October 2022

Hello friends, since learning to knit socks around 10 years ago they have been a constant project on my needles and never more so than this month. They have been all I want to knit and I would seem to have found my perfect pattern. This simple almost vanilla top-down sock has been making my heart sing all month long and I want to cast on all the yarns and enjoy my own personal Socktober and beyond. 

Off the Needles

All my socks are knitted using the magic loop method and a simple 3 x 1 rib. Clockwise from the top left we have

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Crazy in colour Cloud No 8 

James Makes Yarn in Popping Candy

DropsFabel Print in Forest

Cascade Heritage Prints in Sea Morn

On the Needles

Still ongoing are the Dustland Sweater for hubby, the body has now been reworked and fits beautifully and I am on to the sleeves. Four pairs of socks are in progress, with a fifth pair set to be cast on today, seeing as it is Sunday. 

I have abandoned my Stephen West Twists and Turns MKAL as the pattern just was not turning out to be my cup of tea. I have seen many beautiful pictures of shawls in progress but they are just not floating my boat. I have in my mind to use the yarn for a Winter Lights Shawl as I adore that pattern. 

Finally, the first pattern from the Curious Handmade Knitvent 2022 collection is actively being worked on. I was resisting purchasing the collection of mystery patterns until the lovely Chris, from The Sunday Sock Ravelry group, posted a picture of the Anthology Throw, the first pattern, and I was sucked in. The entire collection is themed around using up mini-skeins or leftovers so I grabbed my bag of scraps and was off.

Acquisitions

I have had quite a blessed month with a few goodies arriving through the post. First up is this gorgeous skein called Witches Brew from Twinkknits, this is an 80% Merino 20% Nylon sock yarn. I was craving some Halloween yarn this year and this certainly fits the bill. 

Next, is this amazing skein from The Border Tart called Lollipop. This is a BFL/Nylon blend and again sock weight. 

Then I was gifted this Scheepjes Whirl in Cotton Candy Man. It is a 4-ply cotton/acrylic yarn in a huge 220g cake and I am sure it will become something amazing.

Finally this month after knitting the wonderful Popping Candy socks, shown above, I could not resist when James Makes Yarn brought out his autumn colours and this skein of Falling for You fell into my basket. It is similar to the Popping Candy but has a more peachy than the pink base. 

That's it for October, it has been a productive month overall and my knitting has given me so much pleasure. More details of my projects, both finished and ongoing, can be found on my Ravelry project pages and yarns on my stash pages. 

I hope you all have a delightful month ahead and keep hale and hearty, I have my flu and Covid booster jabs next week so am expecting sore arms for a day or two.

Happy crafting

Mary

 I am beginning this blog with an announcement, The Sunday Sock is going monthly. I was MIA last week as I simply had no content to write about so I have taken a leaf from one of my favourite podcasts, Not Quite Enough Yarn, and decided to reduce it to a monthly blog. Hopefully, this will ensure I have some knitting to share and maybe even some finished objects. I will endeavour to publish on the last Sunday of each month; for this year, I already have my plans in my diary. So, with that out of the way, let's get on to the knitting.

Finished Objects

I have one finish, and you guessed it, it is a pair of socks.

These are for a lovely lady who has expressed a desire to learn to knit socks and I will happily teach her but I suggested she try a pair first to see how she liked them.

Pattern - Heel Toe Do Si Do (paid) The Crazy Sock Lady

Yarn - Stylecraft Head Over Heels Colours of the World - 1161 Sa Pa

Needle - ChiaoGoo 2.5mm 80cm for magic-loop

Works in Progress

There are a few wips in the current rotation, 3 large and 4 small.

Firstly is the jumper for hubby, it is moving along at a good pace and is looking so much better than the previous attempt.

Pattern - Dustland Sweater (paid) by Stephen West

Yarn - Stylecraft Life Aran -2325 Natural Nepp

Needle - ChiaoGoo 4mm and 3.5mm 80 cm

My shawl WIP, Shawlography, last year's Westknits MKAL, is on the last section and I am hoping that it will be finished before the new MKAL starts on October 6th. 

