it. That’s it. End of story. BUT, I so enjoyed knitting my sockapal2za socks that I volunteered to be an angel. I received my new sock pal’s name the other day and high on the ROCK STAR socks, I thought I’d hit the Socks That Rock yarn for my pal.

You see, there was a skank in there that I was pretty perplexed about. Azurite. Muted colors – lavenders, purples, grays. I honestly don’t remember how it got in there. I can’t see myself picking it. It’s not really something I would normally go for – but there it was. Perfect, I thought! My sock pal can have some Socks That Rock as well!

And then I wound the sucker up. And created a nice big tangle in the process. Well, let me tell you, after handling this yarn and looking at it all wound up there ain’t no way I’m giving it away. NO WAY no how. It’ beautiful.

The picture doesn’t do it justice. But more than the colors, the feel of this yarn is truly spectacular. You know those rumors about how Koigu and Cherry Tree Hill are really Gems Opal, just with different dye jobs? I had heard the same about STR. But I think NOT. As soft and nice as Koigu and CTH and even Gems Opal are, STR is like SILK compared to them. Silk. I shit you not.

Because I’m a selfish knitter, my sock pal will be getting some nice blue Cherry Tree Hill that I’ve got in the stash. I’m thinking some simple (yet elegant) garter rib socks from the Sensational Sock book. That’s the plan anyhow.

Oh and I want to cast on for mittens. Mittens are calling me.

I’ve got a busy night tonight. First on tap, the KnitLit3 reading. I’m not going to be able to stay until the bitter end, but I’ll be there. I have to dash over the the theatre, dahling, for an evening of singing and dances and witches. We’re going to see Wicked. Someone cast a spell on me please and take my cold away? Please?

Oh and if you see me tonight, I’ll be wearing the ROCK STAR socks and I would think very kindly of you if you would only refrain from telling me that my nose actually matches my socks.

Proof

that I still knit:

Socka-Pal-2-Za Socks
Acorn Sock pattern by Evelyn Clark/Fibertrends
Koigu, color #1110
Done on two circs – Addi size #1s

Actually, my knitting was a little overzealous. I finished the second sock, well, all but the grafting, in bed last night and this morning I woke up and grafted. When I compared it to the first one, I realized I had gone too far on the foot – you were supposed to stop at either row 9 of the lace repeat or finish the repeat and stop at row 1 of the next repeat – I should’ve stopped at 9. So I ripped and finished the sock while watching Meet the Fockers – which was pretty funny. I thought Dustin and Babs did a great job.

I really like these socks and the pattern is terrific. They’re a little tight around the cuff – should’ve done it on size twos probably, but I think they’ll fit my sock pal fine. She’s about the same size as me, if not a little bit smaller, so I say they’re good to go. Now, a question. What about blocking? I washed my first pair, but didn’t block it. How do you block socks (if you don’t have a sock blocker tool.) Do you need to block socks? Can I just wash them and leave them to dry or do they need to be blocked? Thanks!

I’m planning on casting on a lot this weekend. Progress picks on Monday, hopefully. Have a great weekend!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation…

by Cara.

Super long. Proceed at own risk.

First off, I got a lot of knitting done. Everday we were awakened (early – NY time!) by G’s office with one crisis after another. It wasn’t fun for either of us, but I did get a lot accomplished:


One sock pal sock down (although I need to fix the toe close) and one almost done. I was hoping for two repeats on the plane home last night – I managed to finish all four. Now I only have nine rows of the lace before I do the heel. I should be finished with it in a day or two. I LOVE these socks. Sorry, sock pal, but I’ve been trying them on left and right. (I even tried them on for the flight attendant last night when she asked what I was knitting.)

I’m not usually a big fan of lace socks, but these are different. As G said, there’s just a hint of skin peeking through – and the color of this Koigu is just beautiful. I’m in love. It’s going to be VERY hard to give them up. (That’s okay – I’ll just make myself a pair!)

The pattern is very well written (thank you Evelyn Clark) and it goes so fast, really. I have nothing to complain about at all. (And all that ripping I’ve done – completely my own fault.)

Oh and thanks for all your comments the other day – and thanks Alison for the update!

Here’s a close-up of the lace:


On to the trip details…

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