New Year, New Sock and Digression

As I mentioned in the previous post, Barb and Marilyn are starting a New Year's Sock so I thought I'd do the same. I am making a simple sock with a  7.5" long, K3, P2 cuff, eye of partridge heel, and 10% negative ease. I wanted it simple so I could obsessively watch YouTube videos and Netflix and not have to concentrate on the knitting too much.

I found this non-descript yarn in my sock yarn stash. It was a dyeing failure from a few years back. Tan and spruce in a couple of shades. But it's good quality sock yarn so what the heck.

I got quite a bit done last night. It kinda looks like mid-autumn colours, almost a camo look. Only 1 more inch before I start the heel.

I have so many stitching and knitting projects on the go. I found a cool project bag to contain this one.

I did some work on the background of my sea turtle painting. 

Unfortunately, I can't really watch TV while I do it so will have to reserve doing it whilst listening to an audiobook. 

I'm not sure what I'll do with the painting once I'm done. It would be cool to cut the shape out and glue it to something - maybe the front of one of my lower file cabinet drawers?

Speaking of audiobooks, I have become quite interested in listening to espionage non-fiction lately. On one of our knitting cruises, the cruise line had a panoply of lecturers on interesting topics to keep the passengers entertained on those at-sea days. One of them was a retired CIA agent. I don't remember a lot of what he said. But one thing that stuck in my mind was the way some double agents get caught in the US.  Evidently disgruntled ex-wives report them for defaulting on spousal or child support, as the double-agents don't usually declare the income from the enemy state that also employs them. Most of these agents don't get convicted of treason - probably because the trial would reveal too many secrets. They usually are nailed for tax evasion - as was Al Capone back in the 1930s.

After one of his lectures, I went up to him to ask him about WWII espionage and if he had ever heard of Camp X. I was surprised that he had not. I explained that it was a British training school for covert agents and a radio communications centre on the north shore of Lake Ontario just east of Toronto in a town called Whitby and it was reported that William Stephenson (code name Intrepid) , author Roald Dahl, and Ian Fleming (author of James Bond novels) were directly affiliated with it, although Ian Fleming's involvement is disputed according to Wikipedia. The camp opened on December 6, 1941, the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Over 500 agents were trained in the 'art of spycraft'.

Until recently an exhibit of Camp X artifacts was on display at the Region of Durham's Whitby headquarters. 

Part of the Camp X and Bowmanville German prisoner of war camp display - photo courtesy of the Toronto Sun

The display was packed away a couple of weeks ago because some were offended by the display of the Iron Cross - a Nazi symbol. The artifacts have been moved to Casa Loma where they will be displayed when a Canada's first spy museum will open at a future date.