Thursday 26 January 2012

Happy Socks and a Van Gogh Update!

I finished these stripy socks:


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The yarn is Goth Socks Strychnine in a club colour I got from a destash called 'Little Birdhouse in your Soul' which was inspired by this song, one of my absolute favourites!





The patterns is just a plain stockinette sock with a heel flap, I cut and rejoined the yarn after the heel turn to keep the stripes intact.


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Happy socks = Happy feet.


When these were finished I cast on for my first pair of Van Gogh socks. I love this yarn, it's not as soft as some other sock yarns but I've heard it wears well and I can't tell you how much I love the colours and the clever way it's dyed to look like a painting.


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I think that I'll be able to reach the heel at Knit Night tonight, these are perfect 'social' knitting, nothing to mess up because you're too busy talking to pay attention to your knitting!

Monday 23 January 2012

Icicle Socks

I've got a pattern in this months Knit Now magazine - Icicle Socks (Rav Link)



When I designed these socks I was inspired by frosty mornings and spiralling icicles, thinking that based on last year we might be experiencing such weather now. Bah. It's warmer than Spring. But they are still pretty socks, whatever the weather!



They start with a picot cuff with a bead detail and then a lace and cable pattern runs down the leg and foot, very delicate and pretty. I used The Knitting Goddess sock yarn in a beautiful pale teal colour, it's a semi solid and the little tonal variations make me happy.



The magazine took these photos and I think they are fabulous, I love the location, the styling and the photographer is an artist! (The shoes are rather special too)

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Knit Now is a fairly new magazine, these socks are in Issue 4, it's full of smaller accessories and home-ware patterns, great articles and lots of ideas and inspiration - it's quickly ascended to the top of my favourite magazine list and I'm looking forward to working with them again in the future.

Monday 16 January 2012

A little bit of sunshine....

I normally like to wind my skeins by hand, partly because I like to know if these are any slubby bits or knots and partly because there's no easy place to set up my ball winder and swift.


Last week I had quite a few skeins which needed winding and not a lot of time so I decided to get the winder out - everyone (children and adults alike) was fascinated by it and there was much arguing about whose turn it was and who was winding the quickest, they made short work of my pile of skeins:


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Most of these are for socks but that rather fabulous yellow on the end is for my Angostura, a perfect pattern for relaxing knitting, yellow is my current colour obsession and the lovely Jeni at Fyberspates dyed this Scrumptious DK for me in this oh so cheerful shade - just what I need at this rather grey time of year:


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I'm on the look out for the perfect black or grey dress or skirt to wear with it...

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Rowley

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This is the latest pattern to be added to my Winter One Collection - the Rowley Hat.





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It's a beanie style hat with twisted stitches and a travelling stitch pattern, the yarn is The knitting Goddess Merino Cashmere Nylon DK which is very soft and bouncy, it's a 'well-rounded' yarn if you know what I mean (I'm not entirely sure I know, so if you do, well done), the stitch definition is fantastic.


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I took these photos on a trip to Rocamadour over Christmas, it is beautiful and quite close to where my sister now lives so I think it's likely we will be going again at some point. I also took some more photos of the Adela Mittens (fingerless version) accessorised by a rather fabulous pair of Doc Martins....


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Monday 2 January 2012

Goals for 2012...

I've got a few things I'd like to achieve in 2012, I don't have a massive amount of time for personal knitting anymore so I'm not going to be too over optimistic, this isn't everything I'll knit this year but it's the things I really, really want to do.


First on my list are my 8 pairs of Van Gogh socks (you can read about them here) I've got a pair of plain socks on the needles that are nearly finished and as soon as they are done, I'll start the first Van Goghs.


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I want to knit both my sons a jumper - this blog post by the Yarn Harlot sums up why and there is a great book of Boy's Knits coming out soon. Son No.1 wants red and No.2 wants purple - I will need to acquire (washable) yarn for these.


The lovely Sarah Hatton wrote me a pattern for a cardigan - it's going to be epic (and stripy).


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I need hats - I have 2 hats in my possession, I have knit many more than this but my sisters keep stealing them, I plan to combat this by knitting them in colours I know they hate. HA.


Lastly, I want to knit Christmas presents for 2012, I didn't knit any this year because I didn't have time but it made me sad - my family love to receive knitted items and I love to give them. I hope that by starting early (can't get much earlier!) I can pace myself and everyone will have a merry, WOOLLY Christmas in 2012!