Readers of my blog will know that last month I went for the first time to join a group of knitters in a local pub, our next get together is this coming Monday. Reading someone elses blog I came across a link to WWKIP Day, the World Wide Knit in Public Day, this is to be Saturday 9th June 2007 and the idea is to host a public knitting gathering and get as many people as possible to come along…

so girls - what do you think, a picnic in the park by the river? I’m not sure our usual location - the George & Dragon - would be happy with us taking over the pub on a summer Saturday!! Monday evenings when the pub is empty ok, summer Saturdays when they are packed and people spill out onto the green outside - probably not!

If anyone would be interested in a KIP Day in/around Marlow then please let me know and suggest some locations……if you happen to be from a local yarn shop in/near Marlow, Buckinghamshire then (1) let me know where you are ‘cos I desparately need a LYS!!! and (2) would you be interested in helping promote a KIP day?

I wonder if I could combine this with my continuing campaign to raise £1,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer ? 

As you can probably tell, I’m thinking this through as I speak - anyone who would be interested in a days knitting in the park in Marlow please shout!

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William Morris (one of my personal heroes) famously said “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” - well this fulfills both criteria!

This is my new yarn swift made for me by my fil Lord Nibbo in mahogany - isn’t it pretty? You can see the making of shots here on his blog.

Spending the weekend in Cornwall with my in-laws so got to collect this - and immediately put it into action to wind this….

…into….

…this!

“this” is DK Camel from www.poshyarn.co.uk which was purchased to use for ISE4 but I am not sure if it is quite right for my pal. I’ve started knitting Brooke’s Column of Leaves scarf and it looks lovely in this yarn -

The camel yarn is unbelievably soft - very close to the Garnstudio Alpaca I knit a while back. I just don’t think this is the right colour for my pal so it may well end up being a gift for someone else…have to look for something different for ISE4…..hmmmmm….

(btw - note the use of my new antique point protectors!)

Other projects here on holiday in Cornwall are -

Snicket Socks - the pattern is by Sabine Riefler and is published on www.magknits.com. I’m knitting it in the Lucia Sock yarn from www.poshyarn.co.uk which my Sockret Pal sent me. The colour is Passion and I’m loving it in this pattern.

These are holidaying with two real Newfoundlands as well as this smaller version.

This sock is the Fancy Silk Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks knit in Lorna’s Lace Shepherd Sock i the Desert Flower colourway. These are a commission from my friend Emma - if you’re reading Emma I’m about to turn the heel on the first sock so should have this finished soon, I need to check it on your foot before I finish the toe so I’ll call when I get home!

The pottery was made by my multi-talented hubby when he was doing “A” level pottery at school. On the left is a Bellarmine Jug with a Red Indian head and on the right a twisted vase. In the photo on the right you should be able to see the sea at Talland Bay but it’s a bit grey today and it burnt out a bit on the photo.

We’re hoping to get out walking tomorrow, we’re chilling today to get ourselves working on Cornish time - everything’s done “dreckly” (directly, which means sometime in the next year, no hurry!!!)

Have a good weekend.

technorati tags:ISE4, socks, poshyarn

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…..I feel as if my feet haven’t touched the ground! Monday I spent the day with my mum in London - lunch at the Victoria & Albert museum and a leisurely stroll around the textile exhibits. Unfortunately a lot of them are shut as they are being rearranged. Then over to Covent Garden for some shopping before tea and then the event of the day - Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre. This was a Mother’s Day treat for my mum and we had a lovely day.

However, the journey home was a nightmare - took us half an hour to get a cab back to Paddington, I flagged one down and some horrible rude man nearly knocked me down barging past and jumping into it! It was freezing cold as well - we’d been dodging hail storms and sleet all day! Finally got to Paddington for the last train home which got to Didcot at 12.45 at which point I still had to drive back to Marlow.

The rest of the week has passed in a bit of a blur since then …. it was my birthday on Thursday however and I got some lovely presents -

My hubby bought me all this knitting loot!

Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK in “Cocoa” which is a beautiful shade of brown, 3 pairs of Brittany Birch needles (I love them), Clover antique point protectors and stitch holders and the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch Handbook. Can’t wait to put all these together to make something wonderful…hmm, what will it be?

He also bought me this gorgeous jewelry, it’s made by a friend of ours and was designed especially for me. Check out her website www.juiceglass.com which has details of the beautiful things she makes in glass, thanks Carli - I love it…

Sorry the photos aren’t very good, I’ll get J to take some better ones when it’s sunny.

