Sunday 9th August 2020

 Hello friends, another week has gone by. Don't you think this year is going faster than those before? I am finding that one day just rolls into the next and I forget where I am in the week. We have had a very strange week here in East Lothian, on Tuesday and Wednesday it was so dark and dreich with incessant rain that it felt like winter and then yesterday the sun was so bright and warm again, our weather has gone mad. Perfect knitting weather though staying in the house and keeping dry and cosy. As usual, I have way too much on the needles I really must try to get my head around monogamous knitting but sometimes I just want to knit something different, I don't know how other folks do it.

Finally Finished

Two weeks ago I promised you pictures of my Stillness Shawl by Helen Stewart, here it is in all its glory

This 5-week mystery knit along was simply a joy to knit. I used my Christmas present from DH which was a 3 skein yarn club package from Ripples Crafts in her reliable sock base. The colours were Green Grass on the Turn, Steel Grey Skies and The Gathering Storm and were dyed by Helen from the inspirational photo at the bottom of the picture.

The shawl is a half-pi shape and grew beautifully over the five weeks.

Week 1

Texture and stripes of colour

Week 2

Some simple lace and more stripes

Week 3

A section of star stitch and rows are getting longer

Week 4

Colour and eyelets and long rows

And we finished up with the simple lace and bind off you see in the finished shawl. The final sections were long rows with over 500 sts on the needles but somehow were so relaxing that it did not seem a chore at all. It was a joyous knit and I am looking forward to wearing it.

I would highly recommend this pattern for any knitter who has a little lace knowledge as there is nothing at all difficult and as with all Helen's patterns it comes with the percentage checklist which really spurs you on to do a little more. 

I think I will leave it there for this week but keep a lookout as there may just be a sneaky post midweek as I have more to share.

Stay safe and healthy

Mary

Sunday 2nd Aug 2020

Hello friends, how the heck is it August already? This year is running away and for obvious reasons, it has been such a sucker. It has been hard on everyone and I really hope you are all keeping safe and healthy. 

I have an apology straight away as I promised to show my Stillness shawl this week but it is still not blocked so I have no pictures to share. I have however spent the morning taking photos of the socks I have so far completed for Operation Christmas Stocking. For those who haven't heard of it, we are now in the third, (I think), year of providing hand knit socks for the homeless in the Edinburgh area at Christmastime. They also get a free foot treatment from a podiatrist and our hope is that they realise that someone truly cares for them. I am slowly but surely filling a box with the socks.

I am using a hybrid pattern of Fiona Tulloch's Milkshake toe-up sock and the ever-popular Vanilla Latte. This is such an easy and intuitive sock to knit and they just fly off the needles. It also works with all yarns whether they be solid, variegated, or self-striping.

I have slightly modified the vanilla latte pattern to centre the strips of purls and love that the pattern is unisex. Both patterns can be found on Ravelry and are free.

 The Knitting Toolbox

Since we are talking socks this week I have chosen my two favourite sock knitting tools from the toolbox. First up is something which was a true gamechanger for me, the sock ruler.

This simple gadget, which I found on Etsy has made knitting the right size socks so easy. As I knit toe-up I just pop the ruler into the toe and can see at a glance how much further I have to knit to get to the heel. For you top-down knitters you simply pop it in the heel and measure towards the toe. 

The second item is my sock blockers

These are Knit-Pro blockers which I think I got from Wool Warehouse a few years ago. I have the large for man-size socks and the small for ladies. I use them mostly for taking photos as the make the socks look so good. There are many types out there from plastic to metal and hand-cut wooden ones.

On the Needles

I was catching up with the Grocery Girls podcast on YouTube and Tracie showed her Sweet and Tartan socks which is a pattern she released around the start of the lockdown and I fell instantly in love so bought it there and then. I could picture using the leftovers of my Stillness Shawl to knit a pair. I cast on right away but haven't got too far.

This is a great pattern for using up leftovers, and I am knitting these as a treat for me. 

Hopefully, I have not bored you to bits, that's all for this week. Stay safe and look after yourselves

Mary

Find me on Ravelry as mazbil and Instagram as The_Sunday_Sock

Podcasts I am watching, The Grocery Girls, and listening to, Curious Handmade.

Sunday 26th July 2020

Hello friends, sorry for being MIA last week, we had an awful week after finding our old lady cat Connie passed away on the living room floor just a few weeks after we lost her twin brother Frankie. Coming on top of everything else I simply did not have the wherewithal to get the words out to you all. Luckily as always, I had my knitting and my stash to keep me sane.

The Knitting Toolbox

As a new segment, I thought I would give you a glimpse into my knitting toolbox, having the right tools for the job is an important part of any tradesman's ability to do the job well and it is the same for any knitter who wants to be able to expand their skills.

This week we start with the box itself,

I got my multi-layer hobby box from Lidl a few years ago but you can find similar at hobby shops or on Amazon and such like websites. Next week we will start to delve deeper and find out more about what I have in there, much like a ladies handbag you just never know what we might find.

On the Needles

As per usual I have way too many things on the needles to show you everything, like many knitters I have different projects on the go to suit my mood at any given moment. 

