The Sock Saga continues.......

Yes, I've started another pair of socks - these are Blackrose in the cherry Wendy Mode 4 ply that I mentioned in my previous post. There is soooo much yardage in this wool, I have ended up doing ELEVEN pattern repeats down the leg! Wow! I'm not overly impressed with the wool to be honest - it's very fluffy and a bit splitty, but I'll get there in the end. And it's definitely made me realise that I much prefer doing toe-up socks.....

The really interesting news however, is that the making of these socks led me down a completely new 'creative path' - namely, the design of some co-ordinated stitch markers:





Cute no?

This in turn has led to a period of mad wire winding and I have made several more sets - you can see them for sale in my Folksy shop here or my Etsy shop here

Sock crazy!

It's official - for someone who had never even contemplated knitting a pair of socks (let alone knitting on dpns) before the beginning of the year, I am now officially sock crazy! Not only do I now have a ludicrously large pile of sock yarn in my stash, but the projects are coming thick and fast.

Today, I actually finished my very first pair - for my dearly beloved! Toe-up, with short row heels, so custom fit - and he likes them! :-)

Pattern: Express Lane by Diane Mulholland
Yarn: 'Donna's Favourite' from Claudia Handpainted (I LOVE this yarn - so soft and squishy)
Needles: 2.75mm and 3.25mm for cast-off

Next up, I have finished the first sock of the March 2009 Mystery Sock Pattern - I'm doing these in Cygnet DK and they are coming out super comfy so far. They will be gifted to the daughter of a very good friend of mine who suffers from Juvenile Arthritis. She's having a major operation in a few weeks' time and will need something to cheer her up / keep her feet warm while she recovers.














So, you know I mentioned my ever-growing pile of sock yarn? Here are the latest additions - some absolutely gorgeous squishiness from The Knitting Goddess - all are from her 4ply BFL Sock Wool range:

From top to bottom we have:

Meadow (destined for Saimaa)

Copper Desert (will be turned into Sprung Socks)

Bollywood (for some Falling Leaves)

Then a skein of Sensational Sock 2 Merino in 'Chocolate Covered Cherry' from the lovely Knitted to a T - there's 500 whole yards of this yummy stuff, so they will be perfect for some extra long Shur'tagals


And (finally!), 3 skeins of Rowan Pure Wool 4ply in 'Sage' - I think these will be just perfect for some knee-length Marlenes by the amazing Cookie A

Springtime - part deux

It's done - all sewn together, washed, and blocked! I am really, really pleased with it - the colours have worked together so well. It was delivered to the little boy's daddy on Thursday - and both he and his wife were over the moon - so much so, it's being used to wrap their precious bundle on his first trip to church this morning - that is all the 'payment' I could possibly have wanted!

I've changed my mind......

...the Patons Caressa is not going to be made into a Stardust - I've decided that I much prefer this Lacy Chevron cardigan - I think it will work better with the fluffiness of the wool, and because it's crochet, I'll get it done quicker too!! Honestly, all these decisions - who said being a knitter was easy???

Swatch heaven?

I'm taking a break from the crochet granny squares in order to prepare for the next raft of projects (well, thanks to being made redundant, I have LOTS of time on my hands - so might as well be productive!). I've been busy knitting up gauge swatches (I'm erring on the side of caution!).

So, what is on the cards I hear you ask?

First, some easy/quick knits (to balance the more complicated ones below):

I have finally settled on a pattern for the lovely Rose Garden Merino from Babylonglegs - it's going to be transformed into a Seed Stitch Cardigan for Little Miss A.

The gorgeous Atlantis Aran (yes, also from Babylonglegs) will be knitted up as a Spiral Cowl - yes, I know Spring is now well on it's way, but it's still a bit chilly in the mornings!

Then, I have a few more long-term projects planned - the newly arrived Bergere de France Sport




will be turned into a Dr. G's Memory Vest for my Dad's Xmas pressie

My 10 balls of Patons Caressa DK will make a lovely fluffy Stardust - don't you just love the colour? It's got a really nice feel to it and the lace pattern comes out really nicely (provided I remember to knit into the back of the yarn forwards on the following row!)



And then, last but not least, I need to start making a serious dent in my stash of sock yarn!

I'm holding back on choosing a pattern for the lovely Claudia's Blue Fields (soooo scrummy & squishy!)









but my two skeins of Angels & Elephants have volunteered to go to the head of pile:

Seaspray (I just adore all those pale greens and lilac/blues!) will be used for some Spring Forward socks


and the Pentillie (reminds me of a wintery sunrise) will be used for Spring Pools socks














All this should keep me busy for a while, don't you think?

Springtime baby afghan

I originally started making this for Jessica's little girl (who was born in November) but other things / projects got in the way. So I'm now making it for Ben's little boy (who was born two weeks ago).

I’m making 8 squares each from 9 colours of wool - 1 white; 2 yellows; 3 greens and 3 blues. Each square is coming up 10cm by 10cm. These will then be sewn together in diagonal stripes. Haven’t yet decided whether to sew them together with a contrast seam (in white) or with mattress stitch. When I’m going all out, I can churn out one of these squares in 15 minutes - 59 squares down, only 13 to go!

Pattern is based on the Wagon Wheel design from the Good Housekeeping Crochet Companion which I have had for ages.

Pattern as follows (NB: UK crochet terms):

ch 6, join with sl st

round 1: ch 2, 15 tr in circle

round 2: ch 4, 1 tr in 1st tr of previous rnd, 2 ch, 1 tr in nxt st, repeat from , join with sl st into 2nd ch of 1st 4 ch

round 3: ch 5, dtr into same st as joining,2 ch, 1tr into nxt st, 2 ch, 1htr into nxt st, 2 ch, 1 tr into nxt st, 2 ch, 1dtr into nxt st, 2 ch, 1dtr into same st as previous dtr, repeat from, join with sl st into 3rd chain of 1st 5 ch

round 4: 2ch, 3tr into 2ch corner space, 1 tr into nxt st, 2 tr into 2ch space repeat, putting 1tr into each st of previous round, 2tr into each 2ch space, and 3tr into each corner space, join with sl st into top of 1st 2ch

round 5: 2 ch, 1tr into each tr of previous round, with 3tr into centre tr of each corner

Cast off.

Cards and cake!

I have a found a new challenge blog which is right up my street - it's all about Basic Grey! This week's challenge is all about texture - and here is my attempt, specially for Little Miss A's 2nd birthday which is today (and we had a temper tantrum before we even left the house just to prove it!)



I have used papers from the Periphery and Skate Shoppe ranges (remember the last one?), plus Kaiser pearls and gems, ribbon from John Lewis, and a cute little Tilda holding a special cake. I added texture in various ways - there are the gems and pearls, but I also added white polka dots to Tilda's dress with a Souffle pen, glitter to the cake icing and the blue flower, and her shoes are all shiny, thanks to some Diamond Glaze.

Seeing as I was on such a roll, I have also managed to finish a birthday card for my MIL (I know she doesn't read this blog so I'm safe posting the picture on here). Bazzill cardstock, Sizzix pp, Dovecraft flowers and jewel brad, plus Kaiser gems and Prima flowers - I'm really pleased with this one!