The Year of Socks.

Hello there, I hope 2018 has been good to you so far. Well, last year was the year of socks for me, I added up how many pairs that I knit in 2017. I knit 18 pairs of socks!!!!! I can't quite believe it myself but they were my go-to project and found plain vanilla socks very meditative and therapeutic for me. If you want to see all the different designs that I knit, you can check out my Ravelry project page.

These are one of the last pairs I finished, they are one of my favourite socks that I've knit. I used Grundl Hot Socks Pearl Colour, it has cashmere in the merino/nylon blend and is exceptionally soft. I knit the leg fairly long, I wanted a nice, cosy pair for the winter. I used Hot Socks Pearl for the cuff, heels and toes the solid colour version of this beautiful yarn.

The last pair of the year was my Christmas Stripe Socks, knit with Knit Picks Felici in Spring Blooms so not officially a Christmas colour but it reminded me of the bright vintage colours.

I have cast on a pair of socks this year but I definitely won't be knitting 18 as I want to knit more garments. Again, I'm knitting with Knit Picks Felici in Chesire Grin, rather than doing a plain sock though, I'm using Vanilla Bean Striped Sock by Emily O'Grady, which is more of a recipe than a pattern. It relies on that you know how to knit a basic sock but I love the simple slip stitches that break up the stripes.

What are your favourite things to knit? Is there a pattern that you go back to again and again?

Have a great week and happy knitting.
xxxxDebxxxx

Happy New Year........

Happy New Year, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, it goes too quick for me, I love Christmas and always have a hectic couple of days and lots of fun. I also enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year where you don't remember what day it is, you can eat Christmas pud for breakfast if you want to plus lots of knitting time.

I don't celebrate NYE but I do embrace the new year and love the feel of new beginnings. I don't make resolutions but I do like to have some sort of plan.

Do you have any knitting plans for the coming year? I want to get some WIP's finished, knit at least three garments and knit more colourwork.

I'm a big fan of advent calendars and had a few to open including yarn, tea, chocolate and beauty. I want to talk about the yarny calendars though. They were so much fun, I did a swap with my friend Dani, we'd spoke about it over a year ago and decided to make each other one with a full skein of yarn for the 25th.

We added little extra gifts in some of the days, including stitch markers, tea and I even had a gorgeous fluffy pompom. It was so much fun to put together and also open, we've both said we will definitely do it again next year.

I was also lucky enough to swap one with another friend, Sara of  Cauldron of Colours, these were all alpaca blend mini's and very soft.

Christmas Eve, I cast on my Twas the Night Before Christmas by Danielle Jorge. This is her very first pattern, I was lucky enough to test knit them and take the photos for the pattern.

It's such a fun pattern with a simple tree pattern running down the side of the leg then some potato chippy plain stockinette. It took me three days to finish them and I love them.

I used West Green Loft Yarns in Christmas Candy which was their December yarn club colourway.

Have a good week and happy knitting.
xxxxDebxxxx