I joined a new group on Ravelry last week called The Testing Pool. This is a group where designers put a call out to ask people to test knit their patterns and check for any mistakes and such before publication. Within a few hours, I was lucky enough to be accepted to test the Jupiter Shawl by and new to me designer, Sambaknits, from Chile. Into the stash I dove and came up with this beautiful combination

The top yarn is from the Natural Dye Studio and is a Merino/Alpaca blend in gorgeous primrose yellow tones and feels divine to knit with. This was a gift from a good friend and had arrived just a few days beforehand so it felt very serendipitous to choose this yarn.

Below is yarn from one of last year's Rosie's Moments Beatrix Potter mystery boxes. The yarn is Merino wool and Donegal Nep in the Mr. McGregor's Garder colour. It is also a dream to knit with.

I have completed Section 1 of the pattern and am about 3/4 through Section 2

I must say that it is a very enjoyable experience so far and I will have a beautiful shawl at the end.

Finished Items

I only have one finish to share this week, or rather 12. 

Hubs and I nipped into our local wee Scotmid on Tuesday afternoon for a couple of items and we were speaking to a staff member who was saying how their ears were hurting with the pressure from the elastic on the masks we all have to wear here in Scotland when in shops. It is very easy for us shoppers to not realise how it must be for them as we can take our masks off after we have shopped but the have to wear them for many hours. I had seen these mask extenders popping up all over Ravelry in the last few months and decided that in the spirit of local support I would knit a few. They were so easy with each one taking just 30mins to complete that I managed a full dozen. Now hopefully wearing a mask for many hours will be much more comfortable.

Coming to my Needles Soon

Next week I will be able to share with you the full glory of the Stillness Shawl MKAL which came off the needles yesterday. I had such a good time knitting it that I really wanted to do another straight away. Luck must have been on my side as up popped Casapinka's The Sharon Show MKAL. This one will certainly be fun as it is not designed by Casapinka herself but by Sharon from Security her 1-year-old cat. I duly joined her group on Ravelry and will buy the pattern tomorrow. There will be 6 weeks of clues beginning with the first on August 7th, which gives me time to finish my test knit, and I have already chosen my yarn which has also been approved by Sharon herself.

I really love the colours and am chomping at the bit to get started but will have to be patient for a while longer. 

I think that's it for this week, thank you for reading my ramblings and happy crafting,

Mary

Find me on Ravelry as mazbil and on Instagram as The_Sunday_Sock

Sunday 12th July

Hello friends, I hope this week finds you happy and healthy. Yesterday was handknitted sock wash day for me and for once I did not lose a single sock. I put this down to procuring a basket into which I put my socks after wearing and once I have collected a few pairs it is time for a mass wash. Because most of my socks are knit with superwash yarn I do them in the machine on the rinse and spin cycle with some Eucalan wool wash added to the fabric conditioner section of the drawer. So easy to do, then I hang them up in the wet room to air dry. Sadly we have no outdoor drying facilities so wet room it is.

Now for a wee segment about how I avoid SSS.

The 7 Day Sock

If, like me, you are a regular sock knitter and know how many rows it takes to knit the socks to fit this will be so easy for you to do. If not this can be an easy way to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome and have your pair of socks finished just one week after completing sock 1. The theory is very simple, it just needs a little simple maths to create your daily target. For the socks below I added up how many rounds in total it took to knit the first sock, I did not include the short rows for the heel as these are very quick and I count it as just the two full rounds knitted. In this case, it is 184 rounds, then you divide that number by 7, which gave me 26. 28. Being as I am somewhat anal and like even numbers, I rounded it up to 28 rounds per day to finish my 2nd sock in just 7 days. easy peasy and so effective.

Day 1 gives a toe and the start of the foot

Day 2 continues the foot

Day 3 finishes the foot and begins the gusset increases

Day 4, gusset, heel turn and start of leg

Day 5 continues up the leg

Day 6 end of leg and beginning of cuff

Day 7 finish cuff and cast off

And so, in 7 days I have a matching sock to the first one and my pair is complete

These are my own wee in my head pattern for socks that can be worn two ways as you can see. I call them the long and short of it socks.

Other knitting has been happening this week too, I am keeping up with the Stillness MKAL and am dying to share it but am being good so as not to spoil the mystery. I also signed up to the Curious Handmade Spindrift Shawl workshop, this fabulous series of e-mails has taught me a great deal about what to do to get the best out of your yarn and all the processes of shawl knitting. We are never too long in the tooth to learn new things. I will share my progress on the shawl next week. 

I think that's enough for this week, stay safe and healthy

Mary

Sunday 5th July

Hello friends, I do hope you are all well. It has been a somewhat exciting week here as we got a new cooker on Thursday which meant an end to soup and sandwich dinners which we had been eating for a fortnight since our old cooker packed in. What a treat it was to have fish, tatties and sweetcorn for our first meal.
Last week I spoke a bit about how my needle usage has changed over the years. Today I want to address my knitting preferences. My gran, who taught me to knit, would be horrified that I love to knit lacy shawls with beads or without. That would be considered frivolous and a waste of time and effort in her eyes. Not practical and useful. I don't think she would mind the socks but would be shocked at the colours and especially at the price of yarn. In all, I think that today's reasons for my knitting would be beyond her comprehension. I knit to relax, and for the pure joy of it, it is my hobby and my passion. The fact that I can take some sticks and string and create something wonderful soothes my mind and swells my heart.

