fo, blanket progress, and new knitting group news!

Wow, it has been a crazy week here at the Platypus Gardens.

Bill got an awesome new job a few months ago, but because he is so new, there is no way he would be able to get any significant time off at Christmas time. BUT he managed to get four days off in a row in the beginning of December by working three 11 hour days straight.

So this past week while he was at work I spent my days toddler wrangling and also trying to prepare for a trip up north. I cooked, cleaned, took TW for walks and packed what I could. All the while slipping in a few moments of knitting here and there.

Just before we left I finished the simple cabled socks I had been working on:

socks on a plane(rav link)

in Dorchester Farms Handpainted sock yarn

my usual two at once toe up construction on US 1 (2.25mm) 40 inch circulars

(project's Ravelry page)

I thought it was a very auspicious start to our trip to be wearing a brand new pair of hand knit socks.

While I knew we would be busy visiting family I also knew that it was a 3 1/2 hr drive up and another 3 1/2 hr drive home, so I brought my knitting along. I had hoped to work on the sheep shawl, but unfortunately reading the chart made me carsick, so I spent the whole trip working on my hand-spun blanket instead. I finished the second ball of blue yarn, and got about halfway though the third by the time we got home. That's some pretty good progress!

Since it's been so busy this past week that’s all the progress I have to show you for now. But I have awesome news on the knitting group front:

you may remember that when we lived back up north I attended a knitting group on Monday nights at a local coffee house. When we moved I was sad to be leaving them, but soon found a new (also on Monday!) group here in Troy. They met at Flavor's cafe and I made a ton of friends and had a great time knitting and socializing. Sadly this past spring Flavor's was targeted by an arsonist and burnt down. Reconstruction faced many delays and I was once again left knit-groupless (although many of us still kept in contact via facbook, ravelry and other social networks) then a month or so ago, thanks to Ravelry, I discovered another group of knitters that meets at a (semi)local cafe on Saturday afternoons. Luckily, Bills new work schedule allowed me to stop in a few times, and I really enjoyed myself! It turns out that the cafe's owner is also knitter, and also very good at promotion and networking, and one thing lead to another and now the old Monday group from Flavors will be meeting there as well! So now I have TWO groups a week I can choose from, one on Monday evenings, and one on Saturday afternoons! And Bill's new schedule at work is such that if I want I can attend both while he hangs out with TW! Yay!