I think I mentioned before that this is the second time I have knitted this shawl, the first I gave to my mum, and this one is for me.

Pattern - Shawlography (paid) by Stephen West

Yarn - Ripples Crafts Burras - A Slice of Lime, Moonshine, Crushed Blaeberries, Assynt Peat and A Cerise that Demands Attention.

Needle - ChaioGoo 3.5mm 100cm

The last of the big projects is the Bits and Bobs' Blanket. I haven't shown this before on here as I have been having a few problems with my joining in new yarns but have ripped out the original which had ended up with a huge hole which I could not repair and have started over. This is a wonderful scrap-busting project which holds two 4ply/fingering weight yarns together throughout and I am using a cone of acrylic yarn as the main yarn and scraps leftover from socks and shawls for the bits and bobs. 

I had intended this for Operation Christmas Stocking 2022 and still hope to achieve that but if not it will be finished for next year.  

Pattern - Bits and Bobs (paid) by Kay F Jones

Yarn - Yeoman Yarns Cashmilon 4ply 500g - Silver + lots of leftovers

Needle - ChiaoGoo 4mm 100cm

And now for the socks. 4 on the needles, all in a basic 3x1 rib pattern mash up of my favourite bits from other patterns I have knitted in the past. 

I will share the details of the yarns and such as I finish each project but if you want to find out sooner head on over to my Ravelry pages where you can find all the details.

Incoming

I had a few knitting-related purchases in September but, shocker, only one skein of yarn. Ripples Crafts as you may have guessed is one of my all-time favourite hand dyers. Helen is based in the Assynt area of Scotland which is in the far North-West of the country and around 8 hours drive from where I am in the South-East. The yarn is Moonshine in the Arcadia base and I could not resist adding a tote bag to my order.

The last photo is of my goodies for the upcoming annual Westknits MKAL, Twists and Turns. Whilst a full kit will always be way out of reach price-wise this year I treated myself to the DIY kit with a project bag, needle gauge, sticker and label. I also came across the Atomic Knitting notions kit for the MKAL so bought that too. The scissors I had in my tool kit.

Future Plans

The aforementioned MKAL begins on October 6th and I just have to wind my yarn to be completely ready

My yarns are Qing Fibre (top) High Twist BFL in Antique Rose, Drops Nord (middle) in Plum and Ripples Crafts Arcadia in Moonshine.

Finally for the coming month Race to the Bottom 5 begins in the Stash Knit Down group. This is an 18-month-long personal challenge to try and reduce the stash. This will be my 3rd time taking part and I have signed up to try and reduce the stash by 30,000 yards (cashmere level). I am looking forward to seeing my progress in the spreadsheet and hopefully also seeing a dent in my stash.

I think that's all for now. 

I will see you again on October 30th.

Happy crafting.

A Week of S's, Sadness, Socks, Sweater and a Shawl

In amongst the sadness of this past week, my knitting has brought me great solace and comfort. I was, to be honest, quite astounded at the emotions which played through for a woman whom I have never met, nor was ever likely to. Whilst watching the news coverage the peaceful rhythm of the stitches moving along the needles kept me grounded and connected to the life I have around me. 

So what have I been working on?

Needing something easy I cast on a toe-up vanilla sock. 

I am using the free Milkshake pattern by my friend, Fiona D Tulloch, the yarn is by James Makes Yarn in the Popping Candy colour.

I have two more socks on the needles, the first is the Heel Toe Do Si Do which has seen a little work 

More details about this sock can be found in a previous post or on my Ravelry project page.

The second is my Sunday Sock, a pattern I made up myself inspired by the sweater I am knitting for Bill.

The yarn here is Cascade Heritage Paints in the colour 110 Sea Morn.

As mentioned earlier, the sweater has seen some steady progress with separation for the sleeves and the 19" slog of the body now on the go. I am sticking to 4 or 5 rounds a day so as not to bore myself and I am delighted to see the progress keeper getting further away each day until it gets moved on a Sunday after I have shared it with you.

