Summer colour crochet with added sockness

Have made a couple more since I took this but have been a lazy blogger. I love the patterns and colours and they work really well on  this great cotton.

Just starting a week off, so who knows, I might get a few more made. But I am feeling very lazy and have been on a bit of a sock knitting thing.

These were having a second sock hiatus but last weekend I found my sock mojo and the second one, which had only had 6 rows knitted, flew off my needles in about a day.

Love this Swedish inspired pattern from Stephanie Van Der Linden's book 'Around the World in Knitted Socks'. The photo is pre blocking and I have to say that after blocking the pattern just jumps off the sock and is lovely. I so enjoyed making these that I am making another two colour pair from her book and am already over half way through the first sock. This pair were made with Regia Uni in cream and red and knit on 2.25mm dpns. Nice pattern, easy chart and quite nice construction.

Fish Fingers

Spillyjane Swedish Fish pattern - with some mods. Knit in The Uncommon Thread's merino fingering in Cobble and some hand spun singles from a batt I got a Woolfest a few years back - from The Felt Studio.

Last pair of Xmas sockies all finished - all ready to be wrapped and placed in a stocking. Oh the irony.

This might be the last knitting post of 2013, unless I finally finish my Conic over the holidays!

Paddling like mad underneath

Life interrupts my blogging and crafting but I am still being productive just more slowly.

First pair of socks I have made this year - Polly Jean by M J Kim - knitted in Opal Uni solid red on 2.75mm circs. Last pair I made of this pattern I gifted to my SIL, so these are for me. I have lost my sock mojo at the moment, every pair I have started I have ripped out. I was so pleased that I enjoyed making these. Just need to wash and block them.

Madli

Not the most inspiring photo but at least it shows it is off the needles....at last....only been on there since Oct.

The pattern is from the book Knitted Lace of Estonia and includes lots and lots of nupps (bobble type things for non-lace knitters) which is why is took me so long....I suffer from nupp fatigue. I knit mine using Rowan Lace, it took 1.5 balls, and the red is much nicer and vibrant in real life. Will take some arty shots when it is dry. I used a Knit Pro Cube circular at 3mm - great needle, no clicking and a really sharp point.

I also finished this crochet bag (my 2nd one - the other was a gift for a friend - I liked it so much I made one for me). The pattern for this can be found either on Ravelry or on Attic 24, which is a lovely crochet blog, full of colour and charm and some rather nice patterns as well.

I have been trying to clear the decks of my knitting projects one by one and also completed a sock, sadly its mate is still unknitted though but at least I have two less projects on the go.

Still on the needles is a lovely 3/4 Hap Shawl, pattern by Veera Valimaki which I am knitting in yarn from The Uncommon Thread using their merino fingering in Lust and Cobble. The yarn is soft and the colours have real lustre. I think it will be so pretty once it is finished. (I am 2/3 of way through it).

I also have a long term lace weight yarn cardigan on the needles and the other sock. The only other knitting is a monster (toy) project for a mates baby boy - which I started today and it meant I had to go and relearn the 'magic loop' method because it is so long since I've used it, I couldn't quite remember how it worked.

I have loads of stuff queued up in my head that I want to make but still need to clear the decks a bit more before casting on.....hahaha almost convinced myself then!

Valentine Honey Badger Socks

Last minute belated birthday gift for a friend.  Hope she likes them!

Sometimes

Sometimes you just need a project that is mindless and kind of knits itself. Plain socks in a self patterning yarn works every time for me.

My plain sock pattern, knitted in Opal Van Gogh yarn - the colourway is Bedroom in Arles.

They are so pretty.

Bits-n-bobs.

 New socks for M.

 A little bowl full of little balls of coloured woolly inspiration. More Frankensocks are on their way into the world.

Daddy Charlie Gull doing his Long John Silver impression on a wet roof this morning - I threw out some food and his other leg grew back very quickly. T'was a miracle.

This week has been funny, busy and kind of weird - M had a couple of days off which was nice and we had a bit of a social down in Hastings with some dog owning buddies - good conversation and good cakes! Been out walking quite a bit when the weather has permitted, got some reading done but apart from that life is puttering along quite nicely thank you.

Have a good weekend.

Knitting for friends

A while back I made some Frankensocks for a friend. She loved them (phew) so much so she asked me to make her another pair, she said and I quote that my socks were 'heaven for feet', can't ask for a better accolade than that.