Last week I shared a lot of my outgoing projects. This week I have some incoming beauty to share. For the month of June, RipplesCrafts was the chosen dyer for the Flower Power Fund initiative for Marie Curie Cancer Care. She chose as her flower of inspiration the Northern Marsh Orchid

I just knew I had to have a skein to knit a shawl and I knew I wanted to knit the Hundred Acre Wood shawl in two colours so I chose the also stunning Gorse colour in her Burras base. When the package arrived I was more than delighted with my choice.

Now for my knitting round-up.
I have really just been concentrating on two projects this past week. First is the Stillness Shawl MKAL, clue 2 came out on Thursday and I am taking it nice and easy trying to stretch out the knitting for the whole week. I am knitting around 8 rows a day and then switching to the Habitation Throw.

I have just about 30 more increase rows to do on this and then it's time to start the decreases.
Like I mentioned last week I am really loving the patterns of Helen Stewart, Curious Handmade, and all three I have mentioned today are by her. I have also checked out her podcast and spent most of yesterday evening happily knitting along to her talking about all sorts. It really is worth checking it out, you can find it here, Curious Handmade.

I think that's enough for this week, stay safe and healthy.

Mary

Sunday 28th June

Hello friends, it is the end of June already, how the heck did that happen? So much has been lost this year so far and yet I feel so much has also been gained. We have discovered new ways to live and communicate and I can't help but think that without the wonder of the internet this period of such uncertainty would have been so much worse. We have been able to stay in touch easily across the oceans and some have even had the chance to see others using video apps and such. It is comforting to know that things are slowly beginning to a type of normality and here in Scotland things are starting to open up. I can only hope that things go smoothly and we all remain healthy.

I have been thinking a whole lot about needles this past week as I was getting ready to start the MKAL I mentioned last week. I ended up choosing a 3.5mm needle for my project and it got me remembering that way back in the '70s when as a wee girl I was learning to knit I thought that 4mm needles were tiny and everything went so slowly, too slowly for my wee impatient mind. Nowadays with my love of sock knitting and fingering weight shawls 4mm is about as big as I can handle comfortably. Oh, how times change.

Talking of the MKAL, the designer has asked that no spoilers be shared so as to keep the mystery for everyone so I will abide by that request and just share a picture of my beautiful yarn here.

I am going to take weekly update photos of the project as it grows and will share them all with you at the end.

I also have another knit by the same designer, Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade, on the needles. The Habitation Throw was designed for those lucky people who can afford the beautiful yarn advent calendars which talented dyers bring out each year. I have decided that it is just perfect for leftovers and have started this one using blues, pinks and purples.

I am already planning a second using the greens, browns and other colours. It is a most soothing knit that is great for TV knitting.

A shawl I have seen a lot of popping up on Ravelry is The Painting Bricks by Stephen West and the more I see of it the more I love it, so yesterday I caved and bought the pattern. Now once again it is beyond my means to get the yarns suggested but I had a rummage in the deep stash and found some KnitPicks Palette in the beautiful Tranquil colour which I will use for my main colour and have paired it with some Drops Delight in bright rainbow tones which will give me the desired finish. 

And now for the promised finished items. I have had a huge commission from my mum to knit 5 cowls and some baby items for her to gift. Here are the first three cowls.

And the baby items

These are all now packaged up and ready to post in the morning.

Well, I think that is enough for this week. Stay safe and healthy.

Mary

Sunday 21st June

Hello friends, and a very happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. I really must apologise for going MIA again so soon after starting to write again. This was due to two factions, firstly I inadvertently gave my laptop a coffee bath which killed it spectacularly and second was the most shocking and untimely death of my only Aunt. Susan and I were close friends and her passing affected me very badly.
On a happier note, I think, I return to you a year older and with a new to me laptop. It was a strange birthday with us still being in lockdown, but I am delighted to report that the Birthday fundraiser I held on Facebook raised nearly £200 for the PDSA which is the charity in whose Musselburgh shop I volunteer in normal times.
Now for some knitting talk. Firstly let me apologise for the lack of pictures this week. I was going to take some today but it is so grey and miserable that they just would not be right. I have been doing a lot of knitting and frogging and starting new things. I finished some stuff that still needs to be blocked so will have loads to show next week.

One thing I am really looking forward to is a new mystery knit-along being hosted by designer Helen Stewart in her Curious Handmade group on Ravelry. The pattern is for a shawl using three skeins of fingering weight yarn and begins on Thursday and I have decided to use the club yarn gifted to me by hubby for my Christmas from Ripples Crafts. If you want to join in you can still buy the pattern at a reduced price of £4 until the first clue comes out. I am incredibly excited as this will be the first MKAL I have participated in for a long time. 

Sorry for such a short post this week, I am extremely hopeful normal service will be resumed next Sunday, until then please stay safe and healthy.

Mary