Finished sock and stroking sheep

I finished my first Monkey sock whilst we were in Berlin…well technically I grafted the toe on Sunday at the in-law's flat but It was mostly finished in Germany. I have never wanted my knitting as much as when the plane was delayed and we had 6 and a half hours in Schönefeld Airport. I could have got a good way through the second sock in that time…stupid rules!
Here is Monkey sock number one, the second is currently just stitches cast on to a single needle, I'll start the cuff tonight.

As I mentioned before my darling husband bought me some yarn whilst we were there. Opal self striping yarn. We didn't really go LYS hunting, I had planned to but there was so much to see and I didn't think it was entirely fair to put my husband through yarn shops when there were few shops he was interested in but I wasn't. That and really I couldn't be buying lots of yarn, I have loads already to be getting on with and didn't want to spend too much. We did go in the KaDeWe Idee though, a crafting heaven. The had a lot of Opal and Regia sock yarn which was all a bit cheaper than in the UK. My husband helped me to choose 3 balls, the one on the right is for a pair of socks for him which I will start when I've finished the Monkey socks. He only wants plain knit socks so they'll be mindless bus knitting…A LOT of mindless bus knitting. Mr.Monkey is wonderful and when I can't reach things on high shelves he's brilliant but when it comes to knitting a man who is 6'3" with size 11 feet is not the most fun!! My mum is a much better candidate for knit socks, she only wears a size 3!

On the Friday the weather was beautiful, about 19ºC with clear blue skies. We were both very tired from lots of walking and lots of historical sights and my suggestion that we could go to the zoo was welcomed by my husband. Admittedly there was no less walking in the zoo but it was more leisurely. We saw all the big animals (including Knut, the polar bear born at Berlin Zoo) and then walked past the childrens' petting zoo. Mr.Northernmonkey didn't look too excited at the idea and said it was only for children but I insisted, they had sheep and lambs and goats and you could stroke them…how could I miss the opportunity to stroke a sheep? I got him to take a picture. He didn't get much of one when my hand was fully on the sheep, he wouldn't let me bring a sheep home either. It was lovely though, I don't know what I expected really but it was so soft. I suppose I thought that the fleece might be a bit rough but not at all. So lovely.



I understand that today is "Flash your stash day" well I don't have pictures at the moment. I am hoping to take one when I get home from work later tonight. My stash is pretty small really, jumper/cardigan sized quantities of maybe 5 different yarns, enough for about 18 pairs of socks, a couple of skeins for lace weight, some balls of baby yarn and bits and pieces of this and that. It still seems an overwhelming amount of course, even for a small stash that is a lot of knitting to use it up. I will do my best though.
I am in stash busting mode now. I will reduce the stash and hopefully at the same time will reduce my waistline to fit into my favourite jeans which I haven't been able to wear for about 18 months!! It's a yarn and food diet and when I've lost a satisfactory amount of both I can purchase more yarn, not until. Let's see how that goes...