Seed Head Socks

The latest socks I have finished are another favourite. These are the Seed Head Socks by Vikki Bird Designs. I have linked her Love Crafts page rather than the design on ravelry so that no one needs to worry about clicking on the link. She has some very pretty designs. I especially like her fox mitts. Please go check her out.

This pattern was designed for the Flower Power Fund and for a period of time proceeds wend to the flower power fund which raises money for Marie Curie. It was how I came across the pattern and the designer. I was immediately taken by the pattern because it looked so delicate. I also knew that there was something new for me to learn from it (such as the little seed heads). The socks are toe up. If you know me you will be aware (maybe) that I am not a fan of toe up. The first time I tried it I was taught by the lovely Ginnie (otherwise known as the sock lady). It was a basic sock and I found that it took so much longer than a cuff down. I don’t know why that would be since your not knitting any more than you would cuff down. However, with this pair and another (I think it was the Christmas stocking) I was learning a new method of casting on. I also had the added joy of knitting the design running up the centre of the sock. I was certainly not bored. It’s a beautiful knit and I enjoyed every second of it. The pattern was written well. It used both charts and written instructions which was helpful. Plus it linked to YouTube videos for the cast on and the seed heads. I highly recommend this pattern for anyone who would like to move beyond the basic pattern. What I will say is that I don’t normally block my socks. My sock blockers are purely for taking photographs. However, these socks do need blocking to show off the pretty pattern.

The yarn I used was a sock yarn by Countess Ablaze. The colour way is called “You look like a bag of spinach”. I initially was going to use a deep pink Donegal yarn. When this arrived though I knew straight away that this was the perfect yarn for the pattern. The delicate colours matched the pattern perfectly and that the two would harmonise rather than drown each other out. The yarn is lovely to work with. Initially I found it a little splitty but that was purely me doing a cast on method I had done only once before. Once I got into the pattern I had absolutely no issues with it and could enjoy it. If you saw last months haul post you will see I have another skein of yarn from Countess Ablaze and I just need to find the perfect sock pattern for it.

These socks (like the last pair) have already been given away. This time to my sister’s best friend. She’s a key worker within a care setting. She’s currently having to isolate for two weeks and my sister wanted to send her a care package and I suggested she put these in with it. She has liked the plain socks I have knitted for her so I think she will like these too.

Next post will probably be another finish as this weekend I am working on a pair of slippers (they are very sock like). I have fixed my Victoria top but couldn’t find my stitch holders and had to order more. I hope to get back on track with that. I have also started my Christmas knitting. Then there is bake off starting next week and I might start my weekly bake off posts again (I’ve gotten over the move to channel 4 although I didn’t watch it last year).

I hope that you are all staying safe both physically and mentally.

Whitethorn Socks

 

These socks are my latest finish from my regular weekend socks challenge. I’m not sure why I call it a challenge as I really don’t need an incentive to concentrate on socks. Anyway. I think that these are my favourites so far. I know I say that every time I finish a pair but at the moment it is true of these. First of all a little warning the link to the pattern will take you to ravelry. 

The pattern is called “Whitethorn Socks” by Lindsey Fowler of Lost and Found. It’s a beautiful pattern and one that I think changes with the colours you use. If you are able to do so you will see on the pattern cover that they are knitted up in a light coloured yarn which shows them off as quite delicate. I feel that this rich green gives them a chunkier, cosy look. I quite like a pattern that does that and I will be knitting these again as a result. The pattern itself is very easy to follow. The cables are an 8 round repeat and very memorable. I think so long as you have a little familiarity with cables this would be a good pattern for anyone wanting to move away from the basic sock.

The yarn is a sock yarn by Mothy and the Squid. It’s part of her Sea Creatures club and this one is inspired by the giant cuttlefish. I LOVE this colourway. I love how rich the greens look thanks to the subtle variations of the shades. I worried that a pattern would drown this out. However, I also felt that it was a little too special for just a plain sock. I am so glad that I chose the pattern that I did as I feel that the two compliment each other. This was a beautiful yarn to work with. I always love knitting with Mothy’s yarns but to have a pattern that you have fallen in love with two doubles that feeling. It was to the extent that I didn’t want to finish knitting them which I think is why it took a little longer than it normally would.

