17/09/2009

End of holiday

Circle Socks

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Dh had admired these so much while I was knitting them that I decided they would make a nice little extra anniversary present. I know they're very colourful but it seems men who normally wear fairly conservative clothes often like something a bit more flamboyant where it won't show too much, certainly Michael does and socks fit the bill. I wasn't entirely sure he really wanted these but he did and they are his favourite socks atm.

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Actually it seems he really likes these little circles on the legs.

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Circle Socks by Anne Campbell
Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL colour 100
2.5mm circular needle.
Pattern slightly modified to knit toe-up with short row heel

But what a long time ago our 6 week summer holiday seems now. And how selective one's memory becomes.

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This one day of stair rod rain that poured through the back door, down the hall and out of the front door seems to have left more of an impression than the weeks of glorious sunshine filled days and balmy evenings.

And the lovely meal at the nearby Chateau de Marcay , memorable enough as our celebration of 40 years of our marriage - and yes dh did give me a ruby and - even more special - a poem. In fact he has written me a poem for almost all the significant dates in our time together.

But the memory now is of the end of the evening spent in hospital in Chinon. All's well that ends well, but it certainly rocked our confidence when for no apparent reason Michael had two consecutive fainting episodes - fortunately we'd nearly finished our meal. Seriously though, it was very scary, mitigated by three very helpful and competent fellow diners who were able to tell the ambulance crew exactly what had happened better than I could. The hospital did loads of tests and found nothing wrong. A phone consultation with our doctor at home was very reassuring and apparently this sort of thing is not uncommon and has a name - it's a vasovagal episode. It means you faint when you are eating your dinner......I think it's the same sort of thing that causes teenage girls in assembly to faint when they've been standing for a while...


My French vocab has widened....

I know as time goes by I shan't have to deal with the memory of this in such a flippant manner and the hospital bit will fade and we'll just remember a good summer.

The long lazy days were very conducive to outside knitting and I enjoyed taking part in the Socktopus mystery shawl kal on Twitter - although I didn't actually ever tweet.

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Poshyarn Sylvia 4ply (50/50 merino/silk) colour "seek" on 4.5mm needles.


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I can't believe that right up to the end I hadn't realised it was going to be sort of circular and as such sits beautifully on the shoulders.

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5 comments:

Anna said...

I love the socks, they're so colourful. Simply gorgous!

Janieb said...

What a stunning shawl!

Jean said...

How wonderful that your hubby likes colorful socks. Thank goodness nothing serious was wrong. You are quite right, you will focus on the good times, summer in France - how glorious. The shawl is so pretty, perhaps some day when I get a little more of my projects completed I can venture towards knitting one of those, yours drapes beautifully.

Maureen said...

Beautiful knitting as always! The sock pattern and colourway are lovely and the shawl looks very pretty.

I certainly hope there are no more fainting episodes in the future....what a fright that must have been.

florencemary said...

Congrats on your wedding anniversary, Kathryn! How lovely to receive a ruby and a poem - I must tell Igor and rub it in - I'm lucky to even get a card!

Hope Michael has recovered OK; sometimes heat and dehydration can also cause fainting (I know!), but it always looks so dramatic and is so frightening for onlookers when someone faints.

The shawl is lovely; there's just something about PY yarn, which makes it stand out.