Month of Socks FO's

 

This post is all about the socks, I managed to finish three pairs during May. I'm so pleased that the Must Stash girls organised this great event. If you check back on the Must Stash Podcast Ravelry board, you can still find all of the tips, tutorials and videos for sock knitters, from beginners to intermediate.

I finished my No Purl Monkey's, right on the deadline and I love them, they are so much fun to wear. I love the sherbert colours, the yarn is Twisted Limone in Sherbert Dip. The original pattern by Cookie A which is a free pattern on Knitty, used purl stitches in between the V's but I used Crafty Pancakes version which just uses knit stitches, I also did an Afterthought heel so I didn't break up the stripes. I would highly recommend the Afterthought Heel pattern by Laura Linneman, it is very well written and was easy to follow, there is also a video tutorial to go with it.

I knit cuff down and used DPNs for the first time, thanks to the Month of Socks, and the girls encouraging us to try something new. I've got to say, the cuff down seem to fit my feet so much better, these socks are so comfy on. I will still knit toe up if I like the pattern but I prefer cuff down now and will be my sock of choice.

I also finished these stripy Vanilla socks that I started back in February, again using Twisted Limone self striping yarn. It took me so long as I only picked them up if I needed something I didn't have to concentrate on but I did find them quite boring, I definitely like something with a pattern.

Then finally the Jesse socks, which you saw here and they are the third pair completed in the month of May. I said I wanted to complete 12 pair of socks over 12 months, I've completed six pairs so I'm well on track.

Check out Tami's blog for more FO's, this week. Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Month of Socks....FO

Hello there, I hope everyone has had a great week!!!!! I'm back to show you my finished Jesse Socks, completed for the Month of Socks hosted by the Must Stash girls, through May. Molly from the A Homespun House is also hosting a sock knit a long. Both of these have great video podcasts, I would recommend you check them out, I've linked to the websites or find them on iTunes, Must Stash Podcast and A Homespun House. 

I really like how they've turned out, the pattern is the Jesse Socks by Rachel Coopey which can be found in A Knitted Sock Soiciety, if you love to knit socks, you will love this book. The photography is gorgeous, the focus is on the socks and shows very clear pictures of the sock and stitch pattern. The book has ten sock patterns using Rowan Fine Art which is one of my favorite sock yarns, it is so soft and washes really well. It's a hand-painted sock yarn with a mix of merino, kid mohair (no fuzzy halo, though), mulberry silk and polyamide for strength, to say it has such luxurious yarn content, it's a really hard wearing yarn. I knit my Lacy Rib Socks in the Fine Art, back in June, last year and they are still going strong with no wear and tear at all!

These were my first cuff down socks using DPNs and also my first stranded colourwork socks, I was worried about the tightness of my colourwork so I used a 2.5mm for the top of the sock and changed to my regular 2.25mm needle for the foot. This worked really well and fit perfectly, I really like the way the heel fits on me too, I think I might be converted to cuff down socks now, just for the heel flap.

I used the same colours that she used in the pattern, I usually like to chose something different to the pattern but I loved the Waxwing and Serin together. Serin, the orange one, is also my favourite colour in the range. Fine Art comes in 100g skeins so I have enough yarn left over to knit another pair of these in the opposite colourway or I might knit the Magnus Socks from the book which also uses two different colours.

The book is worth every penny as I would knit all the patterns in there, they work out at £1 per pattern, bargain!!!!! Don't be put off that they are cuff down, I've only ever knit toe up socks and found the cuff down just as easy, maybe a little bit easier and quicker. The hardest part, which isn't really that hard, is the Kitchener stitch to join the toes but there are some great tutorials on the web. This is one of my favourites from Purl Bee. I would practice first an a couple of swatches, once you've done it a few times, it's easy to remember. If you really don't want to try cuff down, I'm sure you could convert them to toe up, I've done that with other patterns before.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I appreciate it and to those who leave me such lovely comments. Have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

Month of Socks......it's all about the socks, this week.

Hello, I hope you all had a good weekend, we spent the weekend in beautiful West Wales in the glorious sunshine, we couldn't have picked a better weekend.

The Month of Socks is still running over on the Must Stash Podcast Ravelry Group and also Molly from A Homespun House Podcast, is also running a sock KAL. May really is the month for socks, so this week I've just been knitting on socks. I've been working on my Jesse Socks and on Saturday, I spent the day knitting on them at the beach. They are nearly finished and will have a FO to show you on Friday.

