Sunday 31st March

Hello friends, welcome to The Sunday Sock. May I wish a very happy Mothers Day to all you mums out there whether it be to human kids or fur kids. Today also sees the start of British Summer Time here in the UK so I hope you remembered to put your clocks forward an hour last night.
It has been a much quieter week here than the previous week. It took me a few days to recover from the excitement of our visitor and EYF and for some weird reason, I had a huge panic attack on Monday after everything was over. This was a departure from the norm as I usually have these attacks before having to go somewhere, rather than after. Luckily I have some Diazepam on hand if I need it and it worked a treat in bringing me back to a semblance of normality quite quickly. I do hope, however, that this will not become a regular occurrence.
Another odd feeling this week is the realisation that I will not be returning to work. Usually with the beginning of April I would be gearing up for the new season and all it may entail. I will admit to feeling a bit lost as this is not happening this year but I am sure this will pass. If any of my former colleagues are reading this I wish you a great season with lots of laughs and good times.
Looking forward, I will be taking myself off to the St Abbs Wool Festival next Saturday at the Eyemouth community centre. This is a much smaller event than EYF and has been going for a number of years. Eyemouth is around an hour's drive from me and I am looking forward to seeing a few friends and maybe even making a small purchase or two.

And now for some knitting.

FO's

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that last week I was wearing my finished Sorrento Shawl. 

This glorious pattern by Marsha Ibuki was an absolute joy to knit. The pattern is fully written out with no charts and is very easy to follow. The yarns I used were from left

Isager Strik Tweed in Turquoise, La Bien Aimee in Wee Rainbow on a Vespa and Mothy and the Squid in Industrial Accident. I used my Hiya Hiya 4mm 100cm needles which are great for knitting lace and are very slick as was needed for the Tweed as it has a mohair content and was sticking on my Zing needles.

Continuing our tour of Scottish burghs this project has now been named Ellon.

WIP's

Still on my needles are Minecraft socks and Aramis socks. These are progressing very slowly but I need to get a wiggle on for the Minecraft ones as they are needed for a birthday present this week. 

As it is the last Sunday of the month I will share my progress on my Happy Scrappy Blankie.

I am trying to do at least one row per day and Penelope Penguin will move up a fair bit today. 

New on the Needles

I have cast on two new projects this week. 

The first is the Good Vibes Shawl by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne

Picture from Ravelry

I had originally put together these three yarns to knit another Sorrento Shawl

But the yarn told me it wanted to be something else. I am using the Wollmeise Clemintine on the left and the EasyKnits Wickedlets in the middle.

I have gotten a bit further than this but as you can see it is knitting up beautifully.

My other project was cast on last night and sadly I cannot say a lot about it as it has to remain a secret for a wee while. This is all I can show you

The yarn is from my Rosie's Moments January sock mystery box and the colour is Twinkling Lights.

Incoming

Talking of Rosie's Moments, the April Beatrix Potter mystery box arrived on Friday. Once again it was packed with the most amazing themed goodies. The theme was Mr McGregor's Garden and boy can Rosie make a magical surprise package. I cannot adequately express how much I love these boxes.

Rosie has moved away from Etsy and has developed her own website, you can find it here https://www.rosiesmoments.co.uk/. She has three mystery boxes each month and other yarns and kits available.

Lastly but certainly not least I received a lovely surprise gift from my dear friend Candice.

This super wee book appeared in my letterbox totally out of the blue. I love it and have been dipping in and out daily. Each page has a passage to mull over and gosh do I see myself in many of the pages, it is a perfect gift for any knitter. Thank you Candice, it will give me many hours of wonderous revelations about myself.

That's it for this week, I hope you all have a great coming week.

Happy crafting

Mary

Monday 25th March

Hello friends, welcome to the day late Sunday Sock. It was such an exciting and tiring weekend for me that yesterday instead of writing I was sleeping and trying to let my poor bones and muscles recover. Why you may ask was I so exhausted? Well, all day Saturday I was with Yvonne at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. We had an amazing time, surrounded by colour, fellow crafters and more beautiful knits than I could shake a stick at.
It all kicked off for me on Friday when hubby and I went to Edinburgh Airport to meet Yvonne

She and I have been online friends for many years but this was our first time meeting IRL and the first time she has been to Scotland. Home we came and she met our fur family. For dinner, we had Cullen Skink, a gorgeous creamy smoked haddock soup, which is a traditional Scottish dish. After lots of chatting and some wine, it was time for bed as we had a big day ahead.

