Felting is my new love! After the success of my teeny-tiny tote bag I’ve been itching to try something else. A couple of weekends ago I bought Simply Knitting magazine and whilst flicking through found a pattern for a pair of felted slippers for a child “Pixie Feet”

These appealed to me on all sorts of levels – sock knitting, felting… and I’m a sucker for anything really cute for little people (I have three nephews between 6 months and 8 years, four god-children aged 1 year to 7 years and at least 6 other children of friends whom I give birthday and christmas presents. They invariably get at least one hand-knitted item each per year!!!). So, I ordered some felting wool from my new favourite yarn supplier – The Natural Dye Studio – and some huge 8mm dpns (these are Addi Champagne, lovely clear plastic with gold glitter inside!) from Angel Yarns.

These arrived this week and today I made some slippers – here’s how I did it.

Step 1 – Knitting.

The wool is really chunky and the dpn’s seem huge! After spending months knitting 2ply wool on 2mm needles it was so gratifying to knit something that produces results so quickly!

within what seemed like minutes I had two huge “socks”

(The i-cord extensions on the toes will form a curly “pixie toe” once finished and will have a pom-pom sewn on the end.)

ready for…

Step 2 – Felting

This is the slippers going in to the machine….

this is after one wash…. 

… and coming out after the second wash.

Step 3 – Blocking

After a bit of stretching and shaping this is the slippers stuffed with paper and drying -

 I’m pretty pleased with the way they’ve turned out. I have some pink wool from The Natural Dye Studio to make another pair and also some chunky wool in my stash that I’ve been trying to think of something to do with. I think that there may be several little people out there getting a pair of these for Christmas.

btw the colour is called “Atlantic”.

The baby shawl border is making progress, hopefully only a few more hours of knitting then I can sew it on and we’re finished.

In between I have completed another pair of socks – I’ve been off work with flu and sat inside doing nothing but knitting so things are flying off the needles!

these are in Opal Magic knit to the pattern that comes with Opal Yarn. Finished in two days.

I’ve also finished one of a pair of socks for my hubby – Railway Stitch socks from Knitting Vintage socks by Nancy Bush in Regia 4ply grey with  blue contrast 

This is a lacy mohair scarf/stole which I completed knitting some time ago but have only just managed to block -

I’m really pleased with the way it’s turned out, it was 25gm ball of hand-spun superfine kid mohair in a wonderful peacock blue/green with a black core. The scarf is about 150cm by 45cm and was adapted from a pattern in Rowan 38 designed for Kid Silk Haze. It was knit on 7mm needles and is like wearing a cobweb.

This is going to be a surprise pressie for a friend and hopefully will make a great addition to her outfits for Christmas parties!

It’s been a nice sunny day here and my hubby has been taking some photos so I laid out my socks and got him to take some piccy’s for me, here are the results.

I’ve only been knitting socks for a few months so don’t have many as yet but I like the ones I’ve knit so far.

This was the pair that started it all, Opal Lollipop (1016 I think) bought as a sock knitting kit with 2.5mm dpn’s and stitch markers. Knit up to the free pattern that comes with Opal wool.These are now about 10 months old and have been well worn in that time.

They have felted only slightly and the ribbing is a little loose but apart from that they are great and I love the colours.

From the left – my first pair in Opal Magic; hand dyed merino yarn from The Natural Dye Studio knit to the universal toe-up sock formula on Knitty; Jaywalkers in Opal Prisma; Shell Pattern socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, knit in more hand-dyed yarn from The Natural Dye Studio; Men’s sock in Railway Stitch from Knitting Vintage Socks in Regia 4ply grey & blue; Opal Magic colour 1060 knit to the free Opal pattern again.

Here are some arty shots of my socks in the sunshine -

This is a meme for Sockret Pal – my 5 top sock patterns. As I’ve only been knitting socks for a few months and have not knit many pairs so far I don’t know if I have 5 but here are the socks I’ve enjoyed knitting so far –

Jaywalker by Grumperina which I knit with Opal Prisma in an orange colourway. The patterning was lovely and is great with the stripey yarn.

Gentleman’s Sock in Railway Stitch from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. I have actually finished one sock but don’t have a photo yet. The pattern is very simple but gives a lovely thick fabric. This is knit wit Regia 4ply.

Shell Pattern sock from Knitting Vintage Socks again. (I only have the one book of sock patterns!)

I’ll add to this when I try some more, the ones I want to knit at the moment are – Baudelaire from Knitty (I started this but didn’t like the wool I was using so unpicked but now have some Opal I want to use), Bayerische which I have started, will post a picture soon, appeals to my love of aran and cables.Snickett on magknits, and Anna from Rowan 40  I want to find a really nice pattern for knee-length or over-knee socks to wear with my clogs and skirts this winter so if anyone can suggest anything let me know….

I have new shoes! My trainers were on their last legs and then my mum and I did a 10k sponsored walk for Breast Cancer on Sunday, I ended up ankle deep in mud and the trainers bit the bullet.

On Monday mum and I signed up for the Moonwalk 2007 – (see www.walkthewalk.org) and I went online to get some new trainers and here they are -

They are New Balance 709 which are the official trainers of Walk the Walk and they are white and reflective silver with bright pink laces and flashes, the insole is also bright pink. My old trainers are New Balance so I know they are comfy to walk in so hopefully these will see me through to next year.