Now, I had promised myself that these socks were for me. I promised myself with the yarn and with the pattern individually. Then a friend in work gifted me some fudge she had made herself. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen a photo of it. It was the most delicious fudge that I have ever tasted. My sister has said to me that my friend is her new best friend and will be forever known as fudge lady. I of course cleaned out her tub and was prepared to return it. I wanted to fill it though with something I had made before handing it back (has anyone heard of that? I thought it was a thing but seems I’m the only one who thought so). My oven is temperamental just now and while it’s fine for cooking not so fine for baking. I then decided to give her a pair of socks and I thought these were perfect for her. It wasn’t even painful to part with. She loved them and was showing them off all day. The added bonus was that green is her favourite colour. I must have instinctively known.

August Yarn Haul and the Last.

 

This will be my last yarn haul this year (planned yarn haul at least). My sock yarn stash has grown exponentially thanks to this and I need time to catch up. Also with the dreaded C coming up I need to plan for that. Which means back to project buying only.

The final yarn dyer to highlight is Countess Ablaze. I have never knit with her yarn but I am excited to do so now. I came across Countess Ablaze through watching podcasts by Fruity Knitting. The Countess came up a few times. The first when watching their backlog and they were having brief chats with various vendors at the Edinburgh yarn festival. While watching I take notes of various people to look up whether its books, designers, bloggers or yarn dyers. Countess stood out for me because of her story behind the yarns. I thought it was genius how she gives her yarns names. The second episode featuring Countess was an interview and by that point I was all caught up. I was excited to see an interview by someone I recognised from previous episodes and looked forward to it. If you haven’t seen this interview you should. It was so heartfelt, open and brave. I think a lot of viewers felt that way on watching it, judging by the comments. I already followed Countess Ablaze on Instagram at this point and was already a fan. Since COVID my admiration of Countess Ablaze has grown due to her work ethic and her prioritising her team and their safety. If I come across as being a bit of a fan it’s because I am and that’s without having tried her yarn. Go visit her website, visit her Instagram page and watch the interview. 

I found it difficult to choose a yarn to be honest. There were so many beautiful colours and so many fantastic titles. In the end I had to focus. I went straight for the sock yarn and looked at the colours that appealed to me the most. The two I picked out are from the Rebel batch - rare insults (how brilliant is that). This one is called “He Turned This Boy Into A Picasso Painting”. This is what I mean about these amazing titles. The colours are a beautiful range of purples and plumbs and the yarn base is a BFL/nylon blend making it perfect for socks. I might knit this one up for someone. I have someone in mind for a pair of socks and this colour might be perfect.

This one is my favourite for both its name and its colour. The yarn is called “You look like a bag of frozen Spinach,” and sometimes I do. I might have to use that insult. Like the Picasso the yarn base is BFL/nylon. The colour is so delicate and I have the perfect pattern for it. It might be used on my next sock saturday/sock Sunday. Although I think I said that with the last yarn haul. Regardless, this will selfishly be for me. Will be a nice change from all the bold colours I have been knitting with recently.

 

Lastly we have Augusts Sea creature club box from Mothy & the Squid. Although I will no longer be buying yarns to highlight businesses for the next few months I will be keeping with this subscription. It’s been nice having one again and I’ve been looking forward to it every month. I recently mentioned on someone’s photo that Mothy is an artist and she is. I love her inspirations. This months is my new favourite. I love a blue colourway and this one is so rich. It’s based on the Bluebell Tunicates and it’s just so pretty. When I knit with this it will also be for me. Selfish I know but I am not giving it away. Too pretty. I just need to find the perfect pattern for it. I love the little pin badge that came with it too. Would have been apt in my last speciality. I’ll still do a post to show off these boxes but it will have to be under a new name.

I have enjoyed making these posts and I have enjoyed looking out yarns and highlighting my friends as well as businesses new to me. I especially have liked all the socks I have managed to knit with my hauls so far. I am sure that my little blog hasn’t done much to boost anyone’s business but if it has inspired even just one person then I’m happy. I might do this again next summer.

My Orange Socks

 

These socks may now be my new favourite. You have no idea how much I love them. They are so comfortable. Just to warn anyone having difficulties viewing ravelry the following link will take you to ravelry. The pattern is called Tauriel Socks by Maven Crafted. Like all the patterns I seem to fall in love with these days I first came across it on Instagram. It seemed that everyone was knitting them and I knew instantly that I had to too. You have no idea how difficult it was since I had to wait as the first few times I saw it the finished knits were from test knitters and the pattern itself had yet to be released. Such a tease! It worked though as I purchased it as soon as it came out. I personally think it was worth the wait and the purchase. It’s a beautiful pattern to knit and uses a simple method for a very effective result.

I did go a size bigger than I normally would. I went for my usual size and the colours of the yarn were pooling badly. It was very noticeable. As I was determined that this yarn and this pattern were meant to be I upped the size and it resolved the issue. It also mean that I had a slightly bigger pair of socks than normal but actually that worked out too. These are so comfy to wear slouching about the house. I highly recommend. 

