Here are my completed February Socks for the Sock-a-Month 3 Knitalong –

They are the Railway Pattern Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, knit with Regia 4ply in Grey with Regia Stretch in Denim for the contrast stripes on heel and toe. I used addi 2mm dpns. The only mod was making them much longer than the pattern dictates (like 93 rows from the gusset not 69) as my DH has very long feet, no need to make them wider though as he also has very narrow feet.

These were one of my listed UFO’s so that’s another one ticked off the list! So far I’m managing one a month – I really need to finish two a month to stand a hope of getting them all off the list by the end of the year. Especially as I keep starting new projects along the way…

Anyway, J appears very pleased with them and they look like they fit perfectly. I haven’t blocked them but I’m not sure they need it. These are also perfect for Project Spectrum Feb/March colours!

technorati tags:sock, sam3, railway pattern sock, Nancy Bush, knitting vintage socks, knitting, Knitalong

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This has to be one of the quickest knits ever!

Cast on about 3pm today and on J’s head at 10.30! It looks as if he likes it as well. This is to keep his head warm on his cycle ride to work and back every day – he needed a hat that was thin enough to fit under his cycle helmet but would still keep him warm

The answer? Halfdome

Pattern – Halfdome by Jesse Loesberg at knitty.com

Yarn – Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (two part balls from my stash no ball bands so don’t know the shades)

Needles – 3.25mm and 3.75mm

I am taking part in a swap on www.swap-bot.com called Crazy Afghan Squares. I have to make four 7″ squares to send to four different people – I’ve never made squares (no – really) and so I’m having fun experimenting with yarns and stitches.

Also, it’s helping me practice my crochet before I tackle Jasmine. I’ve completed four squares – but they might not be the four I send, I need to try some more.

Here are my four squares pinned out for blocking-

From the top clockwise these are

Blue Ice (pattern here)

crochet square using a 4mm hook and Sirdar Luxury Soft Cotton DK.

100% cotton yarn left over from knitting a baby sweater

Granny Rose (pattern here)

My first ever crochet project! I’m quite proud of it!

This was made with Opal sock yarn I had left over from a pair of socks I made for my s-i-l. Can’t remember exactly what it was now….I like the style but I’m not sure about using variegated yarn as it doesn’t balance the colours right….I may try this again with two or three solid colours.

Diamond & Cable square

knitted square to my own pattern, well not exactly a pattern just an aran stitch pattern I like!

Knit with Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream cotton on 4.5mm bamboo straight needles.

Honeycomb cable square

another knit aran square with Sugar ‘n’ Cream on 4.5mm bamboo.

The honeycomb aran pattern is symbolic of hard work and it’s rewards so I think it’s appropriate for knitting.

This squares business is a great way of using up those odds and ends of yarn I have sitting around….I’ll have to do some more

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…..

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.

I had my stall at the local school bazaar this Saturday – not terribly successful. Unfortunately the organisers chose to put myself and the other sellers who had paid for stalls in a side room tucked away in the back of the school and put all the face-painting, tombolas etc in the main hall. Consequently I think a lot of people didn’t know that we were there …. there were some great stalls as well, a girl with wonderful handmade jewellery, another girl with ceramic plaques and nativity scenes…and hardly anyone came to look.

I also heard from a friend who had knit a load of scarves for her daughter’s school bazaar that the woman running the stall had sold them for £2.50 – the wool cost her more than £3 for each scarf!!! It seems that some people don’t appreciate hand crafted items and have no idea of the work that goes into them.

I had finished these final items over the last couple of weeks –

A Noro Blossom shrug (quite like this so happy if it doesn’t sell”); ladies socks from Knitting Vintage socks in Regia Stretch colourway “denim”; circle shawl in Noro Blossom; Felted handbag in hand-dyed wool; Shell pattern socks in handdyed wool; spiral scarf in handdyed mohair loop.

I sold 5 or 6 scarves and a couple of other items and made about £60…not very impressive for 3 hours. Did get 2 orders for pixie feet for adults though, so now have to work out the dimensions for those.

So I have a box full of hand knitted items to sell – I sent an email round at work yesterday and hope to sell some there and also at my hubby’s office.

To top my day off on Saturday I had taken a photo frame to hold a sign telling people what I was selling and that I would take orders for slippers. It’s a wooden frame that used to belong to my Great Aunt and usually holds my wedding photo. It was the only thing big enough to hold the sign that I had. It was right in the middle of my table but somehow the woman on the stall next to mine managed to knock it off my table an break the glass and some of the tack came out leaving a piece of wood trim loose -not happy.

