I promised a while ago I would post some pictures of the finished socks I knitted for my God-Daughter last week.

The yarn is Sockotta (recieved from my lovely Sockret Angel) knit on 2.5mm needles and the pattern was a patchwork of the cuff from Rolling Thunder on www.knitty.com and a scaled down version of the Golfing Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, model is my lovely G-D.

Sorry the colour isn’t brilliant I’ll try and get some action shots in daylight with the roller-skates!

On the needles at the moment- I decided on Monkey for the Sockret Pal Hot-Sox and they’re looking pretty funky -

I promised a while ago I would post some pictures of the finished socks I knitted for my God-Daughter last week.

The yarn is Sockotta (recieved from my lovely Sockret Angel) knit on 2.5mm needles and the pattern was a patchwork of the cuff from Rolling Thunder on www.knitty.com and a scaled down version of the Golfing Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, model is my lovely G-D.

Sorry the colour isn’t brilliant I’ll try and get some action shots in daylight with the roller-skates!

On the needles at the moment- I decided on Monkey for the Sockret Pal Hot-Sox and they’re looking pretty funky -

I finished the Shell Pattern Socks for the January Challenge on Vintage Socks KAL - here are some piccies

 Pattern: Child’s First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush

Mods: knitted longer than the pattern to fit my feet

Yarn: Pure Merino Sock Wool from www.thenaturaldyestudio.com colour is “Jewel” - pinks and blues. All their dyes are natural and organic  and give lovely subtle shades.

I really like this pattern and the way it knits up in this yarn. The style of the sock suits my feet, which are very narrow, and gives a lovely snug fit unlike a lot of socks which can be baggy on me.

I’m wearing them as I write this and I can say that they are very warm and very comfortable.

I really want to knit some cable socks now - I have some Opal 4-ply and keep seeing piccies of people who’ve knit lovely cable socks like - Austrian Diamonds on Pat’s Blog and ages I go I saw the Bayerische on Eunny’s blog. So I think this may be my new project, although I am also thinking of knitting Monkey with my Hot Socks Sockret Pal yarn

Hmm….off to ponder…..

Hooray - it’s been a very long week….and Thursday we had a meeting with the social workers re the adoption progress. This meant I took a day off Thursday and then it was SOOOOO hard to get up this morning to go to work!

But, it’s Friday with two days of weekend ahead of me. So progress?

The Pink Beaded Roller Boot socks for my God-Daughter were completed but unfortunately not *quite* in time for her birthday on Monday. I did have one completed so she got to try it for size and it was perfect. I’m taking the completed pair round tomorrow so I’ll take a piccy then.

My second Shell Pattern sock for the Vintage Socks KAL is very nearly finished and so I should be posting completed pics tomorrow for those too.

Now, Sonja at Knitwit Central has tagged me for this so here goes -

A- Available or single? No

B- Best Friend? Dawn.
C- Cake or Pie? Banoffee Pie pleeese
D- Drink of Choice? Tea or Semillon Chardonnay depending on my mood
E- Essential Item? my filofax - it contains my life and without it I wouldn’t know  where I was going or when!.
F- Favorite Color? Purple.
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? hmmm - don’t really have either in England (I’m not entirely sure what Worms are - apart from the ones in my garden) can I say Jelly Babies - they’re sort of English Gummi Bears.
H- Hometown? Marlow, Bucks.
I- Indulgence? very long baths with loads of oils & candles.
J- January or February? February ‘cos it’s nearly Spring.
K- Kids and names? no (hopefully that will change this year).
L- Life is incomplete without? my wonderful hubby.
M- Marriage Date? 15th September 2001.
N- Number of Siblings? two younger brothers.
O- Oranges or apples? apples.
P- Phobias/Fears? flying.
Q- Favorite Quote? “I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me”.
R- Reason to Smile? my friends.
S- Season? Autumn.
T- Tag three people! Tracey at Gwelva Kernewek, Jonathan at Life and TImes, and Nina in Norway
U- Unknown Fact About Me? there are very few unknown facts as I share everything with anyone who’ll listen but maybe blog-readers might not know that I’m vegetarian.
V- Vegetable you hate? sweetcorn.
W- Worst habit? I bite my nails down till they are painful.
X- X-Rays you’ve had? wow - loads of my back when I was younger (I have a scoliosis curve), my hand (to get my “bone age” whilst being treated for the scoliosis), my mouth at the dentist.
Y- Your favorite food? Cheese - any and all types
Z- Zodiac? Aries the Ram -and I am a typical Aries, adventurous & pioneering but also impulsive and quick-tempered.

