Under Dutch Skies

Running?  What running?  Work?  Too much work!  And the dentist and the migraine.  Ugh.  It’s been a tough couple of weeks and I almost can’t take late evenings during the week with all the other stuff going on.  My running has really suffered (I’ve missed 2 days this week).

So, what to do about it?  Knit of course.  And do some stash enhancement.  It’s my antidote to too much other crap.

Today, Friday, I had the day off.  YIPPEE!  I relaxed in the morning and knit a bit on the new shawl.  Then I packed myself up and headed in to Amsterdam to have lunch with an old friend, R.  We ate lunch and talked and talked.  We walked around the city and drank coffee and talked and talked.  I had to go to de Afstap to exchange some knitting needles so she came with me.  R. is not a knitter, but is a crocheter.  She saw a scarf made up in the shop and just had to have the yarn to make one for herself.  If someone else is buying yarn, who am I to hold back? 🙂

De Afstap has at this moment 30% off on a lot of summer yarns.  I bought 10 skeins of Rowan Cashcotton.  The name is only slightly misleading.  The make up of the yarn is:  35% cotton, 25% polyamide, 18% angora, 13% viscose and 9% cashmere.  Now, I know full well that 9% cashmere isn’t enough to actually feel the cashmere.  It’s a marketing gimmick.  But who cares when the yarn feels this soft and is this lovely.  As long as I can buy it on sale I’m happy.  It will be very nice to wear against the skin.  Here’s a photo:

I’ve made amazing progress on my new socks.  I only work on these socks on the train or on Monday nights at de Jaren.  Look how far I’ve gotten already!

I’ve just kind of making them up as I go along.  I found a stitch pattern I liked, then just went from there.  I decided to do a reverse St. st. for the gussets.  At this point I think I’m going to make them anklets with a picot edge bind off.  They will be summer socks.  I’m liking it a lot so far.

Unfortunately, while taking this photo I broke one of the KnitPicks needles.  Damn.  These little wooden things are pretty fragile.  This is the second pair I’ve broken.  The first pair KnitPicks gave me a replacement for because I really only picked them up and they broke.  I have no one but myself to blame this time as I put a little pressure on them with my foot (“don’t you mean you stepped on your needle?” my get-real half says) and SNAP it was broken.  And they STILL don’t ship outside the U.S.  Love the needles, hate the policy.

Progress continues on the Muir shawl, but not enough to be worthy of a new photo.  Maybe in a few days I’ll have something to show you.

So, that’s my knitting update and my antidote to stress in life.  Try it yourself.  Works wonders.