And finally this weekend I realised that my spoiler in the Sockret Pal swap as welched on her end of the swap deal. After emails with the organiser and trying to contact my spoiler I have been assigned an angel….thank you angel whoever you are …..and to my spoiler if you are out there and reading this, I realise that sometimes life throws up situations that mean we can’t keep promises but it would have been polite to inform the swap organiser, and myself, as we would have understood if there was a valid reason. I’ve been sitting expecting a parcel for 2 months so it’s very disappointing not to get anything……

Moan over!

On the needles at the moment, I’m knitting socks for a friends child as a commission from her for Christmas.

I haven’t posted any finished objects for a while and that doesn’t mean I haven’t finished anything – I just haven’t had time to post.

I’m still knitting away to make items to sell for Breakthrough and have just signed up for a stall at the Christmas Bazaar of my friends’ kids school on December 2nd so I’m on a deadline now!

Here are some photos of the items I’ve finished over the past week or so…sorry the colours are not good, I am not at home during daylight hours except at weekends – if weather is good this weekend I’ll take some daylight shots.

Anyway, here goes –

A couple of pairs of socks – Opal Prisma in a royal blue knit to a child size (around age 6/7 I think) and a really tiny pair of baby socks knit from the remains of the Opal Lollipop I knit my first every pair of socks from…I underestimated how much yarn was left so there was enough for the little bag as well. I may fill this with lavender or simply put the baby socks in it….

Toddler “elf” hat and booties from red & white double knit. This was some baby double knit yarn my mum donated to me, there is also some orange. I made a hat and mittens for age 5/6 years in red/white/orange stripes with some of it. This pattern was in a magazine I bought the other day and I thought it was fun!

Not too happy with the cast on edge of the hat as it’s a bit loose but otherwise it’s fine.

Two hats and a scarf from bright red baby aran. Colour doesn’t show in this photo at all- it’s a really lovely bright red, very cheerful!

One hat and the scarf are in moss-stitch and another hat as a cable pattern on the front. All are to fit age 2/3 years. The yarn is lovely and soft and cuddly.

Next some more Pixie-feet slippers, I love these. They knit so quickly and look so cute….this is the slippers pre-felting…

and after…

these two pairs were knit from Twilleys Freedom which is the yarn given in the pattern I followed. They only took one wash in the machine whilst the hand-dyed yarn I used for the other pair took 2. However, this time I put an old towel in to help the felting process.

They also turned out slightly smaller than the others. I need to make pom-poms for the twos and sew them on now.

Finally, two more fun-fur scarves, one in a mauve Lion Brand Fun-fur and the other in a deep red eyelash yarn from Paradise yarn in Turkey bought on eBay.

the red scarf is about 3″ wide and 64″ long, 6mm needles, 12 stitches, garter stitch till the yarn ran out - very stylish for Christmas. The mauve is about 5″ wide and 60″ long – 6.5mm needles, 14 stitches, garter stitch till the yarn ran out.

I’ll post some better photos when I get a chance. On the needles at the moment are a pair of socks from Knitting Vintage Socks – Little Child’s Sock in Regia stretch in a Denim colour.

Also, my friend had her baby so I really need to finish the border on the baby blanket and sew it on.

This is a gorgeous little cravat or scarf in a lovely yarn – Noro Silk Garden is made in Japan and is 10% Wool/45% Silk/45% Kid Mohair and is dyed in shades evocative of nature.

This scarf is in shades of pink and blue and would be a wonderful addition to a winter wardrobe being equally at home with jeans or a little black dress.

Dimensions: length 96cm/38″, width 11cm/4″ at the widest points

Price: £15

Payment terms: I prefer payment by paypal (international customers must pay with paypal) but will also accept UK cheques and cash.

Postage: postage and packing with the UK will be charged at £1.50. For international postage costs please contact me.

To buy: please email me indychick_uk@yahoo.com

All proceeds to Breakthrough Breast Cancer

A long scarf with an interesting pointy shape and diamond pattern details. The main colour is Rowan Yorkshire Tweed in a lovely pink with tweedy flecks. The diamond patterns are alternating colours of cashmerino aran in red and dusky purple.

This is a real statement scarf.

Dimensions: length 180cm/70″, width 17cm/6.5″ at the widest points.

 Price: £15

Payment terms: I prefer payment by paypal (international customers must pay with paypal) but will also accept UK cheques and cash.

Postage: postage and packing with the UK will be charged at £1.75. For international postage costs please contact me.

To buy: please email me indychick_uk@yahoo.com

All proceeds to Breakthrough Breast Cancer

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