I also got a birthday card from my Sockret Pal - which was a lovely surprise - thanks Pal!

For my birthday J took me to a very posh restaurant here in town, however I only made it through my starter before I started feeling very unwell, J managed to get his main course whilst I stood outside getting some air. I felt as though I was about to faint so J decided he’d better take me home….my lovely romantic birthday meal ended at 9.00 and I was home in bed by 9.30. Spent all of Friday with a pounding headache so I think it was the start of that.

My headache had pretty much gone by the afternoon so I cast on for the Round 2 socks for Sock Madness, the pattern for which was sent out Thursday night (our time) - they were such an easy pattern to knit that I finished them really quickly and here they are -

The yarn is from The Natural Dye Studio Blue Faced Leicester “Apple Blossome” - just waiting to find out if I’ve made it through to the next round now.

Other knitting I’m working on at the moment is this ribbed cardigan in bright red Debbie Bliss Merino DK. The pattern is from Debbie Blisss Cashmerino DK reproduced in Simply Knitting Magazine but I’m using Merino DK instead. It looks very odd unblocked as the rib is all closed up so it looks really long and thin - this is the back but it looks more like a sleeve!

The cabling detail pulls the waist in to give a fitted look without decreases and increases. Colour doesn’t look quite right under electric light but it really is bright “pillar box” red.

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this is a meme my hubby found on a blog he reads and which he knew would appeal to me! So, you take the top 50 records from the year you were 18 from this website http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/  , post the list and then -

bold the ones you liked,

strike the ones you disliked

and italicize the ones you knew but didn’t particularly like or dislike.

The ones you don’t know will still be in normal text.

I took the UK top 50 singles for 1987 (OMIGOD - that’s TWENTY years ago!!!!!!!) For me, the ’80s were THE music decade..I’m an ’80s girl through and through - however 1987 was a little too late on in the decade and things were going down hill. Wham! had split (I was at the Final Concert at Wembley and cried),  house music and sampling was beginning to take a hold and we were heading into the Rave culture of the early ’90s.

MTV launched in 1987 and so suddenly we were subjected to huge production videos (luckily my family never had satellite so I never saw any of them)

Still there were a few good bands still around - messrs Stock, Aitken & Waterman were still holding sway long before we’d heard of Simon Cowell and their creation,  Rick Astley, was amazing us all with how someone so boring could sell so many records….

  1. NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP   RICK ASTLEY  I could not stand Rick Astley, he was the most uncool artist around, a product of the PWL “factory” of Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

  2. NOTHING’S GONNA STOP US NOW   Starship  this is typical 1980’s pop and was, I think, the them to the film “Mannequin” starring Andrew McCarthy - a brat pack member - and Kim Cattrell (later of Sex and the City)

  3. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME)   Whitney Houston  this song has some mixed memories, I wasn’t particularly a Whitney fan but this was “My” karaoke song at our local pub

  4. YOU WIN AGAIN   The Bee Gees  it’s the Bee Gees! What more do you need

  5. CHINA IN YOUR HAND   T’Pau  a bit forgettable but at the time I liked T’pau and I have their album. Not one that has lasted as a classic..

  6. RESPECTABLE   Mel & Kim  this was just too annoying, “Tay, tay, tay, tay, t-t-t-tay, tay, tay, take or leave us, only please believe us, we ain’t ever gonna be re-spect-able” now I’m going to have that in my head for days…

  7. STAND BY ME   Ben E.King  another movie theme tune, a “coming of age” film based on a book by Stephen King - Will Wheaton (Ensign Crusher), River Phoenix, Corey Feldman & Jerry O’Connell

  8. IT’S A SIN   The Pet Shop Boys  possibly my favourite Pet Shop Boys song

  9. STAR TREKKIN’   The Firm  very irritating novelty record “There’s Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow….”

  10. PUMP UP THE VOLUME   M/A/R/R/S   I positively, actively hated this record. It was the first big “house” record. Full of samples and scratching …. not my sort of thing at all

  11. I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING (FOR ME)   George Michael & Aretha Franklin  whereas, this is! George Michael - I love George Michael. One of my friends once said “But he’s gay” to which I replied “but I’m never going to meet him so that’s irrelevant. I have this single and cannot listen to it without singing at full volume.

