I'm on a diet!

I got the last skein of sock yarn from the Lotus Knits punk rock sock club!



It's inspired by the Green Day album Dookie. I LOVE IT! It even comes with a little Dookie stitch marker. Cute. The picture doesn't do it justice, let me tell you.

Now that I'm not waiting for any more sock yarn, I guess I can officially begin my little sock yarn diet. When I signed up for the sock club, I told myself I wouldn't buy any more sock yarn until I've knit at least five pairs. Well I've knit one so far, so I have four more to go. I guess it's not really a diet since I only have 4 skeins to lose! ;) But I'm such a slow knitter that it could take a while until I'm done with them.

I'm still working on the SOS08 socks. I've been playing with the pattern a bit so I could knit it cuff down, with my 2.25 mm needles (my needles of choice for socks). I think I finally found a way to make it work and I'm now at the heel. I forgot to take a WIP pic though.

As you can probably guess, I haven't been knitting much. All I think about right now is my trip. I even have a little countdown widget on my desktop. As I'm writing this, I still have 35 days, 5 hours, 4 minutes and 41 seconds until my plane takes off ;)

I have seen the IK Fall preview and I gotta say I'm a little disappointed. There aren't that many projects that I like, and I miss all the Montreal designers! But I like the Knotty or Knice socks, the Fresco Fair isle mittens and I LOVE the Zigzag beanie.

Is anyone entering the Ravelry knitolympics? I'm thinking about it, I'm just not sure which event I want to try!

Fireworks!

On Saturday, I went to my friend Claudia's fabulous appartment so we could go on her terrace and watch the fireworks competition. Australia was competing and we were blown away! It was fabulous.

And to make this knitting-related, at one point, the fireworks were the exact same colour as the yarn I'm using for my SOS08 socks! ;)

(I tried to upload a video but it wouldn't let me. Those of you who are my Facebook friends, I posted it there).

I also have good news to share, now that it's official. I applied for a permanent position at work a few weeks ago and I got it! I'm very happy because it means that I'm assured to always work full time, I get insurance and vacation time (13 days next summer, then 3 weeks the year after!). Yay!

And in six weeks, I will be in Europe! We have booked all our hostels and hotels and we're READY (except we still have a million things to do before we leave!)

Mitten envy

How pretty are these "Let it Snow" mittens? Seriously, I'm in love. Vogue Knitting posted its Fall Preview and I like a lot of things in it, but these mittens are my favourite. Now I really need to knit the second Bird in Hand mitten so I can get started on these (and hopefully finish them before April 2009!)

I haven't done a lot of knitting this past week. No, scratch that. I got quite a bit of knitting done but I frogged most of it so I don't have anything to show for it. I suffered from delusion and even though I knew that my SOS 08 socks were way too big, I kept knitting and knitting, thinking they would fit. I finally came to reason after, oh, four inches. I started them again but I'm still at the cuff.

I also want to mention that I'm writing this post on my brand new laptop! My old (desktop) computer was 7 years old and I thought it was about time that I replaced it. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about the computer, I don't know anything about these things and my boyfriend helped me when I bought it. It says HP Pavilion on it. And it's black. I can't say anything more. But I LOVE it.

One for the summer of socks

I finished my Clash socks! The yarn is from Lotus Knits (exclusive colourway for the Punk Rock sock club). I didn't use a pattern, it's just plain stockinette. They fit perfectly and I love the way they striped!

I'm now ready to cast on for pair #2! I'm going to make the Summer 2008 socks (Ravelry link) by Wendy Johnson, except I'm gonna make 'em cuff down.

I have the perfect yarn for it too, it's similar to the one she used in her design:



It's Sea Wool by Fleece Artist, or something like that. Pretty eh? Oh and the cute hippo is my brand new notion storage case. I got it from Robyn's nest when I visited Robyn herself on Monday. How cool must it be to have a yarn store in your own home!

I spent the afternoon knitting with Robyn, Angela, Robyn's sister Amy and Madeleine. I also got to see Robyn's son Sean again, and meet her new baby Mack!



Awwwww! I love that pic, Robyn I hope you don't mind that I posted it!

Lookie! New sock yarn!

I had a crazy busy week so I didn't have time to show my new sock yarn. It's the June yarn from the Lotus Knits sock club.



The colourway is Loose Nut. It's very cute! I *think* I may use it for socks for my sister, I know she'd love them. We'll see. I have a few other skeins of yarn I want to use before I use this one.

I've been knittin' for the Summer of Socks and I'm almost at the heel for sock #2. I plan on finishing it this week.

Happy Canada Day!

Fellow Canucks, I wish you a happy day off and a fun celebration if you celebrate! If there are any Quebecers who are moving reading this, I wish you a happy moving day.



I finished the first Clash sock! Yay! It fits like a glove and it's really soft. I still need to weave in the ends obviously. I started sock #2 but I'm still at the cuff. I expect to finish it quickly though. I already have chosen what I'll make for my second Summer of Socks pair!

I renewed my gym membership yesterday and I chose to get a full fitness evaluation. It's going to be on July 12 and I'm already nervous about it. I've been going to the gym somewhat regularly for 10 years now (I've had a few off periods though), but I still don't feel I'm in good shape. I'm hoping that the test will help the trainer give me a really good program that I'll be able to stick with. We'll see. I know I was really feeling like going to the gym today but it's closed :(