The Most Well-Travelled Socks

I started my first pair of socks here in Astoria. Then, in April, when I went to visit my family in Sydney, I finished the first sock (my first ever!) and started the second. When one of the family dogs mistook one of my needles for a stick and chewed it, I had to make do with the four needles I had until I got back home and could by another one (well, a whole new set.) The sock progressed slowly after I started law school, and a little more quickly during my trip to Costa Rica. Then, one day, months after I started my first pair of socks, I finished it! I messed up the kitchener stitch at the toe of the second sock, but the pair is entirely functional, very warm, and very pretty. Here is a picture Sam took of me knitting the second sock in Costa Rica:

G'Day

I'm in Sydney! I've been here for a month and I've spent most of my time knitting! I knit all of the pieces for Krista, a camisole from Knitting Lingerie Style, but I left my blocking stuff at home so I have to wait to block the pieces before I can sew them all together. And I also finished my first sock! It's the 8 stitches per inch sock from Ann Budd's Getting Started Knitting Socks (which is awesome, by the way) and it took FOREVER, but it's done! And now I'm working on its twin. I have about an inch done, so I'll undoubtedly be working on it when I get back to New York.

My two knitting buddies have been Misty, and labradoodle, and Diva, a cotton de tulear, aka the family dogs.

In other news, I'm not sure if I've blogged about this before, but about six months ago, I found out that the seasonal knee pain that I'd been having for three years was tendinitis (which is weird, because I had had tendinitis in my ankle two years earlier and it felt a lot different). Oh yeah, and I also found out that I have minor cartilage damage in my knee. (Fun, fun, I know.) So now I'm finally able to start running again! And I'm training for a half marathon! I'm really excited because although I've been running on and off since high school, this is the first time I've set a half marathon as my goal. And after a week and a half of jogging every two or three days, I can feel that my fitness has improved a lot and that I'm finding it easier and easier. I think that this will be a great way for me to ease stress while I'm in law school, and it's totally boosting my confidence.

My family took a quick trip to New Zealand, and it was the first time Dev and I had ever been there (and this only time I got to see my sis the whole time I've been here, since she's working in Canberra). It was really fun, and we all noticed that the people there were all so friendly!

I haven't really seen much of my friends, but everyone's been busy with work and exams and going to Thailand and weddings. And I've been really, really lazy (the calm before the storm that I'm sure will be law school). But when I was snooping through my mom's computer to find pictures of the dogs, I did find these:

That's me and four of my bestest friends in my parents' loft during winter break my senior year. Ah, memories!

Today is October 1st

and I'm getting sick. I had a tiny sore throat this weekend, and it got a lot worse today.

However, I still got to finish my first October UFO. This should have taken about 10 minutes, but in true Adina fashion, I messed it up first. I had already knit the last row of k2tog, but for some strange reason (I'm blaming it on my sore throat), I knit an extra and then a row of k2tog again. Luckily, it was still easily fixable. I have a habit of making every hat I make for myself a little bit too small, and this one is no exception. However, I think it is still wearable, and I have a nice blue fall!
In other news, the knitting night at Kathleen's was lots of fun. Kathleen always seems to outdo herself, and I never cease to be amazed at her knitting progress. She finished her first mitten, and now has one mitten and one sock (a true knitter - good thing it's UFO month!)
I took a picture of the baby blanket she is knitting, before remembering that the mother-to-be hasn't seen the blanket yet, so I won't put the picture up until the baby is born.

Meanwhile, Joanna taught herself to cable,Kathleen taught Amna how to knit continental,
Sara reunited with a pair of knitting needles and learned how to cast on,

and I worked on my first sock (which is now, technically, another UFO while I finish my other UFOs).
We ate a delicious gourmet meal cooked by Kathleen's boyfriend, Justin, and had yummy cookies that Kathleen had baked. The next time we knit together will be in New Orleans when we visit Jen. Or, more likely, on the plane.