Shh

If you are (a) my husband or (b) think you may be my Summer of Socks pal but haven't yet got your parcel look away now.

I haven't posted in a while because of a serious lack of exciting things to share with you - the last two FOs have both had to stay secret (until now!), the colour I need to finish Smoulder is hopefully winging it's way across the Atlantic and the trellis scarf now looks like this - I assure you that huge lack of progress took HOURS!!

However....

As my husband is due home from his mountain in Wales very soon (actually he's just arrived) and my parcel to the secret pal was sent on Monday I think I am safe to share some piccies!

So, these are my latest secret project - another pair of socks for my lovely husband - the pattern is just a basic sock pattern with a 2x2 rib at the top and the yarn is Regia Canadian:

The lovely husband likes them a lot and as his feet are rather sore after the Welsh mountain trip (he walked/ran 27 miles yesterday) I thought it would be rather good for the feet to have a little treat! I've been knitting them secretly on the train to work but most of the second sock was done yesterday and finished last night - excellent tv knitting!

The secret summer socks look like this:

Well kind of - they really aren't so blue in real life they're a pinky purply blue mixture which produces some gorgeous pooling - it looks like they have ripples running across them. The yarn is Regia Bamboo which is a mixture of wool and bamboo and it very soft and silky to work with- it's like a more drapy cotton. The pattern was an adaption of Dublin Bay - I put the Dublin Bay motif repeats down the side of my standard sock pattern and all was well - the first version, following the pattern, gave me massive socks so I restarted.

These socks have also been travelling round with me and so I give you "the sock and Warwick Castle"

It was at this point that my husband decided that sanity had clearly left me and this sock knitting thing was getting a bit too much!

Hope you like them secret pal - I won't reveal her name until I know the parcel has arrived safe and sound!

As this weekend has been gorgeous I took the opportunity to dye up my final blank skein of sock wool with the remaining Kool-Aid et voila!

It looks a lot less neon and more summer berries in real life - perhaps that's what I should call it - summer berries to go with lettuce leaf and blueberry bruise! Any other suggestions for what this colourway should be called?

So now with the summer berries yarn drying in the breeze, the husband gently reviving in the bath, and a good five hours worth of ironing sat upstairs.... I'm going to go and cast on for Joy!

Podcasts

I think everyone else has already discovered these but I have to confess to a serious addiction to Podcasts. Brenda Dane's Cast On is a great favourite with many people but I have four particular favourites to share.

The first is Pointy Sticks by Christine Selleck - I love listening to her stories of her knitting and the songs she plays are just great - plus the Flying Fish Sailors 'Poke you in the Eye' theme tune is cracking!

Then my current train listening is Heather Ordover's Craft Lit which is usually a little bit of what Heather has been up to and a big chunk of the lit in question - which at present is Pride and Prejudice, always a favourite of mine and so lovely to have it read. Heather used to teach English so she always introduces the new chapters with a bit of litcrit on the previous week. Sadly I am catching up far too fast - what will I do when I finish catching up and there's only one episode a week! CraftLit is also available through ITunes which helps with the downloading!

Another podcast on ITunes is Lime and Violet - these girls just make me giggle

outload

on a train full of grumpy commuters

Seriously an achievement!

And finally another girl who makes me laugh, Manda of Knit Psychos

Go and check them all out!

UFOs - or are they - and USOs

The start of September always makes me feel very autumnal in a sort of back to school way - see what all those years buried in an educational establishment do to you.

In this vein I have been reviewing the list of UFOs I made in May and creating my list of UFOs and USOs (un-started objects - yep cracking English there!) for September.

The round up:

Carolina - colour leaked all over hands - pattern abandonned - yarn returned to stash and now intended for Rowan Vintage Style's Aimee

Baby Cardigan - finished in July and sent to baby Pearl shortly after her arrival into this world - hurrah!

Jaywalkers - wearing them as I type - need I say more

More socks- the sad sock got frogged (and the yarn is still wrapped round the back of my study chair to straighten out), the port and starboard socks were made and the cotton socks attempted.

Smoulder - so far so good - slight hitch with the yarn

IK trellis scarf - current WIP

That actually includes all of my current UFOs apart from a secret project for my lovely husband

The USO list is a bit longer:

Greek Jumper from IK
Rowan Joy
Rowan Aimee - both from Vintage Style
Sebastian
Ralph
Fruit Salad - all from Classic Summer
A short sleeved cardi from Classic Alpaca
Two tops from Debbie Bliss pure silk
Serious designs on the Simple Knitted Bodice

It's going to be a busy autumn!

The end of Project Spectrum

So finally August is over and Project Spectrum has drawn to a close (apart from sweep up month this is a really good idea and very necessary to boot!).

I have loved being a part of this Craftalong and I've really enjoyed the postcard swap - so often I make cards for birthdays or thank yous and it's really nice to be challenged to make something without a pre-ordained theme (apart from the preference for butterflies) and in colours that I wouldn't necessarily use.

So for the final time I present to you this month's Project Spectrum postcard:

This is the front and back before they got stuck together - I should explain the backing paper is a picture of stamped letters!

Aside from Sweep up month Lolly is planning another form of Project Spectrum towards the start of next year and is collecting ideas - if you have any pass them on to her!

