Back in February, when I left my home for what turned out to be more than two months work away (it was originally only going to be one month), I gave a lot of thought to what projects I wanted to bring. I decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to finish off some UFOs, as being away from my stash would force me into project monogamy. That thought also worked well in conjunction with the rule I set myself: no new yarn until the stash is under 10 kms long (when I left, the stash was 17+ kms). I brought with me two unfinished pairs of socks, and yarn for a small new project, the Eyelet Rib Bandeau.
Now that it is the day before I leave for home, it is time for a review. How did it all work out? Well, I finished one pair of socks, my Millicents. They only really needed one foot knit. I also discovered an error in the pattern, mentioned in this Ravelry thread.
Cara’s socks… are not done, but now only need one foot knit. This is starting to sound familiar. I don’t get second sock syndrome, I quite enjoy casting on the second sock. I just need to stall before I finish the foot, apparently.
The Eyelet Rib Bandeau: I swatched for it, and decided I didn’t like the way the stitch pattern looked, and was starting to doubt how much I’d wear the finished product (I still think it is super cute!). So, I looked around for something to cast on. I was hampered by the fact that I only had two knitting magazines here, and one book (and of course, teh internets). The book was Favorite Socks, which was no help for using up Rowan Cashsoft DK. This is where Ravelry came in handy, with the new experimental search. I found that I had enough yarn for another project I wanted to make, that was in the same magazine as the Bandeau! So, I cast on for the Clementine Shawlette.
I actually got a lot of this done backstage at the opera. I had almost no cues in all of act 3, plus I was stuck upstairs alone on the upstage side of balcony. There were windows and French doors all along it, so once the show started, I couldn’t move from where I was without being seen. So I’d sit down on the ground (no room for a chair!) and knit away. This helped with memorizing the pattern, I didn’t want to have too many loose bits up there that could accidentally get kicked over the edge. I memorized the pattern so I wouldn’t have to have the magazine up there.
I love that it is knit in two halves, rather than one piece, because I can use up every inch of yarn by just knitting until ball #2 runs out, then start again.
I’m not sure if I’ll keep this knit. I have a friend in mind who is going through a bad time, and I thought it might be nice for her, although I don’t know if she’d use it. I may just start a Christmas present box. That’s a novel concept; knitting Christmas gifts in April!
Last night I finished the first half, I’m going to start the second half today.
This trip was not without stash aquisition though: I got a great closing night gift from one of my co-workers:
Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn! Yum! His girlfriend is a knitter, but she maintains that her only input was the idea of getting me yarn, and that he picked the yarn and colour by himself. Impressive. 
Those two pictures are the same skein, I love all the colours in it!
I’ve been enjoying cooking, being in my own kitchen, cuddling on my own couch, listening to podcasts, sitting at my desk, sorting things out, and all sorts of other wonderful little homey puttering tasks.