Promise to post some piccies tomorrow

And not just any new shoes - yes, they’re Crocs. I’ve wanted a pair of these since I saw them in a shop on the Isles of Scilly last summer and the damp weather of January (and a sale on a website) finally spurred me to buy them.

I also got two free “jibbitz” with them, a basketball and a pair of flip-flops - not the ones I would have chosen so I’ll have to look out for some others. The Crocs are fantastic though and really comfy (and bright pink!!!)

Also arrived this weekend, two skeins of yarn from my favourite  hand-dyer, The Natural Yarn Studio. I just joined their sock-club which means I get their new dye colours each month and a discount on any other sock-yarns I buy.

The colours look a bit washed out here as it was taken under the electric light in the kitchen.

My final package this weekend was this -

That’s 20 packets of Kool-Aid for dyeing!!! I decided that my challenge for this year would be to try my hand at hand-dyeing and having looked around for ideas it looks like Kool-Aid dyeing is the easiest thing to try as a first go.

Unfortunately you can’t buy Kool-Aid in the UK and we don’t have anything vaguely like it so I had to look around for an internet supplier. I managed to find a company called Kool-Aid UK who sell Kool-Aid in the UK and, as I don’t know what colours are produced by the various flavours, I decided to buy one of their “selection packs”. So this morning 20 packets of Kool-Aid dropped onto my doormat.

I’m now off to buy some un-dyed yarn and then I’m going to be experimenting with dyeing and hand-painting with my Kool-Aid.

So - does anyone have any top tips for Kool-Aid dyeing? And what is the difference in the different “types” - is “Magic Twists”, “Mad ScienTwists”, “Ice Cool” - and I’m assuming the ones that call themselves “Invisible” wont be much good for dyeing purposes?

Any help for an uninitiated Anglo gratefully received.

I’m accepting this challenge from SJ after reading her list on her blog Knit/Wit. The idea is to list 10 things that are important to you given one letter of the alphabet - SJ has given me the letter A, so here goes. I have put these in alphabetical order as I couldn’t think of a better way to organise them.

Ooo - and I challenge you with the letter S!!!

1) Accountancy - ok, before you all drop to sleep it may be boring but it’s how I make my living so I guess it’s pretty important to me. And whilst I’m on the subject, we are not all boring - look at me!

2)Active - J says that I can never just sit still and do nothing, and he’s right. I’ve always been like it, I have to be doing something. If I’m sat watching tv I have to be knitting or embroidering as well. If I’m a passenger on a train or in a car I have to have a book or my Nintendo. I love to be outside walking or digging the garden, or baking, or sewing…or something.

When I was at school I was in at least one lunchtime club every day and most evenings I did something - school choir, orchestra, church choir, bellringing, girl guides, choral society, paper round. I don’t think I had an evening free!! And then there were girl guide camps and weekend activities - climbing, hiking, fire-lighting..

3) Adoption - my hubby and I are currently going through the process of being assessed for approval to adopt. We made the decision early last year that this was going to be the way that we got the family that we want. Hopefully this year will be the year that we become a family and adoption is going to part of our lives forever.

4) The Alchemist -

this book by Paolo Coelho had a huge impact on me at a time in my life when I needed some direction. It was given to me by a good friend who saw that I needed some guidance. I read it first in one night and since then have read it many times. It gave me the courage to do the things I had always wanted to do….I went on my own journey (and made it to Egypt on the way) and found my soul mate. I have since given this book to several people myself and recommended it to many more.

5) Anglo - I am very definitely an English woman. I love England and everything about it and could not even imagine living anywhere else. I love the climate (yes, really), the way the seasons change, the huge range of scenery from the Lake District, to the mountains of North Wales to the rolling chalk hills of the downland where I hail from. I love English people in all their massive variety - an Australian friend once commented how amazing it was that people from 2 villages not 10 miles apart could speak, not just with a different accent, but with a completely different dialect!

