Little Box of Crochet - Hook Roll.

I opened up my first Little Box of Crochet and started the hook roll. I meant only to start it in order to try out the new pattern (new to me) and the next thing I knew I just had the border to do. It would have been rude not to finish it which I did this morning.

This monthly club is organised by a lady called Amanda. If you follow Amanda on Instagram you will already know of Amanda and her daughter's story. She is a special and strong lady and I have admired her strength from afar.

Each month Amanda organises a box of crochet goodies which include a pattern by a designer, the yarn to make the pattern and a crochet hook. The hook roll was from one month in the summer which Amanda designed herself. She was over enthusiastic with box numbers and so was selling them as a once off box on her etsy page. Which is how I was lucky enough to get a hold of one.

The instructions were in the form of a little booklet and were easy to follow. It contained photographs too which I always find helpful. I got to learn a stitch that I had always wanted to try and I loved the end results. The cotton yarn provided was of good quality and I love the end result. My non-crochet sister was impressed and has asked me to teach her.

I showed you the box on What's New post and it's a solid box which you could store your bits and bobs in. My sister is now using this one for her hair clips.

The little extras surprised me. I would have been happy with the yarn and the pattern. I certainly wasn't expecting the crochet hook and darning needle. The back of the booklet contained space to write notes but it also came with a little notebook and pen. There was also a cute little stitch marker (I love my stitch markers) which I sadly forgot to photograph.

I wish I had thought to photograph the inside of the box with the product but I will rectify that for next time. It sounds like I am raving but I am 100% impressed by this. The quality of the box and the instruction booklet as well as the yarn inside was worth the money alone. I can't stress enough how much this little monthly club has exceeded my expectations. If you have been thinking of joining do it. I linked Amanda's pages before but I'll link them again.

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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.

Sister's Easter Socks

 

Easter is a few weeks away yet but I was in a sock knitting kick and so I decided to start a pair for my sister. As you know we have a 'make the gift' policy when it comes to Easter.

You can't get more Easter-like than bright yellow (Easter chicks anyone?) and so I picked this colourway, called Zing, by For the Love of Yarn. Now it's a little bright even for me but it fits the theme and my sister will love it. It actually made for a cheery sight when the snow came down. As for the yarn base it's a merino/nylon blend. It's lovely to knit with as all of Lisa's yarns are.

The patter I chose for it is one that has been in my library for a long time. It's called Osier and is by Stefanina. You can find more of her patterns on her ravelry page but sadly she has not updated her blog in four years. I would say this pattern would be for your intermediate sock knitter. I say that only because of the way one of the rounds works out. You have to slip a stitch over the previous round but remember not to move the end of the round. Experienced knitters just learning to knit socks might find it to be an untaxing challenge.

What I love about it is that the pattern follows through both the cuff and the heel (this is the heel flap). It still give the heel it's sturdiness without disrupting the pattern. It was fun to watch it grow and I think that I would knit it again. I have a feeling that this pattern changes depending on the yarn colour. The images from the original pattern look different from mine. I attribute that to the brightness of the yellow but I still like it.

The only criticism I have is that it calls for only 2.5 repeats of the pattern for the leg. That works out at 30 rounds which makes it an ankle socks. This wasn't what I wanted and so it was easy enough to add an extra two repeats. I think making it shorter would have ruined it. If you look at the images on ravelry it would seem that other knitters had the same idea.

As I said, Easter is a few weeks away yet and I have plans to knit my sister another pair of socks. I already have an idea as to the yarn and the pattern. So watch this space.

Acer Shawl CAL #2

So, I actually started this shawl a few months back and it featured in October's WIP post.  To be honest I actually finished it a few months ago. Yesterday though I decided to finally have it blocking overnight while I was on night shift and today I sewed in the ends. Does it count as a first finish if that was all I had to do with it. If that was the case it should probably have been shown in Monday's post. Not sure I can count it as a first finish. Feels a little like cheating.

Anyway, it is now completely finished. If you remember the Acer shawl was part of a crochet along hosted by Love Crochet. The pattern was designed by Joanne Scarce who made herself available for questions while the CAL was on. The pattern was a little difficult at first. That was purely due to my own inexperience. And of course self doubt since I just assumed I was doing it wrong. Once I got into the swing of the pattern it became quite easy as it repeated over a couple of rows. It got to the stage I didn't need the pattern and it became quite addictive.