The other socks I've been knitting on are my stripy socks using Twisted Limone Tangy Sock yarn, a fab self striping yarn. I spent a lot of time in the car this weekend, so I knit quite a bit on these, I had finished the first one but wasn't happy with the cuff. I've undone it and have knit a twisted 1x1 rib instead, I think it looks neater than a regular 1x1 rib. I've just put the waste yarn in for the heel on the second sock, so hope to have these finished by the end of May.

Though I've spent a lot of time reading this week, I'm still on The Butterfly Box by Santa Montefiore, it's a long book but I love saga's that run over the years. All the characters are very interesting, though I feel like shaking a couple of them, they are very likeable. My Kindle broke this week, so I'm now reading on my phone.

Check out Ginny's Yarn Along, Nicloe's Keep Calm, Craft On and Tami's WIP Wednesday for more Work in Progress, this week.

Here are a few photos of my weekend, you always know you're in Wales when the sheep just wander along the road, without a care in the world.

On the way to the hotel, we stopped off at Aberaeron, a gorgeous Regency seaside town. It is such a pretty town, with lots of lovely gift shops and coffee bars, it even has a little wool shop where I couldn't resist a couple of skeins of 100% llama yarn.

After looking around the town we had a stroll to the sea front and had a spot of lunch, doesn't food taste so much better when you are sat outdoors with views like this ?

Next, we drove down to New Quay, a harbour town made famous by Dylan Thomas, who moved there in 1944. It's also famous for dolphin watching and I was lucky enough to see some, very close to shore, I can't tell you how excited I was!!!!

Here I am wearing my Global Nomad Cowl, sat on the sea wall watching the dolphins.

We arrived at the Gellifawr Hotel, late afternoon, where we were staying in one of their self catering cottages, it was beautiful and very comfortable. Behind the white gate, is a water wheel so while we were sat outside, we could here the gentle, relaxing, flow of water. The hotel is very isolated, high in the Welsh Hills of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, perfect for a relaxing break.

I made the most of the mornings, sat in this rocker with the sunlight beaming through and knitting, bliss!!!

We had breakfast Al Fresco, enjoying croissants, fresh orange juice and coffee, with nothing but the baaing of sheep and running water. Sadly, the weekend went too fast, I could of easily stopped another few days.

Thanks for stopping by, have a good week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along.......Month of Socks.

Hello, I'm back today to show you what I've been working on this week, I seem to have a lot of WIPs on the needles, more than I usually have and I've cast on another three projects! Can you have too many WIPs?????

This month the Must Stash Girls are having a Month of Socks KAL over on Ravelry, where basically anything goes, as long as you are knitting socks. It could be finishing off WIPs, great if you have second sock syndrome or they are encouraging you to try something new. They are giving lots of advice and help including tutorials on the forum, these girls are great, if you haven't seen their podcast yet, you really should pop over and watch, they are great fun.

I bought the book A Knitted Sock Society by Rachel Coopey, sometime ago, it has ten gorgeous cuff down patterns using one of my favourite sock yarns, Rowan Fine Art. I've never knit cuff down socks before, so I decided to give them a go and chose the Jesse socks which are a colourwork sock using two contrasting colours. The reason I'd never tried cuff down was the heel, I was put off by picking up stitches, it seemed a lot more complicated than toe up. I really don't know why I was worried though, it was very simple and actually seemed a lot quicker! I wish I'd tried them a lot sooner!

I'm also hoping to finish my stripy socks by the end of the month, I've done my first Afterthought Heel which was also easier than I thought it would be. I have made a small mistake, I should have knit the waste yarn in the middle of a stripe. I've now got one random row of brown, which doesn't look right but I'll know for the next time.

Do you remember last week that I was looking through my vintage baby patterns? Well, I decided on this one, a sweet little cardigan that wraps over and buttons at the front. I'm using a new to me yarn called Pro Lana Merino Pur 175, a beautifully soft 4ply yarn, perfect for babies.

My third new project is the Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates, my sister asked if I'd knit my nephew a cable jacket for his 1st birthday. I love this pattern, it's a perfect cardigan for a little boy, it will look really cute on my little man!

I'm still reading The Butterfly Box by Santa Montefiore, I really enjoy her books and this is no exception, I also wanted to show you these little 10g balls of Lion Brand cotton that I bought from Hobbycraft. I couldn't resist these tiny balls of yarn in all these gorgeous colours, I'm a sucker for anything in miniature, they will be great for making crochet flowers. Check out Ginny's blog, Tami's and Nicole's for lots more Work in Progress, this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

xxxxDebxxxx