  12. UNDER THE BOARDWALK  Bruce Willis  oh dear, when actors sing……

  13. LET IT BE   Ferry Aid  one of a flood of charity records following on the Band Aid band wagon, not the worst but then not the best either. This was to raise money to help after the Herald of Free Enterprise cross-channel ferry sank.

  14. ALWAYS ON MY MIND   The Pet Shop Boys  I like Pet Shop Boys but this was pretty mediocre

  15. GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU  George Harrison  I defy anyone to listen to this and not sing along and smile

  16. CAN’T BE WITHOUT YOU TONIGHT  Judy Boucher  - this I do not remember at all. Have just googled to try and trigger my memory and discovered that Ms Boucher was born in the Caribbean but relocated to High Wycombe (about 5 miles from where I live) in 1970. Still have no memory of her or the song…

  17. LA ISLA BONITA   Madonna  I never liked Madonna and still don’t. My boyfriend in 1987 was obsessed, but then so were most 18 year old boys in 1987

  18. LA BAMBA   Los Lobos  this was such a feel good record you had to like it

  19. HOLD ME NOW  Johnny Logan  vaguely remember the name of the artist but the song means nothing..

  20. WHO’S THAT GIRL?   Madonna  grrr Madonna, what is it people see in her?

  21. EVERYTHING I OWN   Boy George  I liked Culture Club but this solo was not good

  22. DOWN TO EARTH  Curiosity Killed The Cat  Ben Vol-au-Vent Pierre (as we called him) and the boys with another catchy 80’s pop tune…I actually knew someone who had their song “Name and Number” as an answer phone message (Hey, how ya doing? Sorry you can’t get through, ‘cos this is a message that’s been recorded, especially for you. And if you leave a name and a number we’ll get right back to you, you can leave a message if you want to, when the bleeps are through)

  23. WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN  Percy Sledge  this was re-released and made it into the charts after being in Levi’s commercial. One of several old soul records which suffered that fate - I remember Wonderful World by Sam Cooke and Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye.

  24. HEARTACHE  Pepsi & Shirley  I’m sorry but even my Wham! fan status couldn’t make me like this

  25. ALWAYS  Atlantic Starr  I don’t remember it well but I know I didn’t like it

  26. WHENEVER YOU NEED SOMEBODY  Rick Astley  oh no, not another Rick Astley record…they let him make another one?

  27. TOY BOY  Sinitta  I saw Sinitta the other day on pop quiz show “Never Mind the Buzzcocks” apparently she had a relationship with Simon Cowell…I’m not sure who I feel more sorry for in that.

  28. I GET THE SWEETEST FEELING  Jackie Wilson  another re-release? How many were there in this year.

  29. FAITH  George Michael  I loved this record then and now, it is still one of my favourite George records…I’m a George fan - did I mention??

  30. I JUST CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU   Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett  never a big Michael Jackson fan but I don’t mind listening to him, this song was a bit “something and nothing”

  31. LIVE IT UP  Mental As Anything  - nope, no memory

  32. LOVE IN THE FIRST DEGREE  Bananarama  “guilty, of love…guilty, of love in…guilty, of love in the third degree” why are so many songs so annoying…and the lyrics just stick..

  33. CROCKETT’S THEME  Jan Hammer  - ahhhh, Miami Vice - now that’s what I call the 1980’s. This is the “my girl friend’s just been shot, my boss has ripped a strip off me, I’m driving my porsche with the top down into the sunset with my shades on to think about life” tune

  34. ALONE  Heart  this was my other karaoke song. I love Heart, I love rock music and I love this song. Put it in the car stereo, wind the windows down, put your shades on and SCREAM it out.

  35. WIPE OUT  The Fat Boys & The Beach Boys  - Aaaagghh this was even more annoying than any of the other annoying songs so far. As soon as I hear that silly laugh “Ha-ha-ha-ha Wipe out” I cringe. And it’s the Beach Boys!!! Why-o-why-o-why did they do it??

  36. CALL ME  Spagna  what I remember most about this is Spagna’s hair, from the Limahl school of hairdressing - white and fluffed out all over the place. What we would have termed a “fright wig” back in the day. I think she was Italian and the song was very “Euro-pop”

  37. LET’S WAIT AWHILE  Janet Jackson  no, I don’t even want to think about Janet Jackson, thank you

  38. JACK YOUR BODY   Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley  although someone will probably tell me I’m wrong, I always put this in the “House” music category. Sampling and scratching. Hmmmm

  39. THE GREAT PRETENDER  Freddie Mercury  Freddie at his outrageous, larger than life self. I have this on single and album…always seems very poignant as you get the impression he really was “the Great Pretender, pretending that I’m doing fine” We miss you Freddie.