I don't mind knitting to order, I do it quite a lot. I have quite a few in a queue at the moment as well as a request to spin some alpaca fibre for a friend - enough with my own projects to keep my fingers busy.

The only downside to this is cost/price. Nine times out of ten I do it for the cost it takes to make, as how can I possibly price my time....per stitch, per hour, per inch? And no-one in their right mind would pay what it costs me in time to make these things. Sometimes I just gift my knitting cos I can and I feel it is good karma to do a random act of kindness now and then, I always hope the recipient will pass the karma on.

I have no problem with this conundrum - how can anyone who does not craft or knit even begin to understand the time a project takes that each and every little 'V' is one hand crafted stitch? They can't and if they could (by being a knitter themselves) then they wouldn't need me.

I have decided though to take on less knitting for others from next year as I want to have the time for my own knitting/crafting and I have some stuff that I want to work on to diversify my crafting.

I love the sock I have finished for my friend and number two is already on the needles. I hope they keep her feet cosy and warm through winter and it is a lovely feeling that my labour has given her something she likes and really seems to appreciate. My love of sock knitting never seems to abate.

Hope 'heel' like them.

Or maybe a better title would be 'now with extra added heel appeal'.

Opal Van Gogh yarn, UK men's size 8 over 64 stitches on two 2.5mm circular needles.

The joy of an after thought heel

I love hand knitted socks (well duh) and they make perfect travel knitting. Using an after thought heel makes them an even better travel project because you just knit a tube with no shaping other than the toe.

 A pair of completed socks - all bar the heels. The green yarn shows where the heels will go.

 Use a circular needle to pick up the stitches either side of the green yarn - in this case there were 32 stitches each side.

 Remove the green yarn (the stitches are held safe on your needle cables). You can do this one stitch at a time using something like a large darning needle or.....

you can be an impatient little bunny like me and cut those fookers out! Remove all the green yarn scraps and then join your yarn and knit the live sock stitches back in the round. (Some stitches might be twisted so either right them or knit them  through the back of the loop.)

I tend to pick up 4 extra stitches (one for each needle tip) which helps close any gaps which might occur, so at the end of the first round I go from 64 stitches to 68 stitches.

I work my after thought heel in the same manner as I work the toe - doing one extra decrease round to loose those extra 4 stitches. I find for depth and width of the heel cup that decreasing from 32 stitches to 16 stitches per needle is just about right.

So simple, so neat and quick too.

Socks of happy.....

 and mine are orange!

I had the idea for this pattern whilst knitting on something else (a shawl) and I wondered if I could make it work...so I started playing with charts and numbers and after a little fiddling about I got it to fit and work in the round.

The gusset I borrowed from 'The Show-Off Stranded Socks' (see a previous post) but worked in moss stitch, it is a bit fiddly but it looks really good (imho). I tweeked the heel and the toes to get some balance and to continue the flow of pattern and on the whole I am happy with the outcome. Just need to write up the pattern properly now - made notes as I worked through both socks and the pattern seems to flow well.

The socks are knit in Opal Uni - in an orange that is very bright and makes me even happier - on two 2.5mm circs.

(pattern is copy right of 'Dogwomandon't Designs').

Hot socks!

Oh yes indeedy!

Progress

 I was thinking the other day that I am making no progress in anything much. Then when I decided to sit down and get these socks off of the needles over the weekend I realised I was wrong. This is my third pair of completed socks since the new year, I finished them before the end of the first week in February - that isn't really bad going - is it? Three pairs of socks in six weeks.If that was all I'd done (craft wise) I'd be happy.

I have also crochet 60+ hexagons, designed and am knitting a new stole and have done at least 4 repeats of the 20 row pattern, have cast on and am half way down the leg of next pair of socks and have finished the back and one front of a long term cardigan project.

All that aside - the socks are V Junkie by Alice Yu from her books 'Socktopus' they were knit on 2 x 2.5mm circular needles in a sock yarn dyed by a friend and gifted as a birthday present a few years back. I did get a bit of 2nd sock syndrome but that was because I was trying to get Mum's socks of the needles in plenty of time for her birthday. It's an easy pattern with a really good short row heel. I had to fudge the sizing a bit as I needed a medium leg and a small foot but the pattern was well written enough that I could do it with ease.

