Bella's Truck Socks

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, I did - my loved ones seem to be learning that if my gifts are yarn I will be happy, it has taken them 2 years to get this far but we are definitely moving in the right direction! I recieved 10 balls of Noro Kureyon in a lovely blue, green and purple colourway and some chunky yarn which is destined to be a hat and mittens.

These are the latest socks from the When Vampires Knit Socks club - Bella's Truck Socks




These socks are inspired by the truck Charlie gives to Bella on her return to Forks. The truck is old and does not go fast, but it is reliable (unless Edward is trying to prevent Bella from going somewhere) and it becomes almost like a friend throughout the first three books, constant and comforting, until it is replaced by Edward at the beginning of the fourth. The truck was once red but over the decades it has faded, in some places more than others. The socks have tyre tracks running from the cuff, down the leg and across the foot. Around the rest of the leg is a diamond pattern inspired by the snow chains Charlie fits to the truck.

The club is open for sign ups here, sign ups will close next week so if you would like to join (and I hope you will!) don't hang around - we've got some exciting yarns and patterns planned, it's going to be great fun

Cold weather = More Hats!

The weather has been unusually cold for this time of year, we had heavy snow in November and although where I live in the midlands was not badly affected the temperature did drop to -10 on a few nights. Earlier in the year, when it snowed in January, I was spectacularly unprepared - I had no hand knitted hats, gloves or mittens, throughout the year I have attempted to put this shameful state of affairs right.

I was ready for the cold weather this time



These are Bella's Mittens, they are very warm and perfect for the snow.

I made two hats in November, bring the Winter 2010 total up to three.

First there was the Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL, I chose pattern B (although I will also knit pattern A because it is very pretty too).



The mystery was revealed and the pattern name is Limpetiole, I used The Thylacine Hartz DK, this yarn is lovely - the colour is so delicate and it was a joy to knit.


The second hat is a Ripley by Ysolda. I had a sudden urge to knit this hat and I started and finished in one evening.



I used The Knitting Goddess Lambswool and Silk Aran, which is gorgeous and very wooly, I adjusted the hat slightly in that mine is in between the slouchy and non-slouchy version. I love this hat - it very rarely leaves my head!

I have plans for several more hats just as soon as I get my endless Christmas knitting out of the way!

PS The When Vampires Knit Socks club is open for sign ups - go here to join in, you know you want to!!

First Beach Socks

The second socks in the 'When Vampires Knit Socks..' Sock Club can be unveiled!




These socks are inspired by Bella’s visit to First Beach where she is reunited with her childhood friend Jacob. When this happens in the book, the weather is unusually nice* and in the sunlight the seemingly grey pebbles on the beach reveal a vast array of subtle colours – gold, green, lavender, blue. The socks begin with ribbing with a little shell pattern and the pattern on the leg is reminiscent of the gentle rippling water in the tidal pool where Bella sits and lets her mind wander….

*when they filmed this scene the weather was not nice, scenes had to be changed to include hats, coats and blankets, I am staying true to the written word on this one!



These will be available to non-club members in April 2011, but you can add them to your favourites on Ravelry here



Seriously this yarn is SO PRETTY, I didn't want to stop knitting it - Joy, The Knitting Goddess is a dyeing genius!

Socktober was Green

These are the second green pair of socks I made in October (the first were my Forks Socks) These are the Through the Loops Mystery Socks and the yarn is The Yarn Yard Clan. Green is a particular favourite of mine, a large amount of my sock yarn stash is green and I've never met a green yarn that I didn't like. I asked my sister to model for the photos and she decided she was keeping the socks, I may launch a stealthy rescue mission for them later....

Also on the needles at the moment is the Woolly Wormhead Mystery Hat, I'm using The Thylacine yarn in a lovely delicate colour called Flax Lily, this hat is going to be PRETTY






Next week the second package of the When Vampires Knit Socks club will be sent out........... very exciting

Fibre Flurry

On Saturday I went to Fibre Flurry, I had a fantastic time and I really hope it will happen again next year and the year after and the year after that..... you get the idea. It was only half an hour up the motorway and I set off bright and early for my Spinning 101 workshop.

