Last week I had the most extraordinary week away at EcoBuild – nothing to do with sailing or knitting, but work related I’m afraid.  For the uninitiated EcoBuild is just what it says on the tin – a trade show of products and services for those involved in the construction industry – with an ‘Eco’ thrust!  I had had a great plan around this – take sock knitting with me for train and in-between working on the stand etc.  After all, we wouldn’t be THAT busy… would we???

What ensued was three days of total madness.

I know you will be bored if I tell you too much (and I’ll bore myself!), but there were some genuinely interesting things going on. The real life Dulux dog from the adverts was there (and getting treated better than any of the other exhibitors with his own podium, walkies on demand and a job description that basically required him to sit around getting petted), there was a huge display of wool and (plastic) multi coloured sheep – advertising the use of this fantastically versatile product as insulation (what a waste), and a fab stand advertising marine ply via the medium of wooden fish in a tank (we stole lots as souvenirs for everyone’s kids).

I also enjoyed that we were staying in Canary Warf and got to walk over the ‘Apprentice’ bridge (I fancy not looking quite so stern – or as steady after some light evening refreshment) as well as zooming backwards and forwards to the ExCel in Black Cabs (not half as glamorous in real life).

It was a hit for the business, and I loved getting the opportunity to talk to so many customers – although next time I may take a little more note of the line in the staff brief to ‘wear comfortable shoes’ and ditch my 6 inch stilettos next time … well they were comfy at the start of the day.  In my head.

However all this high excitement meant that as I returned to Newcastle on the train my knitting was still sitting, forlorn and abandoned in the bottom of my laptop bag.  This is now starting to induce guilt, and as everyone knows, guilt means avoidance, which means more guilt and then just not doing it.  I now have both a cardie and a sock giving me the eye in this way.

However I have finally got back on track with some junk, instant gratification knitting and have actually finished something!

It is actually the cutest sock in the world – made even cuter on the basis it’s finished.  You will note I say ‘sock’.  The second one, well, isn’t yet!

This is all as a result of a fantastic day out at the Knit Studio in Newcastle on Sunday.  Despite having knitted socks before, myself and my mum (a sock knitting virgin) went along to Anne’s workshop and had a great time.

It was a fantastic day and my Mum loved it too – she went a bit –

As for me I knitted my cute sock and its sister last night – I will have them all finished for a baby present by the end of tonight.  The only point of concern is that although very cute my socks look like the baby they are for may need to be a large baby, or grow into them… while everyone else’s are baby sized, mine are definitely for an older child.  I wondered if maybe I was being overly critical, but apparently the average babies foot is 3 inches long and 1 inch wide.  My socks are five inches long by 4 inches wide.  This is OK as I feel sure it will only be a matter of time before I meet a giant baby and it’s good to be prepared.

Now to finish that Cardie…