End of term

Things have been getting very busy here as we head towards the end of term. My boss has been away a lot (and is in fact leaving soon, but that is another story), so it is my phone that seems to be taking up the slack and ringing off the hook. Of course, it is usually one of those recorded messages about PPI or compensation, but there are a fair few work calls as well.

This would all be fine except that the baby has chosen this week to surprise us daily with her sleeping and waking pattern, plus we are all fighting off a bug of some sort. Anyway, my knitting time has mostly been diverted into extra sleeping, so things are moving quite slowly.

Here are the beaded socks I’m working on.

I’m a bit further on than this now – just a few rows left on the second leg. The pattern is Stardust by Adrienne Fong and these are the Stage 3 socks of Tour de Sock. The yarn is from Artist’s Palette Yarns in Herefordshire and was a birthday present from my sister-in-law. I’ve never done beading before and I quite like it. I’ve chosen the unlikely-sounding method of using dental floss (the stuff that has thick and thin sections) to string the beads. It works really well – the thick sections hold the beads in place and you use the thin section to thread through the stitch you are beading, then back through the bead, which can then be pulled down onto the stitch. So simple! I don’t recommend trying it while travelling by train though. It got a bit stressful when I tried.

I’m hoping that next week I’ll be able to push on with these and get them done before the Olympics start, although that is looking less and less likely. I’ve not chosen my Ravellenic Games project yet, although I am signed up to Team GB. I may do some more squares on my sock-yarn scraps shawl/scarf as a starter, but I’m not sure what else.