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.