Sock It To Me

 Hello friends, in the past couple of weeks when the knitting world has been taken by storm by Bernie Sanders' mittens. I have had socks on my mind. Ever since I discovered the beauty of magic loop and the magic of turning a heel I have been a sock knitting addict. I have, however, in the past few years become stuck in a bit of a rut knitting all my socks toe-up and mostly the same pattern over and over. This year I have decided that it is time to change things up and challenge myself somewhat. My second and third pairs of socks this year have been knitted top-down with heel-flap and gusset so I have made a start. I have revived an A-Z thread in our Ravelry group, and have been joined by five intrepid knitters, to knit 26 pairs of socks, a pattern from each letter of the alphabet. I have also purchased The Handmade Sock Society 4 by Curious Handmade. I have not, however, gone the whole hog and joined Sock Madness, nor shall I. I like to knit at my own pace rather than have a deadline or trying to be first.

There is still time to join in the Sock Society at the reduced price of £9.95 (UK) for all six patterns, one each month until July, before the first pattern is released on Thursday, Feb 4th. 

I have my yarn wound, Easyknits BigBoy in Fields of Gold from deep stash, and bought a new 2.25mm needle so I am all set to cast on the first sock on Thursday as soon as the first pattern comes out.

A-Z of Socks

My A socks are well underway. I chose the free Ash Socks pattern by Jenny Love. I have had the pattern in my queue for a long time and finally took the plunge to cast on.

I have the second sock well on the way now too. The yarn is 75% Wool 25% Polyamide by Regia and I am using 2.5mm Chiagoo circular needles for magic loop.

Incomings

Just the one incoming since I last blogged and it is a beauty. The first mystery sock box from Rosie's Moments Around the UK in 12 boxes 2021.

Based on Somerset, her home county, the box is full of goodies representing the area. 

• Postcard of her village
• Apple soap
• Swans travel mug
• Sour apple candy
• Glastonbury Tor pin badge
• Apple blossom yarn

I am always blown away by the thought and beauty of these boxes and, yes, I have already bought the next one.

Books

I was so excited last evening to find two Kindle collections of classics with a total of 100 books for just £1.50, 75p each, these will be my bedtime reading for many, many months.

In my ears as I knit I have these 4

1. Gargantua and Pantagruel (Librivox) down to 1 chapter per day as the book is still being uploaded
2. The Complete Little Women Series (Audible) On Little Men now
3. The Return of the King (Audible) 1 chapter each evening as I fall asleep
4. Don Quixote (Audible) 5 chapters per afternoon, I have to say I am loving this. 

I think that's it for now, my socks are calling, stay safe and healthy, see you in two weeks

Mary

Focusing on Calm

 Hello friends, for the first time in my life I have chosen a word of the year for myself. My word is CALM, I want to try over the year to bring peacefulness and a sense of tranquillity to all aspects of my life. To aid me in this endeavour I have invested in a journal/planner.

I plan to put my dreams, plans and achievements down on paper to aid my journey to inner peace. In this vein, I am also attempting to find a balance with my knitting. As I have mentioned before I have a few projects on the go, and instead of pushing myself to complete something I am simply picking up whatever speaks to me on a given day. Yes, projects will take longer but I will be knitting with more joy and mindfulness whilst working on something which sparks my interest. 

Books

Reading brings me much pleasure and I much prefer listening to a book whilst knitting than having the TV on. I have different books on the go at any one time for different times of the day. All my current listens are included in versions of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.

Afternoon listens are

1. Gargantua and Pantagruel (Librivox) - 5 chapters per day
2. The Lusiads (Librivox) - 1 canto per day
3. A Dance to the Music of Time: 4th Movement (Audible) - until I get distracted
4. The Complete Little Women (Audible) - just a little and not every day

At bedtime to lull me to sleep I am listening to 30mins per night of The Return of the King, part 3 of The Lord of the Rings.

Knitting FO's

My first FO is a pair of socks for me.