The workshop was fantastic - my spinning, not so much. I love hand-spun and I had visions of all the hats and socks (I know, I was getting WAY ahead of myself) I could knit with my lovely new skill. In reality, I was RUBBISH, more rubbish than anyone else there, so I think I need to come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to spin with any great success. I am not TOTALLY disappointed by this outcome - I have no room for spinning, both in terms of time and physical stash space. I will give it one more chance before I discount it completely - I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

In the afternoon I shopped. The market place was amazing full of my favourite yarn and notion sellers and the pictures of my acquisitions speak for themselves.......

Forks Socks

The first socks in the 'When Vampires Knit Socks...' Sock Club are here!

These socks are inspired by the green and lush setting of the town of Forks. All the rain and clouds that make it an ideal place for sparkly vampires to live, mean that the landscape is full of trees, ferns and moss. These socks have a full moon and tall trees growing out of moss covered rocky ground, which leads to the river that runs through the forest (and down the foot of this sock). On the back of the leg is a lace leaf pattern, to represent the thick foliage in the woods which surround Bella’s house, Edward’s house and many other places. At the beginning of the story, Bella moves to Forks from Arizona, the contrast between the dry, brown desert and the wet, green woods is something that takes a long time to get used to!

Hat season is here!!

The weather is cooler (who am I kidding, it's been rubbish since July) and there is a smell of Autumn in the air - this means it's time to wear hats and therefore time to knit them.

I do, in fact, wear hats all year round, in the summer I wear them when it rains and when I am having the hair-day from hell, but autumn and winter are real hat wearing seasons, you can wear hats without sweating - never a good look and without people thinking you are weird. I wear them all day, whether I'm in or out, I have been known to wear them to bed on particularly chilly nights.

Hat knitting is addictive, they are projects which you can knit quickly, seeing instant progress and it's so hard to put them down - just one more round........

So my first hat for Autumn 2010 is the Brambles Beret from Knitty. Here's my rav project page. I chose some aran weight silk and lambswool from The Knitting Goddess. It's seriously lovely stuff - soft and very wooly, it smells like wool should but very rarely does (difficult to explain, you'll have to sniff it to understand).

Because of the silk content it won't tolerate exceptionally rough handling - I like to give a good tug when I'm working cables - probably not necessary, but I do it anyway - this yarn did not take kindly to this and snapped twice (I know I should have learned my lesson after the first time but I've got a short attention span!).

It's outside, blocking in the afternoon sun, I may join it shortly........

Yarn. Socks. Twilight.

I love knitting socks.

I love The Knitting Goddess yarn. Seriously, this lovely indy dyer is responsible for my obsession with sock yarn (and most of my stash)

I love Twilight. Books, films - I can't get enough.

This Sock Club is the combination of all my favourite things! There will be gorgeous colourways and patterns inspired by Twilight and lovely stitch markers

Places are going fast - come and join us in the Knitting Goddess Ravelry Group

I'm not a domestic goddess - but I am trying...

This is juice I made with stuff which grew in the garden - apples and pears (they grow by themselves every year, I don't have to do anything) and beetroot (I planted the seeds and grew these on purpose).

This is the first year I have tried to grow vegetables in a semi-proper fashion and it has been a success (kind of). I have learnt some valuable lessons and will be better next year.

Carrots, beetroot, radish, salad leaves, cucumber, courgette and green beans were the winners.

Kale and broccoli were annihilated by caterpillars.

I left it too late for butternut squash and runner beans and I'm not sure these are going to be big enough before the cold weather comes.

The jury is out on the peppers and aubergines.

Brand New.

Welcome to my blog!

I'll be posting about my knitting and anything else that catches my eye......

There's some exciting stuff coming soon, I promise.

(Well, it's exciting if you like knitting, if you don't like knitting it's probably mildly interesting at best)