I'm Back Giveaway

Yes, I am back. One course is finished and the other will be finishing in three months. In three months I will be study free. Now that's a lie. I'm always studying and my work BF and I have given ourselves extra study by coming up with a new project. All work related and nursey which will probably be boring (and a little sad given that we have done this too ourselves and are excited about it) so I won't share.

However, I have missed my creative outlet. I have tried to live precariously through my avid Instagram watching (stalking). I have had no finishes. I have had little very time to create. What time I did I have I unwisely used to start new projects. I need to get this under control. Oh, and let's not even mention the fact that my sock yarn stash has probably doubled in size since last we spoke.

I am so excited to be back but I am reducing my blogging posts from 3 to 2 per week. I have no exciting plans either. Other than to get back into it. Although, if you like Bullet Journals or want to get into them then you'll like my post on Thursday.

In the meantime I have a cheeky giveaway. I say cheeky because in the last few months I have changed the colour scheme of my living room. The red has gone (what very little of it there was). I struggled to find the shades of blue I liked with the red without having the place look like it was attacked by a British flag or a certain foodball team. It also made the room darker than I wanted. Therefore I am giving away the yarn I was using to make a blanket. If you are a fan of stylecraft I have two white, two aqua and one crimson going. All you need to do is comment below and I will draw the winner on the 1st June. If you are on Instagram you can alternative leave a comment there.

Lastly, here is what I was using it for, in case you need inspiration of what to do or not to do.

A Donation and Yarn

My lovely friend Lisa of For the Love of Yarn is taking part in Race for Life this year (as she did last year) along with her equally lovely mum. She is raising money for Cancer Research UK. A charity which has a lot of meaning to most of us. I don't think I need to say why it is a charity close to my own heart. To try and raise awareness and of course raise more donations to this worthy cause Lisa has decided to include a giveaway. Every £2 you donate will mean that you have a chance of winning the yarn above. So head over to Lisa's Just Giving page and make a donation. Even the smallest of donation goes towards research into finding cures. Just remember to leave your name so that Lisa can enter you into the prize draw which ends at 8pm tonight.

Giveaway Winner!

Last month I bought a second skein of this lovely yarn not realising I had bought one not long before. You can see all the details on my giveaway post. Today I am announcing the winner as promised.

I was too lazy to do the names in a hat and so used a number generator instead and so the winner of this yarn is Sam from For the Love of Yarnigans group. Sam had said she would knit her first pair of socks. Sam, I will send you a copy of my basic pattern along with it just incase you decide to go ahead with that plan. You never know, you might be inspired to do something else once it's in your hands. Can't wait to see it all knitted up.

Just a Reminder

 So today I was supposed to be posting about my sister's second pair of Easter socks. This is a case of don't count your chickens because I am only half way through the second sock. Night shift, flat viewing and a little bit of frogging have all meant that I was a little optimistic with finish time. Instead I leave you with what was meant to be Monday's post. Which is a reminder.

I am reminding you of the yarn that I am giving away. The yarn that I bought twice through pure greed or absent mindedness. You can pick which. Either way I was left with a second skein of identical yarn which gave me the opportunity to give one away. It's a sock yarn called Elf Cup and is by Orange Jellyfish Dream. By the way, she is having a 1 year anniversary sale.

It's beautiful to knit with and this is what my skein looked like once I knitted it up. They have become one of my favourite pairs of socks simply because of that striking blue through the pale stone colour. The deadline is next Wednesday when I will be announcing the winner in the afternoon. In order to take part just leave a comment on my original giveaway post which you will find here. Good luck!

March Socks - Bare Naked Lacy Socks

I am actually a little sad that my March socks are finished. I loved knitting these. It took me a while to decide on which pattern to use. The few that I had my heart set on required a contrasting yarn and I didn't have anything that would work well together (other than a few things that I have earmarked for other projects). So it was back to the drawing board or rather my iPad library for that one. As for the yarn that was easy in the end and I actually picked that out first.

Since I am giving away a skein of Elf Cup by Orange Jellyfish Dream it seemed only right that I used the first skein so that people can see what it looks like knitted up. The yarn is a superwash merino/nylon blend. It feels lovely and has those beautiful dark flecks through it. The bulk of the yarn is a pale shade of stone and contains a short stripe of teal/blue through out. It makes a sharp contrast and the blue highlights the loveliness of the stone. They work well together and I can't stop staring at my socks now that they are finished.