Saturday morning dawned fine, fair and sunny and we headed to get the bus to EYF. I had chosen to take the bus as it would allow Yvonne to see some of the beautiful city that is Edinburgh. We are very lucky as from the next village we could get a bus which took us all the way to the festival. Once there, we put coats in the cloakroom and then it was lift off. I tried so hard to take photos but seriously it was so busy and there was so much to see and so many people to talk to that it was hard to remember which stall was which and who was who. I did get some though and here they are.

This was just a fraction of what was on show. We spent over two hours just wandering about taking in the sights and sounds.
at half past 2, we headed to the Ripplescrafts stand where we met up with some Ravelry friends and then headed out to the marquee for a seat and some refreshments.

Lots of show and tell and coffee and cake happened and then we were off again. Back into the marketplace. But on the way, we bumped into these guys and just had to stop for a photo.

Sarah also had her photo taken

So, what did I buy? The answer is not a lot. I was so overwhelmed by the choices available that I instead collected a lot of business cards so I can peruse at leisure and make more informed choices rather than impulse purchases. I was seduced however at the Jamieson of Shetland stall by this

Six wee balls of Spindrift in the most gorgeous colours. This kit came with a scarf pattern but I think I am going to make a shawl with it.
Then, a last minute purchase just as we were getting ready to leave.

I have two skeins of Wollmeise, one in orange and one in lemon and I thought this gradient set would blend in well to make another Sorrento shawl.

My last gain was a gift from Yvonne. She bought me this beautiful little tin of stitch markers.

 Homeward bound we met some lovely ladies from Sweden with whom we chatted for a while. Once home it was more Scottish food for dinner as we treated Yvonne to stovies and her first taste of haggis. This she declared was delicious.

I came home to a couple of surprise packages which had come whilst I was out. The first was a box containing 4 Gouda kinds of cheese and some Stroopwaffles which Yvonne had posted before she left The Netherlands as a gift for us. The second was this gorgeous Peter Rabbit project bag I had ordered as a special order from Rachael at Sew Ray Me.

I ordered this to house the projects I do with my Beatrix Potter mystery box yarns and was blown away by the finished item.
I can highly recommend these project bags as they are just so beautifully made with love sewn in.

Sunday saw us return to the airport to say goodbye to Yvonne. I do hope that she enjoyed her flying visit as we thoroughly enjoyed having her here and hope we will meet again soon.

That is it for this week, normal posting will resume next Sunday with hopefully some finished objects and some new cast ons.

To all who were visiting EYF from all over the world, haste ye back, to the organisers, volunteers, stallholders, Corn Exchange staff and everyone involved a huge thank you for all your hard work, see you next year.

Happy crafting

Mary

Sunday 17th March

Hello friends, welcome to The Sunday Sock and a happy St Patrick's day to all you Irish out there. It has been a very quiet week here with really not much happening at all except some knitting and clearing out of excess stuff. How on earth just two of us have accumulated so much is a mystery. I have even, shock-horror, put some yarn into the bag for the charity shop.
Preparations, however, are well underway for my expedition with Yvonne to EYF next Saturday. To say that I am excited about this event is an understatement. I missed out last year as hubby and I were holidaying on the beautiful island of Mull, but I have been to every other EYF since the beginning. A meet-up has been planned on Ravelry with some fellow knitters from the Ripples Craft group and we shall be meeting at Helen's stand, E4, at 2.30 pm on Saturday 23rd then heading round to the marquee for coffee, cake and a blether. Anyone is welcome to join us and I will be wearing my Ravelry badge so if you are there and want to say hello, please do.

Now for some knitting.
I have been, very unusually for me, totally monogamous this week as I really want to wear my Sorrento shawl on Saturday. I have finished the body of the shawl and am about 2/3 through the picot bind off.