All this brings me onto the topic of knit alongs. I seem to have got rather swept up in KALs recently as I have another to add to the collection - Yarn Monkey is running a KAL/assasins game called SOCK WARS - if you ever played assasins at college the concept will be pretty familiar - on 22 September each warrior gets the set sock pattern and their victim's address. The aim is to knit them their socks and send it to them. When they get the socks they are dead and they send you their unfinished socks and the name of their victim. At the same time, someone else is knitting you a pair of socks to try to assasinate you - it sounds hilarious to me and I couldn't resist joining in - thank you Manda for mentioning the Wars in your podcast!

There always seem to be unlimited KALs starting up on the web and I suppose it is merely an extension of knitters getting together in person to knit that instead we all meet up in webland!

The problem is that I get tempted by so many and if I had all the time/money/yarn I wanted I probably would join them all. I am however, particularly tempted by the Sexy Knitters Club KAL which is currently either Sizzle or the Simple Knitted Bodice - both of which are gorgeous. I think I am heading towards the Simple Knitted Bodice - to use the blue alpaca I have for the short sleeved version. I though I could also add in a strand of somthing like Kid Silk Night for a bit of sparkle at the bits where the pattern calls for sequinned yarn - hmmmm

In terms of actual knitting, Smoulder is making remarkable progress comme ca:

The colours are a little distorted because it is an evening shot but I have completed the back, both fronts and a very little bit of the sleeve. This is where I stop and start kicking myself. I made huge efforts to get the yarn called for in this pattern - some of it comes from the Netherlands, some from a clearance department store and some was found in Shipston. However, I got only one ball of the deep purple cotton glace and I need two - gaaaaaaa it's a discontinued colour, impossible to find in the UK as far as I can see and my hope now rest on a webmail service from the states who had one ball left according to their website. As I haven't heard that they don't have any and it's been a week since my order I'm really hopeing this means it is winging its way to me - fingers crossed.

My yarn moratorium (now ended) means that there is very little knitting on the needles that I can just pick up and go with so my current knitting is the IK Trellis scarf which was in the issue of IK that lovely husband bought me when I was in hospital in Florida. It involves knit 7 together into 5s which frankly scares the living daylights out of me and is not relaxing knitting, requiring immense amounts of concentration to get even one row right. I think it may have got easier by the 23rd repetition!!

This is the border and almost 2 repetitions!

It's Kid Silk Haze which is very snuggly but a bit of a challenge to knit with to say the least! Still perseverence will win through and there are days when challenging knitting is required. That would not be today though so I have put it aside to write this post before I make any more mistakes!

Sneeky side note: I do have a pair of socks on the needles as a secret present for lovely husband but they are hiding in my work bag for train knitting only (shh!). I have also ordered the yarn for my Greek IK sweater in Glacier (Kid Classic - gorgeous) and the Yorkshire Tweed needs some bead threading before starting Rowan's Joy. I know I could start Joy now but I've been longing to knit the Greek sweater for ages so that's what I'm doing!

Happy weekend one and all!

A Bank Holiday

Hurray - I'm not at work today and it's a MONDAY! Very few things beat the joy of waking up (at 8.30!!! - 2 1/2 hrs later than usual) and knowing that you don't have to go to work. Now I love my job - it's great but having a day off is just something special. The only problem is all the shops are shut so I can't go stash enhancing! Hmm - problem or benefit?

So instead I have taken the chance to get up to date with the ironing (grr) and do otherwise enjoyable crafty things! This morning I have made my final project spectrum postcard which is now all ready to send - I won't post a pitcure just yet so as not to spoil the surprise and it was great fun playing with browns and creams - not my usual card making colours at all.

I don't actually have pictures of anything to post at the moment as Smoulder is still the same colour - I've finished the left front and started the right - and my secret summer of socks pal socks are hiding until they reach their recipient.

On that topic my secret e-mail address may have been less secret than I intended - if I've been rumbled I'm very sorry and heartily glad the socks have been hiding - you may know whose been making them but you don't know what they look like so the element of surprise is still there! Yippee

I have also been tidying up my template this morning and I noticed how few items I have on the needles since I had a self imposed moratorium on yarn buying. However, all this is at an end. I have a list a mile long of projects I really want to knit and I probably will work my way through it eventually. The question always is should you buy the yarn now before it is discontinued or should you chance it and hope to find a substitute if you need it. I am going to knit Joy from Rowan Vintage Style which I've wanted to knit for a while. The temptation is that Yorkshire Tweed 4ply has been discontinued and Anna has it at a discount. After it kept falling down at knitting last week I realised that it was in fact calling to me so I accepted the inevitable. Unfortunately I need at least 10 balls and there were only 9 - step in the fellow stashers - we have found more than enough to make up any shortfall in the stashes of fellow knitters - I pick up the yarn tomorrow and I'm away!

Hope everyone else had a fun weekend - I'm off knitting in my remodled back garden - more on that later!!

Milestones

I have two today

Firstly I have now been married 4 months! I am quite possibly the happiest wife in the world - I love being married, it's great. Right enough smugness for one post!

The second is that I am officially grown up and old. The reason we know this is because my very last young person's railcard has now expired and I can no longer renew it. This required much chocolate flavoured consolation!

I know it's August but...

Today has been a very pink day.

First I got up and made a cake to take to a friend's - my lovely little sis gave me a cook book for my birthday called gorgeous cakes and I've been longing to try something from it but didn't quite want to risk the waistline so giving away a cake is perfect (well I say giving away, we did eat it for supper but that was the plan!).

