Friday, April 6

This post is specifically for all my knitting friends. I know I’ve been VERY remiss in talking about or showing any knitting thus far. For a long time after my bike accident, it wasn’t comfortable to knit, so I did some beading which was easier on my hands. However, I do have a very few photos showing the meager amount of knitting done thus far during the trip. I quickly discovered that my shadow knitting project was better suited to longer train, bus and plane rides, so I haven’t made as much progress on the Sawtooth sweater as I’d anticipated. However, we’ll be going to Melbourne in a week, so I expect to knit several inches during that 5 day period. I’m at the point where there are 336 stitches to each row and the gauge is 11½ rows to the inch, so each little bit is major progress! For my short bus, train & ferry rides, I’ve been making beaded cuffs, which are easy to pack around and provide very good instant gratification. I can delude myself into a sense of accomplishment, since they work up rather quickly. I’ve attached pictures of a few pair that have been completed. The beading experiments have been fun, and I’m rapidly learning which stitches I enjoy as opposed to those I tolerate in the name of finished product. I had to laugh at myself in attempting a “lariat” style necklace – which is 42 inched long, and made of size 11 seed beads. I was so enamored with the lacy pattern, and of course by the time one has completed a few centimeters, one just can’t quit. Surprisingly many hours went into creating this rather simple looking chain, and I have yet to add the embellishment at either end. Here are a few of my initial forays into beading and jewelry making.