Sock it to me

On the Saturday evening that Tash and I arrived in New Plymouth last weekend, we were both so tired we bought a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers, and sat in our cute little cabin drinking, eating, watching TV, and knitting the night away. It was so nice and I got to start the heel flap of my first sock which I then continued at Monday night Knitting Circle.



It's a whole lot of slip one, knit one on the right side and then slip one and purl the rest on the wrong side. Tash said this makes it stronger and more durable because the heel is where socks often get the most wear and tear. I believe her because she's a knitting super star, but it's still pretty slow going.

At Monday night Knitting Circle a nice new Canadian girl came along and finished the first of a pair of these socks from Knitty. She said she doesn't know how long it will be until she starts the second sock and I said it doesn't matter because this sock is so pretty she could just hang it on the wall and admire it as a piece of art. I had to use the flash on the camera because the lighting isn't very good in our little knitting corner, so the photo doesn't do justice to the true colour of the socks.


At the beginning of this week I also got some lovely mail. I love getting real mail just as much as I love sending it.


One letter was from my old flatmate Lauren who is currently away being a camp counsellor at Camp America. The letter came all the way from Westchester, New York (see the postmark!). The other letter was from Steph. After visiting her when I was down South at the beginning of the month, I sent her a book of short stories and a little card to say thanks for having me for afternoon tea. The afternoon I visited one of the many things we talked about was reading and finding the time for it, which is more of a legitimate problem for Steph than for me, as she has twin little boys. Steph said another mother she knew had recommended that she get back into reading through poems and short stories, so I thought Steph could do with a shiny new short story book to get her going. I got her Relief by Anna Taylor. Relief is Taylor's first book and it won the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award 2010. It's on my massive list of books to read. It was so nice to get a real live letter in the mail from Steph saying thank you!