I present to you:

Triple layer Raspberry Marscapone Cake - sooooooo yummy I may have to make another one tomorrow!

Today's friends are also of the crafty persuasion with the latest hobby of fabric flowers by way of experiment. A gentle afternoon spent chatting and getting glue on my fingers saw kind friend with a fantastic pink carnation hairband - it might sound twee but it's cool - think flowers tucked behind the ear rather than 1980s wedding and I made this:

It's not the best photo in the world but what I made is a beautiful raspberry pink sweet pea - one of my most favourite flowers - I promise it looks much more like a sweet pea in real life!

It is also possible that I have found the perfect "combination stashing". Before I restarted knitting I was an avid buyer of books and to tell the truth we have three large bookcases in my study, lots of others all over the house and still a massive pile of books on my study floor! Beacuse of my voluntary moratorium on more yarn stash until I've finished Smoulder I'm not buying yarn at the moment but KNITTING BOOKS - they're books and they're knitting - what more can a girl want!

The answer it seems is Debbie Bliss Pure Silk and RYC Classic Alpaca which adds to the books acquired from Liberty's earlier this month - so many things to knit, so little time...

Happy weekend one and all!

Has anyone seen this week?

I seem to have missed it - life has been even more crazy busy than usual - hence lack of posts (and pictures).

I duly finished the ends on smoulder - the back, and have begun smoulder - the left front (second in a five part series!)

I have also finished the first of my pal's socks - I would take a picture but it is hiding so as not to give the game away!

Will post properly when we stop having power cuts etc - in the meantime happy knitting

Up-down up-down

We have finally reached the final official month of Project Spectrum (although Lolly has some great plans for a finish eveything up month). August is for the browns, creams, blacks, whites and neutrals.

Now that I have a free weekend in August I needed to address my crafting item for the month. And, dear reader, as you have already guessed, this means that I have had to eat my frog and tackle that remaining curtain.

The curtain said: "I shall be made. In full. Before the end of August. Definitely before the in laws (or anyone else for that matter) comes to visit"

And lo the Carie obeyed. And yea verily the curtain was made this afternoon and hung with all great pomp and circumstance (Angels and Cherubim were unavailable due to cancelled industrial action relating to tinsel allowances).

And it was good.

And the man and the woman got ready to go out for a friends's birthday drinks. And as they left the house they noticed that wrath had smote itself upon the curtain rail.

And it was bad.

[Leaving aside the racy narrative style the net result is that the curtain is finished but the curtain pole has pulled off the wall - you couldn't invent it if you tried].

However, I consider that the curtain, now finished, represents a significant Project Spectrum August project - particularly as my pal's socks are not cream, brown or any other kind of neutral! (But I have got to the heel flap on the first sock - needles are flying along!)

More haste less speed (or always trust your gut instinct)

Casting on for my pal's socks I was a tad surprised to find the pattern suggesting 72 stitches for a medium foot. Now this is not a pattern with a huge amount of lacework or anything that requires extra room to compensate lack of stretchyness, nor does my pal have anything like massive feet. Still pattern lady said 72 so I duly cast on 72 yesterday and the little sock progressed.

Cut to train this morning and Carie's thoughts:

"gosh this sock is big - well she does say she takes a wide fitting - yes but so do I and I don't use 72 stitched, the husband takes 72 stitches - I'll just keep going a bit more and then I'll see"

By the time I got to work the decision had been made - the sock had to shrink. Now I have quite a history of making massively oversized socks and I'm pleased to say this sock was neither as big nor as long as my first effort (see very early posts for details) but (to the slight consternation of the lady next to me who I think was expecting to see knitting not frogging) I duly ripped out the sock and started again.

With 64 stitches.

The great thing is that rounds of 64 are a lot quicker than rounds of 72 and I've already done the cuff and I'm starting on the pattern - slight feeling of deja vu!

PS I've done half the ends on Smoulder - the rest to do tonight!

Busy fingers

Ably assisted by Donna's Knit Kit I have been busy finishing things.

First, courtesy of a horrid commute home yesterday I have finished the purply-blue socks (and it's not even that far into August!). Picture the increasingly frustrated knitter - irritated because the train was late, sat on the platform manically knitting the toe and then (on the train) realising that the sock could get finished before the train got to the station. I finished the knitting on the train,realised I had no scissors and had to attack the yarn with the car keys so that I could finish off the sock (whilst not accidentally missing the yarn and jabbing the very beautifully presented old lady in the seat next to me with my elbow). Ends were woven in et voila:

The Second Summer of Socks pair is complete. The next pair are for my sock swap pal. I've chosen the pattern, and cast on the first sock and I've done the cuff so far. I have to admit I did break my self-imposed moratorium on yarn buying but with the lovely husband's express consent and with good reason. The yarn moratorium is supposed to last until September but these have to be mailed by September and I have also run out of sock yarn apart from some that isn't dyed yet and the chances of me getting round to that soon are slim!

I'm not going to post any pictures of these socks until they have been sent out as there aren't that many people in the swap and I don't want to spoil anyone's surprise - all I will say is that they are bamboo!

I have also finished the back to Smoulder!

I think I can quite happily say that this is one of my most favourite knits - the colours are gorgeous and it knits up fairly quickly. In the spirit of enchantment I will shortly do the ends before moving on to a front!

And finally, news of two safe arrivals, the first I made and the second I made for.