This has been pure joy to knit and I am already thinking of doing another one in different colours. I made one small modification to the pattern in that on the last section the lace and my yarn were not playing kindly, so about half-way through I switched back to the pattern of section 6. This made me much happier with the result.
I do have some other super secret knitting on the needles but you will have to wait a while before I can share these projects with you.

Books In My Ears

This month accompanying me as I knit I have been listening to A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor, narrated by Zara Ramm. This is the third book in the most enjoyable and at times hilarious time travelling historians series, The Chronicles of St Mary's. The scrapes the contemporary characters get themselves into whilst travelling back in time, in this instance to Troy, lends itself to some very entertaining listening. I would recommend starting this series with the first book, Just One Damned Thing After Another, as I did, and continue chronologically as there are references to the earlier books and it helps the story to flow.

So that's it. a very short post this week. I am hoping to get lots of photos and maybe even a wee bit of video next week. 

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Happy crafting

Mary

Sunday 10th March

Hello friends, welcome to The Sunday Sock. I do hope you have all had a good week. I am very pleased to say I am now pain-free in the back department and hope that I never have to go through an episode like that again. I was, however, horrified to find out that for the last week or so I have been wandering around with a black eyebrow! This stunner of a bruise was caused by my food processor launching itself at me from the top of the fridge freezer. It has lived up there happily for many years and I can only presume that one of the cats had been up there too and had moved it slightly which resulted in it falling off when I opened the freezer door. Anyhoo, I have a beautiful bruise.

As I had said last week I was out and about for brunch with Sheena at Archerfield Walled Garden on Wednesday. We had a lovely time enhanced by the company of my hubby. Brunch was delicious, Bill had the full breakfast,

Sheena had poached eggs on toast with avocado,

and I had the eggs florentine.

All three of us declared the food delicious and I would highly recommend a visit if you are in the area. The Walled Garden is a fantastic place to visit, it has the cafe, a shop selling local foods and beautiful gift items, a micro-brewery which offers tours and a bar. Outside there are various trails, including a fairy trail for the little ones and an adventure playground. One thing I love is that dogs are welcome and they even have a doggy deli where you can buy treats for your pooch to enjoy.

Moving on, it is less than two weeks until EYF 19. I am getting very excited about the whole thing. I missed last year's event as we were on holiday on the beautiful Island of Mull, so this year I will have to make up for it. Of course, I am doubly excited as my friend Yvonne is coming from The Netherlands to enjoy the event with me. I don't have much spending pennies but I hope to use the event to see yarns I might want to buy in the future and I hope to meet up with some knitting friends. There is an informal meet-up being organised for coffee and chat on Saturday afternoon and I hope to be able to share with you the details of time and place next week.

Now at last on to some knitting.

FO's

I have two pairs of finished socks to show you.

First up is a pair I started way back in May last year and finished in February this year. I have no idea why I put them in time out but at last, here they are.

Project name Kintore, an Aberdeenshire Burgh, which happens to be where one of my Sisters-In-Law lives.

Pattern - Vanilla Latte Socks, a free and popular pattern with over 12K projects on Ravelry.

Yarn - Drops Fabel in 916 Grand Canyon

Needle - 2.5mm

I knitted these toe-up as is my usual way using the magic loop technique.

Next, are a pair of socks I knitted for my friend to give to his daughter as a birthday gift.

Project name, Ballater, another Aberdeenshire town.

Pattern - Foot, Rye Light, Leg, Molecular Orbitals Socks, both free patterns on Ravelry.
Yarn - RipplesCrafts Reliable Sock in Crushed Blackberries
Needle - 2,5mm
These were also knitted toe-up using magic loop.

Finally a FO from last year which I hadn't photographed for some reason.

This is a wonderful squishy shawl which I knitted last spring and wore for the first time when out on Wednesday.
Pattern - Op Art, again a free pattern on Ravelry
Yarn - Ripples Crafts Merino Sport, (sadly discontinued), in Syringa, A Cerise Which Demands Attention and Maiden Loch although the pattern is written for DK weight.
Needle - 4mm

WIP's

As always I have a few things on the needles.