The pattern itself is called Bare Naked Lacy Socks and is by Nancy Degener. The pattern can be found on ravelry. If you go to the pattern you will notice that I have made some changes. I hate knitting picot edgings although I will do it if I feel it compliments the sock. In this case I decided it didn't really matter and in fact I prefer my sock with the ribbed cuff. I also didn't do the star toe which in hindsight might have made for a better shape. I do like that Kitchener stitch though and I automatically do that one.

I'm not sure that the pattern entirely compliments the yarn. I think it would have been better with a solid or speckled yarn. More for the sake of the yarn itself rather than the pattern. I now think I would have liked to see what it looked like in a basic sock. However, I was determined not to do two basics socks in a row. I think the pooling of the colour would also have went better had I gone for a short row heel.

Despite that it's my favourite sock to date but again it has more to do with the yarn than the pattern. If you fancy having a go at the patter it's actually quite an easy one. The lace pattern is a four round repeat and it isn't particularly complex for lace but it is effective. If you don't want to do the picot edging you can skip that and do 14 rounds of knit 1, purl 1 like me.

Lastly, you can still sign up for the second skein of this yarn. I won't be announcing the winner until the 31st March. You just have to leave a comment on the linked post to let me know that you are interested. Be aware that I filter the comments due to spam so it might not appear straight away.

The Absent-Minded Giveaway

Not sure if it can be classed as absent minded. Perhaps just careless or pure greed. Anyway, I was going through my yarns yesterday. The plan was to pick out one that I would use for March's socks. When I picked up this one by Orange Jellyfish Dream. You might remember it from November's Stash post. I thought that it looked a little like another yarn I had recently ordered from Orange Jellyfish Dream. So I looked up my order and guess what. It looks the same because it is the same. Just shows you how much I love that colour.

So since I will now have to I have decided that the one winging its way to me now will be given away. All you have to do is comment below and say what you would use it for. That's purely for my own nosiness. Names will go in a hat and the winner will be announced on Wednesday 30th March. On the plus side it's been a few years since my last giveaway.

Oh, and the yarn is a sock weight superwash merino/nylon blend and is called Elf Cup. It's 100g so there would be enough for socks.

And the Winner Is.....

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The lovely Lisa is the winner of the sock yarn. Lisa is primarily a crochet person so I will be interested to see what she does with it. Thank you everyone who left a comment. I want to apologise to those who had problems commenting. I understand there was a problem with people commenting via their mobile phones. I still included those who had problems in the prize draw. If I do another giveaway I will open up the comments again and suggest that people use something other than mobile devices.

Anyways, well done Lisa and a huge thank you to Black Sheep Wools who donated the yarn in the first place. For those of you who didn't win but still fancy trying it, I highly recommend that you do so. It's a fairly thick yarn (more like a double knit) and you don't necessarily have to use it for socks.

Yarn Review and Giveaway!

This tale has been told before but I am going to tell it again. About a month or so ago the lovely people of Black Sheep Wools were looking for volunteer bloggers. I put my name down and I was asked if I would like to review some sock yarn. I was hardly going to say no was I? I was sent some Regia Highland Tweed to try out and an extra to give away. So here it is all knitted up and I have to say I am a little in love with these socks.

The yarn is thicker than most sock yarns. I would say it was more like a double knit. Which is perfect as there are lots of double knit patterns in my sock books that I have been drying to try. I picked this pattern (gentle waves from The Big Book of Socks) because I thought the subtlety of the pattern would highlight the lovely tweed of the yarn. I think I was right.

The flecks of the tweed really come through. This is my first time using any tweed yarn although I have been wanting to for some time. The yarn has a lovely feel to it. It's extra thick thus making it perfect for a boot sock. It also doesn't split which is always a bonus. Unlike the Regia hand-dye effect it is also sturdier. I was worried about it breaking away because it does feel a little like that yarn but I needn't have worried. It even managed the grafting of the toe well.

It's the colours I love too. I love blues and I am usually drawn to them. The subtle changes of blue through the yarn are just lovely. There is even a hint of purple in there which I think the camera managed to pick up. It also comes in 150g which is more than enough for a ladies pair of socks or even a gents. I think I have enough left over to knit a pair for my sisters tiny feet. If you are looking to try something with a pattern and want something cosy for the winter then definitely try this yarn. I know I am going to be looking at what other colours it comes in. As for the pattern I used. it came from my faithful Big Book of Socks and it was a fairly easy cable pattern. It did feel strange knitting socks on such large needles though.

Now for the giveaway. I am giving away the extra ball Black Sheep Wools sent (for this purpose). So if you like the sound of the yarn and want to try it yourself all you have to do is leave a comment with your email address. Preferably within the UK but I'm not going to be a stickler about it. I will announce the winner next Sunday night (16th March) after I pull someones name out of a bag. So the cut off for joining in is 4pm 16th March. Good luck!