First:

My project spectrum postcard for Karla (before the two sides were stuck together). I really enjoyed making this butterfly flower card so I'm glad she liked it!

and second - the arrival of a new baby second cousin named Pearl! Hurrah!

Something Very Special

Today something very special arrived - or at least was found. It was found behind the conservatory and may have been there for a couple of days but it has been found now:

Hurray for my Rowan Exchange!

My exchange was the lovely Donna who sent me this knitting kit:

it is perfect - a cushion for my back while I knit, a gorgeous snuggly bag to keep the current project in and Derbyshire biscuits for sustenance - wonderful! And all in gorgeous purples and greens and creams!

Meanwhile the socks are nearly finished and Smoulder progresses like a house on fire (sorry couldn't resist!):

Rowan 40 - it's arrived!

Yippe yipee the new Rowan mag has arrived on the doorstep - well it arrived on Tuesday but I've been a tiddlypeep busy since then - very occasionally little litigators such as self have to go to Court and I went twice today - gaah!

Anyway....

The new Rowan is less extreme than Rowan 39 and there is a fair chance I will actually make something from this Rowan before the next one comes out (references to Carolina from 39 which may now become Aimee from Vintage Style! are atributed to the yarn leaking all over my hands and needles etc - if it hadn't done that I would have made it)

My instant favourites are Glade and Cobweb with Viktor for the lovely husband if he would let me and a bit of a hankering for Dew and Rustic, although Rustic I think is rather like Smoulder (which incidentally proceeds at a rate of knots) and I suspect I don't have the bosom for Dew - I shall watch other blogs with interest on that one.

Here are piccies of the favourites:

Glade
Dew

Victor

However, the next thing after Smoulder is definitely the tunic top from IK Autumn 2005 in Glacier Kid Classic - just got to wait until September before I can order the yarn!

A free weekend! (try not to giggle too hard)

So what does a girl do with a weekend in which there are no people to visit, no people coming to visit us and nothing major is planned?

The answer it appears is: try to do everything!

Now anyone who might be going to visit the Stoke Fleming Hort and Sports day and be passing the Church stall please cast your eyes away now:

Seriously, no peeking.

My lovely Ma is running the Church stall this year and among the usual collection of bric-a-brac and cakes and jam she thought it might be rather nice to sell some handmade cards - could I just make her a few?

How many? Oh about 20 might be nice.

So Saturday saw the lovely husband and myself in Hobbeycraft stocking up on all things card related. For any non card makers out there I can confirm that the need to stash is just as strong! In my first batch of 9 we have:

And the second set (taken after dark hence lack of patio furniture in the background!)
And that all adds up to 20. Common theme of butterflies as usual - quelle suprise!

What was quite magic was that the nutty butterfly in our garden actually landed on my finger the other day while I was knitting in the garden. Then it sat on my head for a bit - so cool

Sunday I swallowed my inner demons and I am pleased to say that we now have one patio curtain in the right colour and one still odd green and peach pheasants! Three down, one to go - I wonder if I can count them as something neutral and creative for my August project spectrum?

Finally I did manage a tiddly bit of knitting:

This is the start of Smoulder and it's beautiful - it's also grown a bit since that picture!

And to round things off I have just finished making my July postcard for Karla - it's on its way tomorrow. Now how about a nice bit of work for some peace and quiet!

FYI - the answer to the question what does a chap do with such a weekend appears to be: replaster the bathroom ceiling and copy a Renoir for a pretty picture to put on the wall!

How to spend an evening

The perfect ingredients for a great evening! Smoulder commences!

Finished Things

Hurrah the bambino has not arrived (as far as we know) and the hoodie is now finit!

The girls at knitting worry that now the bambino will have a hoodie it will get hugged by David Cameron. I am fairly confident that Brighton and Hove is a bit too trendy for a tory party leader so we should be safe.

The buttons were chosen by the lovely husband who has a very good taste in buttons and the label on the inside has a funky fish and says machine washable!

Also in the finit pile is the first of the cable socks. The colour can look a little washed out in very bright sunlight or next to very deep colours but it's one of those colours that you see more of the more you look at it and I'm quite pleased with it for my very first attempt at dyeing.

This piccy shows the cables which aren't very visible when the sock is not on
And this shows the colour!
Options for the colourway - in true Rowan style are:

• Blueberry mix (cooked and uncooked)
• Dusk (with your back to the sun)
• Cotton Lavender

What do you think?

And now for Smoulder - because I really need a cardi in this heat!

Postcards and other wonderful things

First, seeing as Rachel's postcard has now arrived over the pond I can show you the June postcards (yes I know it was a little late - oops!):

This one is Rachel's postcard to me and what you can't see in the picture is that it is ALL fabric - even the back of the card was printed fabric and the front has this lovely blue and yellow pinwheel - I think it's great - it reminds me of the whirlygigs that you get to put on sandcastles on the beach - I had a serious collection when I was small because I thought they were so great.

And this is my card to Rachel - the butterfly is embroidered and then the fabric mounted on the card - I'm not skilled enough to do a whole fabric card! It's not a very good piccy unfortunately as there are sparkly bits that don't really show up - and yes it is another butterfly!

This weekend the knitting time took a bit of a hit as we went to the Motor Show yesterday to see lots of cars. I am not a petrol head by any means and tend to tell the difference between cars by their colours but my lovely husband is a tad keen so off we went.

At 6.30am.