The yarn is called Jayne and is by Sealy MacWheely. This was the first time I have knitted with her yarn and I was so excited to do so. I think this colourway was meant for this pattern. I love it! It was very tempting to knit a hat with it (given the inspiration) but once I decided on this pattern I couldn’t imagine it with anything else. They yarn is beautiful to work with. Very soft and very cosy. If you have never used Sealy MacWheely yarn before I highly recommend that you do (she’s also the bestie of a very good friend of mine and so deserves the love for that alone).

My blockers were a little too narrow for the sock so it didn’t block very well but this is the design at the front (go to instagram and I am sure you will find far superior images of other finishes). It looks perfect on my feet though but I will not put you through a photo of those. 

These socks were knitted as part of my Sock Weekends. The first weekend in August I was working so I didn’t do my socks weekend. Basically, I had done the cuff of a new pattern and as I had yet to establish the pattern repeat I didn’t think it was a good idea to begin it while having my morning coffee. Instead I worked on my summery top. The weekend just gone I did very little but I managed to do a bit of knitting on the Sunday. Not much progress as I ripped it all out and started again. However, it’s another pair of socks knitted a little bigger. Another pattern and colourway that I am in love with. Can’t wait to share it.

July Yarn Haul

So, it would seem that I am not the brightest. If you follow me on twitter and instagram you would have seen that I was having issues with blogger. I was able to see my posts but not actually access the blog management side. I assumed that blogger was down at first. Then I remembered that blogger was changing its format and so I finally worked out how to be able to post. Hence, my July haul is late. Very late as August’s haul is already here but I’ll post that at the end of the month.

Anyway, moving on. As I said previously I was choosing a hand dyer that was new to me. I have ordered from her shop before but never her own yarns. I have mentioned The Loveliest Yarn Company numerous times so it was about time I tried their own yarn which is under the label Banshee yarns. The base is the party yarn range and the base is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend. This colourway is just so pretty . I love the contrast between the yellows and the greys. It’s called Koi gone awry.

This one is my favourite. I love the reds. I rarely buy sock yarn with red through it. I don’t know why as I always love it. I think my mum would have loved this one and I would definitely have knitted her socks with it. The title is very apt too as it would have appealed to her love of crime dramas. It’s called crime scene. I love it!

I also bought some yarn of which the money went to Marie Curie. This is by Eden Cottage yarn and it’s a merino/nylon/lurex base (in other words it has a sparkle). It’s called herb basket and I bought a sweater quantity. It’s going to be used for my next jumper. I’ll show more on that when I start it (not until I finish the Victoria top). I love it because it’s such a delicate colour.

Lastly here is July’s Sea Creature box from Mothy & the Squid. This beautiful yarn is inspired by the Giant Green Sea Anemones. It’s so beautiful. These are definitely my colours and I can’t wait to knit with it.

August will be my last yarn haul. I’ll be back to purchasing for specific projects only (other than the sea creature subscription).  As I said earlier, I already have that yarn and will be posting it at the end of the month. My next post will be my latest sock finish which was done on my sock Saturday/sock sunday challenge. I didn’t do the challenge at the weekend there as I was working. The weekend before I had just finished the cuff and I didn’t want to read through a new pattern with my early morning coffee. I didn’t want to risk mistakes but I will be back on it this coming weekend. Instead I worked on my Victoria top as it’s an easy pattern repeat. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen those updates.

Yarn Shaming

I was planning on doing my monthly yarn haul post but considering all the chat on social media just now about yarn shaming and inclusivity recently I thought it might be a little insensitive. I started with a paragraph with my thoughts on it but then decided to do a stand alone post. I didn’t want to take the attention from the indie dyers I was trying to highlight which was the whole point in those posts during lockdown. I’ll post that one later in the week.

I personally think there is a big difference between yarn shaming and designers using specific yarns for their designs. I know that for some they see a yarn and want to see what they can create with it because the yarn inspires them. I have done that myself and I have yarn there that I bought specifically because I want to create a pattern for them. I also understand that some designers are hired by yarn companies/dyers to create patterns specifically for their yarns. I don’t have an issue with designers and their choice of yarns. I think that’s because most designers I seem to like have US based yarns associated with their patterns and so I have to find an alternative. Plus I mainly knit socks and so it’s relatively easy to find an alternative. Sometimes that hasn’t always worked out but I have learned from it.

