More Christmas

They say, "Christmas comes but once a year". Somehow this year mine is extending beyond the usual limits. One of my gifts on Christmas morning was a bright, original, creative gift voucher. It was so nicely done that it would have made a gift in itself, but it actually had money in it too. My friend A knew that I would like a textile book as my gift, but they don't have a good range of those where she lives. Since she's only 16 and works hard for her money, I particularly appreciated her generosity. This week the Guild Craft Supply is open again. The voucher felt so special, that I took the whole thing along with me to chose a book. I'm not sure that the women on duty quite knew what to make of it: it's big and bright and was quite obvious in my hands. I found this book on sock knitting: It fits all my criteria for a good textile book: clearly and attractively presented, with lots of principles and techniques and a few good examples of work. It seems to cover all the basics of knitting socks, plus contains lots of scope for exploring and designing my own.

I've been wanting to learn to knit socks for a few years now. The major impediment--apart from my usual preoccupations and distractions--is the fact that I normally knit with a needle under my arm. That just doesn't go with the 4 double pointed needles required to knit a sock. I've gradually been getting used to using circular needles and am just about ready to try the double pointed ones again. Of course, my usual preoccupations and distractions haven't gone away; and I do have the work for my Spinning Certificate folio to get done, but now I have one more valuable resource to help me, and the added motivation of a happy Christmas gift to encourage me on my way.