Once Upon a Sock - June (AKA, the birds)

Since last month:

I've woven in the ends on at least one pair of socks:

(I think I managed two pairs, but as I didn't take photos, it doesn't count) 

And started to sort out the toe of the second of the Seaweed Socks:

I met up with Once Upon a Sock friends

From left to right: Meg, Kat, Me, Paula

I've finished the pigeon socks I was working on last month, ready in time for Christmas 2019 rather than Christmas 2018.  I promise I'll do better next time.  Mr Knitty tried them on, decided they were too small (I should have done ribbing on the back of the leg as well), and then I noticed that I'd dropped a stitch, somewhere before casting off. 

Toe up vanilla socks, West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4 ply in colourway pigeon

Then again, immediately after trying on the hand-knit socks, he put on a pair of commercial socks and put a hole through the heel, so I'm not taking it personally! 

Background fabric hand dyed by my aunt 

Once I've dealt with the errant stitch, I'm going to wash and block properly and see where we go from there.  If all else fails, I'll keep these socks and knit Mr Knitty a new pair.  I chose this colourway as a joke, as pigeons are almost the only bird that he can recognise. 

Excluding the seaweed socks, the current pair on the needles are also country birds yarn - this time in the colourway pheasant. 

I worked on sock one during the Guides meeting on Monday; I'm fairly new to the unit, so have no idea who the other leaders are talking about.  Since a Guide makes good use of her time, I spent the time knitting.  I managed about four and a half centimetres.

On Tuesday, I went to the anti-Trump demo.  I thought I took a video of the East London Knitters' banner; seems I only took a photo:

I started off with the knitters, then met up with a friend and lost the knitters.  Said friend is a birdwatcher; it was only after we parted ways that I realised I should have got him to guess which bird was represented in the yarn!  With the journeys in and out of London, the trying to listen to the speeches and a fair bit of sofa knitting on Tuesday afternoon, sock two is ready for a heel turn.  

I cast these on, on 1st June - and am knitting them as part of the Summer of Socks KAL by Nikki from the Tea and Possibilities podcast.  I had tried to do the Box of Socks KAL but have fallen way behind, so thought this would be a good KAL to join instead.  I'm working on a secret project, using another of the West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply; there may well be enough for another pair of bird socks! 

If you like knitting socks, there is a group of us who blog about socks on the first Thursday of each month.  If you want to join us, head over to Paula's blog where she hosts a link-up for everybody's blog.  We would love you to join us and see what you're knitting! 

Once Upon a Sock goes analogue.

Yes, today is sock day.  I've had this post brewing for a while; I'm going to post it separately to the regular sock post, as I think it deserves an entry of its own. 

Last month, I was lucky enough to meet up with Kat, Paula and Meg - all from once upon a sock.  I'd had a couple of days previously feeling bad, so nearly flaked out on this, but I'm so pleased that I didn't.

Saturdays in my part of London are usually troubled with rail replacement services, and this Saturday was no different.  Combined with me over sleeping, I ended up running slightly late.  We were all meeting at Loop in Islington; Meg reassured me that they were going to be there for some time because "the yarn isn't going to squish itself"

I on the plus side, the bus turned up quite quickly, and I didn't have to wait too long for a train.  On the downside, the girl in front of me was sick all over the floor of the bus and I had to move so that I wasn't paddling in it.

I've heard lots about Loop, but I've never been there before.  I've lost count of the number of times I've walked down the street, but I've never, ever gone down Camden passage.  It's a beautiful little road, and in some ways doesn't even feel like London.  I have no idea why I didn't take a photo of the front, but hey ho - it gives me an excuse to go back at some point. 

The yarn that won't squish itself - upstairs

The yarn that won't squish itself - downstairs

The yarn that won't squish itself - in the window 

We met upstairs, chatted and then went to lunch at Wagamama.  We explained to Paula the concept of a 'cheeky Nando's' and then went to find Nando's on Upper Street, so that she could take a picture.  I found out that Meg is also a leader with Guiding, we discussed the differences in attitudes to tipping and we may have tried to persuade Paula to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. 

I don't normally Instagram my lunch - but this was delicious! 

After lunch, we went back to Loop for purchases.  I managed to be fairly restrained.  I started off with 'I'm not buying anything' and compromised with 'I'm not buying everything'.  

More yarn that just won't squish itself! 

In the end, I bought a skein of Tosh Merino Light  in the colourway Rainbow.  It's 100% merino wool, so won't be used for socks.  Initially, I thought it was red and green sock yarn, but once Kat had got it out of its cubby, it turned out to be far better!  In light of the recent discussions about diversity and inclusion in the knitting community, I know concerns have been raised about Madelinetosh.  In the beauty of the yarn, I will admit that these didn't cross my mind.  I'll try to remember next time. 

I also got a copy of the Mini Yarn Guide London mostly for the Skeindeer mittens.  The bag was complementary. 

As the till was busy, I took my yarn upstairs and nearly lost it!  I'd put it on a stool whilst we waited for the till to become free - and another lady picked it up without realising.  I felt a little bad, as that was the last skein in the shop, but not bad enough to let her take it home with her! 

Once we left Loop for the second time, we went for a coffee.  Whilst we were there, Paula's husband texted her to say he was having a beer.  We explained that, actually, he was having a cheeky pint! 

Meg and I went to London Bridge train station together, and ended up on platforms next to each other.  I started browsing through my book ..... 

... and when I looked up ...

... she'd gone!