Electric Fences Mock Me . . Sue Finch is the author of Magnifying Glass, Welcome to the Museum of a Life, and Vortex Over Wave. She loves the coast, peculiar things, and the scent of ice-cream free…

As if by magic - a second sock appeared! Well, not magic obviously, by spending some time knitting. It's funny that many people experience what is known as 'second sock syndrome', where they they will happily zip through making the first sock of a pair, but stall on the second. I seem to have the opposite. Once one sock is made, the other wants to get done and make the socks ready for use. It's also helpful that this past week we have been taking things a little more gently due to a nasty throat/chest virus thing that got me first and then moved on to my lovely wife.

So, I did it. I finally finished the first sock last night. Well, almost. I still need to graft the remaining 12 stitches at the toe. This sock has a graft that is at 90 degrees to the usual one. Instead of joining the remaining stitches top and bottom along the top of the toes, this one decreases more (which is why I only have 12 stitches left rather than 24) then joins the left and right stitches together down the centre of the toes. I can't remember where I first came across this toe shape for socks, but it works really well.

I went to my local yarn shop's (Yarn O'clock) social evening last week and, as I'd hoped, made some good progress on the sock. The gusset decreases are now completed and I'm on the main part of the foot. In theory it shouldn't take long now to finish this sock, but that only works if you actually pick it up and I haven't done any more on it since last Wednesday! Why not? Well, I've been working on my new design which should also have been nearing completion. Except I did a stitch count when I was partway through the armhole decreases only to find I was one stitch over what I should have had.

Progress has been made on the sock this week with the majority of the gusset decreases completed. This is less progress than you might expect in a week, but that is partly because I am just over halfway through knitting (and writing the pattern for) the design I mentioned in last week's post. My spreadsheet for that design is large, but the pattern is (I think) nicely concise, without including any of those phrases that annoy me so much and are often used when a publication needs to save space, such as "Work as for Left side, reversing shaping".

January is traditionally a time for starting new things and this week I have started three new things! I have begun a new design for a publication I haven't submitted to before, I have done the majority of my first proper tech editing job and I have done my first day as an exam invigilator. I am enjoying all of them, although I am hoping I learn the layout of the school soon and don't have to keep asking fellow invigilators where the staff toilets or staff room are! When I'm tech editing I know where everything is, as I'm working from home!

My Sister Went to Live on the Moon . . Sue Finch is the author of Magnifying Glass, Welcome to the Museum of a Life, and Vortex Over Wave. She loves the coast, peculiar things, and the scent of ice…