That's the time we left the house.

I don't leave that early on a work day!

Neither does he. Such is the power of cars!

Still we got to see the cars and the exhibits before the hordes of people arrived which was good and then we went on into central London and we went to Libertys!

Now I have promised that I will knit more of the yarn from the cupboard before I buy more for any new projects and I have been pretty good. The last yarn I bought was the sock yarn that I hand dyed and I'm knitting up the second variety at present (with one more still to dye). However, no-one said anything about books.

I am therefore the happy owner of Rowan's Classic Summer and Vintage Style. From the former I like lots of patterns from both books and I'm begining to think I have a bit of a thing for 40s and 50s style - my other Rowan book is Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits and even the back of Classic Summer says it is inspired by 40s and 50s style - it's just elegant and classy - that's my excuse but somehow I never quite live up to the image!

Pretty Purples

Today was another scorcher. Therefore according to the madness that is Carie it was a perfect day to do some knitting!

In my defence most of the knitting was done on the train on a business trip and the train had air con. I have now got to the heel turn in my first cable sock and I tried to take a picture to show but the cables don't come out and the colour went all wonk - I'll try again in daylight.

The yarn is very pastel purples and blues and I have a tendency to pull it out of the knitting bag and thing oh no I made it too pale, I should have overdyed it more but then I start working on it again and it rather enchants me - it's so much fun working with varigated yarn on socks watching the different colours come out - hmm must dye more yarn!

Something large and fluttery has just come in the window and as I am particularly bad with big fluttery things I am off to hide

It's a start-stop month

Do you ever have days/weeks/months where you start something and then it has to stop again.

I had so many lovely plans for my summer of socks and project spectrum but they seem to be hitting hitches - I have some gorgeous varigated purple and green cotton that I wanted to make thick cotton socks from so I found a pattern I wanted to do, cast on and then discovered that for my precise size of feet I get varigated pooling - one side of the sock alternates stripes of lime and dark purple and the other green and lilac - and there's nothing I can do about it - aargh. So the sock is no more and will become a bag I think - anyone know a good pattern for 3 balls of worsted weight cotton?

I have finally got round to winding my other hand dyed skein into balls and it looks less of a bruise in the ball but still fairly pastel. However, despite being desperate to start a sock with it, the wretched yarn has only just told me what pattern it wants to be - it has finally decided that it will be the rib and cable socks from last autumn's IK - piccies will be posted as soon as there is enought to show!

Meanwhile I'm melting to the keyboard so I'm off to sit in a freezer if at all possible!

Port and Starboard Socks

My very first sock pattern design: MATERIALS

Two balls of Limbo Color 2539 (kolibri) or anything that knits up to DK weight
1 set 3mm DPNS (or size needed to get gauge)

These socks are knit top down with a heel flap and fit my size 8 (UK size) feet snuggly.

Cast on 48 sts

Knit 15 rounds in 3x3 rib

Start patterns:

Rnd 1 (and all odd rounds): knit

Rnd 2: *k3, p3 repeat from * to end

Rnd 4: p1 *k3, p3 repeat from * to last 2 st, p2

Rnd 6: p2 *k3, p3 repeat from * to last 1 st, p1

Rnd 8: *p3 k3 repeat from * to end

Rnd 10: k1 *p3 k3 repeat from * to last 2 st, k2

Rnd 12: k2 *p3 k3 repeat from * to last 1 st, k1

This 12 round repeat makes the pattern. Pattern for 51 rnds (your last rnd is a knit round)

Knit heel flap

Work over 24 stitches

Row 1 (and all odd rows) *slip 1, knit 1 repeat from * to end

Row 2 (and all even rows) slip 1, purl to end

Work 24 rows in pattern

Knit one row

Turn heel

Slip 1, purl 13, p2tog, p1, turn

sl1, knit 5, ssk, k1, turn

sl1, p6, p2tog, p1, turn

continue in this way until all heel flap stitches have been included. your last row is a right side row (ie knit rather than purl)

rejoin heel

pick up and knit 12 sts down side of heel flap, place marker.

work 24 st in pattern, place marker (if not already done so - this is the end of the round so I usually have a marker in anyway).

pick up 12 sts up other side of heel flap, knit remainder of round.

Heel decreases

Working pattern across top of foot, decrease as follows

Rnd 1: k1, ssk, k to 3 sts before marker, k2tog, k1, work rest of round in pattern

Rnd 2: knit

decrease until 48 sts remain.

Work foot

Work 36 rounds, patterning top of foot (you should end with a pattern row)

Toe

Round 1 (and alternative rounds): k1, ssk, knit to 3 st before marker, k2tog, k1 (marker) k1, ssk, knit to 3 sts before round marker, k2tog, k1

Round 2, knit

Decrease to 24 sts then Kitchener stitch the toe closed.

Wear with pride! And drop me a comment if you make them!

J'adore le weekend

But yet again it has been incredibly busy and I'm sorry to say there are no signs of a finished pair of curtains yet (oops!) (I have managed to cut and sew the lengths for the curtains and the linings though).

On Saturday we went to bid a fond farewell to Rufus who now has a new home:

He's incredibly cute and bouncy and then suddenly decides that enough is enough and has perfected a "reverse and falling asleep" manouvre comme ca:

Faithful reader I promise you I did not scoop the cat up like that, he was pottering around on my lap and then walked backwards down my arm into the crook of my elbow and 30 seconds later was fast asleep. Remarkable similarities to my darling husband who also falls asleep whenever the mood takes him.

