On the Pins in February

I thought I would show a little of what I have been working on so that no one thinks that I have been doing nothing or disappeared again. I have two larger projects on the pins and they will take a little longer to finish as a result. I am loving them both though and I swap my time between them. They are both very different and so I haven’t minded that it is taking me longer to finish (too used to knitting socks is my problem).

The first is for my garment challenge and it is a the Windy scarf by Martin Story. I came across the pattern and the designer thanks to watching the Fruity Knitting podcast. Andrew of Fruity Knitting did this very same scarf in order to practise his cables. It was beautifully done and I initially thought that this might be good to knit for my dad or my uncle. Then selfishly I decided to knit it for myself as part of the challenge. Like the hat it is a bit of a cheat since I am not new to cables. I love a cable and I have never knitted a cable scarf before. I don’t want to say too much about it until I do my finish post but it is a lovely knit.

The second project is a continuation of learning Brioche. It’s another Knit Graffiti design and it’s a shawl called Parlour. I cast on the yarn that I found in my stash by Owl About the Yarn. I knit this on my days off while I have something easy on in the background so that I can concentrate. It’s hard to put down though and I am loving watching it grow just as much as I am loving the scarf. The scarf pattern I have memorised and I tend to knit that when watching something I haven’t watched before. I also occasionally do a few rows before bed after work as it helps me relax.

So I said in my last post that I was going to have a month or two of de-stash projects once my Brioche phase was finished. In that vein I decided to cast on the sock yarn by For the Love of Yarn which I also showed in my last post. I have seen numerous people knitting socks where the design is a simple slip stitch. I was sure I had this pattern saved somewhere but have struggled to find it. I have therefore cast it on myself but won’t be releasing it as I know that this already exists as a pattern. Since my last post I have also tidied out what was formerly known as my cupboard of shame. I can now find everything and that means seeing exactly how much stash I have. It is considerably more than I thought and it is disgusting. Another excuse to cast on socks. Really I was having sock withdrawal.

On the plus side I found that I had a second cake of this yarn. When buying Lisa’s club boxes I always opted for the larger size (which will explain my stash size). This yarn has large blocks of colour and so one sock will only have two colours in it. After realising that I discarded the mini which I had originally planned to be an afterthought heel and toes. I pulled out the second cake and I plan to make two socks the same by knitting from the outside. I have finished the first sock and one half is orange while the other is purple. Yesterday I also started a second sock by knitting from the inside which will be the first of a second pair. It has a different pattern and it’s one that I will be able to release when I have written it up. I have called it Bad Wolf. You’ll find out why at some point in the future.

I suppose that technically means that I have four projects on the go but I predict that my socks will be finished by next week. The other two will take a little longer.

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.

Birthday Daimonds Socks 2

I knitted up my birthday diamond sock pattern for my sister. I used the same number of stitches but did fewer repeats of the pattern on the foot which worked. They fit my sister perfectly. Last post I showed you that I had started the final practise of the sock pattern before I write it up and publish it. I am hoping to do that before Christmas.

Once I again I used a yarn by Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. This time I picked out a solid colour from my stash as I wanted to see what it looked like without the variegated yarn. I chose the red and I loved how it turned out. Sadly, I didn't take a photo of the yarn before I started knitting with it as I assumed I had done that when I purchased it. Never assume. I do have a group photo from my Red post and you can see it on the far left. It deserves more limelight than that and I apologise for that (sorry Lisa).

I took more photos of the socks while my sister was wearing them. Sadly this was the only one that turned out. I need to practise that. She loves them though which is the main thing.

September Socks - Basic Socks

I am 100% all caught up as Septembers socks were finished last week. Of course it helped that I used the basic sock pattern. After two months of patterns I decided that I wanted something simple that would make the sock more about the yarn than the pattern. Plus I wanted to work more on my own pattern from August.

Deciding which yarn to use proved difficult. I decided again not to use blue. With the help of my sister I picked out this yarn called Beach Huts by Owl About Yarn. I bought this earlier in the year when I was picking out yarn for fibreshare. It's a nylon/merino blend and knits up beautifully. It's on the heavier scale of 4 ply which I always love to knit with.

