My Knitting Bag.

A call from the screen. Stripes in many colours –
cerise, puce, cranberry, pistachio, ochre,
deep purple
strong enough
to handle the world.
Gold shoes.
Pockets full of life necessities:
hooks
needles
tape measures
stitch markers
row counters
tension gauges
yarn swatches
tip protectors.
Scissors.
A rhomboid mouth to let the length out
untangled.
Spacious enough for my
crochety productions.
Can creativity be carried
in a bag?

Long-listed!

Yesterday I received a letter from The Writers' Union of Canada. A story I submitted for their Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers made it to the top 115! I was not a finalist, of course, but I made the first cut! There are two of me right now, because I am beside myself with joy. This was my second story ever written.

The letter came with a review provided by the original reader and contained some really nice things like "great command of language" and "well-written" and "nicely done, a good idea". Unfortunately, the reader missed the point of the story, so obviously I need to work a lot harder.

Socks, socks, socks...

Knitting like a fiend with the Hobby Print yarn to have at least one sock in the Jaywalker pattern finished. By the number of stitches I have made at least two and two-thirds of a sock so far, but nothing to show for it yet. Why does everybody else's Jaywalker look so great and mine does not? As I am knitting this infernal sock I am learning a lot about self-striping yarns, how they pattern, and - of course - about colour dynamics (whole blog about that). But this time the sock seems to be really wide in the foot - sock mechanics problem here. Around the leg and heel it is just right although loose, but the foot... Well, I will just follow it to the end and see it how it ends. On the photo the top looks saggy as well. If in the end the pattern does work out for me, I will make the second size smaller (it was too tight in the Lorna's Laces, but this yarn has much more give). Live and learn. By the end I will know the right size in the two yarns, but not a well-fitted pair of socks.

But the Tomatomus looks great, though.

I went to Angela's today just to get extra sets of dbl needles, b/c the Pomatomus pattern specifically spells out that you need five for the foot. Have not gotten to that part yet, but if I get going I do not want to get stuck. I am sure that one could probably wing it on 4 needles, but I will not risk it. I know they are not artsy, but I like metal needles. I have never tried wood or bamboo and with two sons as mad as mine I am not going to try my luck with such fragile items - their life expectancy in my house would be measured in seconds. Do you think I have enough? ;-) I think I found a right ribbon there as well for the Lace Number I am trying to finish.

And I started socks in Tofutsies in a crazy yellow-blue-green colourway. Nice and tight twisted rib, if I only cast on 66 stitches I could be following the Spring pattern, but I followed the 8 Stitches-to-an-Inch pattern by Ann Budd and I have 74 stitches. These will have to wait until after the Tomatomu, Jaywalkers and Jimm's vest aka the Twenty Years Vest are done. Colour looks good, though.

Ideas to follow:

The Little Blue Sweater.

Freedom Knitters.

Pani's Lilac Crochet Sweater.

Things I Crocheted in Poland and Their Stories.

Home Ed Class and the Girls from Rybnicka Street.

The 1933 Sewing Class.

Silesian Lace.