The chaps then decided to go carting and I tried to take pictures of them and failed, nevermind.

I did however finish the soon to be second cousin's baby jacket sleeve and started to cast on for the hood. Fortunately I have checked dates with the soon to be Great Uncle (aka my darling dad) who informs me that the baby is not due for another two weeks - phew a last minute repreive!

In summer of socks news I proudly present my first pair:

I have called them my port and starboard socks because of the colours and I will post the pattern in a separate post. I'm now started on a cotton pair to be knit up as blueberry waffle pattern in a varigated purple and green pattern - very Project Spectrum.

Finally, I am signed up to the Summer of Socks Sockswap - now all I have to do is decide what pattern to knit for my sock swap!

I love the weekend - but it goes far too quickly!

Finishingitis

Yes I'm finally finishing things (try not to fall over from the shock!)

I have just finished my June postcard swap postcard which is horribly late - sorry Rachel - due to weddings and busy things like that

I have also finished a sleeve for the soon to be second cousin. Hopefully the sleeve will be joined by another sleeve, the hood and some sewing up before the baby arrives although I am worried about the Yarn Harlot's view that babies only arrive when the garment is finished - am I wishing a long labour on my cousin - I do hope not!

I will post piccies of things when the camera charges but in the mean time may I please direct your attention to Agnes' blog for beautiful pictures of the IK Trellis scarf which I have started (and shelved!) - it's stunning and she knit it so fast

Happy knitting one and all!

Manic Monday

Well that was going to be the title of my post yesterday but things have just been so crazy round here that it didn't happen.

Hmm, what has been happening over the last few days:

Well my SIL loved the scarf and thought it was very pretty - mission accomplished!

In my sock knitting I have finished the aqua socks, ta da:

I finished them on a very hot sunny day which is why they are hanging off a chair in my parents-in-law's front garden and not on my feet! That and my feet were very dirty from wandering round barefoot in the heat!

Although my cunning plan was to move on to the next set of Kool Aid wool, I have been putting off doing the winding .......

So a quick search in the stash revealed so gorgeous DK weight wool in multi reds, oranges and greens. It is Socka wool but I can't remember the exact sort without the ball band - will post on that topic later!

Anyway these are my first summer of socks socks, or rather sock as only one is finished:

I'm making up the pattern as I go along and it has a sort of swirl to it which you can just about see in this close up. You can also so the gorgeous colours - a strand is three different colours plied together and the strands change colours at different times. These socks are NOT going to be an exactly matching pair but nevermind! I also tried to do a short row heel but it looked odd so I took it out and went back to heel flaps which fit my feet very well. I am trying to try new socky things over this summer - this sock can be writing my own pattern - short row heels can wait for another time!
There is something immensely comforting about these socks both in knitting and wearing them - I can't decide if it's the colour or the feel - possibly a bit of both. Certainly when I feel like a bit of comfort clothing there's nothing to beat a hand knit sock!

Right: must go finish sleeve of baby jacket as baby is due imminently - more soon on that topic!

Pretty things

Earlier this month the lovely husband and I went on a trip up north to see his brother and sister for his brother's stag party. Sister and I went to John Lewis as you do and I acquired (magically - I really don't know how it happened!) two skeins of turquoise Debbie Bliss pure silk and a promise to make a scarf for SIL. As it is said brother's wedding on Thursday (leaving SIL the only unmarried one in the family) I thought she could do with a treat so last Thursday I cast on the seaweed and shells scarf as chosed by you the faithful reader (well Jill anyway) and the lovely husband. After some intensive knitting this:



Has become this:





It has used just about all of the two skeins and knits up beautifully - I forsee more projects in Debbie Bliss pure silk - it is so soft and so drapy. The finished size was about about 6 inches wide and 53/54 inches long. The pattern is called Seaweed and Shells and is available here. Just got to hope the SIL likes it - we will find out tomorrow!

Even more impressivly - two blue projects in the appropriate month - for me that has to be some sort of record!

In other knitting news the minty aqua socks are getting along nicely and I have the blue/purple ones lined up for July as soon as I (a) finish the current socks and (b) wind the yarn into balls - (grr!)!

26 and a day

Aaaargh! I'm in my late twenties!!!!!!

I did have a wonderful birthday though and Colin the Caterpillar (the cake!) is now much diminished.

The denim cushion cover is all dried from its blocking and in answer to India's question it was about 4 and a half balls of Rowan Denim and it's both sides. The great thing about that pattern is that you just keep going round and round until you get to the size you want!

I have also cast on for my second sock - the picot edging is incredibly tricky to do on the train but I have succeeded and now I just need to repeat the pattern. It is lovely not to have to stripe match for once!

I did try to cast on my seaweed and shells scarf but I made a mistake int he third row and there wasn't enough of it to see where the mistake was - take 2 will begin shortly.

Listening to the latest Pointy sticks podcast raises the question - are we all from crafty families - is it genetic?

None of my family are quite as prolific as me but then they probably have more responsibilities/sense/lack of crazy. I'm a little hampered in trying to track it back as I've only really known my parents generation but my Daddy's Aunt knit (I remember the oh so special shade of dusky pink appearing in many cardigans and she definitely knit a few blue school cardies in her time!) and I wish I had been closer in age to her to be able to share the enjoyment.