First, are my A2Z KAL socks,

These are the Aramis socks, again a free pattern and are knitting up beautifully. I am sad that no-one has decided yet to join me in the KAL but hey, it is ongoing and you can join in any time.

Next, are the Minecraft socks, you guessed it, a free pattern, (boy I love the freebies).

Now for a couple of bigger projects. First is the Downtown Chicago Cowl. This is a paid for pattern but not expensive at around £4.30. I have gotten great value from this pattern as this is the fifth or sixth time I have knitted this beautiful cowl.

Finally this week I have been naughty and bought and immediately cast on the gorgeous Sorrento shawl. This beautiful sampler type shawl pattern is less than £3 to buy and is knitting up so quickly.

Top section 1, left section 2, right section 3

The bottom colours are a bit washed out the top picture is showing a better colour.

So that's what has been in my paws this week. I have been loving every minute of the knitting, in no small part as I have been watching some wonderful podcasts as I knitted.

First up is Little Big Knits with the lovely Selma broadcasting from Ottowa, Canada. This lovely lady is responsible for my knitting the Sorrento shawl as she featured it in one of her earliest shows when she test knitted it for the designer and I fell in love with it there and then.

 Next, I caught up with Kate at Hawthorn Cottage Craft. Kate is in Northern Ireland and has such an easy welcoming way that you feel you are right there with her.

Last but by no means least, I spent a couple of hours with The Grocery Girls. These bubbly sisters from Edmonton, Canada are always a great laugh and their colourful podcast is always great for living vicariously.

If you have a few spare minutes check them out.

Incoming

I have a few new things to share with you this week.

On Monday my postie brought me my March Beatrix Potter mystery box from Rosie's Moments.

Once again I was blown away with the contents.

The theme this month is Jemima Puddleduck and the contents are just sublime. 

Tuesday saw an Amazon purchase arrive.

I am forever mislaying my stitch markers so bought this box of 150 locking markers. They are great and are smooth and snag free and just around £4 for the box.

Finally, I bought some yarn. Sheena had mentioned last month that she wanted to destash some yarn and I asked her to bring it along on Wednesday to let me see what she had. I ended up buying it all.

All these yarns with the exception of the middle one in the bottom right corner are now in my stash, that one was already there. The bottom right picture is my colour palette for my Sorrento shawl with the two destashed yarns and yarn from La Bien Aimee.

Gosh, I have rambled on this week, I hope you made it to the end.

Until next week, happy crafting

Mary

Sunday 3rd March

Hello friends, welcome to the Sunday Sock.

I hope you have all had a good week. My week has been very mixed thanks to a cough on Thursday which sent my back into spasm and left me in severe pain and having to use a walking stick to get around. This severely curtailed my knitting time.

Being that this is the first Sunday of the month it is time to share my progress on the Happy Scrappy Blankie.

The top is the start of Feb and the bottom is now.

As you can see Penelope Penguin has moved on a little.

Other knitting has been limited as I have been very monogamous working on just one project.
On Monday I found my missing ball of yarn and finally decided to cast on a Still Light Tunic. I knitted this pattern back in 2014 and it is one of my most worn handknits, so I decided it was time for another.

I have gotten through the yoke section and have divided for the sleeves. The pattern is written to knit the body first, but sleeve island is my nemesis so I am working them first.
This very wearable garment looks great worn with leggings or jeans and is so wearable. The fact that it has pockets is a huge bonus. Although it is a paid for pattern it is very well worth the money as it is so well written and to my mind it is an ideal introduction to knitting a top-down garment for beginning knitters. I have just under 3 weeks to finish this if I hope to wear it to EYF.

The Sunday Sock will be out and about in East Lothian on Wednesday 6th March. I will be at Archerfield Walled Garden having brunch with my good friend Sheena. We will be there from 10.30 am till around 12 noon. If you are in the area come and say hello.

Until next week, happy crafting

Mary

Sunday 24th February

Hello friends, welcome to The Sunday Sock.

