Today is my the second half of my wild and glorious rest day, which means that since I landed in Los Angeles yesterday, I’ve been in the same hotel room and haven’t gotten on a plane, and I didn’t have to do an event last night, and I had a wicked good sleep and I’m thinking about napping before tonight’s event and that makes me delirious with joy.  Delirious. I’m absolutely looking forward to going to the event tomorrow, and have started thinking about tomorrow’s plane ride to Seattle not as a test of my fortitude, but as an opportunity to knit – which reminded me that I haven’t really told you much about my knitting on this trip, and there’s been a ton. 

When I left, I had three projects planned.  Gwendolyn had not yet manifested her destiny to become our Lady of Perpetual Knitting, and so I didn’t count her.  The way she’s gone on to become a  sweater of destiny means that I’m a little behind on my big trip project, but since I finally kicked her firmly in the arse this morning…

I’m moving on.  That’s right, Gwen’s done.  Finished.  Fixed everyway that she’s needed to be fixed and sewn up, and blocked (and I fixed the mistake some of you pointed out yesterday, after briefly thinking about burying it outside) and this morning I procured a sewing kit from the front desk of my hotel, and while I drank my coffee, she took her final steps to becoming a garment and got buttons. She fits too – and I love it, which is excellent, because if I didn’t get something I adored or wasn’t flattering after all that, I couldn’t possibly have been held accountable for my actions. I’ll give this trial by fire cardigan a proper photoshoot later when I have time/energy/help/my hair doesn’t look like this.

When Gwen hasn’t been sucking the lifeblood out of me, I’ve followed my usual plan for trip knitting. Something small and fussy for the plane, something small and simple for cabs, dinners and dark places, and something bigger and fussy for downtime in the hotel. 

The only thing wrong with that plan was that there hasn’t really turned out to be all this imagined downtime in the hotel, and what there has been was promptly sucked up by the black hole of Gwen, so the project I thought I could finish in two weeks is still a wee start – though here’s hoping that changes with the albatross Gwen getting out of the queue. 

I started Fernfrost, a beautiful Anne Hanson pattern using Foxhill Farm laceweight cormo that I’ve been hoarding for a few years, and I love how it’s coming out. Cormo is bouncy, cushy and soft, and I love how much texture it’s holding.  I love it.  At present, it is only an 8cm scarf, but I have big plans. 

While the quiet knitting time in hotels hasn’t really turned up the way I thought, the plane knitting has been exactly as predicted and so my October socks are almost done- or at least in my head they’re almost done, probably because I know how many plane hours are left.  I’ve got a whole first sock done, and the toe of the second one.


Pattern: Netherfield.  Yarn: Serendipitous Ewe fingering weight, in Silver Shadows. 

If you decide to knit these, note that I changed the toe, because as written, the original one reminded me too much of a nipple. 

I know it would have looked fine on a foot, but I couldn’t do it. I ripped it, and replaced it with a regular toe up toe starting on 16 stitches.

My cab/dinner/dark knitting is moving along just fine too, and producing a pair of socks I deeply regret making in another person’s size. 

Pattern: none. Just a regular sock. Yarn: String Theory’s Continuum, Colourway is on the ball band at home, so you’re guess is a good as mine, but who cares? It’s a self striping yarn with big stripes! Who wouldn’t want that in any colourway?  I love self striping yarns.  Love them, always have, always will, don’t care who knows it.  Those socks are so much fun that I’ve actually been rationing them so they aren’t over too fast.

This knitting on the side of the book tour means that I’ll likely go home with two new pairs of socks (one for me, one for Christmas) and a scarf, and a sweater, which isn’t bad at all considering how much else has been going on – coughTHANKSALOTGWENcough.

What have you been knitting?