My Granny could knit and it was she who first taught me (v bad straggly teddy scarf) and although I don't think she had much time for it herself, I do owe her my recollection of the basics when I picked up the needles many years later. Granny also laboriously encouraged me in embroidering blue daisies to napkins for my Mother's birthday - I must have been all of six at the time and I think bribes were involved!! Granny's main crafty outlet was her oil painting - she was very talented and each of her grandchildren have a painting she did - mine is of Magdalen College, Oxford, just up the road from my own college, Univ.

Coming down the generation (and skipping to the other side of the family) my mother knits a bit (if you're reading this Mum that's a hint to finish your blue sweater), has done some beautiful cross stich, makes clothes and soft furnishings and has been known to be very inventive with scary food colouring, icing and a christmas cake - neon poinsetta cake anyone!!
Mum claims to be constantly surprised by my creativity and I don't think she often sees how much of it comes from her, particularly as for the most part I am a real Daddy's girl and have a strong resemblance to my father physically and in the psyche, and she should. Being brought up in a crafty home where it was considered completely normal for leftover dressmaking scraps being squirrelled away and turning up as patchwork or dolls clothing gives you the freedom of expression and creativity to develop all sorts of ideas and I only hope that when I have kids I can give them the same sort of opportunity (as long as they keep their hands off my stash!!!)

Mum's twin is the quilter in the family and another aunt (this time by marriage) makes her own clothes.

Perhaps with all of this lineage it's not surprising that I paint, draw, stitch, sew, knit, papercraft and make cakes shaped like a sandcastle!

Happy summer of socks to you all!

Yes the day is finally here, the summer of socks has arrived. I am entered into both categories although with inimitable Carie-esque planning I am half way through a pair at the moment and being me I will finish the second sock before I start the next pair - no logic whatsoever!

I can however, proudly present the finished sock!

To proove that my fears that I was knitting a lettuce leaf were unfounded I have taken a picture of it next to a lettuce. Mum if you are reading this I am very sorry that the lettuce died - it did not like me and it missed the seaside but it had a very fulfilling life OK!.

I have also finished, yes FINISHED, a blue June project spectrum project which is also my Rowan exchange project. Yesterday two

Became one:

Got washed at the very hottest my machine will do and it is now almost dry and waiting for a cushion pad at the weekend. The picutre of it blocking above shows the funky swirls and I'm very pleased with it.

The pattern came from the Knit List gift list for a twirly cushion cover and so it is. The yarn was Rowan denim in the medium denium on no 4 needles and I made it pretty much as the pattern asked except for substituting an i-cord edgins for a simple 3 needle bind off which I found gave a subtler edging which I liked better. To cope with the shrinking I made it up and bound off three sides together then bound off the final side separately which I will slip stitch shut when the cushion pad is inside. Rating is: SUCCESS

So what do I cast on now.....

I must make a final mention of my latest find - the Pointy Sticks Podcast which is just fantastic to listen to while you knit - I seriously recommend checking it out

Happy Knitting and Listening!

Happy Birthday to me.....

Yippee today is my birthday and it has been wonderful! It is also the DH's birthday (I am the older by about 4 hours!!) so much celebration in our house. We had a wonderful breakfast opening cards and presents from friends and family (thank you all very much) and apart from the whole work thing it has been great.

I also present to you:

Colin

He's basically a giant mini roll with smarties on top - what more could a girl want.

In an effort to be artistic the blue candles were for Mr Carie and the pink candles were for me!

Creeeeeeeeeeeak (sound of Carie moving)

Gosh. I have remembered why lots of exercise is not a good idea if you have not been training. I ACHE!!

The reason for all this sudden activity was the Milton Keynes hockey festival over this last weekend. Lovely Husband is the tour manager for his club so if the club goes on tour then he goes and where he goes I go. And so it came to pass that Carie spent the weekend camping in Milton Keynes in the most unflattering baby pink tour shirt playing hockey in hugely hot temperatures and getting slightly sunburnt.

I should add that I haven't played hockey since university and even then I was very very bad but with great enthusiasm and some help from our quite brilliant team mates we won all the games in out first pool and two in the second pool. That was quite enough hockey and none of us were particularly sorry not to get any further.

Today the plumber is coming to move the boiler so we had to take down the kitchen cupboards last night - makes you realise how filthy our house was when we moved in - I'm so glad we're replacing the kitchen - even the lovely husband (who is not a squeamish man) donned an apron and asked for a J-cloth to hold onto various kitchen units while throwing them out the front door.

All this conspired to mean that apart from a few rounds on the back of the cushion and a little bit of green sock I have done very little knitting and have nothing to show. :(

I hope to remedy this today!!

Pretty socks

Hurray!

I'm really enjoying knittng these most girly socks even if I do keep forgetting some of the yarn overs and having to go back and rescue it with a crochet hook (eg I found a mistake just after I took this picture). Hmm - pretty - must go knit more

Ugh it's hot

26 degrees, 70% humidity and a nice wool suit for work.

someone please explain why I am still knitting wooly socks in this weather.

I know! - because they're so pretty. I'm knitting up the Aqua into socks at the moment and in a Rowan-esque moment I have christened it "Sea Breeze". Sea Breeze is turning into some lacy scallop socks - piccies will follow when I have done enough to make it worthwhile.

OK, too hot now. Going to go an lie down in a bucket of water.

