Sister's Summer Socks

Summer is ending and I managed to knit my sisters summer socks just in time. I call them her summer socks because of the yarn which reminds me of summer. When my sister saw them she renamed them her unicorn socks. It's funny how people see different things in yarn.

The yarn is by Mothy and the Squid. She was my fibre swap partner earlier in the year and I am so glad I was partnered up with her because her yarn has become a favourite of mine. I especially love her rainbow series. This yarn is actually sport weight rather than sock. It just means it's 5ply rather than 4 and makes for a slightly thicker sock. The colourway is called "Summer Skies Rainbow". As soon as I saw it I thought it would be perfect for my sister and having knit with it I am actually a little jealous. It's beautiful to knit with. Head over to Mothy and the Squid's etsy shop and you'll find more of her beautiful yarn.

I used the basic sock pattern. I think for the rainbow yarn only the basic sock pattern will do. The colours have to be shown off and any pattern will hide that. It was fast to knit up. I do like a basic pattern now and then. Particularly if the colours are fun to watch as they come out.

Folksy Fowl

There is nothing like seeing a photo enlarged to make you realise you should have taken  the photo after you hoovered. Lesson learned, well, maybe. This blue bird cross stitch was finished at the end of 2014 and has been waiting to be framed ever since. When hunting out WIP's last week I found it patiently waiting in the confines of a folder. Since this is the month of finishes I decided it was time that I framed it.

The pattern is from an issue of Cross Stitcher from early 2013. It's part of a series of birds (entitled Folksy Fowls) by Jan Prutton. I remember when I saw it that I instantly thought of my sister. Not because she is particularly fond of fowls but because of the colours. The matched her living room perfectly and I thought the pattern was kind of cute. Over a year later I actually started working on it.

That was in 2014 and this image was the first and last that was seen of it here (I may have shown updates on instagram).  It was actually very easy to stitch thanks to the large blocks of solid colour. It stitched up quickly. You would think I would like a challenge of lots of colour changes and I don't shy from those types of patterns. However, I do like to see a pattern develop despite the use of few colours (or in this case shades of blue and green). It also involved no back stitch. In my view any pattern that doesn't require backstitch is pretty much perfect. I used evenweave fabric rather than aida. I love working with evenweave. It's a softer material and the stitches flow much more smoothly.

I wish I had thought of photographing this before I framed it as the frame softens it a little thanks to the glare of the light. My sister was delighted with it. It helps that she was unaware that she was waiting on it. I may have told her I was working on something for her but I spend a lot of my time working on something for her so she would have been none the wiser. She has already picked out a space to hang it.

If you are wanting to try a large cross stitch project for a beginner then I recommend it. You can find the pattern in issue 263 March 2013 of Cross Stitcher. You might be able to get it direct from the publisher.

Shout Out!

None of these images were done by me. This is a shout out to other talented people. First of all I am not the only baker in the family. The difference between my sister and I is that she is better at the decorating side than I am. Benefits of her art degree (she will kill me for saying that). These cupcakes were not only tasty but they looked good too. My sister does love her skulls and cross bones.

The second shout out is to a lovely lady from my knitting group, Jean. We always joke that she comes along and does more chatting than crafting. That aside she does a lot of card making at home. Knowing my love of camper vans she made me this lovely card for my birthday. So pretty!

In other news, after reading into it I decided to give Glipho a go. It's a social networking site for bloggers. You can hook up all your social media feeds and your blog to the one place. It's also quite good to see what others are blogging about. I am still getting my head around it. So if you are on there then look me up. You'll find me under karensi.

The Hitchhiker

Every time I write about this pattern I have Kenny Rogers, The Gambler, in my head. No idea why.

This scarf pattern was first discovered by a friend of mine who is known for finding interesting new scarf patterns. I have a friend known as the sock lady and in this way this friend should be known as the scarf lady. The pattern is by Martina Behm and you can buy it from ravelry for about £2.50. I love the pattern. It's so simple and yet effective. It's an 8 row repeat and all you need to know is how to increase, purl, knit and cast off. It's as simple as that.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and I picked out the Zitron Trekking XXL from my stash. I loved the blues and greens and thought it would make an effective stripy pattern. Which it did. Another reason to love the pattern (if you use patterning sock yarn) is that the effect of the yarn changes as the scarf grows. This scarf is for me and I am looking forward to it being cold enough to wear it.

My sister liked the scarf and I believe even threatened to pinch it. I couldn't have that so I have knitted one up for her Christmas. Knitting two in a row you would think I would have grown bored of it but not at all.

This time I used Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I bought this in a sale ages ago knowing that I would have to use it for my sister who loves pink and black. At first I was unsure whether or not to use it for the scarf. Even in a sale it's quite expensive and the pattern would have to be special to use it on. Glad I did though. If you have seen socks knitted for my sister in previous posts you will know she has tiny feet. So tiny that the socks would have turned out mainly pink and the rest of those colours would have gone unnoticed (unless of course I made her socks uneven). The scarf however starts off all in pink and slowly the other colours emerge until you get this stripey effect at the end. It certainly made knitting it more interesting.

I love Noro yarn. I love the colours which are always bright and unexpected. The downside to it is that it's a little harsh from being over-dyed. The thickness through out is also uneven. This all however, works perfectly for the scarf.

Easter Granny Square Cushion

Remember these a few posts back? I was learning to crochet circles a few weeks ago thanks to pinterest.

Those squares eventually became lots of squares. 32 to be exact. Every single one of them different.

This is what they look like all put together. I am so pleased with the way it turned out. I used every colour in that bag and somehow they all seemed to go together. They aren't colours I would normally put in one project.

I even copied the edging from the Cath Kidston. In the cotton it's a little more subtle. I quite like it though. Hopefully my sister will to as it is for her. I have a load more of this cotton left so I am working on something else. If that doesn't use it up then I have more plans for it.

If you want to learn how to do those granny squares there is a great tutorial on a blog called Crochet With Raymond. That's where I learned. They are actually called grandala squares but I call them circular squares. The tutorial is good although it took some getting used to. Fellow Brit's dc is what we would call a treble.

Oh, and if you are on pinterest say hello. You'll find me there under Karensi1.

Sewing by Wee Sis

I promised some more photo's of some of the things my sister has been sewing and here they are. The top two are flower broaches that she made me. One was for my Christmas.

This cute little felt pocket was also for my Christmas which had my broach and a few other things inside. I love these designs. Especially the buttons.

This one was for my birthday. Back to her original hand sewn bags. I use this to hold my sock knitting. I love the fabric.

This cute little bag was also for my birthday she had put some make up in it. So that's what I keep it for. Again I love the fabric and I love the little buttons and bows that decorate the border.

I also got more stash this week. They question is do you want me to bore you with a photo of it?