The Moonwalk is a marathon distance walk in London in May, it is a power walk which starts from Hyde Park at midnight and is done by about 40,000 women all wearing decorated bras….did I mention it’s to raise money for breast cancer charities?

I did the Moonwalk in 2004 with my sister in law and since then have done a few other power walks, mum and I did a half marathon in about 3 and a half hours this summer. That was off-road along the Thames footpath so we hope to do the Moonwalk, which is on road, in less than 8 hours. My mum is used to taking part in marathons but she usually runs them.

I’ve just blocked out the main part of the baby shawl in the play-room (it’s called that ‘cos it’s where my hubby’s games consoles are!) so here are some photos – the blocked size is 127cm x 127cm (that’s about 50′x50′)

this is how far I have got with the border, 20cm down 480cm to go!

Well, not completely but I have at last finished the main body of the baby shawl…and here is the proof, it’s off the needles

Now I just have about 5 metres of edging to knit and sew on…..

I’ve also completed one of the shell pattern socks and a child’s 2ply sock from a vintage pattern – will post some pictures later.

Sitting on my sofa feeling sorry for myself and full of cold at the moment, hoping to get rid of it quickly as I’m doing a charity walk for Cancer Research on Sunday with my mum.

I know, I’m a bit late catching on (it is the 9th and I’ve missed more than a week) but having seen this “Socktoberfest” mentioned on several other blogs I finally got curious and went to check it out.

I’ve put links to all my sock related postings in a Socktoberfest category over on the right and will get pictures of all my completed socks soon (that’s not very many btw).

So, to start my Socktoberfest posts here is a short questionnaire posted by Lolly -

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

At the end of last year I was talking to my sister in law about knitting, she was asking some advice and asked me how difficult it was to knit socks as an elderly friend had mentioned she’d like some warm socks. I replied that I had never tried knitting socks. Next time I was in my LYS I noticed a basket of Opal self patterning yarn on the counter and a “knit your own sock kit” in the same yarn – a ball of yarn, needles, stitch-markers and a pattern for a pair of socks. As it was close to Christmas I bought one as a present for her. Whilst wrapping it I thought “I’d like to try that too” – I love to learn new knitting techniques, so I went and bought myself a kit and by the end of the first week of January I’d knit my first pair of top down socks in self patterning Opal.

So – completely self taught from a free set of instructions and since then from other free/bought patterns.

What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

As detailed above, they are only about 9 months old but have been well worn – will post a photo soon!
At the moment I can’t see anything I would do differently but am still learning and I’m sure that in a year I will see things that I could do better.What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Haven’t had much experience yet but my favourite so far was hand-dyed merino yarn from The Natural Dye Studio. Lovely soft yarn and they use only natural, historical dyes so the colours are not harsh…so far one pair completed and one in progress -

this was my second ever pair of socks – in hand-dyed merino “Cherry Blossom” toe-up socks from the universal toe-up sock formula on Knitty.com

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

So far I have only knit on DPNs – my crochet skills are not good although I keep trying.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

No preference so far – one pair flap, one pair short row, one sock of a pair French Heel…I like to try new techniques so will keep experimenting.

How many pairs have you made?

3 and a half – My first Opal pair, the Cherry Blossoms above, a pair of Jaywalkers in Opal prisma shown below and one sock of a pair of Shell Pattern socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush in more hand-painted yarn from The Natural Dye Studio -

in progress – child’s socks in the remaining orange/white Prisma, Baudelaire in red vintage yarn

This is our resident red kite circling the house yesterday afternoon -

Red Kites were wiped out in England in the 1800’s. There were some left in Wales but it was unlikely these birds would return to repopulate other areas. Between 1998 and 1994 kites were brought from Spain and reintroduced to England at Christmas Common in the Chilterns, just a few miles away from us here. These kites began breeding in 1992 and are now thriving.
Red Kite are now a common site in the skies over South Buckinghamshire and West Berkshire and Oxfordshire and are spreading further …but even after several years of seeing them in the sky it still brings a thrill to hear the cry and look up and see one circling.

We have a pair which hunt for food over the school playing field to the rear of our house and the green to the front and so they are often seen circling over our garden and getting mobbed by the crows.

I know it’s a bit early but I like to get my puddings made as early as I can -

“Stir up Sunday” is traditionally the last Sunday before Advent (or the 25th after Trinity as I’ve sen elsewhere) this would make it either 26th November or 3rd December and is the day on which Christmas Puddings were made. The name may come from the start of the Collect for this day in the Book of Common Prayer “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded”
There are lots of traditions around this event – many of which I inherited from my Nan along with the responsibility for making the families puddings.

As a child I have vivid memories of visiting my nan on “stir up Sunday” when her whole kitchen would be given over to marinating fruit, mixing bowls of pudding mixture and steaming puddings. The main tradition I remember is that everyone in the family has to have a stir and make a wish as they stir. This is a tradition I like to carry on and so my hubby had to stir and wish today.

Another tradition is that the pudding should contain 13 ingredients to represent Christ and his disciples, my pudding is adapted from my nan’s recipe but I tend to change the fruit content each year. This year I used sultanas, apricots, figs, dates, cranberries & peel all soaked in brandy (Henessy cognac actually)

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