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. 

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.

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!

Bad Girl

For a girl on the wagon I've acquired a few skeins of yarn this year.

Misti Alpaca - Northern Lights

Kozmos - Mallard

Juno Pearl - Canopy

Wollmeise Twin - Sabrina

Wollmeise 100% - Sanguinella

Cascade 220 - Framboise

Cascade 220 - Azure

Cascade 220 - Burnt Orange

Cascade 220 - Hunter Green

Cascade 220 - Chocolate

The Cascade is for hats as requested by my god daughters (one pink with flowers and one striped), but I have no firm plans for the rest. The Wollmeise will most likely become socks. I was thinking Baby Surprise Jacket for the Misti Alpaca and some kind of shawlette or scarf with the Kozmos and Juno Pearl but who knows?

Slow Going

Well 11 in 11 has gone from ticking along nicely to very slow going. Some progress is being made but not nearly enough if I'm going to manage to reach the finishing line.

Baby Surprise Jacket #1

Tiny Tea Leaves #2

Poppy #3

February Baby Sweater #4

Baby Yours #5

Kusha Kusha #6

Alhambra #7

Pomatomus #8

Baby Surprise Jacket, Tiny Tea Leaves, Poppy and February Baby Sweater are all finished.

Baby Yours has been knit and block and just waits to be seamed.

Kusha Kusha has been finished and blocked, I'm just waiting for it to dry so that I can weave ends and declare it completed.

Alhambra has passed the half way mark but remains stalled as I have to concentrate while knitting it. A concerted effort on this would see it done in a week.

I have been knitting Pomatomus on the tube and have reached the foot on sock one. I have 2 more weeks of tube travel before Christmas and hope to get sock one finished and a good portion of the second leg done.

Baby Mine is the last of the started projects and at the moment is one almost complete sleeve. This will be going with me to Spain and a couple of airport waits, flights and nights away on my own will (fingers crossed) see the back of this project broken.

And that just leaves projects 10 and 11. I had planned these to be Anemoi (a pair of stranded colourwork mittens) and Girasol (a circular lace shawl). While finishing the cast on projects this year is a possibility I'm pretty sure I'd need a thirteenth month to add completed Anemoi and Girasol to them. While my rules would allow substitution of a simpler pattern it feels a bit like cheating as I'd always planned to include Girasol in the years knitting. The most important knits will be finished - baby garments for imminent arrivals - and if they others don't quite make it ...

New Tricks

Yesterday I went to London to take a knitting class. My first ever knitting class. Fair Isle the continental way with Juju Vale at Loop in Islington.

I had a great time. The group was nice and small and each student was able to move at their own pace with Juju working her way around encouraging people forward as they were ready. The classroom is in the basement of the shop and quiet despite the bustle of the store above.

When we arrived the table was set with a circular needle at each place and inviting groups of Spindrift yarn.   We started off working with one colour and learnt the long tail cast on before joining into a round and learning to magic loop. Once we were familiar with magic loop we moved on to knitting continental style. And here I stayed for a while as I just could not get my fingers to cooperate! Finally I was able to introduce a second colour and start to follow a chart.

 We were then shown how to catch long floats, purl continental and knit corrugated rib. I started to try these but with my new slower continental style ran out of time! I have a stranded colourwork project lined up for 11 in 11 and hope that by the time I have completed that I shall be a dab hand at continental knitting as I can see how useful it will be to have in my arsenal of skills. I don't think I shall be swapping my DPN's for magic loop any time soon though.

Ten Tiny Toes

Pattern: Baby hat, socks and mitts by Sue Morgan
Yarn: Sundara sock yarn in Pine Over Gold
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPN
Cast on: July 2011
Cast off: August 2011

I cast these on as I finished February Baby Sweater to use up the small amount of left over yarn. They are from a pattern purchased at Get Knitted a number of years ago and are by the same designer as my go to adult socks. I doubled the length of cuff that the pattern calls for and knit it all in my standard K2 P1 rib to give an extra anchor against a sock resistant baby.

These are a really satisfying knit. They are quick, use a tiny amount of yarn and with their tiny heels and toes are super cute!

Ticking Along Nicely

With the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally fast approaching I've finally cast on some yarn I purchased there three years ago!

These are both 11 in 11 projects as the patterns have been queued for longer than I've had the yarn. And with these 2 projects well under way that puts me in a better position for hitting my target than I'd previously thought. I thought I had 6 more projects to cast on for but it turns out I only need 4 more. 7 + 4 = 11 right? right? someone please tell me I'm right!