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: May (not a lotta socks!)

In all honesty, I haven't done much (if any) sock knitting over the last few months.  I haven't forgotten to post for the last couple of months - I just didn't have any real sock progress to share.

In March, I took my sock with me to London to knit on - so that I had something to write about.  The sock was in the same bag as a water bottle which leaked.  On one hand, sock yarn is great at soaking up the liquid.  On the other hand, I can't knit with soggy sock yarn.

You may not be able to see from the photo - but this sock was soaking wet

The dark patch at the bottom, shows the extent of the water leak

In April, I even went as far as taking some photos.  However, we were a couple of days before a flat inspection, and cleaning and clearing up took priority over knitting and blogging.

Instead of knitting, over the last couple of months, I've been sewing badges on to a blanket.  Withing Guiding and Scouting, there is a tradition that old badges get sewn on to a blanket, which then gets taken to camp.  I have an old grey blanket with all my Brownie, Guide and Ranger badges - as well as badges relating to places I've visited and events I've been to.  This year, I've been working on a blanket which is dedicated to all the foreign travel I've been lucky enough to do.

Slovenia/Croatia in 2016 and Iceland in 2017

Some of the badges from Japan in 2015

Badges to be sew on, after my trip to the US this summer

There has been such joy in watching the project grow, accompanied with a lovely feeling of accomplishment.  I keep think that I'm close to sewing on the last badge - and then I find one or two more that need to be added on!  

However, I'm at the point of getting a but bored of sewing, so I've reverted back to knitting!  The current socks that I want to get finished are the ones for Mr Knitty's Christmas present, then Valentine's Day present, then wedding anniversary present. Given that our anniversary was ten days ago, I'm not doing very well at this wifely business! 

Vanilla toe-up socks, with Fish Lips Kiss heels

The front is ribbed; the back isn't.  I've made that decision, partly to stop the socks being too loose and baggy, and partly because plain stocking stitch is much quicker to do than ribbing.  If I'd really thought about it, I'd have done a 4 x 4 rib, rather than an irregular rib pattern. 

Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners; can't remember which company did the contrast yarn

Hopefully, this is going to give me the push I need to get some more socks finished, which will give me something to post about next month.  I'm off with friends for lunch on Saturday, which will give me some knitting time.  My aim is to get them finished by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend, and to get at least one more pair finished, before I cast on something new.  That's the plan.....

If you're a sock knitter, or sock crochet-er, you're more than welcome to join us in blogging about socks on the first Thursday of each month.  Paula from Spin a Yarn hosts a link each month.  All you need to do is pop over to Paula's blog, add your blog post to the link and join in.  I've made new internet friends, and found more people who love knitting as much as I do.  There's always room for more people to join the party! 

Once Upon a Sock: February

Each month I come here to write about socks and think 'I really must blog more' - and then put that thought to bed, until the following month.

However, this month - I have socks to share.

The candy cane socks got completed:

Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners, in colourway Candy Cane.

I've completed my first pair of socks for 2019:

My plan was to alternate 'normal' socks with Christmas socks throughout the year, so I would end up with at least six Christmas pairs, come December.  With that in mind, I started my second pair of socks for 2019:

Yarn is from London House Yarns, in the colourway Baubles

It was only when I came to turn the heel, that I realised I'd dropped a stitch - which I found about three rows above the end of the toe.  I'm too much of a perfectionist to leave it is or try and fudge a repair - so out came eighty-something rows!  At the moment, I can't bring myself to pick it back up and sort out a repair - but I think I need to, before I forget what I did on the first sock. 

I'm taking part in the UK Sock Knitters' periodic table KAL this year, so a couple of days ago, I started my socks for February.  The chosen element for this month is iodine - so I've decided to knit the seaweed socks by Wendy D Johnson.  It's the first pair of lace socks I've ever knit, and at the beginning of today, they looked like this:

It's times like this, that stitch markers are your friend!  I've already made at least three mistakes, which have been easy (if fiddly) to repair.  The pattern is starting to show a bit better after a couple of repeats.  I think it's going to look good, but will be slow.  I'm knitting it in dark red, with white contrasting heels, toes and cuff - to look like a Christmas stocking.  I still want a simple vanilla, self-striping sock that I don't need to think about, which is a motivation to sort out the Baubles socks.

If you knit or crochet socks and would like to join in our sock-knitting chat, it would be lovely to have you join us.  On the first Thursday of each month, we all blog about our sock knitting progress (even if that's only a couple of rows since the previous month) and then share them on a link, hosted by Paula at Spin a Yarn.  The link up for February is here - please come and join us! 

Once Upon a Sock: September

Remember last month when I was being a bit smug about lifelines.  I claimed that if I put them in, I wouldn't need them.  Oh dear.

I was trying to use the short row heel found on the Arne and Carlos Youtube channel.   I had the idea that if I increased stitches, then I wouldn't need to make so many stitches after knitting two together.  Whilst the logic was good, because I increased the stitch count, the rest of the maths was thrown out of whack.  In the end, I decided to use a Fleegle heel instead.  To be honest, it's not my favourite heel, but so many things had gone wrong with this pair of socks I just wanted to get them finished. 

