Pattern: Mata Hari Socks
Yarn: Patons Patonyle, shade #4303
Needles: Two 2.5mm Addi Circulars

I finished them last night. There will be more photos once they have been gifted - as modelled by the intended’s feet, assuming they fit. Please let them fit. If you are thinking of making these socks - DO IT! They are so fun and considering how slow I have become since getting pregnant they are a fast knit. Go on, you know you want to.

Today is a good day. I feel organised and it makes me happy. All the postal christmas presents have been sent (and received). More than half of the parcels of baking have been distributed to the folks we won’t see again before Christmas. All of the gift shopping is done, most of them are even wrapped, and about 90% of the grocery shopping is done too. So tomorrow, when it is 38c (100f) with gale force winds, we will have almost nothing to do except hide from the heat and hopefully catch up with a few friends.

The other thing that makes today a great day is that I am ten weeks pregnant today - and for all that I am sick and tired ALL the time I finally feel confident it will stick - which is the best christmas present of all.

Happy Holidays to you all!

I have had a few stolen moments in the last week to chip away at the second sock. Thursday I short rowed down to the point of the heel. Friday I long rowed back, and I learnt something - I prefer the long rowing. It seems to go much faster than the short rowing, presumably because I don’t have to keep looking ahead to make sure I am not about to knit the stitch I should be wrapping.

My mother moved to NSW this week and today we went to visit her in her new house. It’s and hour and a half drive each way, Jesse was driving and I thought I would get so much knitting done. But no. Morning sickness=car sickness and there was almost no knitting achieved at all. I may have managed an inch. There are how many days to go now? Must. Knit. Sock.

On the other hand the baking is going really well. Today I made up the first three parcels of goodies ready to distribute tomorrow.

The sock it is growing. It grows slowly because I only seem to have the energy to knit every few days at the moment, but when I do knit it speeds along. This is such a fun and easy pattern, I can’t recommend it enough.

My belly is also growing, not so as strangers would notice but certainly so that my family does. I don’t remotely look pregnant, just pot bellied, which is charming considering I am still below the weight I started this cycle. Of course Isabelle, with the tact of a three yearold likes to discuss the changes to my belly with everyone she meets. Actually it’s probably just as well she keeps telling people I am pregnant because it’s completely ruling my life - no lifting, no exercise, drugs at regular intervals, meals 5 times a day (plus recovery time), the tiredness, dizzy spells from low blood pressure, etc. I feel that my behavior must seem really quite weird at times. Until Friday I had been assuming that the drugs I am on were making the morning (constant companion) sickness worse, then I found out that they are actually an anti-emetic and probably the only reason I am not vomiting all day everyday. The upside, apart from the obvious possible baby at the end, is that Jesse brings me lovely meals at regular intervals (they’re not both for me).

It was 40 degrees today, which is 104 for those of you in the US. And I put on woollen socks in the name of blogging. I must be mad.

Thank you all so very much for your kind words, I am sorry I haven’t replied personally yet, I really appreciated every one of your messages. As you can imagine the heat is not helping the state of my pregnancy symptoms. But as you can see all I needed to do to make a start on the second sock was declare I might never get there. Now that it’s started it is growing quite nicely. Not like the first one did, but hey, did I mention it’s 40 degrees here?

In the battle for my time the morning (all day) sickness is so far out in front of the second sock it’s not even in the race. Sock number one is done, in fact I finished it days ago and have been trying to take a photo of it ever since, to no avail. I did once get as far as having it on my foot with the camera out, and then our pizza arrived early…. It’s lovely but please, please remind me never to knit a picot edge sock toe up again. Toe up socks good, picot trim good, both together BAD. Grafting stitches to rows is very dull indeed.

I finished the first sock just as the all day sickness was kicking into high gear and bringing it’s friend permanently exhausted to the party. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy to be pregnant that I will merrily be sick and exhausted for another 32-33 weeks if that’s how it’s going to be, but it’s not so good for the knitting. The idea of knitting something is vaguely appealing every now and then (when I am not concentrating on how not to vomit) but the idea of doing a provisional cast on to get started stalls me every time. Are there other methods of doing toe up socks that don’t involve a provisional cast on? Maybe I just need a smaller crochet hook and it would be easier to pick up the stitches?

I like to think that if I can just start then the sock will grow quite quickly, but honestly it could take me until Christmas to finish the second sock at this rate…

In the mean time I will try to take a photo of the first one.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I did rip it out, rather gleefully I might add. And as I did so I wondered why I always find it so hard to decide to rip when I have such fun doing the actual ripping and really don’t mind re-knitting at all once I am doing it?

The second attempt is much better. It’s a better length. I wrapped an extra pair of stitches which I think has improved the fit in the ankle. And I did a far better job of closing the holes when joining back into the round.

I am totally in love with this toe up on circulars business.

Isabelle just asked me if this was a bag. So I put it on to demonstrate it’s sockiness and it occurred to me that now was a good time for a photo. It’s Steph’s Mata Hari sock pattern, toe up. The toe up part is Wendy’s toe up sock pattern.

I joined Cara’s Jaywalker KAL and I am planning to do knit them toe up because I am worried about running out of yarn with the Koigu that is simply screaming to become Jaywalkers. I thought the Mata Hari socks might be an easier introduction to toe up sock knitting and I was right! They are so much fun. Well actually I have no idea how easy or hard the Jaywalkers will be but the Mata Hari socks are definitely a great way to learn toe up socks! I see more in my future. I am loving both the two circs and the toe up thing. It’s all good.

In other news we had our first ultrasound yesterday and there is one baby in there and it’s heart is beating. I cannot tell you how relieved and ecstatic and awed we are. Can you believe that something the size of a grain of rice can have a heartbeat? A visible heartbeat? Amazing. I had oh so hopefully taken the sock with me for a little waiting room knitting, of course I was shaking way too much to have been able to knit a stitch, but the 40 odd rows I have knit since then is a testament to how much better I am feeling! Will these socks be done before the next scan (in just under two weeks)? I think so!