The End Of A Relationship

I will likely have few FO’s to blog about in the near future so I’m darn well going to blog about this one. I apologise for the quality of these photos. They were taken en route to Nova Scotia from my vantage point in the back of our van. I’d take other, more artistic and stimulating pictures of these socks but I’ve…um…kind of lost them in the moving mess. I’m sure I’ll find them again. I type that with the greatest confidence. Until then, here’s FO proof:

Yes, this marks the end of my first pair of socks relationship.

It was a fun ride. I’ve learned a lot from these. For example, I learned:

• That I can use DPNs after all and
• That I’m willing to try knitting two socks at the same time but probably need more DPN and sock practice first (I want to bully those DPNs into submission before I learn another way. Don’t ask me why).

If anyone has any great sock pattern books to recommend, I’d appreciate it.

These first socks also taught me that I need to go down several needle sizes. The fabric in these socks is certainly looser than I’d prefer but, hey, they’re my first and I’m not so much of a perfectionist that I’d rip them out for a tighter weave. I did knit a gauge swatch before starting on these but my knitting loosened up as I went onto sock number two. Therefore, my second sock is a wee bit larger than sock number one (betcha couldn’t tell that from the pictures, huh? There’s something to be said for poor picture quality after all – it hides a myriad of mistakes!). I’m going to try and knit my next pair in a pair of needles more suited to socks (usually 2.25 mm’s, right?) as these were knit using 3.25 mm needles. I must have been a wee bit tense when I knit those swatches…

We have arrived to our beautiful house in Middleton, Nova Scotia and are back online! Thank goodness. It turns out that DH and I rely on the Internet quite a bit. For example, here is a sample of a typical conversation around here our first week:

DH: "Do you think the grocery store is closed yet?"
Me: "I dunno. Why don’t you call them and find out?"
DH: "I don’t have their number."
Me: "Duh. Just use ‘Canada 411’ to find it. Oh. Right. Sorry. (This said meekly) Want to walk up and see if it’s still open?"

Travelling with a newborn was fun. Well, depending on your idea of fun. We stopped every 2 hours or so so that I could nurse. Otherwise, Iain slept most of the way. I’ve decided that the only way I might get any knitting accomplished again in 2007 is to have DH drive around the block continuously with Iain and I in the back – me knitting vigorously and Iain asleep beside me.

Our trip East involved a ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. Here I am, looking exceptionally tired (because I was/am!), on Iain’s first ferry ride:

Iain had no sign of sea-sickness. Let's hope he hasn't inherited that trait from his mother. Here’s a much better picture summarising what Iain thought of the whole adventure:

A couple of people commented on our use of cloth diapers and if we were using cloth or disposable diapers for the trip East. We used disposable. Our 12 hour driving day on the Saturday was going to be bad enough without having to try and wash diapers when we got into our hotel very late that night. We are now back to the cloth diapers, however, especially after stocking up with more from our nice trip to the Valley Cloth Diaper Company for extra Fuzzibuns and Bummis covers for our pre-fold diapers yesterday. I’m sure we will still use disposable for trips but I really prefer the cloth option at home.

My blogiversary is coming up on the 21st of this month. I can’t believe what a fun journey this blogging adventure has been. I’ve met so many wonderful people through blogging and I want to let you know how much you mean to me. Get primed for a contest! I’ve never hosted one on my blog before so I’m very excited. Even if I can’t knit with a newborn, I’m hoping that, with DH’s help, I can shop for knitting with a newborn!