The end of the holiday

Today is my last day off work. I've been trying to take it easy but I do keep jumping up to pack more things or add to my ever-growing list of things to do. Nevertheless we are in a pretty organised state and will hopefully find out tomorrow how soon we can move in.

The sweater continues and I've now finished the body up to the yoke,  but it doesn't look much different to yesterday so I shan't bore you with another picture.  I'm definitely a "finisher" when it comes to knitting and crochet, and rarely have more than three projects on the go at one time  (though I do start to get a little nervous when I'm down to one). Currently I have two projects on the go, so in the interests of sharing and to bring a splash of colour to an otherwise decidedly grey page, here is my current train project:

(I love knitting on the train, it's a great way to replenish my sock supply, plus I often get into conversations with elderly ladies who are thrilled to learn of the resurgence in knitting).

I love this pattern too, it's called "down the rabbit hole", because of the way the spiralling cables twist down like Alice falling into Wonderland. I've had my eye on this pattern for ages but for some strange reason I decided this yarn called for cables.

It works ok with the green and the blue,  but the pink/yellow section and the browny purple bits look like a dog's dinner. Cables look good with subtle colour changes but not so much with stripes like these.

See how far I got before I decided to give up? Madness.

At the point at which I stopped and pulled out the needles  (taking a picture first to document my stubborn refusal to give up any sooner despite the fact that I knew it wasn't working), it had suddenly dawned on me that I didn't want to knit another one to match it. Due to the aforementioned stubbornness  it had taken up to the toe decreases before I could bring myself to admit it. I would like to tell you that this doesn't happen often but that would be a lie as the cable sock was the second attempt with this yarn. I can't even remember what pattern I was knitting the first time around,  but I'm sure you can guess how long it took me to give in and rip it back ... yup, toe decreases.

Anyhow, I'm very pleased with the pattern I'm working on now,  and will take it on the train with me when I go back to work tomorrow.  Not many more train journeys to go before we move so I shall enjoy it while it lasts.