What's in a name?

Rose Red has blogged about the name of my blog! Wow - blogosphere recognition!

The name of my blog is a play on the name of the 1970s sex manual 'The Joy of Sex'. Any one who is 30-mumble has probably seen a copy of this at some stage. I remember being about 8 and finding a well thumbed copy in a book case at my aunt's house. I was struck by the rather delicate line drawings and the fact that the people illustrated still had their underpants on. But the one thing from 'The Joy of Sex' that has stuck with me all these years is the drawing captioned 'The armpit - a classic site for a kiss'.

Anyway - there has been knitting progress to report this week. The spiral boot sock spirals on. From my optimistic beginnings of whipping this up in no time, I've been forced to concede that maybe its going to take me a little longer than anticipated. Still, I'm hoping to finish it this weekend and depending on the amount of yarn I have left, I might put a red toe on it.

Brought to you by the letter V

Progress on all knitting has been slow so far this week. So instead of posting some photos showing minute amounts of progress, I thought you might be interested in these couple of shots from our honeymoon in Vietnam in August 06.

A lantern maker in Hoi An



Masks in Hanoi



We rode a tiny motorbike for over 1000 kilometres through the Central Highlands. Just to clarify, that is two people on one 100cc motorbike. While it might not have been the most traditional approach to honeymoon romance, the scenery was spectacular and it really took us off the tourist track.

Dusk at Buon Ma Thuot



The traffic was occasionally alarming, but it moved slowly enough to allow photos. That's our guide, Mr Thong, in the blue helmet just up ahead.

First of the summer socks

I've just signed up for the Southern Summer of Socks. I've yet to set myself a target, but am thinking it might be to do with knee socks. I've started with the Spiral Boot Socks from Interweave Summer 07, using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Foxy Lady. (Why does the name instantly make me think of Kath, from Kath and Kim??) Its knitting up quickly, I started this Sunday afternoon and reckon I'll be doing the heel flap by Friday. They are also going to double as a Christmas present, but to preserve the surprise the recipient shall remain nameless.....

Forbidden Lie$

In 2001 Norma Khoury's book Forbidden Love was published. Its the profoundly shocking true story of Dalia, her Muslim best friend in Amman, Jordan, who was murdered by her father for falling in love with a Christian man. Norma fled Jordan and spent two years living in Greece in fear for her life. During this time she learnt English and wrote Dalia's story so that the world would know the truth.

The only problem was that it was all a whopping big fat lie.

I saw the doco about Norma Khoury, Forbidden Lie$ last night. Norma was by turns breathtaking, shameless and hilarious. Watching Norma reveal her many selves in front of the camera reminded me of peeling an onion, one layer simply stripped back to reveal another which stripped back again. See this movie if you can, and learn how a married mother of two on the run from the FBI for multiple counts of fraud managed to flee the States with a letter of recommendation from Dick Cheney's daughter, settle in Australia and pass herself off as a virgin refugee fearing for her life but bravely fighting for an extremely important cause. Its mesmerising.

Forbidden Lie$

Waving Lace done....

...unlike my thesis. Here is Hilary modelling her new socks. The yarn is Naturally Haven, 100% New Zealand Merino 4 ply.



Received my invitation to join Ravelry today! After joining the waiting list in July, I'm in. Hurrah!

Adventures in lace

I've never knit lace before (or should that be knitted lace?). Then I got a rush of blood and before I knew it I owned two lace stole patterns, hanks of lovely silky yarn and even some beads to do beaded edging. After that, I thought I should approach things a bit more sensibly and cast on the stole that was marked beginner/intermediate. So, how many times do you think I cast on and knit the first 8 rows?



Four times! I thought I'd cracked it at the third, but a sneaky extra stitch suddenly appeared in the fourth panel repeat. How? How? So, I'm back to gentle beginnings.