Well-travelled socks

I give you Queen of Cups in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid (as-yet unblocked).

These socks have been around the Kent coast by bike (well in the panniers to be precise, they weren't actually doing the pedalling), to Cardiff and back by train, over to Ireland - Waterford followed by Dublin - and then across the Atlantic to Pittsburgh via Chicago and back to London. So well-travelled for such young socks!

I enjoyed the pattern although it is rather complicated and it wasn't till I was nearly finished with the second sock that I finally felt like I could do it without referring to the printed pattern. Although I knitted them on 2.5mm needles they are still a little loose and I'm afraid they might get even baggier with blocking and wearing. Also I wasn't very happy with the edge I got from my long-tail cast-on, I would probably do a different version (or perhaps a turned over picot edge) if I did the pattern again.



My work trip to Dublin also gave me some time for reflection (sorry, no pun intended!). It's now coming up to 10 years since the end of a long-term, long-distance relationship with a Dubliner, which meant I spent a lot of time and experienced a lot of emotions in this city. And it's only the second time I've been since the relationship finished, and had time to muse on my past. The first time was almost a pleasure, remembering times past, revisiting places we used to frequent and reliving shared experiences. But this time was a much more melancholy experience - so many things have changed and places have been demolished or refurbished that it is no longer the Dublin we knew. Even the Winding Stair now has a posh restaurant instead of a casual cafe where we used to spend hours. There's the tram, there's the spire, and there's the boardwalk along the Liffey. Bewley's on Westmoreland Street is boarded up. Before you know it, they'll be building a proper link to the airport...



Our annual trip to Pittsburgh was more predictable. I know this photo isn't really representative of the 'city of bridges', the now famous home of the Superbowl and Stanley Cup winning teams, and the venue for the next G20 summit, but I always stop and look at this car park and enjoy its slightly wacky curves among all the straight, tall buildings of the downtown area.