Sneak Peeks!

I started placement this week which is why this is my first post and there was no pinterest post. I had intended on posting at the end of last week but time got away from me. Basically, I just want to let you all know that I haven't disappeared. It's been difficult to update now that I am no longer at uni and my laptop is still not working. I need to resign myself to the fact that it's never going to work again. Thankfully it works enough for me to get all my stuff off it. Plus, good news, I have a shiny new laptop which I will hopefully set up tonight.

Not sure I would have been able to update anyway. My placement is amazing but busy. I also have a couple of hours of travel to get there. That all combined, I just want to crawl into bed when I get home. There has been no crafting. Instead I have been managing to read a little. I have a few days off though and I plan to get some crafting done in between studying.

The first plan is to finish a pair of socks. That's the first sneak peek. I think they will be done this weekend and when I post about them it will also include a giveaway. So look out for that.

Knowing that I was going to be tired after shifts I wanted something simple to work on. I had some lovely Rowan yarn that I have been dying to use. It was originally going to be used to make something for my sisters bedroom. However, it's handwash only. My sister will happily accept handwash only socks but not throws or blankets. So it's now for me. Frustratingly I had thought I had bought more of the yarn than I did. I have used up the pink and so will have to buy more of each colour if I want to be able to use it as a decent sized throw or lapghan.

So, I started another throw. This time definitely for my sister. The yarn is just an acrylic (yarn snobs beware) so it can be washed at high temperatures. She wanted something to brighten up her living room and so I offered to do this for her. Really she is doing this as a favour for me as I now have something that I can work on without thinking about it. Yes, it's another solid granny. I really haven't gotten enough of those yet.

Yarn snobs come back! I decided to have a go at colourwork. If I kept putting it off I would never get round to it. This yarn is the loveliest yarn I have ever knitted socks with (not counting Lisa's yarn mind you). It's regia but it's angora. So lovely and soft. Not sure how my colourwork is turning out but who cares. It feels nice. It also takes a lot of concentration to follow the chart. So I will only be doing this a little bit at a time.

So that's what I've been up to. I will soon have an update on my sock class which finished last week. I also hope to return to pinteterest posts as of next week. I may not have many finishes over the next two months but I will still be around.

Socks All For Me!

Lots of sock news today. Mainly I have now three finished pairs of socks which are mine, all mine. I also have some exciting sock news which I will announce at the end of this post.

These are my first finished pair of the year. They are knitted up using Regia sock yarn. I knitted this as a hitchhiker scarf a while back (which was also for me) and I loved the result. I love the socks even more. It's the colours. They are just so lovely and bright! I did make a tiny error. Well, a big one. You will maybe notice that they look rather large. This is because I knitted them on 2.75mm needles. I normally do as I am a tight knitter and so need the bigger size for tension. Now if I was using the 2.5mm I would just add some extra stitches. Which I also did. Not to worry. Slightly bigger just means comfier.

The first pair I knitted alongside friends I was teaching to knit. I also used images from the first sock to create images for my hand out. This second pair I used to photograph a different technique to create the to. Basically, no grafting. You might recognise the yarn as the lovely hand-dyed yarn that my friend Lisa created. My favourite colour is blue and I love the added sparkle. I can't wait to wear them but at the same time they are just too pretty.

These last pair I actually started on a whim. A friend was giving away some Sirdar Crofter in double knit. You can knit socks in double knit but they are mainly cable socks. I picked out this one. I decided to do them on a smaller size needle. Mainly because I didn't have the size indicated and I was too impatient to wait. I did them in a larger size to make up for it and it worked out perfectly. Not often that happens. The yarn was so lovely to knit with. I know I have used it before but I love it. Plus, I do love a cable and these wiggles are super cosy. The only downside is that I am not overly fond of the yellow stripe. I can live with it though.

The pattern itself is once again from The Big Book of Socks by Kathleen Taylor. The pattern is called Wiggle Worm socks. The design is repeated over 8 rows and was fairly simple to follow. I liked the fact that the pattern of the cables continued down the heel of the socks. Don't think I have done something like that before.

Last but not least my news. The lovely people from Black Sheep Wools were looking for bloggers. I volunteered and they have asked me to review this lovely yarn. It's by Regia and is called Highland Tweed. I have never used tweed before although I have always wanted to. So I am very excited about it. More exciting than that is that they gave me two. Once I review the yarn I will be giving the second away to a lucky reader. So look out for that!