I took a break and went to Ottawa, Carleton University actually, to sneak a peek at my friend's world of academia. This was the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held once a year which draws academics from across Canada and the U.S. My friend is a sociologist. I sat in on 2 talks and was quite surprised at how much I understood, of course the two I attended were hand picked for me knowing that lots of these talks would be way over my head. But I got to see Dr. S in action and see the response she gets when she speaks. It was great and now I have faces to go with the names of the people she works with and a much better idea of how that world works. I spent most of my time here, at the Book Fair, where every University Press had their list of books on display, rows and rows of vendors with lots and lots of books. Ahh, it was amazing. And it's true that a change is as good as a rest!
I think 'take a friend to work' is a great idea. I know that Dr. S is really keen on coming to a knitting trade show with me sometime. A large gathering of women entrepreneurs, what could be more fun than that.So, no intricate knitting done, too busy listening intently, but I did manage half a sock. I've lost the tag for the wool, sorry. That's the problem with 100g balls, there is no second ball with the tag still on it to check.
When I got home I was ready to get going on the Double Cross.
I am almost ready to begin the heel. It went very quickly and easily. There was enough pattern to keep me entertained and when I looked up I was surprised at how far I had come along. That's always a bonus. And I love this colour Brown (looks like chocolate to me) of Soft Touch Ultra from http://www.shelridge.com/ .
When I got home I was ready to get going on the Double Cross. I am almost ready to begin the heel. It went very quickly and easily. There was enough pattern to keep me entertained and when I looked up I was surprised at how far I had come along. That's always a bonus. And I love this colour Brown (looks like chocolate to me) of Soft Touch Ultra from http://www.shelridge.com/ .-Deb
P.S. Commenters: Samm, this cable is fun. And Mom, you'll find this one much more enjoyable to knit.
On the either side of the stage, The Brights 
Only 6 weeks to Mariposa, Yay!
As I had said previously, the panel ends up to be quite dense. I thought I'd have a go at the pattern and see if we could get the same sort of look without it being so dense. The pattern is worked using 2 rows where you work the cable crossings with a rib row in between them. I tried working only one repeat of the pattern with several ribbed rows in between.
I tried working one and a half repeats and I like the double line but it's getting very dense again.
It's a very fuzzy photo but these are the double lines.
And lastly I wanted to see if I could spread the double lines further apart.
So now it's decision time.
The orange ball is getting quite small and I don't have any more of it. I have no idea how much yardage this wool has since it's out of my stash without any tags on it. In fact, it was from the 'frogged from another project' stash (I have quite a bit of this type of stash). I have no idea if I have enough to get around the whole shawl with the lovely knitted on border. I do not want to get to the other side and have 2 more points to do without any orange wool. So I have put a different border on it which I could knit until I ran out of the orange. 
It makes a shawl but not as interesting as the original.
And I don't have to throw the wool back into the frog pond. Compromise. I really have to do something about this tendency to start something, work it part way through, rip it out and start something else. This is probably a character flaw! 
There is ribbing because . . .
I am redoing this sock. Lynda thought that this cable design would work out great but it's very, very dense and difficult to knit. So I am going to fiddle with the pattern and see if I can come up with a variation. And this is a plan for a new adventure for me, the story sock. 
I have never tried this before but I am going to do a theme sock. I'll tell you the story as we go. After cruising through several stitch dictionaries I have developed this mock up of the sock. It may turn out to be totally unworkable as a design but this is quite fun to contemplate. I'm going to wind the sock wool now.
And now I am working the lace edge and attaching it to the shawl at the same time.
Knit on size 10mm/US15 so bound to be quick. Not much to see yet but stay tuned. Psst, is that a boo, boo there on the left? Yes I think so. To the frog pond for a dip.
Soon to be joined by it's mate. They mate for life you know, like swans.