  40. MALE STRIPPER  Man 2 Man meet Man Parrish  - what? this was a song? in the charts?

  41. LEAN ON ME  Club Nouveau  - I thought I was aware of music so this must have been pretty forgettable

  42. WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?  The Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield  you can rely on the Pets to deliver a perfect pop song..

  43. SOME PEOPLE  Cliff Richard  sorry Cliff, not my thing

  44. A BOY FROM NOWHERE  Tom Jones  

  45. WITH OR WITHOUT YOU  U2  can I double strike this, I hate, hate, hate U2

  46. WISHING WELL  Terence Trent D’Arby  when I started Uni in Sept 1987 and travelled to London on a weekly basis I had this album on my Walkman - cassette walkman obviously, no CDs back then. I would listen to TTD as I crammed onto a train and made my way through the underground system

  47. HEART AND SOUL  T’Pau  see my comments re the other T’pau song

  48. FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK  The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl  I have to say I am getting to like this song less but probably because it gets played everywhere for the 2 months leading up to Christmas, along with Slade, Wizard and Last Christmas by Wham!

  49. I WANNA BE YOUR DRILL INSTRUCTOR  Abigail Mead & Nigel Goulding  - vague memory but not really

  50. MY ARMS KEEP MISSING YOU  Rick Astley and they let him keep recording, this song title always makes me smile as it reads like his arms aren’t very co-ordinated and so keep missing the girl when he goes to hug her….given Mr Astley’s dancing it wouldn’t surprise me…

I can’t believe that the songs in 1987 were so bad….I love the ’80s and I love ’80s music- how could it have got so bad?

Anyway - perhaps they trigger some memories for you.

oh - and here’s a picture of me on my 18th Birthday, I’m the one in the gorgeous electric blue mohair dress. My best friend Alison, her boyfriend (now her husband) Colin (playing the guitar) and my boyfriend at the time, Ed, were all getting ready to go out with my parents and brothers. We went for a meal at The Catherine Wheel in Henley. We are in my bedroom at my parents house.

Gotta love those permed bobs girls! I expect that I was wearing either electric blue stockings or black ones with either seams and bows on the ankle or little butterflies on the ankles - blame Lady Di for that little fashion trend.

this one was taken later in the year on a school trip to Switzerland, that’s me on the left and Alison on the right.

cut-off jean shorts, I lived in them for years. As soon as my jeans started wearing out, cut the legs off at the knee, when they started fraying too much, cut them off really short. Looks like my bob had grown down into a real permed mullet do by the summer…dig the matching stripey t-shirts. Believe me, we didn’t try to look alike!

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Well, the first round of Sock Madness came and I completed my fastest ever pair of socks…they were a simple knit in stocking stitch using stripes of solid yarn and variegated yarn.

I cast on when the pattern arrived in my in-box at 11.45am Saturday and grafted the toe on the second sock at 1.15pm on Sunday (and yes, I did go to bed, and eat, and do washing….)

Pattern - Mad Cow by Jennifer Booker-Young - Sock Madness round 1

Yarn - Opal Uni in sky blue, Opal Petticoat shade 1295 (left over from Katy’s Chocolate Sundae socks).

Needles - faithful Addi bamboo 2.5mm dpn’s

The combination of the sky blue Uni and the self striping Petticoat in shades of pink, apricot and chocolate works much better than I had expected. It reminds me of floral summer fabrics (in fact I have a summer dress in just these colours)

As you can see the sun was out when I took the finished pictures…yesterday was a perfect Spring day here in Buckinghamshire. I even managed to hang washing to dry OUTSIDE!!! Now that to me is a sign that Spring has arrived! Hooray, no more wet washing hanging on clothes horses and radiators all over the house! Hooray, clean clothes that smell fresh and haven’t used up electricity in the tumble dryer!

