Does one sock qualify as a FO? Here is the first of the Trekking socks. I needed to finish something to make myself feel better. You may notice safety pins on the toes. Instead of finishing toes when I finish the sock I transfer the stitches to safety pins until I finish the second sock. I am one of those people who hates Kitchener stich (and don't tell me it's easy) so I turn them inside out, transfer the stitches back onto needles and do a 3-needle bindoff which I think is better anyway. Some of my vintage sock patterns even state that it is the preferred method, so there. Altho the pattern of the wool hides it well, the top is a boken rib (one row 2x2 rib, one row plain stocking stitich). I am not a person who tries on socks as she goes, since I knit to measurements, so you will only see socks once finsished.

I also got in the post yesterday a package from Elann with 10 balls of Portofino in red and a pattern for a summer top. I am a devote of Classic Elite and have knit so many of their patterns I've lost count. I ordered this forgetting I already had a red cotton top in Classic Elite Newport Cotton, but you can always use another cotton top. Portofino is almost a cotton blend boucle and seems very soft and fluffy. I ordered from Fuzzy Mabel some cotton sock yarn and 2 Elizabeth Lavold pattern books, figuring I needed patterns more than more yarn altho I really like this Portofino....

Spent yesterday working and listening to podcasts. I love NPR and Radio National podcasts and Andrew Denton's podcast of his show, this week it was Chris Martin of Coldplay (do I have to say I am a huge fan of the band?) and, as usual, it was a lively conversation. I also like NPR's Hidden kitchens as it brings back memories of all the pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners and other eating experiences of the US that don't seem to exist here. The only common ones are a sausage sizzle and a lamington drive. A sausage sizzle is simply somebody grilling generic sausages usually with onions and served on a bun or sometimes with just a slice of bread around it. Australians are extremely addicted to sausages. If you don't care to know what went into them, they are one of the cheapest meals you can make (before lamb chops went up in price). There are also many varieties of flavoured sausages from beef & onion to turkey with sage. My favourite was "traditional satay sausages" which gives you an idea of how far Asian tastes have permeated Australian cuisine if one can use "cuisine" when talking about sausages. A Lamington is a cube of sponge cake usually about 2" on a side that has been covered in chocolate icing (a thin cover, not a frosting) and rolled in dessicated coconut which is small, dry flakes. In days gone by, mothers made them to sell for fund-rasiers. These days if there is a drive to sell them, they are usually commercially made. As you might guess from the description they aren't all that simple to make and are best made in quantity.

My annoyance of the week was discovering that my sewing machine was broken again. I had it fixed relatively recently for the same fault (bobbin won't wind) and I am tired of pumping money into a machine that was cheap to begin with. I think I am in the market for a new one.