Yarn is Schoeller und Stahl Esslinger Sockenwolle in colourway beige-orange

The next pair I completed since last month, were a pair I cast on at the end of February.  I was going to use the short row heel used in the knitting expat vanilla sock pattern.  However, she has written the pattern over 64 stitches, and I only had 60 stitches. So, instead, I used the fish lips kiss heel and worked out how to do it in a contrasting colour.

Main yarn is Regia 4ply, colourway Brazil.
Contrasting yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 play, colourway Cayenne Pepper

Also completed over the last month, were the toe-up Hermione's which I cast on back in July last year.  The good thing about me having similar sized feet to Mr Knitty, is that I can get him to try on pairs of socks I have knit for me, and then work out any amendments which I need to make.  Luckily, these fit him perfectly.

Main yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Rum Paradise
Contrasting yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Bubblegum

I also need to be less of a slattern when it comes to weaving in my ends.

Also on the needles at the moment are the candy socks and the mosaic socks.  Both of these have been made with the Sockmatician toe-up recipe.  The last time I made these, I got into a muddle with the heel turn.  This time, I have used lifelines , just in case.  I have managed one heel turn, so I know I can do it.  The second heel has gone wrong twice, so I'm putting it to one side for the time being.  This pattern uses German short rows, which are just as easy to use as people say they are.  I think I still prefer the shadow wrap short row heel used in the fish lips kiss heel, but I would definitely use of German short rows again.

As I have a hospital appointment today, I plan to cast on a new pair of socks, so I have something to do whilst waiting.  These are going to be my May socks for the box of socks challenge.  Once I've cleared another pair of needles, I'll cast on my socks for July and September.  Even better, all of this sock knitting has given me more scraps for my memory scrap blanket! 

There are a group of us who blog about socks on the first Thursday of the month.  If you knit socks, whether one pair a year or one pair a year, you are more than welcome to join us.  All you need to do is write a blog entry and add it to the link-up page which is here.  Alternatively, you can just click on the link-up and read more about other peoples' sock knitting. 

Just for today, I'm going to leave with a song.  No idea why this one is on earworm....

Of Cast Ons and Floods

Last night, I fell asleep listening to Arne and Carlos' Christmas podcast - basically the two of them chatting about Christmas and past projects, whilst Arne knits a Christmas bauble.  I couldn't tell you what they talked about, as I fell asleep.  Having listened to about half of it this morning whilst washing up, I'd recommend a listen. 

Now, we're at Christmas Eve.  Apparently, there is a tradition in Iceland, that people are given books and chocolate on Christmas Eve - and they then spend the rest of the evening reading the books and eating the chocolates.  In November, a catalogue of new publications is delivered to every house in the country, the beginning of the annual Christmas book flood. (There's another article here and here - which more or less say the same thing, but still make me feel all cosy when reading them).  This year, I plan to follow the tradition, with these books:

Unsurprisingly, these were bought in Iceland over the summer.  (I also got a copy of Njal's Saga, but didn't think that I could complete it in one night).  It's a lovely tradition, and I might see if my sister will let me implement it with my nephew next year.  

Courtesy of Twitter, I saw the #ChristmasEveCastOn hashtag.  I didn't even know that this was a Thing - but apparently it is.  Knitters up and down the country will, apparently be casting on something to knit over Christmas.  Should I have time to join in, it will be with this yarn:

West Yorkshire Spinners yarn.
Left to right: Chocolate Lime, Candy Cane, Cayenne Pepper

This is West Yorkshire Spinners' Christmas yarn - candy cane. I first heard about it via Winwick Mum's blog as she designed the pattern which is sent out with the yarn.  It was so popular, it went out of stock, with a fortnight wait for more yarn to be dyed.  I got some from Loveknitting - along with the Chocolate Lime contrasting yarn - then got impatient and bought some directly from West Yorkshire Spinners, along with the Cayenne Pepper colourway.  

In checking both balls of yarn, I was quite happy to see:

Despite coming from different shops, THEY'RE THE SAME DYE LOT!   (This makes my life so much easier).  I don't know whether to do a pair with red toes and cuff and a green heel, or green toes and cuff and a red heel, or cuff, toes and heels in all red or all green.  There may be enough for all combinations.  (Winwick Mum managed to get two pairs from one ball). 

Before then, I need to clear the spare room, do a final shop (I think this is the third final shop), make the chilli for Boxing Day.  Mr Knitty has done his bit to help clear up, by finishing the pizza in the fridge, to give me more fridge space.  The Prosecco and orange juice are both chilling in the fridge ready for tomorrow.  It's taken some time, but I'm starting to get a bit excited about this whole Christmas thing.

What does your Christmas Eve bring you?  Are you all chilled and out and ready, or doing a last minute mad rush like me? 

Merry Christmas.