And a knitting update

I got another wonderful surpise in the mail just before going on holiday - a needle case that my mother had sewn for me. She designed it herself, and apparently it's made from two cheap tea-towels she found. It's just gorgeous and works a treat, and I'm sure she could go into business making them should she want. My mother is great :)

Here it is, closed:
Here it is unrolled:
And here it is open, with all my needles inside. Note the lack of medium size needles - that's coz they're all being used for my half-finished scarf projects.

And here's what I've been knitting recently:

The socks for Terry are coming along nicely, though it took me four attempts to get the toe to be comfortable for her. My wife has long toes, so the sock ended up looking a little more pointy at the end than I'd have liked. With the next one, I may try doing 2 rows of straight knitting between the first half dozen decreases. And to clarify the pattern, from my horribly unclear earlier description. Rows 1 and 2: k2 p2. Rows 3 and 4: knit. So you get 2 rows of ribbing followed by 2 rows of stockinette. And it makes the little squares you can sort of see in the picture (it's clearer if you click on the image here to see it in large view). The stewardess on our flight back from Providence saw me knitting these, and wants 4 pairs for her grandkids for Christmas. Looks like I might have to learn that "2 socks on 2 circulars" technique sooner than I'd planned!

And here's my latest project: two handed fair isle. It's going to be a hat, if that isn't obvious already (Here's the class model if that helps). Tuesday night was my class at City Knits, where Karen spent most of the 2 hours teaching me how to knit continental fashion, and then showing me how to carry two colours at once, and change between them. I got the first 3 rows done in class; the rest has been on my own since then. I may even have it finished before next Tuesday, and it's meant to be a three week class. Oops. I may do a bunch of these hats as Christmas gifts too. And I want to start looking for fair isle patterns that I like ... wonder how long it'll be before I can tackle Alice Starmore stuff...

We've got a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina tonight: Terry and, from New York, wonderful bluesy singer-songwriter Trina Hamlin. We're running the whole thing, sound, lights, you name it, which is why since getting back from holiday, things have been right back to their usual hectic-ness. Anyone within driving distance of Auburn Hills is very welcome - details, time, address and information is on Terry's website. Then Friday, we're off on retreat with the Young Adult group from church for the weekend. We've even got the theme song almost written - usually that's not ready until..oh.. 2am on Friday. I'll be taking hat and socks with me, and hopefully can show off some finished objects on Monday.

Have a great weekend!