Knittipina Report 002

Sometimes people go off their favorite activities for different reasons:

1) An alternate hobby has become their obsession. In an effort to simplify my life, I divided my interests into 3 main areas: gadgets, knitting, and fountain pens. For a good while, fountain pen collecting took over my daily thoughts. Once I started winning auctions on eBay I was, for a while, on a roll. When I tallied how much I had spent on fountain pens and inks and paper since the start of this year, I realized it was practically the equivalent of what I spent on knitting needles and yarns and pattern books last year. Prudence made me decide to stop and enjoy what I already owned for the meantime. (Since all my gadgets worked fine, there was no need to add to them, or to their accessories.)

2) Health issues. My thyroid was acting up, and I couldn't really concentrate much on projects. Now that my cyst has lessened in size, I no longer worry about it as much.

3) Travel. I brought my lace knitting with me from Cavite all the way to Laoag (practically the left coast of Luzon island) and back, for an international family reunion -- and managed to knit ONE INCH of pattern. Happily, it was much admired by my aunties, who have been knitting and crocheting since their teens. A couple of weeks later I brought the lace with me to the beach island of Boracay -- and managed to knit ANOTHER ONE INCH. Oh well, I was trying not to get any sunblock on my knitting. I did manage to knit on the beach front, and elicited the attention and conversation of a German lady on vacation.

Check out how far those trips were here on Encarta. Cavite is near Metro Manila, towards the bottom of Luzon. Laoag is on the top left of the island. And Boracay Island is just at the northern tip of Panay, across the city of Kalibo.

By the way, the summer stole is now around 24" in length.

4) Eyesight. The ear piece of my sexy librarian glasses broke off. This is what happens when you wrestle with little children. Fortunately, I have gotten new frames, although not as sexy as my old ones.

Enough with the excuses already! Suffice it to say that I have regained some of my knitting mojo since meeting up with Jinky (a friend from Ravelry), who recently arrived from abroad. We visited one of our favorite fabric-threads-notions superstores, Carolina's Megamall, and Jinky went home with some Monaco Raylon (200gms in cones) in really pretty colors.

Tonight, while watching a dvd I shall attempt to knit another inch or so of lace.

TDM's ribbed boyfriend socks are still stuck at the heel flap. I happened to choose a dark blue merino that makes it difficult for me to see my own stitches!

In the meantime, am planning to make some pink baby socks for Gene's newborn Una. And planning to finally meet up with Mimi, whose cappuccino socks have been with me since December.

Incredible Joie suffered a theft - some guy broke into her car while it was parked in front of her daughter's preschool, and stole her crochet WIP bag! She lost a set of crochet hooks and several squares for a baby blanket, plus a crochet reference book. Fortunately, except for the baby blanket squares, we were able to replace everything, even the broken car window. This didn't stop her... she has beaten me with her number of crochet Finished Objects. I may add some photos later, when she's organized her hard drive.

Cheers, friends :) I am knitting on!