The weather was so lovely that J and I just had to get out in it so we walked down to Higginson Park which is on the side of the River Thames in Marlow. I did warn J that everybody else in Marlow was going to be there but he didn’t believe me till we arrived and from about 200 yards away could here the screams of thousands of children on swings and climbing frames -

Still, it’s a big park and if you walked past the play area and the ice-cream/coffee shop and further down to the river you can lose the crowds a little

The river is really high at the moment and running very, very fast but there are hundreds of swans, ducks and geese around. The geese are migrating northwards at the moment to the Arctic circle where they breed and spend summer but many stop off in England for a rest on their way.

The swans are busy preparing themselves for the arrival of this years cygnets and glide around gracefully amongst the visitors. You can see they are the locals telling each other “you just can’t move for tourists at this time of year, can you? And they’re so rude! They push in front of you, not so much as an “excuse me”, take all the best food. Really, I’ll be glad when they’ve gone”

This is just how we feel in the summer when you can’t move in town for the tourists!!!!

A local swan and a visiting Greylag Goose

The water meadows alongside the river are flooded and the sun coming through the trees looked lovely

If you want to see more photos they are on flickr

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No - not me (well actually, maybe me…) this is the name of the first pattern in Sock Madness which arrived in my email inbox at 11.45 this morning GMT. I cast on about noon this was progress by 2pm

and this was about 4

grafted the toe about 5 minutes ago, 8.30pm

I’m really pleased with the colour combination and it was a very fast knit. I am a little worried that I may need to unpick the toe and put in another repeat of pattern as there has been much discussion about how many repeats there should be.

I read “Repeat 6 times” as meaning IN TOTAL not reading the rows setting out the pattern then repeating “6 MORE times”. So not sure if I’ve knit enough repeats…..hope not as it fits quite well as is….

technorati tags:sockmadness

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….stays in Camelot!

Except I have to tell you about it…..it was J’s birthday last weekend and I bought him tickets for us to go and see Spamalot in the West End. For anyone who doesn’t know, this is the musical based on Monty Python’s film The Holy Grail.

We are both big Monty Python fans and I love The Holy Grail but we weren’t sure what the musical would be like…..it was brilliant! By the interval we had both laughed so much that our faces hurt.

All the best bits from the film were there …. “are you suggesting coconuts migrate” “not at all, they could be carried” “What? A swallow carrying a coconut?” “It could grip it by the husk!” “It’s not a question of where he grips it! It’s a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut”

The french soldiers were wonderful- “I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food
trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a
hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”

Dennis “Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis
for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a
mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.”

We had a fantastic night out and Jonathan bought me killer rabbit slippers and a t-shirt (I’m not dead yet) for my birthday which comes up in a couple of weeks -

Here I am in my t-shirt knitting socks

technorati tags:spamalot

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Sock Madness begins today. WTF?? I hear you all cry….go check here for the details but basically it’s a sock knitting contest.

There are four divisions in the competition and the first round is a simple time trial against everyone else in my division, there are 34 in my division and the first 16 to finish in the first round will go through to the next stage. After that it’s a knockout competition competing one on one with another knitter in the division with the winner of each pairing going forward to the next stage…..like a knockout football competition.

The pattern for each stage is released on a set date and then it’s knit, knit, knit to try and finish a pair first. The first pattern for round 1 is released today between 8am and 9am E.S.T which is (I think) 6 hours behind G.M.T so I have till about 2 this afternoon.

We’ve been told that the sock requires a skein of solid and a skein of variegated so I spent yesterday evening searching through my stash looking for good combinations

This is the Sock Yarn Stash - isn’t it pretty? We have, from l-r,

top row - 2 balls of Opal Uni (sans ball band), 2 balls of 4ply Sock Yarn from Angel Yarns, 5 balls of Opal Rodeo in various colours.

2nd row - 2 skeins Artyarns Supermerino colour 139 (swap goodies), then there are four skeins of sock yarn from The Natural Dye Studio - 2xalpaca/merino “liquorice”, 2 x Blue Faced Leicester “Apple Blossom”, 2 x Alpaca Silk (Feb’s sock of the month), 2 x Blue Faced Leicester (Jan sock of the month I think), then 4 skeins of Posh Yarn - Lucia “Pop”, Saskia “Heroine”, Lucia “Passion” (from my wonderful Sockret Pal) and Lucia “Fizz

Last row - Sockret Pal yarn from Scout’s Swag, Cascade Fixation and 2 balls of Italian Sock wool.

