Back In The Jug Agane...

...in the immortal words of Nigel Molesworth, the goriller of 3B.

Returning to everyday life after the Christmas and New Year break is always painful, I can't remember what I was doing, what the plan was, what on earth was happening or why it all seemed so important. I didn't even have a single meeting in my diary today, and a significant number of people have not returned yet from Planet Christmas. Those of us who were here sat quietly staring at our LCD screens trying not to attract attention. I've eaten a normal packed lunch, which seems like starvation rations compared to what I have been subsisting on, and I had to get up while it was still dark. Snivel. Tomorrow I'm going back to the gym. Snivel, snivel.

During the day I have managed to acquire two new meetings for the rest of the week and a list of key points for Q1 2007. So tomorrow I may feel more like I know what I am supposed to be doing.

I managed to finish the tiger socks on New Year's Eve, here modelled by their proud owner.

and yesterday I cast on for Ivy. Here's how far I have got.


I am using Patons Diploma Gold DK in Lupin colourway. It doesn't seem to be a very complicated knit, and the twisted rib pattern is rather pretty. The most difficult part of Ivy seems to be the simultaneous decreases and increases on the fronts, however I have worked through the pattern and extracted information, which I shall put into a spreadsheet, so that I can easily see what I have to do for each row.

I'm looking forward to making progress on this, it will be the first fitted garment I have knitted for six or seven years. It is also a much better written pattern than I have used in the past, and I am confident I have improved my finishing skills (my mother never told me much about blocking other than that it was a waste of time), so all in all I'm quite excited about how it will turn out.