Socks again

I still love having a pair of socks otn ready to pick up in spare moments and they are perfect for car journeys. I've not managed to crochet in the car yet, I think it might affect me like trying to read on car journeys when I would still have a queasy tummy hours after the journey is over.

These were knitted mainly during June and mainly in the car travelling to or from France. Except for Richard's socks and they were knitted mainly at home.


Muir Woods from 50 Socks,50 States (modified slightly to work toe-up and short row heel). Panda Superwash colour 2011 -Tweedy Spice. 2.5mm circular needles.



Yarnissima's Brainless, 2.75mm, NDS Angel colour Starlight. One sock is per pattern, the other with a simple short row heel. Pattern is not quite brainless because the stitch count around the heel didn't exactly work out.



Larger pair for Fearne (2 yrs), smaller pair for Millie (3 months).
PoshYarn Eva - Silk/Cashmere. 3mm needles.



For Fearne. Age 2.
PoshYarn Laura colour - Homecoming Queen.
Toe-up, 12 wraps, inc to 24sts on each needle, 4 1/2" from toe to start heel. Work heel on 24 sts and short row down to 8 unworked sts between 8 at each end.




Socks for Richard.

Posh Yarn Sophia 100% Cashmere. Colour Burns Night Feb Cashmere Club. 2.75mm circular. Toe-up with 16 wraps, inc to 32/32 then dec to 30/30 at instep. Work heel after 10 1/4" on 32/30, short row to 10/12/10.
Hopefully these will fit a man's size 12(UK)


And the last of this bunch


ladies6/7UK size. PoshYarn Lei - Merino/bamboo (I think - I've lost the ball band). Lovely Summery colour and the bamboo gives quite a light feel.

Catch-Up Socks

Black Hills (South Dakota) was the sock that made me buy the ebook - 50Socks 50States



Laura Anderson's Black Hills Socks from 50 Socks - 50 States. Lovely pattern, easy to follow and to modify to work toe-up so that I could stay in my comfort zone and although I very often choose to knit patterns in the pictured yarn colour this time, serendipitously, it was the only Mini-mochi I had in stash. I love the colours. modified to knit toe up, magic loop, 2.5mm. Mini Mochi colour 116 - Feldspar


And then I had to join the ravelry kal and knit these



Cashmere sock yarn from Little Knitting Company. 3.25mm. Michigan Two Season Boot Socks - Terry L. Ross, from 50Socks,50States.



Sadly I've been too short of time to complete the third pair from the book in time for the kal end. Never mind, I'm hoping to finish them whil we're in France.



These are the deliciously slouchy soft Cashmere socks I made for Audrey for Christmas - my normal toe-up short-row-no-wrap heel socks. Lotus Yarns Pure Cashmere colour 30, bought from SkeinQueen 3.5mm circs, 52sts




Saviano by Yarnissima from Knitty, Winter 2009. Malabrigo sock yarn, colour chocolate amargo, 3mm circs.
I'm not very familiar with this gusset/heel flap type of construction so it was more difficult than it should have been where the written instructions had errors and unclearness. And I needed to make it bigger. I made lots of notes as I knitted because dd2 was knitting these too and I knew she would ask me what to do!
I started using 2.75mm but had to increase to 3mm for "gauge" and I worked an extra half-pattern increase to lengthen the foot.

After the difficulties of Saviano I decided I needed to knit a pair to compare heel construction.



Heel Comparison Socks, Posh Yarn (I can't remember which), 2.5mm circs




My "normal" heel is so easy that I think I've decided the other is just not worth the effort.

Twisted Stitches

I'm really loving working twisted stitch patterns so imagine how excited I was to find this book. What a fantastic resource!! There are 174 traditional Austrian stitch patterns and instructions for garments including stockings, sweaters and vests.

No, I haven't had time to use the book yet but these socks are definitely in the spirit.



They are the Bavarian Twisted Stitch socks from Cat Bordhi's "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles"with modifications to magic loop, toe-up and short row heels.



I used Dye Studio's "Unicorn" yarn, colour Starlight. It's the first time I've used this and I certainly wasn't disappointed although I think the stitch definition may have been even better with BFL.

I can't tell you Unicorn's composition because I don't know, in fact it's a secret until the end of the year. When you buy a skein - either from Natural Dye Studio or Fyberspates - you get a clue and in December if you can solve all the clues and sort out an anagram of the first letters of all the answers you end up with the compostion. And you can win an enormous prize....

Wel,l I've collected all the riddles so far but don't have the answers yet. Not by a long way. But it's fun.

If you've got one of these....

If you've got one of these....






then you need one of these....



and then this doesn't matter



Finished Socks



In order from left to right the socks are Fyberspates self striping - Summer Meadow, The Knittery's Merino Slim sock bought from Socktopus at I-knit day 2008, Dye Studio's Darling Sock yarn, Socks that Rock Medium weight and last Vancalcar Acres Jennifers Bamboo Ewe sock yarn, colour Sandstone from Socktopus, pattern "Bavarian Cable Socks" from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe up with a few more pictures


I think I'm beginning to see a trend towards plain yarns with superimposed stitch patterns, not exclusively but I think it's starting.

