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All the sock/4ply lace projects for Xmas were really a precursor to this:
'Cos I'm a coward and that yarn is almost as fine as standard sewing cotton, almost too soft to feel between the fingers, and fragile as hell (no pulling at tangles: it breaks). I've not blocked it properly yet, just given it a quick run over with the steam iron, so there is still the odd dangly untrimmed end showing.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with it. Hence the several pictures via the camera on the spare mobile phone*.
And the dead needles?
I'd decided that the past weekend would be when I finished. I'd hoped it would be Saturday, but watching 3 1/2 episodes of Forbrydelsen** slowed me up somewhat. So, on Sunday afternoon I disappeared upstairs to knit along to Professor Challenger on Radio 4 with Ozzie and Socks for company. Ozzie dozed at me. Socks sat on the stool level with my shoulder and watched. He'd evidently never encountered knitting before and was fascinated. Then he had to join in. First he hooked the end of the nearest needle with his paw, lifted it to his mouth and chewed it a bit. (Not entirely pleasant as we'd given him Little's rejected breakfast [Sheba with Trout***].) The bead on the end proved insufficiently tasty so he came round to the other end and chewed the points a bit. (Yes, I let him do all this. He was slow, cautious and remarkably gentle.) This wasn't such a good idea as the bamboo had already become very slightly split (I've been sandpapering the points regularly to keep the snagging to a minimum) and kitty spit exacerbated the situation; kitty weight dangling from the end has enhanced the bend in one of them too.
I will need to replace the needles. Unfortunately, the carbon fibre ones I want only come as dpns and not straights. I assume cat teeth won't harm something used for the outside of spyplanes.
* So the quality's not great.
** Yes, I'm utterly addicted. By the time I've watched it all, I may have learned some spoken Danish. Total immersion.
*** To be added to the unacceptable-to-small-anorexic-cats list.