So the yarn still has blue in it but I love the colours and I loved the way it striped. I didn't want to interrupt that striping and so I used a short row heel. It made for a pretty heel. I was also left with quite a bit of yarn left and I think there is enough to knit a pair of ankle socks for my tiny footed sister.

Next month I will use a pattern again and the yarn I have picked out has absolutely no blue or green.

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.

How to Use a Mini Skein

My friend Lisa has recently added mini skeins to her etsy shop. She has packs in both double knit and sock weight. In fact she is even starting a mini skein club where you get so many mini skeins each month. A fab idea that I would join if I could afford to commit to anything just now (which I can't). It did remind me though that when I listed this in my What's New post last month that I would write out some ideas for mini skeins. So here we have it (and these are just a few ideas). None of these images are mine but belong to the makers which I have linked (the image above is from Lisa's shop).

I thought I would start with the smallest project and work my way up. Which is apt since the pack of mini skeins I highlighted at the start is sock weight. So here we have some striped socks. An obvious choice for me but these stripes are a little bit different. I'm actually curious as to how it's done and I might even try this myself. Actually my first thought when I decided to post this blog was to show a plain white sock with a mini skein used for the heels and toes. This is far more creative. The pattern is called Squircle (brilliant name) and is by General Hogbuffer. It looks like General Hogbuffer has lots of lovely sock patterns that I will have to make some time to look at.

You would be correct if you recognised the pattern in these rainbow socks. It's the Broken Seed Stitch pattern which I used for Aprils socks. Blogger Pesa Puussa has done a rainbow version which are quite striking. Some mini skeins would be ideal for this. Just to remind you the original pattern is by Hannah Levaniemi.

 Cherry Heart is one of my favourite crochet bloggers. I love seeing the images from her crochet. They colours are always pretty. I am sure I have posted about her Stripy Mitts before but this seemed the perfect place to give them a revisit. The pattern is a free download but I suggest following her blog just for the inspiration. She has a lot of lovely patterns on there. These mitts I like for a lot of reasons. I like the stripes. You could use any mini skein pack colour combo that you want. I imagine the mitts would look different depending on your colour choices. I also love it for the cute little buttons running up the side of the mitts. Definitely one of my favourites.

The Hot Spot Pillow is one off my favourite ideas. It uses crochet squares with the centre round in colour and the rest in white. With a pack of mini skeins you would get a large number of squares out of them done this way. I love it for it's simplicity and yet it looks so effective. I also think that there are an infinite number of squares that you could use in this way. I am thinking a plain granny done the same way would be just as effective. You can also see from the above image that different colour combinations create a different look. The pattern is by blogger Kirsten.  Her blog is called Haakmaarraak and is definitely worth checking out. She has a lot of lovely patterns on there and I have added her blog to my craft blog list page.

 This cute baby blanket I have admired for a long time on pinterest. I love that it starts with bold blocks of colour which slowly intersperse through the white. It makes for a pretty blanket and I think it could be just as striking with one colour. However, that wouldn't utilise your mini skein's but the original design by Felted Button would. This pattern isn't free but I would consider buying this myself. Go and have a look at Felted Button's blog as she has quite a few lovely patterns for sale and rather a large number of them involve rainbow combinations.

I couldn't finish this post without a blanket from another of my favourite crochet bloggers. I have raved about Attic24 more times than I can count and I have used her granny stripe pattern many times. I thought this would be perfect for the mini skeins if you were collecting them. This way you could add to it as you collect and your blanket would take on a different look each time. I also thought it would be perfect for Lisa's mini skein club. You would be getting a surprise each time and it would be something you could work on a little each month. Just an idea. You can sign up for Lisa's club here.

There are far more ideas out there than the ones I have listed. As they say, you are limited only by your own imagination. If any of you have come up with  your own creative ways of using them I would love to see it.