I have been a busy bee this week planning out gift knitting. We all have one of those months where birthdays come like an avalanche and April is my month I have 5 birthdays and a Wedding coming up. The secret to getting it right is forward planning but I have to admit I have been very bad at that in previous years. Now that I no longer have a wage to rely on I have kicked myself up the bum and have been sorting myself out. Sadly this means a lot of what I am knitting just now has to remain secret until the gifts have been handed over.


As it is the last Sunday of the month it is time to update the round the world challenge. Over the last 4 weeks, I knitted 1314 rows in the last 4 weeks and have added them into the map. A small distance has been travelled.

As you know knitting socks is a great passion in my life. I was perusing the free sock patterns available on Ravelry and was astounded to find there are upwards of 7000. This, to be honest, shocked me. I had no idea that there were so many gorgeous patterns out there. I put on my thinking cap on Friday, which for you Girl Guides out there will know was Thinking Day, and came up with an idea. Why not knit the alphabet? Thus the Sunday Sock A2Z KAL was born. I would love you to join me in choosing your own adventure knitting 26 pairs of socks. I have set up a thread in the Ravelry group with a link to the A-Z of free sock patterns available. I reckon it will take me over 2 years to do this myself so it will be a relaxed on-going KAL.

For my A socks, I have chosen the Aramis pattern by Caoua Coffee. This is a simple 12-row repeat of knit and purl stitches. I am knitting toe-up and will be using the Fleegle Heel which is my favourite heel for fit.

So far I have the beginnings of a toe.

Short but hopefully sweet this week, please do join in the KAL. I would love to see what patterns you choose.

Until next Sunday, happy crafting

Mary

Sunday 17th February

Hello friends, I hope you have had a great week.

Last week I mentioned shopping my stash. For this to be a success I first need to fall back in love with some of it. We are all guilty, I am sure, of spotting a skein of yarn at a festival or other yarn event and just having to have it with no pattern or use in mind. That is the reason I have quite a number of skeins in my stash. So now I need to evaluate and decide just what to do with them. I am loving churning out the socks just now so know that will be an answer to a certain degree. With some skeins though, I will need to get over my "this is too pretty/good/nice/luxurious for socks", I have to realise that my feet need to be loved and cossetted just as much as my head or neck. Once I get my brain sorted to that way of thinking I think my sock drawer will fill up and my feet will thank me for it.

Also during the week, I was thinking about my future. I was perusing the internet and stumbled across a local adult learners college website. One of the courses really caught my eye and I called them to ask a bit more about it. It is is a one year return to education course in Celtic Studies with Gaelic. Everything about it struck a chord with me and I will be going along to the college open day next month to find out more.

My Knitting Week

On Monday I picked up the second sock for Dad's birthday present. I am knitting the Vanilla Latte pattern toe-up. This free pattern is a great go-to for women and men. It is a classy and simple knit which always gives great results.

Tuesday, I kept on with the sock and managed to almost get it done.

Wednesday saw the sock finished but as yet there are no photos as they still need washed and blocked.

Thursday I cast on a new sock for me. I always have trouble with socks which move about on my feet whilst wearing them. This week I had on a pair that didn't do this. I looked up my notes on Ravelry and discovered that instead of a 56 st sock this pair had been 52 sts. I was astonished, I double checked, yes I counted the stitches, and right enough just 52 so I have started this sock with 52 sts.

The yarn is from deep stash so I am making good on shopping the stash.

Friday saw me making a decision, the sweater had to go. It just wasn't working in the yarn I have. I had a good look through my Rav library and decided to start a squishy shawl. Split Stripes is a free pattern written for two colours of fingering weight yarn but hey, you know me! I am using my four colours of Merino sport weight to make it my own very smooshy shawl. The shawl is mostly garter stitch with some purl and some very interesting rows.

I have completed the first repeat of the pattern and am moving on to section 2.

On Saturday the Black Dog hit hard and I struggled to even get out of bed. I was floored after having such a positive week thinking about the future. I did manage a few rows on a sock for a friend's daughter but it was a struggle.

Rows last week 439

Time for a cup of tea, happy crafting

Mary