Finally this week the project which has seen the most work is my Shawlography. I have finished both wings of section 9 and am at last making progress with section 10, the brioche.

I say at last, as this is my second go-round of the brioche as I cocked up spectacularly with my first attempt. It really was my own fault as I did not read the instructions properly. I should have known something was amiss as previously I did not have too much trouble with this technique. Yesterday afternoon was spent frogging this section and re-knitting it correctly. 

That's it for this week, time to pick up the needles.

Happy crafting.

WIP Bingo

 When it comes to my knitting I am totally disorganised and have way too many works in progress. I am very easily seduced by the new shiny yarn and/or pattern. This has led me to re-evaluate my knitting practices and with the upcoming Westknits MKAL I know I want to free up a project bag, needles and notions so I can have everything together. To that end,  I have joined some fun threads in the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry and this led me to discover how to make a bingo card of my WIPs to try to concentrate on just a few this month.

Some of these, most of the socks, are not yet cast on and I don't have a current photo of my Bits and Bobs blanket but here are photos taken this morning of where I am with the others.

Shawlography

This is the second time I have knitted this glorious Westknits pattern. I am on part 9 of the shawl on the right-hand wedge.

The yarn is all Ripples Crafts Burras a gorgeous single-ply merino yarn dyed in the northwest highlands of Scotland. The colours are Peat, Moonshine, A Slice of Lime, Crushed Blaeberries and A Cerise that Demands Attention.

As I mentioned this is my second time with this pattern, the first one I gave to my Mum for Christmas.

Dustland Sweater

Bill's sweater is now at the most amount of stitches on the needle stage and is slow going. I make myself knit 4 rounds each day and I enjoy seeing my progress when I take my Sunday photos.

For the yarn details see When it all Goes Horribly Wrong.

Dust of Snow

The wrap is going very slowly, partly due to my concentrating on other things and partly as it has still been a bit on the warm side to work with mohair. There has been some progress though, and I am about to start on colour 6.

Heel Toe Do Si Do

These socks for a friend have only just passed the heel turn on the first sock. This is my only real deadline project as they need to be done by the 28th of the month.

I do hope this system helps keep me on track and that my enormous pile of WIPs sees some reduction over the coming weeks.

Remember to Be the reason that Someone Smiles Today, and have a fun week.

How Is It The End of August?

 I am baffled and bamboozled to discover that we will be in September next week. This year has simply flown by, and I have achieved so little. My knitting got off to a languid start this year as I only wanted to work on scrappy blankets which I then did not like and sent off to the frog pond. It was March before I knitted a sock and even then my mojo was still lacking. Things picked up in April and have been motoring along since but I still feel I am way behind where I ought to be, especially with my charity knitting.

This week I have, however, finished a pair of socks.

I knitted these using a motif from the Dustland Sweater and just made them up as I went along. The yarn is Ripples Crafts Reliable Sock in the Learning to Swim V2 colour which was a fundraiser for the RNLI overseas division, so sadly is no longer available. I used a 2.5mm ChaioGoo fixed circular for magic loop.

As soon as these were cast off I started a new pair.

These are for a fellow East Lothian Carers Panel member who has expressed a desire to learn how to knit socks. I am more than willing to teach her but suggested she try a pair first before she falls down the rabbit hole that is sock knitting and spends money. These are the Heel-Toe-Do-Si-Do pattern by Crazy Sock Lady Designs but knitted toe-up. The yarn is Stylecraft Head Over Heels Colours of the World Shade 1161 Sa Pa and again it is my faithful ChaioGoo 2.5mm fixed circular.

The re-knit of the Dustland Sweater got some love this week and I am powering through the yoke.

I am really liking how it is looking this time and hope to get to splitting for the sleeves in the coming week. That's it for actuall knitting this week, however there is some dream knitting to plan.

It's that time of year again!!

I have taken part in the last two years and have loved evey minute, now I cannot afford to buy a kit from Stephen and Penelope but I will stash dive and possibly even purchase a yarn or two to make my own unique kit.

