Weekend Report

This past weekend I went away for a long weekend in Derbyshire with a collection (not sure what the collective noun for a group of stitchers should be) of UK stitchers. Four days of sunshine (for the most part) stitching, knitting, eating, drinking and laughing was the best medicine and I now know that I can once again cope with being in a large group of people without freaking out & having a panic attack. The place we stayed (Dove Farm) was ideal and even had its own herd of alpacas that included an adorable baby called Cocoa, before leaving we had to count the alpacas to check that none had been kidnapped. The cottages were also in easy reach of a lovely patchwork shop where I just had to visit and I gave in to the need to have some fabric.

While away I managed to make good progress on the pre-stitching for one of this years classes and also on the UFO round robin that I am currently participating in. I also gained a new obsession – sock knitting. I managed with a tonne of help from Maria, Karoline and Paula, to make a great start on my first ever sock.

Awhile back I had purchased several balls of sock yarn convinced that I would be able to teach myself how to knit socks but after several failed attempts put the yarn in the back of the wardrobe. Now all I want to do is knit socks. To ease the pain of having to return to work after a four-day weekend I spent my lunchtime searching the web for free sock patterns and sources of inspirations & supplies for sock knitting. I have to confess that, despite being on the stash wagon (for knitting, stitching and beading), I also acquired 3 balls of sock yarn over the weekend and gave into clicky finger syndrome at lunchtime today and purchased enough wool to make another 3 pairs of socks. I had always planned to allow myself a reward for reaching the halfway point on my 50 Projects Challenge so I shall just count the purchase of sock wool as my reward even though I am a few finishes away from the 25 mark. I can see that I am going to have to start a new stash list just for sock yarn as I can see that as soon as the challenge is over I shall be making several purchases.