Roses

From roses on a pattern to the real life variety, I *rescued* the roses in my back garden from flying tennis balls and over-enthusiastic terriers!

Doing Quite Well, Actually!

This is my answer whenever anyone asks me how I’m getting on.    There’s not much else I can say really, because the milestone of switching from the body to the edging is a long way off, and even though I’m less than forty rows away (a bit further than in this most recent picture), those rows are ever increasing in size!

I’ve decided (just to be sure) that after I knit the third line of roses I’ll add a lifeline, that way if I do end up still being short on yarn, I can rip back and just make it a bit shorter.  I’ll be really upset if I run out again though!

A Whole Lotta Yarn (And A Bit Of Paint)

I love knitting socks, they’re less work than a sweater but more interesting than a scarf.  The problem is that when you finish the first sock you’ve got it all to do all over again!  When I finished the first sock I took a break to consider what I’ll do with the almost-finished blood shawl.  I’ve run out of yarn and all efforts to find more have failed.  I really like the yarn and the pattern, so I wound up all the yarn on my ball winder (scary to see all that work disappear in all of about 2 minutes!), and cast on for my second sock!  It’s funny how it looks like a lot less yarn than I started with!
In other slightly related news, I painted my living room last week and it matches my yarn!

Wordless Wednesday: Father’s day Socks

All finished in plenty of time for Father’s Day!

Second Sock-itus

I’ve finished the first sock, but there’s only so many sock pictures I can put on my blog without being called a fetishist.  I’m 22 rows away from finishing the second sock’s foot (toe-up remember, so a little under half way) but that I got that far is a miracle in itself.  I cast on the second sock no less than five times, once I even managed to finish the toe increases before I ripped it back and started again.  The figure-of-eight cast-on is a pain in the bum to cast on from (for a demonstration click here), but I like the seamless effect it gives and I hate grafting so I guess it’s the best way to do it and it best just to get on with it.
Today I had a sock revival – my first socks were dug from the back of my sock drawer and they go perfectly with my blue tie-die shorts.  Natural Dye Studio’s “Chi” paired with the violet green sock generator.  Sock inspiration!

Slow Sock Knitter

I don’t know how all these sock knitting bloggers manage to have pairs of socks done in under a week.  As you can see after three or four days since I last blogged, Election day/Father’s day socks have grown by all of about an inch and a half! Maybe another pattern repeat and the ribbing, then I’ll be finished.  Second Sock Syndrome here we come! 

Might do a smaller pair for myself afterward but I have a huge list of other projects to sort out too.  Unravelling and reknitting my blood shawl is a big priority, and of course I need to finish some more GAAA squares, not to mention the cross stitch that is still sat in the naughty corner! 

Half way through a project is of course the time when you get to pondering new projects, and i know someone who would appreciate a green and gold Manchester United/Newton Heath football scarf.  I’ve yet to finish my lace scarf design, although I’ve cobbled together most of the pattern and now it’s just fine tuning the details (the bit that i hate). I’ve also still got the ball of fawn coloured crepe acrylic that I was going to knit a teddy with, and I’d still like to do that but with a few tweaks to the pattern I used last time.  The trouble with keeping my stash in clear plastic bags is when I walk past them, my brain goes into overdrive!

Election Day / Father’s Day socks

So I picked the boyfriend socks pattern again, because it’s a nice compromise for the man who wants plain plain plain, and the knitter who thinks boring boring boring!  I’m finding it a bit tougher than last time because I have darker yarn and can’t quite see the stitches properly unless I’m right underneath a bright light, but the Cygnet 4ply “truly wool rich” I’m using is turning into a really pleasant yarn to knit with.  Plus it’s superwash wool, so I might be using what’s left over to make some for myself!  I did most of what you see on Election Day itself (and what a farce that turned out to be!) but because the yarn was delivered in an extremely timely fashion almost a week before(thanks Modern Knitting!), I had already cast on, knit the toe and started the foot so I got the fiddly bits out of the way at least!