New Socks

The colour is truest in this photo.

These socks were started in 2009 I think. I tried to make Pomatomus. And 3 times I messed up - a combination of gauge and stitch errors - and ripped it out and started again. After the third frogging I decided to reunited them in my vanilla sock pattern as I really liked the yarn and didn't want to totally spoil it with all the ripping back. So here they are the 8 year socks!

Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in the colourway Tropical Storm.

Pattern is my usual variations on Sue Morgan's Simple Sock Pattern.

Needles are 2.5mm dpn's. 

Giving Back/Giving Away

With all the projects I have with me what I really needed was another one! I popped home for the weekend and whilst I didn't have time to go through and catalogue things properly I did have time to open the box with unfinished things in. 

I grabbed this fabric (dyed in a dying class and pieced in a class about curves and points. I took a lot of QU classes about 10/12 years ago) and a scrap of wadding. I'm hand quilting it in lines that echo the shibori dying. This will then be trimmed to 12 1/2" (I've marked the area I will be cutting so I can keep my stitches inside and won't cut them when I trim the block) and be the first that will head to little island quilting for her Soy Amado quilts. You can read more on her blog. I'm planning to get a good few blocks done to send this way. It will be a good way to clear out blocks for quilts that I just don't feel the love for anymore and that I know I won't end up finishing.

Getting back in the saddle

I've got 12 partly done projects with me at the moment and 2 weeks left on this contract.  Let's see how many I can get done by the end of the month.

Yellow and orange BSJ - this needs seaming and buttons sewing on.

Purple and blue BSJ - this needs ends weaving, seaming, buttons buying, button holes making (for some reason I didn't make the button holes whilst I was knitting it) and buttons sewing on.

A white scarf which I was given as a kit for Christmas 4 years ago. I'm around halfway and it's an easy knit which would be good to get finished.

Baby Norgi.  I started this for my niece before she was born (so about 3 years ago) it has been ripped out once as I had the yarn dominance wrong for the colourwork.  When I restarted I went with a bigger size but if I don't get on with it then it will be too small. I'm partway through the pattern section across the chest and this has steeking which may take me a while to brave.

Katrinkles Christmas decorations. These have been finished they just need felt glueing to the back to hide the ends.

Needle felted Christmas decorations. These will be an ongoing project but for this month I'm aiming to get the 5 partly done ones finished.

Sea socks. These are my current work project and are ticking along slowly but surely.

Crochet hexagons. These are going to be a table runner and placemats for my house. They've been kicking about for over 10 years. The original plan had been a blanket but when I picked up the project again most of the colours had been discontinued hence the redesign. All of the hexies for the runner are completed and I think I'm down to the last 2 placemats. I need to get things blocked and then joined together.

More hexies, EPP this time. I bought the fabric over 10 years ago to make a quilt for my cousin's new born. I was so overwhelmed with the design possibilities that I couldn't even decide upon size. All I knew was that I wanted to use hexagons. When I moved into my flat in 2015 I started going through my fabric stash that had been in hiding for a while and pulled out these fabrics. I doodled about and picked a size of hexies that meant I would get a number in each fabric (I had fat 1/8's) and that wouldn't be too small. All of the hexies have been basted and I've made a start on sewing them together. I'm aiming for random. I have a recipient in mind (unless it takes me another 10 years!) and backing fabric picked out.

Goats hat and mitts. These are for a friend and have had slow progress made on them, they've been on the go for around a year and I'm almost done on he first mitt. It's stranded colourwork and I think it's currently too loose which is why it's in timeout. I think I need to finish the mitt, then work on the hat and then reassess mitt...

Barcelona Snood. This is a fairly new project with some yarn I got in a giveaway. It's growing slowly as it's 5 rows of purl then 1 row with lots of short row action. I think I'm around halfway through the yarn.

Then finally spinning. I have a grey single that needs plying and the skeins I've spun over Christmas and new year need a bath.

Phew. In February I'll be at home for a couple of weeks and can put together a list of things there that need finishing too.

