Points, Pink, Prunus and a Pattern

I've made some progress on my Hitchhiker....

I've got 19 pointy bits now based on what other people with a similar yardage have got, I think I'll get about 35 pointy bits on the finished scarf, I'm rationing how much I knit on it because it's addictive and I've got other things I have to do but I still love everything about it, the yarn, the pattern, the pooling/flashing that I'm starting to get, I just know I'm going to love wearing it

One of the other things I had to do was get a new pattern reading for release:

These are Prunus Socks

They are delicate lacy socks inspired by the blossom on the apple trees in my garden, with a colourwork flower section and a petal and wrapped stitch bud pattern travelling down the front and the back, framed by an eyelet pattern which reminds me of the petals tumbling from the branches in the breeze.

These socks have been jumping around in my head for a while, fruit trees in blossom are one of my favourite things and I'm lucky enough to have several apple trees and a pear tree in my garden, I took this photo earlier in the year

I chose some Knitting Goddess Merino Nylon Sock in the colour Semi Solid Dog Rose because it reminded me of these lovely delicately pink petals, and although I'm generally not a pink person (but I don't discriminate against any colour) I really love this shade, it's not bubblegum pink, it's soft and fresh and lovely.

For the colourwork section and contrast cuff I used 2 mini skeins (also from The Knitting Goddess) in Navy. There are increases before the colourwork, this means that the lack of ‘give’ in the stranded pattern can be overcome, the decreases before the leg will ensure the sock fits well. You could also go up a needle size for this section if you were worried about your tension but I didn't.

I've started another pair in Semi Solid Sage and used undyed mini skeins for the contrast

They are turning out rather lovely!

I can KAL with the best of them!

So last night I rearranged all my active WIPs (there are many,many,many inactive ones, what can I say, I like to start things!) in to co-ordinating knitting bags. It was bothering me that some things, for example some lace, delicate, pink socks I'm working on were in a black bag with skulls on, I wasn't feeling the juxtaposition so I moved things round a bit

This is the result

Now I'm happier, it's the little things......

I cast on for a Hitchhiker last night, I've been looking at this pattern for a while and my original plan was to pick up a skein of variegated wollmeise at Knit Nation in a few weeks and use that but then it was chosen as one of the patterns for the Goth Sock Groupies KAL and if there is one thing I can't resist it's a KAL! (That's not quite true anymore, I'm a lot better than I used to be now I have deadline knitting and I can't just do what I like all the time, an example is the A-Z Sock KAL happening in the UK Sock Knitters group, I wanted to join in SO BAD but even I'm not crazy enough to think I can knit 26 pairs of socks in a year on top of all my design work).

But, because I wanted to knit the pattern, I had some Goth Socks yarn which will look amazing in this pattern and I want to join in, I took this to be the universes way of telling me to join in.....

'What do they call it when everything intersects? The Bermuda Triangle.' (I might have mashed that line up a bit, it's been a long time since I saw the film, 5 points to you if you know what film it's from)

So this is what I managed last night while I was catching up on Game of Thrones, on a side note - I'm glad I had my knitting to look at because there is some GORE in that show. The yarn is Asphodel base which is 100% merino and the colour is Louder than Bombs. Its so so so bright, I love it. The pattern is great, it took a few repeats for the rhythm to sink in but I can pretty much do it without looking at the pattern now (I did purl across the row a couple of times and then swear and tink back but I think I've managed to overcome that particular repetitive act of stupidity)

I'm confident I can get it finished by the end of July deadline. I used to join in a lot of KALs, finish them..... not so much. A large proportion of my inactive WIPs are the products of failed KALs, one of which is these Portland Gussets

The yarn is Three Irish Girls Springvale Sock - lovely, bouncy yarn and the colour is a smokey petrol blue called Smoke and Mirrors (it was a club colour)

I started them in November I think, but it could have been before then, and I think it was a KAL in the Sock Yarnista group, I finished one and cast on the toe of the second, but then my attention span got the better of me and some thing distra.... ooh shiny..... you get the picture. Then at the beginning of May I noticed there was a KAL for this pattern starting in the Three Irish Girls group, mainly I think for the people going to Sock Summit, which is in Portland. I'm not going to Sock Summit, although I wish I was (I wish really hard I was but short of a lottery win it's not going to happen, one day maybe...). I joined in again, knit a bit then stopped.

Again.

It's an illness.

But I really want to get these done so I'm setting myself the deadline of 28th July as thats when Sock Summit is happening.

I'm confident I can do it

(But the world won't end if I don't)

Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet...

Since I finished my last stripy socks I needed to cast on another pair as my default travel knitting, I was lucky enough to get a skein of GothSocks in a destash last month, I really wanted this one because it was a club colour and it was inspired by one of my absolute favourite songs, I challenge you to listen to this song and not feel happier than you did before you listened:

There's a royal blue stripe and a yellow/white/grey flecks stripe. I LOVE it!



I'm not sure I'll do another afterthought heel, I wasn't very pleased with the fit but a heel flap will disturb the stripes a little bit - I think I'd rather have slightly thinner stripes on the gusset section than socks that don't fit properly, but I haven't completely decided yet.