With indie dyers I understand that it is a luxury for some people. I buy a lot from indie dyers but that’s my treat to myself. I hate shopping, I’m not a shoe person, I don’t buy expensive bags and I HATE going to the hair dresser. I don’t get my nails done (I can’t - I’m a nurse) and I don’t go out at the weekend much (pre-lockdown). My yarn is my treat. Don’t get me wrong, now that I am garment knitting I hesitate a little at buying the yarn required but again this is a treat and I want to support my favourite dyers. There are months I can’t do that and that’s okay.

What I hate is yarn shaming in general. I’ve been made to feel small or been shy to admit that I have and do use acrylic yarns. When I started out knitting I used acrylic yarn. I didn’t look at the content of the yarn. I looked at what I could afford in the colours I liked. Then I was a beginner and I was a student (the first time). When I crochet blankets I also go for lower cost yarns. My favourite blanket (which is still going strong) was done all in acrylic yarn at £2.30 for 100g (You can see it pictured above). I would do the same again. It’s sturdy, long lasting and I can buy it as I go because I don’t bother with dye lot. I have a blanket that my granny knitted me. Each square is not only knitted with acrylic yarn but also yarn that she recycled from garments she bought from charity shops. And I love it. There is a lot of good yarns out there that you can substitute at a lower cost. My advice would be to swatch if it’s a garment. If it’s socks I would make sure it’s sturdy as you want the heel to last. I would just like to add that I used to run and go to a knitting group and a lot of us used yarn at the lower cost spectrum. No one was made to feel badly for it. We were more interested in supporting each other and seeing the outcome. My mum was a beautiful knitter and she would often knit with the yarn associated with the pattern if she could but was happy to knit with alternatives if she couldn’t. Growing up I certainly couldn’t tell the difference. My point is do what you can afford and what makes you happy without feeling bad for it. It’s supposed to be a relaxing hobby (so long as you have no frogging).

I think a lot of people will say I have missed the point when reading this. However, this is merely my perspective and my experience in being yarn shamed. There are some books out there that can teach you about yarn types so that you can substitute (Clara Parks) and I am not ashamed to admit that I have used google, especially when the yarn associated with a pattern has been discontinued. I will always shout out support for my indie dyer friends because I love them and I know they would do the same for me if I had my own business. While I have only one published pattern at the moment I promise to put a note on any future patterns that alternative yarns can be used. I won’t be listing alternatives but will suggest a yarn type because I am UK based and I am luckier that I only design socks and it’s easier to substitute (in my very humble opinion).

Sweet and Tartan

I know that there is issues with ravelry’s new layout causing seizures so before I start I need to warn you that the pattern link will take you to ravelry. So if you are neurodiverse I wouldn’t click on it just in case. My own sock design (while not linked here) is also on ravelry. I am planning on adding it to etsy soon.

In the meantime the latest Sock Saturday/Sock Sunday finish is Sweet and Tartan by Tracie Millar. You might know Tracie Millar as one of the Grocery Girls. I fell in love with this pattern as soon as she started working on it and I was very eager to purchase the pattern before release. The pattern is actually mosaic knitting which is a very easy way of getting into colourwork. It’s definitely effective here. The pattern is very easy to follow and has both written instructions and a chart. It also comes in three sizes.

I did make a few changes. The pattern calls for a third solid yarn for the heel and toe. I just stuck with using the main colour. It was easy to adapt the pattern to do this. Secondly, I also continued the purl row round the entire foot of the sock rather than just at the front. The first time I did this it was a mistake. I got carried away and was finished the whole round before I knew it. I actually liked the effect so decided just to keep going with it rather than rip it back.

I highly recommend this pattern for anyone who wants to try knitting socks with more than one colour. As I said, the instructions are easy to follow and you are only knitting with one colour at a time as you slip the stitches of the other colour.

The yarn I used is Easy Knits Stay Home pack. It was meant for a pattern that the owner of Easy Knits is working on. However, I had this pattern in mind when I saw it. I have since bought another pack for the Stay Home pattern. This is the first time I have used his yarn and it was lovely to work with. I very much like the colours and the two match very well. There were a few speckles of the darker yarn within the light which did interfere with the pattern a little. I was worried it would make the pattern difficult to see but I don’t think it does. I also have plenty left for more socks since these were just little ankle socks. The question is do I knit a few pairs of basic socks with a contrasting heel. Or do I find another complimentary pattern. I am having difficulty deciding. Until then the next sock Saturday/Sock Sunday is on the pins and it’s a new pattern (not by me). You’ll have to follow me on Instagram to see what it is or you’ll see here when I finish them.