I love our traditions - christmas puddings, Simnel cake, Morris Dancing, Aunt Sally, village fetes, Punch & Judy, deckchairs at the seaside, Beefeaters on guard at the Tower of London and Pantimimes at Christmas.

6) Aquamarine - my birthstone and also the stone in my engagement ring which symbolises my wonderful relationship with J. According to legend, the aquamarine originated in the chest of fabulous mermaids and is the sailor’s lucky gem said to ward off sea-sikness. Traditions say that the stone promises a happy marriage and will bring joy and wealth to the woman who wears it….not doing bad so far I have to say…other legends say it endows the wearer with foresight and courage and will increase intelligence and make one youthful!

My aquamarine has certainly brought me happiness in the form of my wonderfull hubby as to the youthfulness….hmm, guess you’d have to ask him!

7) Aran- my favourite type of knitting. I love the intricate cable patterns, I love the texture of the fabric produced and I love wearing big, thick, warm aran sweaters. I think I need to knit another very soon.   

8) Aries - the Ram, that’s me. Arians are adventurous, energetic, pioneering, enthusiastic, confident, quick-witted but also selfish, quick-tempered, impulsive, impatient and foolhardy.

Enough said.

9) Arts and Crafts - both with small letters and capitals. That is, with small letters - I love both viewing and doing any form of art or craft and with capitals, I am a big fan of the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris &c. 

I have always loved doing arts & crafts, as a child I was never happier that when doing something crafty, and some of the best presents I ever had were crafty things - a bead loom, a Shaker Maker, a soap making kit, a cameo making kit. I tried my hand at anything I saw - scraperboard pictures, corn dolly making, macrame, knitting, needlepoint. I also loved drawing, although I’m not so happy painting, and actually made to to A level Art at school.

As for William Morris- I loved his ideals and the things he produced, I love the Pre-Raphaelite painters who were his contemporaries and have prints of several in my house

 10) Autumn - my favourite season. I always refer to myself as an autumn person. Autumn colours suit me best - oranges, browns, purples - I love the change from the heat of summer into the long, warm days of autumn. I love everything coming into fruit - apples, blackberries, elderberries. I love the leaves changing into their wonderful autumn colours. I love the feeling of expectation - the birds getting ready to migrate, the hedgehogs getting ready to hibernate, the sense that Christmas is coming, the making ready for the cold days of winter.

I got married in the autumn, September, and it was a perfect autumn day.

Thought I’d post some photos of my current WIP as the sun tried to come out this morning to enable me to take some daylight photos. It soon thought better of it and scurried back behind the clouds however so I’m sat here at 10 in the morning with the lights on!

First, a sock for my God-Daughter -

this is the Sockotta that I got from my Sockret Angel, I was going to knit something for myself with all my Sockret goodies but the colours just seemed perfect for socks for a 6 year old who is into Barbie and pink in a big way! She got Roller boots for Christmas (pink of course, with flashing lights in the wheels) and for her birthday this Sunday I wanted to knit her some nice cosy socks to wear with them.

I decided to knit stockings with a turn-over cuff, the cuff is adapted from the Rolling Thunder sock cuff at knitty.com - it has little pink beads. I then turned inside out and knit 2×2 rib for the inside of the cuff. The sock itself is in k3 p1 rib - like the Lichen rib sock from Knitting Vintage Socks that I used for my Socks that Rock.

I put in some decreases to shape the calf and have put in a Welsh Heel and am just working on the foot now. Not sure what sort of toe I will put in. She has quite narrow feet so possibly a pointed toe rather than a flat one.

Next, my January Challenge Sock from the Vintage Sock KAL

I’ve turned the heel on this as well and got quite a long way with the foot - about another 4″ before I can start the toe as I need to knit it a little longer than the pattern calls for. I knit another pair of these a while back to the pattern and they were slightly small for me (they were for someone else though so that was fine!)

Thirdly, although this is very nearly a FO - an afghan square

As you can see not quite a FO as I need to block and weave in the ends. This is a 7″x7″ afghan square for another swap I’ve signed up to, Crazy Afghan Squares. We each knit/crochet 4 Afghan squares and send them to 4 different recipients so everyone gets 4 different squares. This is the second time this has run but I was too busy with my charity knitting to take part in the last one. If it runs again I get another 8 so hopefully I’ll have enough for an Afghan throw eventually!