Along the theme of things that are blue, in the post today were 2 bags from NicsKnots, Doctor Who knitting bags - how cool is that? (Answer: VERY) Inspired by my new bags and to get through the huge break we're having in the latest series I'm contemplating ordering series 1-4 of the new Doctor Who on DVD and re-watching from Christopher Eccleston onwards.



I'm also contemplating this Tardis colour skein of Wollimeise I bought at Knit Nation last year, as if I haven't got enough on the needles - Nic, you have a lot to answer for!!!

Raindrops on roses...

It was my birthday last week and I had some lovely presents, these are a few of my favourite things....



One of my sisters brought some Laduree macarons back from France for me. They were divine. I totally ruined my diet but it was totally worth it, the peach flavoured one (a seasonal special) was worthy of extra mention, it was delicious!



Continuing the French theme (and also the peach one) she also gave me a coral/peach Chanel lipgloss, perfect for the summer and not at all sticky like some lipgloss can be.



Mr Coopknits gave me a lapdesk which is a comfy tray like device for making laptop use more comfortable, he also gave me a light for my Kindle. I've wanted one of these for a while but didn't want one which plugged directly in to the Kindle and so drained the otherwise impressive battery life, this one has it's own battery and clips on independently - perfect!



My smallest sister gave me these Converse All Stars, I love them but I'm scared to wear them because they are so WHITE, I'm afraid I'll ruin them, I'm waiting for a sunny day, fingers crossed we get one soon or I won't be able to resist - you can put them in the washing machine, right?

Knitting related presents were noticeably absent, I think this a not-so-subtle nod towards the size of my stash, well no matter, Knit Nation is in a few weeks.....

More stripes and more to come...

A whole lot of my knitting lately has featured stripes, self striping yarn and manual stripes - the latter involves much end-weaving-in but I find that quite relaxing

The return of the Chakra colours to the Knitting Goddess shop inspired me to knit my third pair of Mixalot socks and the fact I failed to pack my deadline knitting for my trip to the festival meant I got a whole sock finished!

Its got a slightly shorter leg than the others, the mini skein set is 70g and I wanted to be on the safe side but because I had about 40g of black for toes, heels and cuffs I did a longer cuff which almost makes up the difference.

I love the way these are working out, the colours are so clever, each main colour featuring in the two either side, the sole of the sock is super pretty

I *need* the full skein versions of these colours but I've got a sneaky suspicion I may have some of them already buried in the stash....

Festival!

This weekend I visited the Isle of Wight Festival



A lovely time was had by all!



My musical highlights were Lissie, Chase and Status, Maverick Sabre, Hurts and of course the mighty Foo Fighters



The weather left a bit to be desired, it was sunny but windy on Friday and Saturday and very, very, very wet on Sunday. It could have been a lot worse but it was COLD at night. And I was woefully underprepared for the cold. Next year I will be taking blankets, thick socks, jumpers, scarfs and gloves - and if I do remember to take all this you can bet it will be hot and sunny....

We stayed in a PodPad, a kind of garden shed type thingy with bunk beds, it was cozy and convenient and I don't think I could go back to normal camping now, especially because it comes with access to a hot shower and I saw the queue for the normal campsite toilets on Sunday morning.....



On Sunday I escaped the rain for a few hours and went to visit Joy, the Knitting Goddess. We made woolly plans (all will be revealed shortly) and ate cake, in the warm, watching the rain and the wind and the sea, it was lovely!

Thanks to my sister for taking me and Joy and Bobbie for the the lovely cake and lunch!

There was knitting, it was Worldwide Knit in Public day on Saturday, I knit in public all the time but it's the intent that counts! I shall show you the knitting tomorrow...

Mystery Solved!

Thanks to everyone who took part in the May Mystery Sock KAL- so far we have raised over £120 for Macmillan!

The pattern is still available and all the money will continue to be donated to Macmillan, there is no time limit on that.

Everyone who finishes a pair by the end of June will be entered in a draw to win these goodies...



It's 2 x 50g skeins of The Knitting Goddess sock yarn, 5 coordinating stitch markers and a sachet of Soak

There are lots of lovely finished pairs already, these are just some of them....









Thank you to Barbi, Scully, Mandy, Julie, Maddy and Tiggerbee for letting me share their photos, I love seeing finished socks, it really makes my day!

Trucking along....

I haven't blogged for a while, I couldn't access my blog for a bit last week when there were a few issues with Blogger, that has made me a bit wary and I'm thinking about moving my blog somewhere a bit more stable, even if I have to pay - I'm getting some business cards made soon so I need to make a decision.....

The Bella's Truck Socks pattern (rav link) is now available

You can buy the pattern here -

Or on Ravelry. These are unisex cuff down socks, the Bella's Truck yarn is available from The Knitting Goddess, along with the yarn for the other patterns which have been released so far. The sign ups for the last 3 months of the When Vampires Knit Socks club (seriously, where have the last 9 months gone?!?) will be available on Friday.

I've got deadlines looming and lots of exciting things coming up AND I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO SPIN! I'll tell you about that another day...