On Wednesday the tarp over the hole in my roof came partly undone in the wind, and the noises it made flapping around were so loud I decided to work on my laptop, on the dining table.

But when I got to the lounge I laid eyes on the beginnings of my re-soleable sock and all thought of work went out of my head. I just had to work out this pattern. By the end of the day I had the main piece of the sock knitted up and cast off:

The next night I picked up stitches for the heel over and over and frogged the heel over and over as I worked out how best to work it. Then I headed down the foot, picked up stitches for the toe and last night I finally finished.

Now I just need Dad to try them on for fit. I’ll make any adjustments needed and knit the second pair, then I’ll convert the pattern to sock yarn. It’s much faster to design in dk/8ply yarn. And my Dad likes warm, robust socks.

(Oh, and I’ve decided that I need to add chocolate to my knitting photos. I always intended to review and talk about chocolate as much as knitting, but I never got around to it. Or I ate the chocolate before I had a chance to blog about it. I figure the only way I’ll get chocolate into this site is if I include the packaging of chocolate I’ve eaten, or am in the process of eating, in my knitting photos.)

Last, but by no means least, here’s two new possessions – one practical, one delightfully impractical. Meet Sarina, the sock monkey life drawing model, made by Gibbering Mododrums. With starry eyes and a preference for the ‘natural look’ (she has pubic and underarm hair), she has a natural grace artists long to capture.

Today she is posing on my new electronic kitchen scale, useful for weighing yarn by the gram. In future, if I can find one, she will drape herself languidly over a doll-sized chaise lounge in my new artist workroom. If I can find a second-hand one somewhere. And the house extension is ever finished…