Knitting Olympics 2014

The winter Olympics in Sochi kick off this afternoon and I have a little knitting planned. Baby Norgi, this has been in my queue for several years now and I think it's finally time to tackle it. It's colourwork again, but this time I'm upping the stakes as this pattern features steeking!

I've been stash raiding for the yarn for this and have come up with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight in Sweet Pea and Pining 4 Ewe and Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce.

Having a closer look at the pattern I noticed that I'm short of the Sweet Pea that I need for the background. So, I'm going to cast on and keep my fingers crossed that someone on Ravelry will be destashing a skein!

I'm off to look for some needles as I've got just over an hour and a half until the opening ceremony starts. (As you can see I'm SO prepared for this)

When Life Gives You Lemons.....

make lemonade. Or when you accidentally felt your new hand knit socks that you only got to wear twice .....

make a sock monkey!

This little fellow will be off to his new home next week. I hope they like him.

Antipodean February Baby Sweater

Pattern: February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Sundara sock yarn in Charcoal over Blue Lagoon

Needles: 3.75mm circular

Cast on: February 2012

Cast off: March 2012

A friend saw the green February baby sweater that I made and was disappointed to find out that it had gone to someone else. I had did a lot of travelling this year and as this is a perfect travel knit I decided to make another.

This was cast on on the runway at Heathrow and cast off in Paihia, New Zealand.

The little buttons came from the button jar at home, and quite possibly from something I wore as a child.

I think if I make this again I might try a different lace pattern just to mix it up a bit. 

Baby Yours

Look some one made me a cardi!

Pattern: Baby Yours by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Yarn: Socks that Rock mediumweight in Ghillie Dhu

Needles: 3.5mm bamboo 

Cast On: July 2011

Cast Off: December 2011

This is the companion pattern to Baby Mine. Where as the Baby Mine has delicate lacy detail on the sleeves and body - perfect for a little girl - Baby Yours has chunky cables and lovely off centre buttons.

Hey, look at me, aren't I cute in my cardi?

When my friend announced that she was expecting I knew this was the perfect knit for her. And with a Scottish dad the yarn - Ghillie Dhu - that I had purchased with the pattern was perfect too. Ghillie Dhu is an off white, it has the lightest hint of green to it in a delicately variegated yarn.

The pattern is really sweet. A nice boxy little boy cardigan with a great cable on the front and moss stitch borders and sleeves. I love the interest of the a-symetric buttons allowing for the wide cable motif on the front.

Look, here's my man an C & A pose.

I went for nice chunky wooden buttons for this knit. Again, these were from John Lewis and chosen for this cardigan.

Dude, enough with the photos already. I know I'm cute but seriously!

Mmm, cosy cardi xx

Baby Mine

Pattern: Baby Mine by Stephanie Pearl-McFee

Yarn: Socks that Rock medium weight in Lauma

Needles: 3.5mm bamboo DPN's and 3.5mm Addi lace circulars

Cast on: November 2011

Cast off: May 2012

I purchased the pattern and yarn for this in November 2008, just after it was released. I also bought the pattern and yarn for Baby Yours. The intention was to knit Baby Yours for a forthcoming baby of unknown sex and Baby Mine for the older sister. Then as is often the way, life happened and the yarn dropped to the bottom of the stash.

I added the two patterns to the 11 in 11 list as I really wanted to make them. I figured that babies the right size would come along to claim them once I'd completed them.

It was a good pattern to knit, easy to follow, and I'm really pleased with the finished cardigan. I did have to knit the sleeves twice as I picked up a different size needle for the body, and found I preferred the look of the body to that of the sleeves. So, I ripped back and re knit the sleeves - a happy accident as I think the finished item is better for the size smaller needle.

I chose some contrasting grey buttons from John Lewis which I think finished off this cute knit nicely.

