Hallelujah!

No, I haven't come over all religious - but I HAVE finally finished the *insert expletive* Rhombus socks:

Don't get me wrong: I love the colour and the yarn was delightful to work with. But it was such a slog to keep going with these - lots of twisted stitches, cross-over cables and picking up new stitches - just doing 6 rows (or less) was enough to give me a headache. And to cap it all, I'm not actually convinced about the final product....... In fact, I'm thinking of giving them away - but that would require finding some who a) has the same size feet as me and b) would appreciate the amount of work that has gone into them.

So maybe I should just put them in the sock drawer and hope I like them once autumn comes around again?

Sketch of the week

Every Wednesday, Shimelle posts a sketch of the week - a good way of getting the creative juices going - even if the final result turns out quite differently

This was the sketch for this week:



Which Shimelle turned into this:



And here's my take - a full double layout :-)



A few details:



Even Mr. A likes it!

Washi, washi!!!

So, I'm rapidly getting back into the swing of things scrapping-wise. Having browsed lots of different crafty blogs recently, I've noticed that lots of people are getting excited about washi tape - best description I can think of is that it is a kind of Japanese masking tape which comes in lots of pretty colours/designs. Now, because it comes from Japan, it's not exactly cheap.....I also didn't really want to risk buying entire rolls of the stuff, in case I didn't like / couldn't make it work.

So imagine my happiness when I found this fab shop on Etsy - and imagine my even greater happiness and excitement when the postie squeezed this through the letter box today:




And what was inside, I hear you ask?
28 little wooden spools of washi tape - in all the colours of the rainbow :-) So, if you don't hear from me for a while, you know what I'll be doing.........

Knitting update

I finished my 12th pair for 2011 last night - which means I'm still ahead of my target :-) These were great fun to knit - the pattern is Rudy Got Sole by Amy Klimt, using Claudia's Handpainted sock yarn in the John B. colourway. Must get some more of this stuff - I love the rich, saturated colours and it knits up beautifully.


It will be interesting to see how June goes - I'm 'supposed' to start the June socks for the Knit.Sock.Love KAL (I'm substituting Sam for Stricken - can't face all those cables right now.....) and I also want to knit Yarnissima's Gush mystery sock for the Solid Socks group. However, I also have FIVE pairs of socks already on the needles, on which I really must make some progess.....

First up, there is Rhombus from Knit.Sock.Love - these are taking foreeeeevvverrr. I've finished the 1st sock, and the leg on the 2nd - really hope they will be worth all the work, because I'm totally not feeling the love right now...



Then there is the May Mystery sock from the Knitting Goddess group - I'm making these using a skein called Heather Trio (bought way back in 2009 would you believe?). Again, these are going slowly - I've only done the 1st clue on both socks......my brain doesn't seem able to cope with charts at the moment. There is no real deadline for these, so maybe I'll just let them 'rest' for a bit....


I then have a pair of SKA mystery socks that have been hibernating since March (these are the same pattern as the red/brown ones that Mum claimed as her forthcoming Christmas present)


I don't have photos of the fourth (Tresse Socks by Nicole Masson aka Stefanina, using Angels & Elephants sock yarn in the Mevagissey colourway) and fifth (Solid Socks March Mystery socks by Lisa Stichweh using a lovely delphinium blue from Patons) pairs - but that's because I haven't really made enough progress to justify getting the camera out......

UPDATE: I did indeed cast on the Gush socks :-) I couldn't decide between three shades of blue, so Mr A helped me pick this: Knitting Goddess Merino 4ply in Hyacinth:

Aren't they the most gorgeous colour???

You won't believe it........

....but I've actually been scrapping! I know, I'm still pretty amazed about it myself!

By my calculations, it's been about 3 years since I did full layout. Not good, especially given a) how much pleasure I got out of it and b) how many photos I have accumulated in that time. There were all sorts of reasons why I stopped, but the main one was that it was absolutely impossible for quite a long period of time to devote myself to something that meant separating myself from a small person - ever tried sitting in a separate room from an inquisitive toddler who totally breaks your concentration by a) wanting to know what you're doing and b) wanting to 'help'? Trust me, it's not possible. That's one of the joys of knitting - it can be done in the same room as the small person

Anyway, my mojo / inspiration has recently returned in a major way, triggered by three things: Shimelle Laine, one of my favourite designers has been posting some awesome weekly sketches. Then the naughty girl mentioned Pinterest a few weeks back - if you don't know about it already, go check it out - it's the most awesome online tool for helping you keep track of all the lovely photos that can be found on the web, be they crafty things, interior design, colour schemes, you name it. It is simply the best thing to come to interweb in simple ages

And the final trigger for this return to inspiration? The arrival in February of my totally adorable, cute as pie, little nephew Alexander. I know I'm biased, but he is just the sweetest little baby with the sunniest, happiest of natures - and he's got the most adorable dimples too! His parents are holding a naming ceremony for him in a fortnight, so here is how I've been spending my Wednesdays for the last few weeks - a paper bag mini album:

- the afore-mentioned dimples :-)

- chilling with his Mummy


- see that gorgeous smile?



- and lastly, one for all you Fawlty Towers fans (this is a bit of inside family joke - my sister was a massive Fawlty Towers fan and used to do the most hilarious impression of Manuel.......):



I've actually done four more pages, but these are the ones I'm most happy with. It's been sooo wonderful getting back to this fabulous hobby - choosing the photos, the papers and embellishments - seriously, this much fun really shouldn't free!

I think it's safe to say that you'll be seeing lots more scrapping projects in the near future :-)

Famous?

As you know, I have a bit of a passionate love affair with Hazel Knits yarn - I've made three (or is it four?) pairs of socks with Artisan Sock now. And of course, I've joined the HK club for the last 3 shipments, so I have plenty more to play with :-)

Anyway, I recently got a message from Viki, who 'runs' the Hazel Knits blog, asking if she could feature my Mona socks.....once I'd picked myself up off the floor, I said yes (of course!).

So my lovely blue socks are now reaching a wider audience! Check it out here

P.S. I haven't been ignoring the blog - I've just been super busy. And......I've been scrapping again! More details soon, I promise!

May madness

It's the start of a new month, and you know what that means, don't you? Yep - new socks!

To be honest, I might just have bitten off more than I can chew this month......after all, I've still got the Mermaid socks, the 2nd pair of Monas and the 2nd pair of March mystery socks still on the go as well. Hmmm.....maybe I should finish a pair before starting new ones? Nah! what's the fun in that?

First up, this month's pattern for the Knit.Sock.Love KAL is Rhombus - pretty damn complicated to be honest, but I'm making good progress (I'm at the heel flap now so quite a bit further on than when this picture was taken):

I'm using the gorgeous lilac-coloured Hero sock yarn that I received in the Secret Santa Swap I took part in last December - it comes from Flamboyance Yarns. Go take a look - they have the most gorgeous, one-off colourways in all kinds of lovely fibre mixtures.

Next up, the theme of Sock Knitters Anonymous is 'textured' - i.e. producing texture using knit and purl stitches. I've chosen to use some of my favourite yarn - Claudia Handpainted - in the John B. colourway and using the Rudy Got Sole pattern (will be a nice, mindless break from Rhombus!):

And last, but not least, we have the May Mystery pattern from the Knitting Goddess group. I'm using the Heather Trio colourway that I bought waaay back when I first discovered Joy's yarns. I was a bit uncertain as to whether the colours were hiding the pattern, but I love the diagonal stripes so much, I'm going to continue regardless!