April Socks - Broken Seed Stitch Socks

Surprise! April's socks are finished. Didn't think I would do it but this last week I have barely put the pins down (away from work that is). This time I used a pattern that I had mentioned to you in a previous post. It was one that I wanted to try using a variegated yarn but required a contrasting yarn for every second row. The pattern is called Broken Seed Stitch and is by ravelry designer Hannah Levaniemi. She has some lovely patterns there so worth checking her out (this is her only sock pattern though).

For this pattern you need to have an idea on how the sock is constructed because the pattern doesn't give you this. All it does is give you some advice and gives the four row repeat that gives the sock this beautiful striping effect.

The four row repeat is fairly easy and once you have done it you can pretty much go it alone. You can see the effect it has even though the pattern is quite simple. It was fun to watch the stripes of colour spiral round the sock. Also to see the effect of a plain yarn knitted alternatively.

As I said you are left to construct the sock yourself. It suggests a 60 stitch cast on which was perfect. For the cuff I chose a rib of k2, p2.  The heel I went with a short row heel. The reason is actually a lazy one. It meant I could knit the heel in the solid colour and I wouldn't have to cut any of the yarns which I might have done on my usual heel turn. I think not having to do a gusset works better for the pattern of the sock anyway.

Since I was using less of the hand dyed yarn than I normally would I got a second pair of socks out of it. I decided to knit a pair for my sister so that we are now sock twins. I have to say I loved knitting the second pair almost as much as the first.

This is the variegated yarn I used. I won this on a charity auction Lisa set up a few years ago. I had started a basic pair of socks with it and hated the way the yarn pooled. It wasn't striping very well. For this pattern though it was perfect. It has a stripe of white through it too which worried me slightly since I was using white as a contrasting yarn. In actual fact I think that it enhanced the pattern. It broadened those stripes of green making it stand out more against the purple. Sadly I didn't keep the tag and I can only make out part of the tag from this image so I can't remember where it came from. If anyone knows who the hand dyer was please let me know. For the contrasting yarn I used a Rowan wool cotton in 4 ply. It was a little thicker than the sock yarn but this actually worked out perfectly as it made for a sturdier cuff and heel. Especially since I was doing the short row heal and it meant there were none of those horrible gaps that can occur.

Next months socks are going to be a basic sock but I am excited about this as I can't wait to see how the yarn I have chosen knits up. Watch this space.

Sister's Easter Socks #2

I finally finished my sister's second pair of Easter socks. I had planned all along that I would knit her a pair of the Jaywalker socks. As you may remember I knitted myself a pair for Christmas and I have been itching to knit another pair.  I just love the way it stripes. I'm not going to go into details about the pattern as I have done that before. Just click on that link and it will take you to it.

I used a yarn I bought a while back from Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. Again, I bought this yarn specifically for my sister. She likes cookie colour combinations (the artist in her) but she likes pretty too and I think this falls into the pretty category. She's not a girly girl (or at least she says she's not) but she does like pink. I like the subtle shades of grey through it and it actually is very like the blue and grey I used for my own pair. The colour way for this is called Rouge Grey and as always the yarn is beautiful to knit with.

Once again I think the pattern of the socks shows off the striping of the yarn beautifully. I don't think I will every get bored of  knitting these and I am actually tempted to try them again with another indie dyed sock yarn. Just to see how that turns out. The pooling isn't as precise as this once the heel is turned. This is due to the fact that the pattern only runs for the instep rather than the sole of the sock. On my socks it just meant for larger stripes but it didn't quite turn out that way for my sister. It's hard to see the effect it would have due to the fact that my sister has tiny feet. Still pretty though and I think my sister will like them.

Lisa has closed her books on her orders for now as her little boy was taken into hospital last night. Please everyone send out all your thoughts to Lisa and her family and especially to brave Callum.

March WIP

The shawl is back out. I finally went back and fixed the mistake. I contemplated not doing it. It was only half a row but I would see it in the pattern. Not worth the irritation. I then finished the last few rows of the pattern and started picking up stitches for the border. I was so excited. Then I realised I was going to be short of stitches. Back to the instructions I went to discover I had another whole repeat of the pattern and then another repeat less three rows. To say that I was annoyed at myself is putting it mildly. Thankfully you don't break the yarn before starting the pick up for the border. It was just a case of taking out those stitches and going back to knitting the pattern. Which I did and I am half way through that first repeat. I will get this finished yet!