My Big Fat Baby Blanket

Pattern: Square Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac
Yarn: Rowan Little Big Wool (507 Brown), Rowan Big Wool (043 Forest)
Needles: 10mm Addi Circulars
Cast on: November 2011
Cast off: November 2011

This is a little pram/cot sized version of my Big Fat Bed Blanket (hence the name). I used a couple of balls of pale brown that were left over from my blanket and bought a ball of green for the edging to make it up to a sensible size.

The edge is in moss stitch to help to keep the blanket flat. As the yarn for the edge is thicker it has a bit of a ripple to it which I quite like. I like the colour combination too, perfect for the little bruiser that it has gone to.

11 in 11 Update

Well, it's been quiet around here lately. I've been blogging sporadically here and knitting has been happening which I'll try and get onto the blog. But first 11 in 11. As I'm sure you've guessed from the silence at the end of 2011 I didn't manage to complete all of the planned projects. I've continued with the list into this year so a quick round up is in order.

Baby Surprise Jacket #1 Finished, blogged and delivered.

Tiny Tea Leaves #2 Finished, blogged and delivered.

Poppy #3 Finished, blogged, still waiting for a home.

February Baby Sweater #4 Finished, blogged and sent to a new home, complete with matching socks.

Baby Yours #5 Finished, blogged and delivered to this little chap. 

Kusha Kusha #6 Knitting finished, blocked, still needs the ends weaving in.

Alhambra #7 Still on the needles with zero progress.

Pomatomus #8 Waiting to be pulled out and reknit - tension too loose. 

Baby Mine #9 Finished, delivered but still to be blogged.

Girasole #10 Finished, waiting to be blogged.

Anemoi #11 Still waiting to be started.

As I did so well on last years challenge I decided not to set one for myself this year. I'm still trying to use stash yarns and the remaining 11 in 11 projects are still on the knitting list and hopefully might be finished by the end of 2012! 

My Big Fat Bed Blanket

Pattern: Square Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool, Rowan Little Big Wool (501 Pink, 507 Brown, 511 Green, 512 Blue), Rowan Biggie Print, other oddments of Rowan chunky wools
Needles:10mm bamboo DPNs, 10mm Addi Circulars (1 x 90cm cable, 2 x 1m cable), 10mm Inox circular (80cm cable)
Cast on: October 2010
Cast off: April 2011


This project had been percolating for a while before I cast on. I had a bunch of  chunky yarn remnants from my early knitting projects including a sweaters worth of yarn that I reclaimed from a very unflattering FO! I bought some additional yarn to make mittens for Christmas 2009 knowing that the remnants would be added to this project.



I used the Square Shawl pattern from EZ's Knitter's Almanac. I decided not to add any kind of lace or cable pattern but to just stick with stripes. I didn't plan the sequence of stripes but just looked at what I had when each ball ran out and decided then whether to change colours or knit another ball of the same colour. I kept an eye on the amounts I had, using the small quantities early on. I only set myself 1 rule and that was that each colour had to do a full round. The stripes are different widths depending upon the amounts I had of each colour and what had fallen before the current stripe. I tried to mix up wide and narrow stripes to keep the irregular look. I had to rip a few rows at one point as I had overestimated the amount of the bright blue I had and it ran out midway around. It's a great pattern, and the circular cast on is pretty nifty (it did take me a few goes as I'm rubbish with a crochet hook).


This was a bit of a monster knitting project and by the end I was working with 4 large circular needles and knitting sat on my bed as I couldn't wrangle the project whilst sat in a chair! It did keep me warm while knitting it and I had to keep fighting the urge to stop knitting and take a nap. A blanket (or blankets) are a necessity at home as the heating is only turned on for a few days over Christmas each year and this is living up to expectations on the toastyness front. Which makes me very happy. I cheated a little (a lot!) and only wove in the ends that were close to the edge or the corner shaping (don't tell anyone will you?) and would show from the front (there were an awful lot of ends to weave in after all).



Oh, I should probably mention that the blanket comfortably covers my double bed (I think it would happily cover a king size). Definitely a Big Fat Bed Blanket!