This was knit with Sugar ‘n’ Cream and is a honeycomb aran pattern - supposed to symbolise the bee and hardwork and it’s rewards.

So, on to my Marathon Training! I know this is a knitting blog but this training is going to be a big part of my life for the next 20 weeks so I want to record it somewhere. Yes, I’m doing a marathon - No, I am NOT running. One runner in the family (my mum) is quite enough. This is a powerwalking marathon called the Moonwalk run by a charity called Walk the Walk

Walk the Walk organise power-walk marathons to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research and care. The Moonwalk is so called because it starts at Midnight in Hyde Park, London and walks through the night. It is mainly women walking - several thousand - and they all walk in decorated bras! That’s right, thousands of women walking through the streets of London at night in their bras!

I did the Moonwalk in 2004 with my sister in law - here’s me at the start

and walking past the London Eye (about mile 19)

and here we are at the finish

We did the 26 miles in just over 8 hours which we were really pleased with, especially Jane who was having treatment for breast cancer just a few months before we walked.

This year I’m doing the walk with my mum, she’s a runner really but hasn’t managed to persuade me to run so I’ve got her power walking. We did a half-marathon last summer and managed to sign up for the Moonwalk which is on the 19th/20th May 2007.

Watch this space for details of my training programme - I really want to beat 8 hours this year.

As I promised some time ago, I am posting the scarf I knit from the kit I was sent in the Knit Kit Swap I took part in a little while ago.

This was knit with Manos del Uruguay to a wavy stripe pattern that came from London Yarns.

I love the way the stripey pattern has come out and the yarn is so soft and thick. This is my favourite scarf at the moment as it keeps me really warm!

Here it is in action!

Getting the most out of our Christmas tree before it comes down on the 5th….boo hoo

Simpson had to get in on the photo of course…

This is the first sunny day we’ve had since I finished knitting it when I’ve been able to take photos so I thought I’d better make the most.

Thanks once again Dashenka!

Also, I have signed up for several other things now - I’m hooked!!! As well as the Vintage Socks Knitalong January Challenge mentioned in earlier swaps and the ongoing Sockret Pal Swap I just joined Yarn Snobs Unite!, Crazy Afghan Squares 2 (run by the afore mentioned Dashenka) and Valentine Magic Yarn Ball all on swapbot.com

Before leaving my in-laws in Cornwall today to come home I managed to complete my first pair of socks of the year.

These were knit with the Socks that Rock “Xmas Rock” wool that arrived in my Sockret Angel package on Friday (see my earlier post) and the pattern was the Lichen Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks.

I love the way this yarn has patterned up with the spiral stripes round leg and foot and the big pools round the gusset - and they are so comfortable. I’ve decided that the Star Toe of Three Points used in this pattern is my favourite toe - it obviously suits my foot shape as these are the most comfy fitting socks I’ve knit so far.

The rest of the day was spent on the A38, M5 and M40  travelling from Cornwall back home to Buckinghamshire in torrential rain-

This evening I managed to get a bit more done on my Vintage Socks KAL January Challenge Sock which is the Shell Pattern sock cast on at midnight last night! I’m knitting it in hand-dyed merino yarn from the Natural Dye Studio.

Progress so far is the cuff and 2 and a half repeats of the pattern in the leg.

Happy New Year to you all! It has just hit midnight here in the UK so it’s already 2007 - hope yours is a good one.

Spent this afternoon visiting a blogging friend in person for the first time. She and her family live 10 minutes from my in-laws where we are staying for New Year. I got the chance to see the socks I knitted for her daughters “in action”. I posted about these in December when I was racing to get them finished in time to post.
Here they are -

Thanks for a lovely afternoon to Tracey and her family.

My first knitting of 2007 is in progress, I belong to the Vintage Sox Knitalong group on Yahoo and we have a January Challenge to knit a pair of socks from Nancy Bush’s book in January - so I cast on at 1 minute past midnight!

This is the gang in front of the fire at Polvenna - from l at front; f-i-l, m-i-l, J’s uncle, me, J.

Off to drink more champagne now - happy blogging for 2007