Active holidays - or not

What I'm doing on my holiday



Continuing the theme of cable socks in plain yarn, this is Aknita's lovely p/hop pattern Hopsox ...thank you Joy.I knitted them in Skeins 50/50 Silk/Wool colour Mocha, on a 2.5mm circular needle and adapted the pattern slightly to toe-up, short row heel.





And you can see I modified the pattern further to make the cable centre over the front of the foot and I wish I hadn't. I shall knit them again as they were meant to be.

Not the Tour de France

We were just enjoying a quiet coffee and croissant in the square when lots - and I mean lots - of cyclists began arriving. According to the gendarme who was making a half-hearted attempt to divert the traffic, there were going to be more than five thousand (that's 5,000!!) cyclists passing through Chinon that day.

It was great fun and all very entertaining as more and more of them squashed into the narrow streets.


And then the musicians arrived along with a very tall dancer! He kept trying to spray the cyclists faces - with water I presume. Goodness knows how he kept his balance on these cobbles.




There was an amazing range of ages but they all looked very fit.

That was a lovely hot sunny day - not quite as perfect for kite flying as this one was .
In fact the weather over the last two weeks has been windier than I can ever remember in Summer - and cooler too. And wetter. But not as cold, wet and windy as back home by all accounts.

But more importantly I've knitted the second Cleopatra sock and started - in fact finished the first sock - of that lovely Rivendell pattern from Janel Laidman. It's available singly and also in her book - The Eclectic Sole. I've ordered this but not had a confirmation and I think it's reprinting. I hope it'll be waiting for me when we get home, it sounds very exciting.

The thing is I decided I wanted to knit it toe-up in my usual fashion with the clever pattern superimposed....
I wanted the ribbing to start in a graduated fashion...
That works ok. And I love the colour of the Jitterbug - I think it's called Wasabi Squeeze. And I'm happy with the heel...
Although I think next time I would introduce the ribbing on the back of the leg in a graduated way like at the toe. And do a couple of inches before starting the diamonds. But it was going well. I made it longer to use up exactly half the yarn.
But, and it's a big but, I've not managed to re-work the main pattern motif so that it looks the same knitted in the opposite direction.

See

It's all wrong.


I shall have to wait until I have more time at home to sort out how to do it. If I can. I'm under such pressure to do holiday things atm and it's definitely not the sort of thing I can get my head round when I'm constantly being asked if I'll be much longer.

Lace knitting photos next time...one finished shawl and another I'm test-knitting. It's all very exciting!!

And just a glimpse of the sunflower fields that seemed to be all around us when we first arrived. Aren't they lovely?

sunflowers2, originally uploaded by tigerlily598k.

They're usually coming to an end in mid July but this year they were planted later because of the cold spell earlier in the year and so we have seen them at their best!




I have to give a sad update on our baby dormice who didn't survive. The skylarks - well I don't really know. The next time we looked at the nest, several days later there were no babies there. I know they fledge really quickly, so I hope that's what happened.

Cleopatra's Stocking

Although I've belonged to the Rocking Sock Club since January this is the first pattern I've knitted - but not in the club yarn. I used Colinette's Jitterbug in colour 161, Oyster Blush.


The pattern is designed by Yarnissima and is written toe-up - my favourite and I used my usual short row heel.



Most of the socks I've knitted have been in stocking stitch using the many variegated yarns to make the pattern but this one caught my fancy and I love it in this almost- uni- colour. I think if I knit this again - and I probably will - I'll adjust the pattern so that the points of the diamond zig-zags meet at the sides. Well, I might....

Next on my list of socks to do is one from the "Summer Pick 'n' Mix Socks" from Probably Jane.


Here is a peep at the shawl I'm test knitting for Laura Patterson. I'm using Poshyarn Cecilia in a lovely rich ruby red with Japanese Toho size 8 seed beads in a dark copper metallic colour from Beads Direct (thanks Clarabelle) and thanks to them for a very fast service to France - three days from ordering to receiving.


And some fabulous Fleece Artist BFL 2/8 in colour Earth - a gorgeous colour but difficult to photo accurately. The navy is actually black but all the shades are very soft.
And it arrived in just four days from Red Bird Knits - great service.



I'm going to knit another Tempest although I don't know what yarn I'll stripe it with, perhaps I'll find something at the I-Knit day in September. I can't wait!! It's been ages since I chose yarn in person.

Not a Lot

I don't know what I would have done without Knitting over these past few weeks. It has been such a comfort and I'm sure it's what has kept me sane. Even the awful time when I had to keep my eyes still and couldn't knit at all - I could still think wool and plan the next things to make and what to buy...but thankfully that time was mercifully short. Thank you everyone for your support, I very much appreciate it.

I have some almost FOs from this time but few of them are actually totally finished enough for a photo and in fact taking photos is still not too easy...