As I mentioned earlier this is my second Acer shawl and you can see my first one here. The yarn in the first one is not only brighter but is more delicate. For the second shawl I used Sublime luxurious tweed DK. It's a bulkier yarn and feels stiffer. It also made for a larger shawl which was what I wanted. What I like about this yarn is actually the colour. It changes depending on the lighting. It has subtle hints of other colours in there.

Oh, and thanks to this CAL, not only do I have two new shawls but I have a new blog to follow and instagram account as the designer has both. You can see her makes on her blog Not So Granny.

My Christmas Socks 2015!

So all my Christmas socks are finished and they will be handed out on Christmas Eve along with new pyjama's which I also got everyone (much to my dad's disgust as he likes his old ones). I didn't think I would get my socks done but when you fall in love with a pattern you can't help but knit away.  In the end these only took a few days to knit up.

The pattern is called Jaywalker and is by Grumperina Designs (how brilliant is that name). It's a free pattern which you can find on Ravelry here. I honestly don't know how it first came to my attention. It's been on my iPad for a long time. So long that I forgot it was there. I just happened to be looking through my patterns that I had on there when I came across this and decided I was going to use it for my Christmas socks. It's a really good pattern. The instructions are detailed and very easy to follow. Unlike a lot of sock patterns on ravelry it also gives instructions for different sizes. I used the smallest size on a slightly bigger needle and it worked out perfect. The designer states that this is the perfect pattern for a beginner who wants to try something new. I have to say I heartily agree. The pattern works over two rounds and the first round is just knit. The heel and toe is no different from the basic sock. So the zig zag aspect is the only part that you will have to get used to. And you will very quickly.

For this I used the yarn that I had originally ordered from Lisa for my dad. I will still go on about it but I am glad he did. This was the softest, loveliest yarn to work on. Silky smooth, that's exactly how it felt. It's a merino tencel blend and if you ever get the chance to knit with it then jump at it. I can't recommend it enough. I also can't wait to put them on my feet. As for the colours. I personally love it and think that the striping of the yarn worked very well with the pattern.

You can see the full effect here. Although I also love the heel. I always love how Lisa's yarns look at the heel. This time I just haven't photographed it. In my last post about my dad's socks the original Sock Lady commented that she tends to only knit the basic sock now in order to let the yarn shine through. I have to say that I agree with that but I am still a sucker for a pattern. I find one and I want to knit over and over again. Like here and here. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those patterns. I'm already thinking of what sock yarn to use for a pair of these for my sister.

So that's all my Christmas socks done. You will notice that my socks are the only ones with a pattern. That wasn't deliberate. With my sister's socks I felt the yarn was too buys and I wanted to see hoe the striping of the yarn worked out on it's own. With my dad's, well, didn't want to make them too feminine (his words not that I am hanging on to that or anything).

This is my last post before Christmas. I have a few posts planned out for before the New Year and I hope to share with you some plans for next year. In the meantime I hope you all have an amazing Christmas.

Not A Happy Chappy!

I was out yarn shopping yesterday which is always fatal. They didn't have any of the yarn I was looking for left but I still didn't go away empty handed. I did buy yarn that was a Christmas present but on a whim I also picked up a ball of Patons, 'Fab Big'. Another one of those yarns that has a scarf pattern on the ball band. I saw it in pink and thought my sister would like it. The pattern was very easy to follow and knits up very quickly. I started it last night and finished it this morning. I would have finished it in one day if I didn't have an exam. Plus it's one of those loop scarf which I thought my sister would appreciate (she loves her winter woolies).

Sadly I don't think the pattern quite delivered what it promised. The loop scarf was far shorter than what the pattern and images on the ball band suggested it would be. There is now way to wrap it round the head again. At least not without throttling yourself. In the image above I have actually folded it in half just so that it sits. My advice if you are knitting this up is to start with far fewer stitches. You will get the length you will need. Plus if you don't want to wrap it again it will sit better without folding. Otherwise you will need at least half the ball of yarn again. It's not a Christmas present but hopefully my sister will like it anyways.