Empty Sock Needles?

Come on! You know me better than that - no sooner were Dad's socks finished than I cast on for the next pair, and these are a real treat all the way from across the pond.

Yes indeedy, my name is Cariemay, my Dragon is Ninereeds and he's started to dance to the tune of the Rockin Sock Club :)

This yarn is beautifully dyed - this isn't the best picture ever as I took it on a whim as I had the yarn out to wind but it has that wonderful progression from mushed strawberries and clotted cream right though blood red and out to the colour of an Oxford hood. Being somewhat infatuated with saturated colours and this being one of my favourite reds I'm very happy sitting oooing this yarn.

I can't find out very much about my dragon through - rumour has it he is something to do with Terry Pratchett novels but I've not got further than that - anyone else know?

When you start to knit, the colours spiral, red vs strawberry/brick stripes and that's where the fun comes in - choosing the right needles and size to get striping that you like and a pair that fits.

I started doing the large on 2.25mm needles but although I liked the striping it was very clear that with my tension (or lack thereof) the sock would be far too large and I like a good chunk of negative ease.

The current incarnation is the medium, still on 2.25mm and the fit looks good. The stripes have been giving me cause for concern, although the side in the picture above has a nice leisurely spiral the other side looks like this:

and I was a bit worried that it would break up into stripy chunks. This afternoon I finished off a pattern repeat and I think I've got back into that nice spiral again. Fingers crossed because the next option is to break out the 2.0mms and go back to a large - eeek!

If you've been reading for a while you'll know that my oldest UFO is not knitting but a cross stitch destined for my SIL. It's a central picture surrounded by a border with plenty of beads, metalic thread and backstitch and I am determined to have it finished for her 30th birthday next November. The centre stitching is done as well as the top border and the top left corner; when all the stitching is done I'll need to go back over the whole piece to do the beads, metallics and backstitch and at that point I'll also put it on a big tapestry frame - a moving hoop will squash the beads and the metalics unless I'm really careful hence they get left until then end.

In the interests of finishing in time to have it framed before November I fished out the stitching bag this afternoon and made a little house with a garden and a bit of blue dream sky; a bit like this:

Maybe when it's finished you can see the whole picture - for now it's just teasers.

All in all it has been a rejuvinating weekend - it was wonderfully sunny which always helps, I didn't feel like I was about to die after my gym class and this afternoon I discovered that Sky Arts was showing the Barber of Seville - oh and things are begining to grow in my garden - I feel spring in the air!