I used the Heel, Toe Do-Si-Do pattern by the Crazy Sock Lady and some stash yarn from a previous Flower Power Fund month. The pattern is written for self-striping yarn but I think it works just as well with speckled or variegated yarn.

WIP

The WIP getting most attention over the past week is my Winter Lights shawl. This Stephen West pattern is proving somewhat addictive and I look forward to working on it each day. I am using my Rosie's Moments Advent yarn for this and therefore not following the colour sequence as the pattern directs.

Incomings

Two new yarns landed this past fortnight. I was procrastinating by doing some window browsing in UK dyer's online shops when I stumbled across a yarn called Calico Cat by Mothy and the Squid. Since I am owned by such a kitty, our adorable if demanding Abby, it was just too tempting.

The yarn duly arrived with a cute little butterfly progress keeper and I am delighted with it.

The second yarn to arrive was some prize yarn I won in the Ambah Advent KAL. I was thrilled to be chosen as a winner and have to say even more delighted when the yarn arrived from the USA.

It is a 6 mini-skein set of DK in the most beautiful spring colours. I am not sure what it will become yet but I am toying with some ideas.

I think that is all for now, see you in a fortnight

Mary

Happy New Year

 Hello friends, a very hearty welcome to 2021. Never I think have I been so glad to see the back of a year as I have 2020. Although we stayed away from the dreaded Covid, we suffered heartbreak 4 times last year with the passing of our twin cats, Frankie in April and Connie in July, my Aunt in June and Bill's oldest sister in October. It really tore us apart mentally with each passing. So the hope for the coming year is no more loss, more joy and with the vaccines on the horizon the ability to return to some sort of normality. 

For the blog, I am fervently hoping to post fortnightly. Weekly is a bit too much as I find I struggle to have something to say and frequently there is not much progress on projects to share so with that in mind I think fortnightly is the way to go. For anyone who wants more frequent news hop on over to The Sunday Sock Ravelry group where I check in a few times a week and you may see things there which I forget to post here.

To give my knitting year a kick-start I have joined a couple of KAL's and signed up for Race to the Bottom 4. The KAL's are both in the HawthornCottageCraftPodcast group and Race to the Bottom is in the Stash Knit Down group both on Ravelry. 

The first of the KAL's is Knit the Books. Kate has set the challenge to choose a pattern from one of those books we all have sitting on our shelves that we have looked at but never gotten round to making something from. I have had the Knit Swirl book for over 10 years so I have chosen that book.

The pattern I have chosen is Forest Fiesta.

Now, since I am on a budget, I have chosen to knit using yarn from deep stash and I made it my New Year cast on. I am using Sirdar Colourwheel, 80% Acrylic 20% Wool, in the Flower Garden colour. I did buy a new needle for this project and choose a ChiaGoo 4.5mm 120cm which I got from The Little Knitting Company. As of today, I have completed the very long cast on, joined in the round and the second welt. My goal is to knit one welt a day so as to give myself time to work on other things. If all goes to plan I will finish well before the March 31st KAL deadline.

KAL no.2 is a lucky dip. I have hidden 6, I didn't have 12 bags, skeins of sock yarn in paper bags and Bill will choose one each month for me to knit up. 

As I use each baggie I will refill it so my KAL lasts the whole year.

Race to the Bottom is an 18-month long personal challenge to knit the stash and try to hit a yarn themed goal. I have chosen to aim for Cashmere which is 30,000 yards. I was doing very well in the last race until I stopped counting when life got too much so this time I am more motivated to reach my goal. The group moderators have done a fantastic job setting up an easy to use Google spreadsheet to which you just add in your used yarn and it does all sorts of magic to show your progress and how far you still have to go. The chat in the thread is also so supportive and positive, and everyone is going at their own pace, that it never ever feels overwhelming.

Other WIP's

Other things on the needles and being worked in rotation are

1. Socks
2. Caramel Cardigan 
3. A Hat
4. Habitation throw
5. Winter Lights Shawl

I will have photos of everything in my next post in 2 weeks and hopefully, some will even be FOs by then.

I think that's it for now, stay safe and healthy

Mary