Bears, Buccaneers and a little bit of Knitting...

On Sunday I went to the International Series NFL game at Wembley. I am an American Football fan - this is the third time I've been to Wembley to watch it and I'm sure it won't be the last.





We started at the Tailgate party which was super busy so we didn't really see much, I paid £15 for 2 hotdogs and 2 bottles of coke - and there weren't even any onions! I was wearing handknitted items - it started off fairly warm but the wind picked up throughout the day and it did turn chilly, I was glad I had my hat, gloves and shawl!




The Goo Goo Dolls played the pre-show and I do love the National Anthems! This years game was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. the Chicago Bears, I don't have a favourite team (although I am drawn to the Green Bay Packers because of the Cheese Heads) so I support the team who have to give up a home game to come to the UK to try and make up for the reduction in the number of their fans coming. Unfortunately the score was 18-24 to the Bears but it was an exciting game anyway!


I took my knitting, I was a little bit worried they wouldn't let me it to the stadium with it but they were only concerned about glass bottles, I didn't get much done though.





I'm still knitting my Gothy Gauntlets for the Goth Socks KAL, I hope they will be finished by the 31st but this weekend I will be at Fibre Flurry so I am going to be cutting it fine...

This is skirt knitting weather.....

Autumn is here! This is the season where knitters come in to their own, all the hats, scarfs, shawls, gloves and mittens get worn. AND THEN there's the actual garments.

Which I have failed to knit.

I've got several on the go, I just haven't finished any.


I really want to rectify this woeful situation so a couple of weeks ago, when it started to get a bit chilly, I cast on a Lanesplitter Skirt.


As it turned out, nature was going to have a little joke this year: 'Autumn you say?? Ok....... NOT REALLY! Have a week of hot weather, just to confuse you!'. So I put it down for a while - it was too hot to sit with what looks like a tiny wool blanket on my lap. Now it is really cold (we could have snow in two weeks) I love sitting with a mini blanket on my lap!





I'm knitting with Noro Kureyon, my Dad gave me 10 balls for Christmas last year (he presented himself in a yarn shop and asked for 'Enough wool for a jumper please.') and in the hope of getting more yarn this year I though I'd better use it. This is my first Noro experience and I love the rustic proper woolly wool feel of it.... the knots - not so much. They seem to come out of nowhere and have to be undone, I don't mind the colour sequence being disrupted because the stripes hide that but the volume of knots is irritating.





This is great pattern, easily adjusted to different lengths and it's going to keep me toasty warm!

Socktober Continues...

So here is my second sock pattern to be released in October: John Huston - The Tarnished Hero

You can buy the pattern directly from The Sanguine Gryphon here. The sample is knit with their Eidos sock yarn, it's a delight to knit with and the colours are stunning!





The design is inspired by decoration on military uniforms from the 40s and 50s, with a twisted stitch cable motif and alternate knit and purl textures inside the arrow shapes. They are practical but interesting and can be worn by men and women. They are a tribute to my Grandfather who was in the Royal Air Force during this period. Remaining pictures of him in his pristine uniform without a hair out of place have influenced the clean, crisp lines in this sock design.





That's my Grandad Arthur on the left, releasing this pattern has been a bit emotional for me, which has caught me by surprise!


I really lovely knitting these and they are really versatile - the rib sections mean they are really stretchy and hug the leg for a really good fit. I always think socks for men have to be interesting to knit - big feet = lots of knitting!


The whole collection of Film Noir inspired patterns are fantastic - I wish I had time to knit myself a dress!

Disaster Averted

Just after I wrote my last blog I spilled a drink on to my laptop. Much sadness followed and I vowed never to drink or have drinks near a computer again. Luckily, after a week of drying out, it appears to be ok - but I am backing up A LOT just in case!


I have a new pattern out: Little Ice Age Socks








From the pattern page: The Little Ice Age, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, wasn’t cold enough to be a true ice age but I bet that was little comfort to the people living in it! The last few winters have seemed particularly harsh and once the novelty of the first snow has worn off, the cold seems to last forever. What I love about cold weather is wearing hand knits, as many as is humanly possible but most of all I love wearing hand knit socks. These socks have colourwork and cables and are perfect to wear while you are snuggled up in front of the fire!


These were knitted in June and I had to convince my mum to light her fire for the photo shoot but I like the way they came out so it was worth being a bit hot and sweaty for an afternoon!








These socks look a bit festive in these colours - you could of course knit them in any colours you like, but I love Christmas socks and these will be on my feet on the 25th December!


These are the first of 4 sock patterns I've got coming out this month - which is handy since it's SOCKtober.....

A BIG box of yarn!

Last Thursday I went to the Fyberspates trunk show at Fibre Flurry.

There was some yarn and some pattern samples and it was all gorgeous!





There was an extremely large box of yarn to rummage through and even more on display....








This lovely shawl was also on display - Isaura by Åsa Tricosa, it has a really unusual construction, I love the clean lines of the design and it is so light but at the same time warm and cozy.


Fyberspates specialise in luxury yarns, most contain silk and the colours are just beautiful. I love silky yarns but they're not really suitable for socks, there were what I would consider more suitable 'sock' blends and a skein of the brand new tweed sock in reds and pinks came home with me, I really can't wait to swatch with it. I also adopted an skein of Sparkle Sock, the colours in this skein just blew me away and the sparkles are gold which I think softens the effect - I'm not usually a big fan of sparkles but I fell for this yarn as soon as I saw it.





I also bought a copy of The Scrumptious Collection Volume 1 - it is full of lovely patterns designed for the different weights of Scrumptious yarn. I am particularly taken with Tirrold by the lovely Jen Arnall-Culliford, its a lace-weight vest and I think I'll knit it in navy blue. All the samples from the books were available to try on and Mikayla (owner of Fibre Flurry) tried on the Uffington waistcoat by Jeni Hewlett (owner of Fyberspates) and it looked so nice on that it will be the second pattern I'll knit from this book - it's knit in chunky, which will be a welcome relief after the lace-weight!