After much deliberation and consulting a colour wheel , these are the possibles

This is Opal Uni in pale blue and Natural Dye Studio Alpaca/Silk - this was the February yarn in the Sock Yarn Club. This combination makes me think of summer flowers or sunshine in a blue sky…

Next is more Opal Uni, this time in green and Posh Yarns Saskia in “Heroine”. The picture doesn’t do either of these justice, the green is much brighter and lusher and the Posh yarns positively shines. Not sure if this might be too busy?

Finally,

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/163/416419707_af44fe4bc4.jpg?v=0

4ply sock yarn from Angel Yarns in “Denim” and this months Sock of the Month from Natural Dye Studio - Alpaca/Merino in a colour Amanda describes as “Liquorice” - it does remind me of liquorice alsorts!

I have to say, this last combination is my favourite - I’ll have to wait to see what the pattern is like, if it’s something I really like then I’ll use the Denim/Liquorice, if not then I’ll save that combination for something else.

In a flurry of joining I have also signed up for International Sock Exchange 4 and expect to receive my swap partner on the 15th March. This is the same day that I will get my swap partner for Secret Pal 10 - this will run from March to June.

I am about to send out my last package for the Sockret Pal swap - the “reveal” package. Getting my last few bits ready for that then I need to write a little note revealing who I am to my pal. I’ve enjoyed this swap which is why I’ve signed up for 2 new ones as this is ending.

I’m now sitting with baited breath awaiting the start of Sock Madness!!!

technorati tags:socks, sockmadness, knitting

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Last night I finally made it along to join the girls of the George & Dragon Knitting Regulars, thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome.

A very pleasant evening sitting knitting in the Pub, the landlord now refers to the group as his “knitting regulars” and asked if they had been knitting themselves some new members as there appeared to be more people than previously!

I had only intended staying a short time as I was late out of work yesterday evening and had only called in at home very briefly to grab something to eat and go….however 2 hours seemed to go by without me realising and suddenly it was almost 10.30 and time to leave.

I took the second of my Monkey socks with me to finish and knit almost to the end, finishing it off today. Then I discovered that it is much bigger than the first one I knit and I am at a loss to know why! I am sure I knit the first sock exactly to the pattern and so did the same for this second one however, it looks as though my tension is much, much looser on the second sock. I can’t think that I would have used smaller needles and my tension never varies.

Looking at the pictures I posted of the first sock in progress it looks as though I was knitting on aluminium dpn’s, which makes it almost certain I knit on the needles as given as I only have 2.5mm aluminium dpn’s - my only 2.25mm are birch.

Which brings me to the only conclusion which seems likely, the second sock was knit on bamboo 2.5mm dpn’s and I can only think that my tension on bamboo’s is looser than on aluminium - does this seem likely?

The difference is about 1stitch over 2 inches (sock 1 has 16 sts and sock 2 15 sts over 2″) the second sock feels “thinner” the fabric just isn’t as dense. I’m trying to decide if I can block the difference out or if it isn’t noticeable once I’m wearing them…..I really don’t want to unpick a whole sock.

I did make one change to the pattern as set when I knitted the first sock, which I forgot about with the second however…I changed the toe from a flat toe to as star of three points toe….whoops, guess I’ll have to redo that anyway. I think that may have added to the impression that the sock was looser as well as it doesn’t decrease as quickly

It also looks like I may not have knit as many rows in the heel flap and possibly not picked up and therefore decreased as many stitches in the gusset. The heel looks shorter on sock 1 and you can see that the pooling of blue on sock 1 (on my right foot above) is not as big as the pooling on sock 2.

I have put them aside to think and have now cast on for a pair of socks for my friend, Emma. She came to a dinner party we had for J’s birthday on Saturday and picked out some yarn from my sock yarn sack - Lorna’s Lace Shepherd Sock in a pink and blue colourway (I’ve lost the band and can’t remember what it was) and a pattern - Fancy Silk Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks.

I think she’s chosen a good combination there and hope to enjoy knitting them.

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They have been enjoying Springtime in my pond and this is the product of their “activity”

also in my garden

Daffodils -

Forsythia -

and Rosemary

all in bloom VERY early. Wouldn’t expect to see most of these until mid to late March and they’ve been out for a couple of weeks already. All our news programmes are talking about climate change and global warming and Spring coming earlier.

We’ve had a very mild, very wet winter here in England and things never really stopped growing but I still love to see that Spring is on the way and I’ll be able to get out in my garden planting things soon.

technorati tags:spring, frog, frogspawn, forsythia, daffodils, rosemary, yellow

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