PS. Anyone reading this who considers 26 degrees to be nice and pleasant please come and experience the humidity which does not break but will continue for about a week (well until Wednesday according to the weather forecast)!

In which Carie has been productive!

Hurrah for the weekend! I have been rather productive this weekend which surprises me as I spent most of it in the garden sunbathing. To the ordinary man on the street sunbathing and knitting a woollen sock would seem unusal, or even a little odd, but to those of us in the happy community of knitters it's perfectly normal.

My biggest problems is finishingitis (I also have startingitis but strangely not do-the-boring-bit-in-the-middleitis). So of course when I turn the corner on a sock it feels almost like I'm finished. Cue saturday afternoon and a finished pair of Jaywalkers:

The fact that the wearer's other items of clothing were a bikini and a sunhat does not detract from the loveliness of the socks. The yarn is Regia and I think I like it better than Opal and Socka although all three knit up pretty well, comme ca:


Anyway that catches me up on Project Spectrum as far as April (at a stretch!).

In a June effort I decided on a little quick stashbusting project, ta da:

I can't remember very much about the yarn except that it's Anchor. the DH bought it when he wanted to learn to knit but never got very far with it and he gave me permission to use it for a dishcloth as long as I don't give it away. As if - can you spot the hidden boat? The pattern is on the Knitting Pattern Central Dishcloth Directory which has loads of great patterns and is where I got my little houses.

In other blue news the twiry cushion is twirling a little bigger than its needle and reinforcements have been summoned.

Now then, this bit was FUN! I had Kool Aid, I had undyed wool. Now I have:

To explain, the one on the left is supposed to be blue and green not just green but I overdyed it with turquoise (all I had left at that point) and it made it all green. I have decreed that it is aqua and therefore a Project Spectrum June qualifier. The other skein that in the picture looks like a giant bruise is purple and blue and much prettier in real life although it still has white patches ( I like them so I'm leaving them).

Conclusions from my wool dying. It is great, I need far more Kool Aid than I had and next time I'm going to try cake decorating colouring rather than Kool Aid as the KA palette is limited and a bit neon. However, I will be creating some seashell type socks with the green, I mean AQUA and the other skein just says Blueberry Waffle socks to me! Now must work out how to wind a ball!

Also for all those concerned I did make the other curtain. And it matched!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Sunny Sunny days

Aren't they just wonderful!

I'm in a haze of summery contentment and a sea of blue only slightly marred by having to go to work each day. Still, nearly the weekend (and how the curtain looms !!).

Yesterday we had our first barbeque of the year comme ca:

It was so nice and relaxing to sit in the garden and knit while the food cooked - must do it again some time - maybe tomorrow!

I also took a picture of the English sky to compare with the Florida sky:


On my camera it comes out a brighter blue than it actually was. In reality the sky was faded cotton blue and just perfect. Later we say a balloon come really low overhead - we think it made it over the hill because we didn't hear any crash noises!


On the knitting front the twirly cushion cover continues to twirl and the sock continues to Jaywalk. Both went to the park after work today. Lovely husband went for a run and I sat on a rug in the sunshine - it was great.

I also now have a pattern for my silk SIL scarf - seaweed and shells, thank you to Jill and my DH for their votes ( may need more silk though but as the DH said, "buying more yarn, that won't be a problem will it!)

The call of the sea

As i may have mentioned previously I was very good while in Edinburgh at the weekend and only acquire dthe two balls of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk which is a scarf for my SIL.

The question now is which pattern....

The yarn is turqouise and while I feel it should say seashells to me it keeps saying falling leaves.

Anyway, the options are:

1. Seaweed and shells
2. Cherry Leaf or
3. Travelling Vines

all thoughts duly considered and I will let you know the conclusion soon (ie as soon as the DH gives the casting vote - it is his sister after all!)

Hurrah for June (and oh how I have been busy)

Hurray it is June and time for Project Spectrum's blue month! Like many Spectrumers (is that a word?!) including the wonderful Lolly blue is definitely a favourite of mine. For example I write this wearing blue Winnie the Pooh Pyjamas! So oh how I am looking forward to this month. I have even been rather industrious so far..... (more on that later)

First I welcome June with this:

This is the sky in Florida when we were on our honeymoon. The lovely husband took the photo because he couldn't believe how blue it was compared to grey and dreary England!

Now for the knitting. First the FO. These are Mum's secret birthday knitting revealed in all their glory and modelled by the birthday girl herself. She was very pleased with them and wore them all evening! The yarn is Socka Mexico and it's just a standard sock pattern - blends nicely with the carpet as well.

In projects on the needles and waiting to hop on the needles I have my lace trellis scarf (Spring IK) which hasn't made any progress recently (slight sock marathon to get the present finished in time), I'm part was through making a twirly cushion cover for my Rowan exchange (in blue denim) and (possibly to assuage the guilt at not having finished my SIL's birthday present) I bought two skeins of beautiful turqouise Debbie Bliss silk to make a scarf for her. Now all I need is a pattern.

Now, just for a second, please cast your mind back, it's February, or perhaps March, or even in stages it's April, it's cold, wet and windy and the well wrapped knitted goes out in search of Project Spectrum inspiration. And finds it in the form of sock yarn. Yes my friends, the jaywalkers finally hit the needles:

or rather one did and the other is the little cuff to one side. I'm counting this as a warm up for Summer of Socks (honest!)

Hope you all had a good weekend!