scifiknitter

One of my daughter's best friends is a young woman she met at science day camp at McGill 5 years ago. When my daughter went up to Montreal for orientation at the beginning of her first year at McGill, S. was there, working as a tour guide for new students. S. also showed up, with tools, on the day my daughter moved into her first apartment and needed help putting together 6 pieces of disassembled furniture. My husband and I have seen S. on many occasions since, including when she visited our home last year. S. has dual citizenship with Canada and Syria. She makes a trip to Syria annually, and brings back interesting goodies like Syrian cumin in huge bags. She noticed that I love to wear pashmina scarves, which my daughter gets for me in Montreal at a reasonable price. S. told me that she could get them in Syria for a song, and said that she would pick up a few for me the next time she traveled that way. S. came back from Syria in January with five pashminas for me! Such a generous ...

I was able to complete these socks over the short vacation I just took. Five days, with much of two days spent in travel. We visited friends in Connecticut, and my dad and stepmother on Cape Cod. I could have used one more day on the Cape, but soon I will have 11 days off in a row, so I am not complaining. These socks were designed by Cat Bordhi and were in the Summer 2008 issue of Knitter's magazine. They are probably the most perfectly designed pattern I have ever knit. I knit them in Knitpick's gloss yarn, a 70% merino wool 30% silk blend. The yarn is as scrumptious as the pattern. It's very rewarding to use such a fine material to materialize such a fine vision. The socks are knit in twisted rib, which makes the raised stitches "pop". It takes more time to knit a ribbed fabric as the yarn is constantly moving from front to back. Some things are worth more time. The top of the sock is lovely, with embedded leaves, but nothing screams a truly distinctive design ...