Beautiful summer's day, need woolly socks

What a gorgeous day to be at the seaside exploring rock pools and photographing socks!











Here are my finished toe-up socks made according to Silver's Sock Class using Fyberspates Echo Self-Striping sock yarn in shade Funfair.

Enjoyed making my first toe-ups and will definitely try the technique again, although I know I will have to improve my short-row heel because something weird and not-too-wonderful happened with my "wrap and turns".

They were a very quick knit but I know that's partly because I'd never done it before and was keen to press on to see what each new section would be like.

They seem awfully long in the foot when you look at them, but they are actually a very good fit. I'll be wearing them with the ribbed cuff turned down like in some of these pix.

What a beautiful summer's evening it is now turning out to be. x K

The beginning of the end...

...or at least the end of the beginning.


After having only knitted one rep of chart E (instead of three), one of F as normal and one of chart G (instead of two), all because of yarn availability, I'm at the edging stage of Fat Girasole. Wow!
I have gleaned some invaluable advice about this from Ravelry. The last line of the chart would have you
Bind off three, knit three, knit one edging stitch together with one live shawl stitch.

Now here's the thing, you know when you cast off (three or whatever) there's a stitch left on your right needle which has just been leapfrogged by a cast-off stitch?
This counts as one of your knit three.
Reread this again if you even decide to embark on a Girasole.

I have decided to time myself doing the edging, just for the science, and for info for my knitalong.
Well, the first ten reps took 52 minutes.
I'm sure subsequent reps will be quicker and by the time I've done all 160 reps I'll be zooming along. Only 150 to go. (I can laugh about this now, see if I'm laughing by the end of the week.

The edging is nice and easy now I now the tip above and it feels **great** to offload some of my 640 stitches from the needle.

Onwards and upwards! ;-) x K

Yum Yum Strawberry Fondant Socks

Last September I broke my own golden rule, which is to make sure sock two is well underway before finishing sock one.

As such, sock two was just a figment of my imagination for months on end.

Well, it's a reality now, even if I had to just had to try to remember how I had made sock one as I didn't take any notes. No major hassles, just a lot of holding the socks side by side to compare.

In the first sock I used 2.5 needles on the ribbing and 2.25 on the main sock. I decided that second time round I'd go up to 2.75 on the ribbing just to give a little more ease round the ankle because of the corrugated rib pulling in quite a lot. This is based on the cuff of a Sanquhar glove.

I really like them and the only slight disappointment is that one of the main purposes of making them was to use up the pink yarn, which didn't happen! They're made from Opal Uni sock yarn from getknitted.com.

My next plan for the scraps is to learn how to do stashbuster spiral stripes in the style of Janine Hempy.

By the way, you know me, I'm always going back to similar colour combos- do these socks remind you of my fingerless gloves from a couple of years ago?

Funfair, or my first toe-ups

First of all, thank-you very much for the anniversary wishes; it seems more like five months than five years since we got married, time flies when you're having fun as they say.

My poor niece had to spend her twenty-first birthday preparing for her Uni finals, but she's still standing now they are finished, so that's a start :-)

I've been doing some sock knitting this week. I've been trying my first toe-ups using the remainder of the Fyberspates Echo Self-Striping left over from my wee shawl.
Learning lots of new stuff, figure eight cast on (excellent), short row heels (very ham-fisted and thoroughly inexpert) and I have the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn bind off ahead of me. I'm following Silver's sock class for one sock on two circs.

I'm enjoying the process and so far the fit is very good. My short row heel looks rubbish but fits well, and I think I'll be able to get a pair of proper socks, not just footies from my 70g.

LOVING my Knit-Pro (Knitpicks) Symphonie needles, can't shut up about them!!

It's fun to see the different way the yarn colours behave in small circles as compared to the long rows on the shawl, pretty cool.

I've also included a picture of the socks sitting on everyone's favourite serape Siesta Blanket Ravelry link to Siesta because I noticed how the beautiful stripes in the sock were echoed in the blanket which I had wrapped over my legs while I was snuggled up on the couch.

Hopefully these socks will be finished by next weekend, along with some other socks I only have to graft the toe of.

All the best x K

Five years ago today...

Five years ago today I was dressed in ivory and my beautiful niece was dressed in lilac.
I haven't asked for permission so I can't show you a real picture, but
don't let the teddies fool you, she's been taller than me for years!

Happy 21st to the lovely Jane who was our Marriage Witness.



And of course happy anniversary to the lovely Jonathan. x x K

This week I have been mostly wearing.....

...my "Weaver's Wool Mini Shawl", made from Echo self-striping sock yarn from Fyberspates.


I took Peggy Pignato's pattern, made it not quite so mini (mine is 22" neck to tip instead of 17" in the pattern) added some beads on each row 5 and gave it a picot cast off. Mine was in sock weight, not DK as in the original, so was more of a knitting investment than some versions you can see out there.

You can see the shape of it in the blocking shot, all the wedges are not created equal and you increase at the beginning and end of every right side row, which means your two front sections are a little bigger, sit better and give you more coverage.

Special thanks go to Ravelry member Kermitina for selling me some extra yarn in my hour of need.

It feels like a shawl for Barbie compared to my last garter stitch project (The Hap Shawl) but it's pretty and I like it! x K