what happens when one flies away…
The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of activities to get my husband ready for his move to Abu Dhabi: passport pictures to be taken, bank accounts to be opened and bathtub to be cleaned – one of his agreed to “duties” for household chorus. After spraying the walls with bleach and washing them down, all was in order by Thursday evening. The next morning I can hear some cursing through the splatter of the shower water and wonder if our hot water for the building has been turned off again as it happens once in a while. No, it’s just the bathtub not draining – at all! Great! The plane does not wait and so it was up to me to figure out a solution. Oh, how I wished that my husband had not dismissed my comments about water backlog in the tub for the past few weeks…:)
First the plunger: That made things worse as now the overflow pipe got flushed through and spewed out black spots of yucky slime. Next came some bleach – nope did not help neither. It actually may have made things worse. Luckily, we have a second bathroom and shower so I was able to freshen up before going into the next round of removing the clog in the pipe. (Note to self: may be, we do need a second full bathroom in our Abu Dhabi rental?) Rummaging through closets I found a wire snake to insert into the pipe: it did not fit through the grate holes. ARRghhh! Knitting needle: not long and bendy enough. Now, the swearing started! Ok, a can of “One-second plumber” is sitting on a shelf- I am convinced that will work. One blast: nothing. Second and third: still nothing and this is where I am supposed to call the plumber. Hell, no! Off to the closest store and some good, old Drano as an last attempt. And, yes, finally it worked! Flushed it through with some hot water and the pipes are running clear again. Success!
Surely, I had earned time for knitting and resumed my time-trial for socks. The second sock in grey was just finished yesterday and here are the final results:
A pair of socks with the magic loop and two-at-a-time took 10 hours 45 minutes.
A pair of socks on DPNs takes only 8 hours 30 minutes.
A pair of socks on two circulars takes 8 hours and 30 minutes as well.
Yes! Knitting with DPNs is not slower than the other methods! I think my speed comes from pushing the DPNs into the knitting to set up for the next round without letting go of my yarn. Still one question beckons: Is it the same speed to knit two socks-at-a-time on two circular needles? I am not so sure about that, since the untangling of the two yarn balls adds time. Additionally, the turning point when I switch from one needle to the other and push my knitting into position slows it down again. It will be something to work on in the future, but in the meantime I like to knit a different sock pattern. May be, in this colourful, hand-painted sock wool I found in a sale bin at the Beach Basket Yarns & Gifts store in Birch Bay, USA. It is a German Opal yarn from a few years ago named “Malerische Schoenheiten” which translates to “Painted beauties”. It is indeed hand-painted in yellow, purple and aqua and very unique.
Besides the test knit shawl, which is almost finished, I have this pretty cowl named “Stacks” by Liisa Nieminen on my needles. It was given to all participants during our speed-knitting class. I love the interplay of smooth stockinette with bumpy purl sections divided by slipstitches and the only thing I might change is the height of it. I am a frugal knitter and want to end the cowl with the yarn left in the ball after the two swatches. 🙂
I love to have at least two knit projects on my needles: one to carry around with me for sitting on the bus or while waiting in lines, the other to knit at home with a more intricate pattern or larger and not fitting into my handbag. As there is a new opening for the next item I am looking through my stash and what would be great to use up before I move. There are these lovely mini-skeins of many pretty colours which shall become a “Striped scrap”hat:
My plan is to knit them up from left (brown) to right (purple). They are my reminder and the left-over wool of my three seasons of knitting hats and fingerless mittens for sale at Vancouver Christmas Fairs.
Until next week!
beecosydesign 