November Socks - New England

For November I went back to knitting a pattern. Instead of trying a new pattern I went to one of my favourites. It's called New England by Nancy Bush. I have knitted this so many times I can practically fly through it.

For the yarn I picked out one that had been in my stash for a while now. I was originally going to use this lovely yellow and white in October as I thought it would be the perfect autumn shade. Actually, it felt more summer like which was perfect for a cold November. The yarn is called Golden Eyes and is of course by the lovely Lisa of For the Love of Yarn.

I love the striping of the yarn and how the yellow is framed by stripes of grey. Even round the ankle the pooling is perfect.

My favourite part of this pattern is the diamonds travelling up the centre of the sock. The pattern should finish at the end of the diamond which means that the sock is a little long for me. This just makes them all the more cosy. Since it is freezing outside I will love putting these on when I come home from work.

I show this part of the pattern every time I knit these socks. As it is another aspect of the pattern that I love. These twists up the back of the sock give it that little stretch which means you don't need to knit a cuff and it's pretty too.

So far I have managed 11 months of socks. That's more than I managed the last time I started this challenge. For my final pair I have chosen a yarn I have never used before that has been matched to a pattern. The colours are among my favourite and they have a wintery feel which is fitting since they will be my December socks.

November WIP

It has been quite a while since I did a work in progress post. Mainly due to the fact that recently I've been doing the sensible thing and working on only one thing at a time. I'm back to multiple projects now that I am able to manage my time. This might seem like a boring image to start with but I love it. I love the crisp cleanness of it. This is the Heritage Cascade sock yarn I showed you in my last post. As I mentioned then it is being used for the final images for my birthday diamonds pattern. I love how it is knitting up. I very rarely knit with white on it's on but it's lovely to work with. This is the cuff completed and I am about to start on the pattern.

I have also made a start on this months socks. The yarn is from For the Love of Yarn. It's a complete change in colourway for me and I love it. I thought it would be very autumnal but it's actually brightening up my mood as we move into winter. I am also using my favourite pattern New England from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. It's knitting up fast.

Just to prove I am not just knitting or just working on socks. This is the stylecraft yarn I showed you in the last post. As mentioned then I am using it to work on a blanket for my living room. I went with the African flower pattern as it's been one that I have been wanting to try for a long time. I'm also joining as I go which will save one big headache later.

Happy Mother's Day!

Okay, a day late but I hope everyone in the UK celebrating Mother's Day yesterday had a good one. I baked mum's favourite chocolate cheesecake and I made three cheese macaroni (following my mother's instructions). I have no good images of these so here is a picture of my lovely mum wearing her new top and jewellery instead.

 

I can also finally share this image with you. I ordered Lisa's Mother's Day box for my mum. Since I have a problem with holding back I had my mum open it as soon as it arrived. She loved it (as if there was any doubt) and has plans for this lovely yarn already. She also loved the candle and is happy that her For the Love of Yarn crochet hook collection is growing. Thank you lovely Lisa!

While I didn't make anything I coincidentally finished these socks for my mum yesterday. Again this uses some of Lisa's lovely yarn.

I decided that the colour changes were so short through the yarn that a pattern was in order. So I picked my favourite from Knitting On The Road by Nancy Bush. I have reviewed this book already and knitted this pattern many times.  I never get bored of it and I think it suited this yarn perfectly.

Sadly I don't have an image of the yarn when I received it (which was a lovely gift from Lisa). I had it wound and cast on the needles as soon as I got it. Instead here is a photo of the back of the sock which I love but you don't really get to see.