I think that's all for this week, I leave you with a phrase which has been banging around my head since I saw it, and cannot help but think the world would be a better place if we all could make it happen.

BE THE REASON THAT SOMEONE SMILES TODAY

When It All Goes Horribly Wrong

 Sometimes, no matter how well prepared you are, things go awry. This happened this past week when the jumper, (yes I know, I am knitting an Aran weight jumper in the hottest summer on record) I was lovingly knitting for his nibs turned out way too big. Now I had done my homework and knitted a swatch and all was well with that and I had happily ploughed on with the pattern until the body was finished. Bill duly tried it on and OMG it was enormous. I don't know what went wrong but something very obviously did. There was nothing else to do but frog it. He did however love the pattern so it was agreed that I would start over, and I have. I am knitting a smaller size Med instead of Large and using 1 size down needles.

So here we have the Dustland Sweater, pattern by Stephen West, take 2 being knitted in Stylecraft Life Aran in the Natural Nepp colour on ChiaoGoo circular needles size 3.5mm and 4mm.

It looks so much better now, and we are both happier with that.

I had to buy a new needle to be able to restart the jumper so while I was sulking and waiting for it to arrive I cast on a pattern I had in my library for a while, the Dust of Snow Wrap by Curious Handmade. I really had no business casting on something new as I have WIPs galore but as I said I was in the huff with the jumper. 

This beautiful asymmetrical rectangular wrap was designed as an Advent Calander project and so I am using the 4 boxes of beautiful mini-skeins Bill gave me for my birthday, from Ruffles Crochet Crafts on Etsy, and holding it with Drops KidSilk in Moonshine from Purple Sheep Yarns, using a ChiaoGoo 4.5mm fixed circular. It is going very slowly with some subtle colour changes so far but I am delighted with it.

No socks this time round but there will definitely be some soon.

Happy Crafting

Mary

Relief, a Surprise and a Mystery

 Hello friends, I am delighted to report that with the removal of the offending upper tooth my mouth is now pain-free. What a relief! I have also had my first Covid vaccine and other than a little swelling and tenderness all went well.

My surprise came in the form of a little windfall. Last month I had an e-mail from the local carers centre inviting applications for a carer's break grant. This money was available to help give a boost to the health and wellbeing of unpaid carers. Although I have been registered with them for many years due to being the sole carer of my disabled husband I have never asked for any help and was of the belief that I would be turned down should I apply. I did, however, decide I had nothing to lose so gave it a go. I asked for much less than half of what may have been available to me and imagine my surprise and delight on Wednesday morning when I opened the e-mail to find my application had been successful. I had asked for and am spending the money on an instant sock yarn stash from the wonderful Ripples Crafts. 

And finally, the mystery. One of my favourite designers is Ambah O'Brien. Imagine my delight when she announced an MKAL starting on April 2nd. The Caladenia Shawl will be released in 5 weekly clues and people from around the world will be knitting it together. 

The aforementioned Ripples Crafts has put together a few colour sets for the project, which can be found under new products, although I think there might just be one or two left. I was lucky enough to snag this gorgeous BFL combo.

From left, Cladonia, The First Summer Rose, Crushed Blaeberries and The Weathered Fairy.

If you want to join in the MKAL, there is still time to get the pattern for a reduced price until Apr 1st and you will also receive a bonus pattern of the Caladenia Cowl free.

FO's

In the last two weeks I have finished 2 pairs of socks, first up is Hattu by Nicola Susen. These top-down socks have a very different construction from any I have knitted before and I can see why the description says they are ideal for those with a high instep. These socks are also great if you don't like picking up stitches as it doesn't happen, very unusual with top-down socks.

I knitted these for hubby who has very odd shaped feet due to bunions and he has declared them wonderfully comfy. 

My second finish is my 4th pair of Heel Toe Do-Si-Do socks by The Crazy Sock Lady. I simply adore the simplicity of this pattern and the results it gives.

That's all for this week, stay safe and enjoy your crafting

Mary