Well, I'm back.

It's good to be home! Yesterday I got to see friends and eat good Mexican food, and unpacked a bit. Today I was very good and did work and chores all morning so I could blog, knit, spin, watch movies, drink coffee, and generally putter about this afternoon without feeling guilty. So, the plane trip was a little trying. My flight was delayed five ways 'till Tuesday, because just about everything that could go wrong, did. Airline worker strikes, earthquakes, broken air conditioning units, and inclement weather all conspired to put me on the ground in San Francisco about 3 hours late. I didn't sleep much on the flight, as we were following the sun westward the whole time. Instead, I did this:



I got about halfway through the leg of the sock while on the train to Frankfurt and waiting to board the plane, and finished the gusset decreases shortly before we landed. I didn't knit for the entire flight, because my hands started to cramp up! Between the lack of sleep and the flight delays, I was awake for about 24 hours straight, and it made me a bit loopy that evening. The jet lag isn't as bad today as it was yesterday, but I still plan on applying caffeine at carefully planned times this afternoon so I don't fall asleep before dinner.

Anyway, details on the sock! This is Wollmeise, the original 100% superwash yarn base, in the Vergißmeinnicht colorway (that word means Forget-me-not in German). I got this yarn last year as part of Mrs. B's Taste of Germany yarn pack, which included five skeins of yarn from German indie dyers, all in blue colors. I actually (gasp!) swatched for this project, and discovered that 2.5 mm needles (US size 1 1/2) were necessary, and I only had those in metal circulars. So I popped over to the Wolle Rödel and bought sock-size bamboo DPNs for the project. The pattern is Cookie A.'s Pomatomus, which I think works wonderfully with this semi-solid color.

Now that I'm home, I have been gratefully reunited with my spinning wheel. I cannot wait to get this on some bobbins:



I stalked the Hello Yarn shop during the last update, and was lucky enough to score this gorgeous Wensleydale fiber and some of her scrumptious Fat Sock yarn. I'll be spending Saturday afternoon learning a little more about spinning plant fibers at the botanical gardens in Golden Gate Park. They're having their annual Summer Gardening Fair tomorrow, and some local spinners will be around doing demonstrations. In preparation for that event, I had to nab myself some cotton from my favorite local fiber source:



I can't wait to see all the ladies of Purl Jam on Tuesday, and eat at all my favorite restaurants again. I have about a bajillion other things to take care of before the new semester starts, not least of which is reacquainting myself with the view from our living room window.