I took a break from the shawl to get a start on my sister's Easter presents. This year she is only getting two pairs of socks. I was planning on finishing her hexie cushion too but since Easter is this Sunday that ship has sailed. Two pairs of socks and a bag of chocolate and goodies. I'm sure she will still be delighted. Her second pair of socks is the Jaywalker pattern and I used For the love of Yarn sock yarn. Very fitting with Spring. I will give more details and link everything when I finish them.

Does planting count as an WIP? I did some planting last week. I have little seedlings on the kitchen window ledge and I will be able to plant them in the garden next month. I actually have a monthly update on my mum's garden so I won't say much more than that for now.

Since yesterday was the first day of Spring I will leave you with this image of an open crocus. There was a bee in there but it disappeared by the time I got my camera out.

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.

February WIP

Unlike January, I am only going to show you what I've actually been working on. First on the list is a pair of socks I am knitting for my sister. These are for her Easter. As you probably know we have a 'make a gift' policy for Easter. The yarn is by For the Love of Yarn and the pattern is by Stephonia. I'm not going to say too much about it as I will do that when I have finished the socks.

I have the deposit for my flat and I am having a gut out before I go ahead and start hunting. I do need to get back on Project Home though. Therefore this blanket is back out. I just have one more stripe and the border to do. I plan to do that when I my sister and I have our movie nights. It's easy to transport small squares and I won't be giving surprises away.

I have also worked quite a bit on my shawl. You might notice a bit of a difference from January's image. All I have left to do is a few rows and then the border. I made a mistake with the current row and I need to frog it back otherwise I would have finished it by now. But then I probably wouldn't have got January's socks done.

Would love to see what you are working on this month.

Pins I Love - More Socks

Since this week has been all about socks I thought I would keep the theme going. I realise that we have already had a socks themed pinterest post. But that was a little over two years ago and I am always looking out for new sock patterns via pinterest.

This first pattern is probably the simplest of the five but it's one of my favourites. I had replied to a comment earlier saying that I wasn't sure what I would do for March but this might be it. look how effective it is with the striping of the yarn. This doesn't actually come with a pattern but is a series of notes. There is no instructions for the heel or toe but you could use your favourite way of doing either or a way that you think would best compliment the sock. The notes are by Hanna Levaniemi and can be found on ravelry for free (just click on the image). She has decided to use a different yarn entirely for the cuffs, heels and toes. 

Another free pattern on ravelry but slightly more complicated. This one is by Natalia Vasilieva and is called Semki. I have this pattern in my library but haven't looked at it properly yet. Might have to leave this one until I have more time on my hands. I do love the look of it though. It's almost like little owls and would be perfect for a solid yarn. I also like the fact that the pattern travels all the way down to the tips of the toes.

Of course I was always going to have a pattern with a cable in there. Can't get much cabley than this pair by Patons. Again this is available for free on ravelry. I find it hard to believe that this yarn is knitted in 4ply only. The cables make it look a lot thicker. I think I will have to add this to my to do list. Another sock that would be better in a solid yarn. To be honest, I quite like it in the white.

This pattern and the next one are not for free. I think though you can see why the designer would expect to be paid for the pattern. Look how complex this is. It puts me in mind of sock designer Cookie A. This pair is called Summer Sliding and is by Jeannie Cartmel. She actually has a few lovely patterns to her name which I am going to investigate later.  I love the lime green of the yarn she used. The striping of the yarn is very subtle so it still shows off both the yarn and the pattern. Definitely one for the expert knitter I think.

Last but not least is a pair of lovely socks done in colourwork. I picked this pair because I recently came across it and it's kind of fitting since it's Valentines Day on Sunday (I will be celebrating with a 12 hour shift). Actually, my mum would have loved these. They are called ElinPelin socks and are by JennyPenny also on ravelry. She appears to be a talented designer as she has quite a lot of colour work patterns on there. Definitely worth going to have a look.

If you knit any of these let me know. I would love to see them. Love a knitted sock!