Last day of vacation

Yes, tomorrow I get back to work again, after having had three weeks off. After preparing for the big party for the first week, then having a house full of people for almost all of the second week, the last week has been spent mostly on the couch or out by the pool. I just wish we could have had more days with nicer weather! But I've gotten a lot of knitting done!

I'll start by showing off my most recent purchases though. A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a new sock book (like I needed more!): Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. 

The socks in this one are really gorgeous, and there is lots of technique talk in it as well. 

I also got myself a book that I've been looking for for a while: Think outside the Sox, edited by Elaine Rowley.

This one is just so much fun! There are so many wonky techniques in it, and many, many gorgeous patterns as well! A lot of it looks pretty difficult, but the instructions seem very clear, with lots of explanatory pictures as well. Plus, there is always YouTube!

I also caved in and bought myself even more yarn this past week! I was just itching to cast on for the Bigger on the Inside shawl, and I didn't have any fitting blue yarn in the stash. Believe it or not! But blue is one of those colours that I very rarely use, other than jeans, so I don't have very much yarn in that colour either. I was going to get myself some Cascade fingering yarn, but the colourway I wanted was out of stock, so I bought some swedish yarn instead, Kampes 2-ply wool (300 m/100g, 100 % wool, colourway Cobolt Blue). And the colour is just perfect!

It is almost perfect TARDIS blue, even though it looks a bit bright in the flash photo (rainy days here), and I'm already almost half-way through the shawl! It's sport weight and just flies off the needles. Although the picking up of 431 stitches didn't really fly by...

It's hard to see what it looks like, since my only 3 mm needle is a bit short, but it will be gorgeous. I don't know what I'll wear it with, as I don't really own much that match with this kind of bright blue, but I'll solve it somehow.

I've also been working a lot on the Urdr shawl, and that too is looking like a bowl of wet noodles as it's still on the needles. I'm not sure that this yarn (Garnstudio Drops Lace, 800 m/100 g,  70 % alpaca/30 % silk),  is working with nups, but the problem is that I don't think that they'll show up so it won't matter if they're there. I'll do them anyway and hope that the blocking will sort it out.

This past week I've been trying hard not to sleep too long in the mornings, since I need to be able to get up for work next week, and I've been listening to a lot of podcast novels on iTunes while Thomas has slept. I really love the concept of free podcast novels! I've listened to a lot of Scott Sigler before, and I really enjoy his books! Right now I'm listening to The Leviathan Chronicles, by Chrisof Laputka, which is really more of an audio drama (think of the old times radio shows, like War of the Worlds!), and it is very good. If you're into sci-fi and audio books, I really recommend this one. I think it might be available on Audible as well, but I haven't checked so I'm not sure. I know that Scott Sigler is on Audible, at least.

Oh, and I actually have some pretty important news too! We've added another person to our little family! Let me introduce you to Toki Wartooth, our brand new little Devon Rex kitten:

Isn't he gorgeous! He's 16,5 weeks old, and completely crazy and energetic. When he's not sleeping. Hobbe hasn't really decided what to make of this little hurricane yet, but they're getting friendlier and friendlier. They only hissed at each other the first day, and now they're chasing each other around the house and playing together. As they started washing each other the other day I think they'll be good friends eventually. We're just so thrilled to finally have a little kitten again! I'm just trying hard to teach him that yarn is NOT a toy in this house!

Now I need to go wind some more yarn, as my first skein of Kampes is almost used up. Let's see what Toki makes of the ball winder and swift...

/ Jenny