See
I'm having a bit of a problem with the focussing.

But you can see well enough that it's a Jaywalker - I know I must be the last to knit these but I actually seem to prefer most of the multi-coloured sock wools just knit plain and then I saw these in Shepherd Sock colour Hawaii and they looked so stunning I felt obliged to cast on straight away. I just happened to have some Lorna's Laces in colour Seaside that I thought would stripe in the same sort of way....

I still love the pattern but mine isn't as nice as Jo's and worse than that I was sure I didn't need as many stitches as the pattern said. I was doing mine toe-up and they were fitting just fine right up to the heel - my usual short-row- when I could see why more stitches were needed. Lots more stitches. I *could* get them on but only just.

By now I'd found a simple slip stitch pattern that caught my fancy and they are now fast becoming these

It's a modification of Violet Green's Tapestry sock pattern

I've got an appointment with a consultant on Thursday - not my consultant but his colleague. My consultant is on holiday and I shan't see him until 29th but at least I shall know if things are going according to plan and if they're not then something will be done. It's difficult to assess your own eye health but from what I can see, the gas balloon is steadily going down and is now just a circle at the bottom edge of my vision. My actual vision is a bit smeary and there are one or two extra things in it... I'm trying not to worry as there is no big shadow like before so I have to assume that the retina is reattached. It's very hard not to worry.

Now...I need a Good Idea for a present for my grandson who'll be five on Monday and I'm still not up to going to the shops so it's the internet.

I don't know where I'd have been without that either. In fact I think the drop in M&S shares may reflect my lack of patronage, as since OctoberI haven't shopped anywhere except on-line ... oh and three "in the flesh" visits to Waitrose !! Thank goodness for Ocado. Hmm..I'm rambling.....better get back to my knitting.....

Socks and a Winner

I've pictured these socks all together to spare you the boredom.

They are all made man-sized on one Addi turbo 2.5mm and all my usual toe-up short row heels and Turkish cast-on with M1 increases for the toes.

From the top left, clockwise the wools are Curious yarns sock yarn, Sirdar Town and Country - Harlequin, Araucania Ranco and Sirdar Town & Country - Volcano.

And now what you've all(!) been waiting for - the winner of my little blog competition. Thank you for all your cardi suggestions, I've printed each one and am enjoying deciding which to knit. The first name drawn from the "hat" was ladybirdlinz.

Congratulations Linz!!

Now what you need to do is email me your address so I can post your prize.

South Seas Stole Blocked

South Seas Stole Finished!!



I feel at such a loose end now it's finished....



It's lovely isn't it?










Thanks to Kate for modelling!



And I really enjoyed the test- knitting.




I used JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk, colour Aegean Blue and 3.75mm needles. The pattern will be available from Laura soon.



And all I've been able to think of to follow this, is to knit some no-thought socks. But useful because these will be presents.

Both of these are long so that they can show over the top of boots. One man-pair in PoshYarns lovely Helena - colour "Guy"

These "guy"socks have got a bit of rib above (on one sock only) and below the heel section because Michael has said that some of his socks slip down into his shoes; I'm hoping this will stop that.




and the other Cashmere from ColourMart and so soft...

Proper Holiday Weather

At last we seem to be having a settled spell of "proper" holiday weather and about time too! And tonight all the meal preparation has been done in advance so we can sit and enjoy the evening sunshine. We're having the confit of duck with green lentils that I'd prepared for last night's meal but didn't eat as we were furthering the Entente Cordiale having aperitifs with our neighbours; the time flew by until it was too late to eat at all!

First some new FOs.
This is my favourite





Anne Hanson's Morning Glory Wrap from Knitspot. It is as yet unblocked as I don't have my blockin wires here but I couldn't wait to show you. I'll rephoto when it's blocked.

I used three skeins of Posh Yarns Eva 4ply in Turquoise, 4.5mm needles and 55 stitches instead of 64. I did an extra repeat of the hem edging and less Purse Mesh Stitch on one side and two repeats less of the MorningGlory pattern because thats when my yarn ran out. It measures 62" x 14".

It is more open that the original which is done with DK and I think I shall make another in this because I really like it.

And this - for Rachel
Eloise from Jane Ellison's Noro Knits. It is waiting for a knitted flower and some buttons! Oh yes - and blocking. I used seven balls of Noro Blossom shade #5 and 5mm needles so it knitted up very quickly .
I decided that I liked it better with the knit side as the right side rather than as in the Noro book that has the purl side outside.

Moles - soon to be no more.....

We declared a truce this summer with the army of moles in our garden and instead of trying to get rid of them, I've been using my energy to make use of the lovely soil in each mole hill and to minimise the plant damage they could cause.

That was ok until I saw this


It was reassuringly expensive and comes with a money back guarantee if not satisfied . We deciphered the French instructions and are going to have one last try. We've got just a few days of holiday to decide if it works......I hesitate to say exactly what is its modus operandi, but I'm sure it's more humane than putting thorny rose cuttings in their runs.