Bought to you by the letter 'B'

 'B'irthday socks for Ma off the needles and

onto the 'B'lockers. So happy to have finished them - in plenty of time for her birthday and because although I love the pattern with the skinny yarn and needles they seemed never ending.

'B'order in the bed.

 'B'ogey on the bed looking very 'B'lack and 'B'ushy.

'B'oth 'B'uggers on our 'B'ed.

A little progress.

One V-Junkie off the needles. I had to adapt it a little in as much that I made the medium size for the leg (I do have rather chunky ankles) but needed the small size for the foot - I have small average feet and the medium foot was just too mahoosive and too long! It does use a lot of yarn, I had a slight worry that I may not have enough for the toe but just squeaked it in. I love the pattern - it's really easy - and I just love the short row heel used - tis excellent and doesn't leave nasty holes at the sides. Just need to make it's brother now.

Mum's sock is progressing - on the heel flap of number two and hope to maybe get it off the needles this week.

A lace project is growing as well but slowly.

The crochet hexagons have hit the 50's and I've started edging some of them just to do something a bit different. I think it will look very pretty when it's done.

Hexa-growing

I've been trying to crochet at least one or two of these a day if I've time and the pile is slowly growing. All of these are made out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn (which is my most favourite sock yarn) and each one is either a pair of my socks that I still wear or own or are socks I've gifted to other people. It was amusing to recall each pattern or detail of the socks for each colourway. There is the colour that I knit a pair for a friend in Australia, there is one of a pair I made for M's sister and there is the colourway I knit a pair out of when I was on Fair Isle and Shetland.
I've started on other makes of of sock yarn now......more socks to recall as I go.

This week I have mostly been.....

 Knitting some Cachoeira socks (pattern by Kristi Geraci - available on Knitty.com link to pattern) in some very fine sock yarn in a pale green on 2.00mm dpns for Ma's birthday. Nice pattern but slow going.

 Indulging my love of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock by adding Mt Creek (top) and Passion to my stash.

 I loved making my hexagon throw and although I've been adding to my crochet square stash using Jan Eaton's '200 Crochet Blocks' (Linky to book on Amazon) I missed having little time filling moments of hexagon crochet love. So in the end I decided the scrap bag and my life had room for another one........

which this time I will edge with black merino 4 ply.

Reading continues I've finished one audio book and Kindle book this week and have started the latest Yarn Harlot and 'The Night Circus' on the Kindle and listening to Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' on audio book.

First F.O of the year!

 Yesterday was a bit of a 'hormonal' stay indoors kind of a day. Rather than mope, I decided to set my myself the challenge of finishing the second Angee sock by bedtime. I had completed the rib, the set up and almost one pattern repeat of the leg. That left me one and a half pattern repeats (of 24 rows) for leg, the heel, gusset, foot and toe, with a charted lace sock (though not a particularly difficult one) that's quite a lot of knitting.

I didn't spent the whole day one it. I suppose I settled done around lunchtime, had a couple of breaks to do some other stuff (a bit of stitching and some patchwork) but I finally finished around 10.30 last night. I had a break during the evening to watch Sherlock (one of the few things I refuse to miss on TV).

I love Cookie's patterns cos the do what they say on the tin. The sock is a good fit but as I actually (for once) followed the pattern to the letter are a bit longer than I normally knit for myself in the leg.

I seem to have rediscovered my sock knitting mojo - it had been awol for a while. I also finished my audio book and started the next one. Sometimes enforced indoor time gets put to good and satisfying use.

Guess what I knitted?

No prizes if you said "Socks!" Pair number one are plain with a twisted rib heel in Opal sock yarn (can't remember the colourway - but is was on sale last year at Get Knitted). I normally have a plain pair on the go as they are invaluable as travel knitting etc.

Finally, not a great piccie, but these Monkey by Cookie at Knitty http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/patterns.html . The yarn is the KnitPicks Merino sent to me by Tamara http://ladybean73.wordpress.com/. This yarn is lovely and soft with good bounce and these socks are destined for my walking boots and many camping trips this spring and summer. The Monkey pattern is brill and I look forward to knitting it again...soon!

Right all up to date...finally...so many posts in so many days *sigh*.

I need the weekend to recover. Some chance as I intend to PARTAY all weekend and in the words of Rowley Birken QC (fast show) "Get very, very drunk!" Cos that is the best way to see in the big 40!

Wish me fun and frolics all the way.