This morning I finished off the second Broadripple sock to get the pair done in my target time of a week which I'm rather impressed with. I'm putting my knitting energy into my second Pablo Blue sock, and casting on for another pair of Slalom socks, this time in some rather lovely purple Admiral Bambus. I'm quite taken with the idea of wearing something as unusual as bamboo on my feet, but I'm feeling rather uncertain about the amount of people who've told me that the Admiral yarns are often somewhat short on weight and yardage, and with my rather long feet and need for a slightly longer cuff due to my love of Converse all stars and Dr Martin boots I'm a little frowny about running out. However my not particularly great kitchen scales (wonderful for measuring out recipe ingredients, not so skilled at measuring tricky items like sock wool) seem to suggest that I might have a full skein. I think I shall still be knitting rather nervously towards the toe of sock number two I think.

This weekend also sees me going off on my jollies for a week to that paradise of yarn shops London. With a two hour train journey there, and another one back there should be plenty of opportunity for me to get stuck into my current sock projects. Not to mention the fact that I'll be dragging lsb to lots of lovely yarn shops and to meet lots of lovely London knitters. So I shall be going off the radar for a short while, but rest assured I shall be back soon. 

My attempt at an arty shot of the finished spiral socks. You can just about see the spiral round the side. 

 and then photos of my newly finished first Broadripple sock. The second one's well under way and it looks pretty good so far and knitting up very quickly, the downside to this being losing some of hardwearing quality of smaller gauge knitting. Though I could get used to the idea of knitting a pair of socks in under a week. I've also got my sock knitting mojo back and finally managed to shake off those oh so pesky random ladders that have been plaguing me for weeks. 

I've also been perusing the new Cat Bordhi book, while I love some of the stitch patterns (particularly the sock knitted in linen stitch, how did I ever miss that one?) and the concept of knitting a mini practice sock I'm not sure there's anything that really leaps out and demands to be knitted. I'm quite into the idea of playing with the location of the gusset and making a really unusual unique sort of sock, but how practical this would be I just don't know, it seems pretty cool though and maybe one for my more adventurous moods.

My latest wip. In a very in progress state. I love this yarn but have no idea of it's origins other than being gifted to me by my knitter mother. I love this pattern (Rob Matyska's broadripple socks from knitty.com) thought I'm not enthused about the instruction to only use 4 needles after picking up the gusset stitches. I'm a 5 needles sort of girl and 4 just feels like doing something back to front. What I do love however is just how quickly these socks are knitting up. I started them yesterday morning and managed to do the first 6 inches of leg in between taking 2 long walks, playing housewife and slacking about the house watching eddie izzard. So given that I don't consider myself to be a particularly fast knitter (not in comparison to the lightening quick needle skills of my mother and maternal grandmother anyway) I think I'm doing quite well. And now as It's such a lovely sunny day here in Yorkshire I'm going to go and enjoy it by listening to some free punk music in the park for the afternoon. More updates when I get home.

Another part in my seemingly never ending series of knitting shots from the bowling green. This time I've managed to get two socks in the same but different places. In green my toe up pablo blue socks and in pink the second of my flamingo socks of my own design. After getting past the heel with the pablo blue I'm thinking that toe up is the way to go for me. And I'm suprised at how uncomplicated the process is, especially as the thought of a toe up sock has always been slightly out of my comfort zone for some reason. Today marks the start of my summer break, and although I'm ready for it I'm a bit sorry to have to be away from my placement for the next 4 weeks. I do intend though to use the next few weeks (once I've finished typing up a few things) to get a whole lot of knitting done, and hopefully while not breaking the bank quite a bit of yarn shopping in the capital. I'm also keen to do some more designing, I'll be the first to admit my current spiral sock isn't the most adventurous or interesting design but it has reminded me of my past and all the fashion design I did in my teens and although my not very good art skills stopped me from turning it into a career there's no reason why I can't turn my hand to a little designing in the privacy of my own little world.

My latest wip. Apologies for the terrible picture quality, but I'm at work and only have camera phone with me. This is my travelling project for the moment and the one I have a sneaky 5 minutes with when all is quiet in the office. I love the yarn and the pattern is a very simple one of my own design but again I'm not sure if the photo quality is good enough to show up the spirals on the sock. Better pictures to follow from my real camera, though what I wouldn't give for a canon eos 450 d. I've had a pretty busy couple of weeks on placement but am coming to the end of my first period here before i start my summer holidays. I've really enjoyed all the things I've been able to do. And working with people who have problems engaging means you spend your working days doing some pretty odd and not very work like things. A lot of the service users have been quite interested in my knitting and I've even promised to teach one or two how to knit before I leave in september.

Very quick note to let people know I'm still alive, buried under a mountain of paperwork but still alive... just.

I have two more weeks after this one on placement before I go on my summer holidays, so it's something of a panicked rush to get things signed off for university, get reflective pieces written, manage my own mini caseload and other things besides as well as finding time to knit. I may disappear off the radar for a week or so just while things calm down but I'll be back soon, hopefully with lots of photos of works in progress and my latest few finished objects.

I just finished my second gentleman sock with this much yarn to spare. A bit of a close call i think.