After-thought heel

I've been procrastinating a bit. I "should" be working on the current clue of the Ray of Gold MKAL I'm doing. Look how gorgeously the yarn works with the stitch pattern in my swatch



Instead I've started a scrappy ripple blanket and been knitting my stripy (stripey?) sock



I've been using these instructions as a basis for my afterthought heel. I knit my sock to about 2 inches shy of the end of my foot and then I knitted half a row (32 stitches) with some waste yarn and then carried on knitting as normal



After casting off my sock  I picked up the stitches either side of the waste yarn row and then unravelled it. In the tutorial I linked above the knitter unravels the yarn and then picks up the stitches. I did it differently because I was worried about dropping a stitch or 6 ;-)



I then unravelled the waste yarn to leave the live stitches on my circular needle ready for magic looping. On the first round I picked up a stitch in the gap between needles and immediately decreased it to try to reduce holes. I should probably have picked up two but hey ho!



Then I basically knitted a toe by repeating the following two rows using the magic loop technique but it would equally work on two circular needles:

Row 1
 - Needle 1: Knit to last 3 stitches then K2tog K1
- Needle 2: K1 Sl 1 K1 psso then knit to last 3 stitches K2tog K1

Row 2
- Needle 1: K1 Sl 1 K1 psso then knit to end
- Needle 2: Knit to end


I worked these two rounds until I got to 14 stitches on each needle, 28 stitches in total. I then joined them together using Kitchener stitch. Simples! I'm going to cast on for the second sock this afternoon, I'm looking forward to having this pair to wear.

I'm linking this post up with Keep Calm Craft On

This Moment

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 



Joining in with Soulemama

Sock-es and Swatch-es

It's a sunny day, the children are back at school and the house is quiet. It feels very peaceful. I've done a few housework-y jobs but I'm mostly just enjoying having some time to myself. I thought I'd take some photos of the Rye socks I made for Mr Soaring Sheep. They're still a little damp from washing and blocking so he's not had a chance to wear them yet



Inspired by Hege's socks I knitted my usual sock pattern over 64 stitches and did the middle twenty stitches in garter stitch (alternating knit and purl rows). Very simple and straight forward to knit but looks nice too :-)



I did a gusset heel because I like the fit and finish of it :-) The toe was Judy's magic cast on and despite the first picture it does fit properly, it's just that he has bigger feet than me so the sock blockers aren't long enough!



I'm already making my way through my next pair of socks using the beautiful yarn I got for my birthday. It's addictive knitting, just one more stripe...



However I'm going to have to be strong and work on something else instead. I'm going to be joining in with the Rays of Gold MKAL by Elena Nodel so I need to get a move on and do some swatching. I'm hoping I can use this gorgeous yarn from Wildflower Whimsy but it's a worsted so it might be a bit thick. If not I'll have to go back to my stash and see what I can find



I'm having lots of fun with crafting at the moment :-) Is anyone else joining in with Elena's mystery KAL? Are you super organised with yarn and swatches done or are you leaving it to the last minute like me?

Linking in with Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday

Happy hooking and some yarn

It was my birthday yesterday and the lovely Mr Soaring Sheep bought me some beautiful hand dyed sock yarn



As you can see it's by Laughing Yaffle and the colourway is named "Berry Stripe". It's a self striping sock yarn which is super exciting and it's in my favourite colours too. Well done to Mr Soaring Sheep!



Plus can you see the silver sparkle too? I LITERALLY squealed when I opened up this present lol. I've already wound it into a ball and as I spent the morning finishing Mr Soaring Sheep's socks (hmm... that was cunning of him, buy me pretty yarn so I have to finish his socks before I can use it...) I can cast on this afternoon. Squee!

I'm not even going to do a fancy pattern, just plain vanilla socks so I can enjoy the stripes to the max :-D

Ahem. Well so it's a post with a bit of crafting content rather than me cooing over pretty yarn, here's a picture of my cushion WIP.



I've measured my cushion pad and the spotty front crochet square is a little too small so I'm going to do a few extra rows to frame it, probably echoing the same style as the back. The back is just simple rounds of treble crochet and alternating between the spots colours and cream. Simple but pretty :-) I think I need to do another 5 rounds+ before it's the right size.

I need to go make some lunch now or the children will start gnawing on the furniture ;-) Happy crafting everyone and hop over to Keep Calm Craft On if you want some crafty inspiration :-)

FO - Summer-y Spring Time in Hollis

I've got a beautiful pattern/yarn combination to show you today. The yarn was a custom dye by Babylonglegs to match a dress that my eldest daughter had when she was a toddler. My eldest is now 8 years old and I've finally used the yarn to make a cardigan for her little sister







   



It's such a beautiful pattern, it knits up quickly and is perfect for showing off beautiful hand dyed yarns.



As you can see I made the hoodless version as I was worried I wouldn't have enough yarn. I also omitted the drawstring and instead did 5 rows of moss stitch at the waist before changing to the larger needles used for the lattice stitch pattern





I wasn't entirely sure about the pooling on the arms when I was knitting it but I think it looks alright when it's being worn





I love the eyelet detail used to make the raglan increases, such a pretty effect



Thought I should probably get a couple of quick photos of the dress the yarn was dyed to match, sorry for the picture overload!

 

^can you see one of our cats hiding behind the chair? He's a soppy boy called Raggles who spends most of his time indoors unless it's sunny enough for him to sunbathe outside >.<



The dress was handmade although I'm not sure by whom, it was a gift from my Mum who bought it in Covent Garden. It's reversible too and is plain blue on the other side but it has pretty pockets with the red flower fabric :-)

Thanks for wading through such a photo heavy post! I'm really pleased with this cardigan and wish I'd got round to knitting up this beautiful yarn sooner. One of the nice things about "Cold Sheeping" is that I get to use up the lovely yarns that I've been hoarding for so long. I reached 6 months last Friday and plan to carry on until I get to 9 months and then see how I feel.

I'm going to be linking this post in today with Fibre Arts Friday, Creative Friday and FO Friday. We're off out for a picnic in a bit, it's a 4 day weekend because of Easter so we're hopefully going to make the most of the sunshine. Have a nice weekend everyone, thanks for dropping by :-)

WIP Wednesday

Yesterday I showed you how my crochet WIP is progressing so today I thought I'd share my knitting WIP's.



I'm just doing a row here and there when I'm in the mood. My Rye sock is about an inch away from needing to start the heel. It's a good project to work on while keeping an eye on the children when they play outside.

My Out of Darkness shawl hasn't had much attention really because lace and small children is not a good combination! I think I can probably manage a few more rows before they go back to school, as long as they don't need beads.

I'm linking in with Tami and Ginny today so hop over to their blogs for more crafty posts.

I'm hoping to take advantage of the sunshine today and get some photos of my latest FO to share on Friday. It's a colourful cardigan for my littlest girl :-) Have a good day everyone

Sunny days

Spring is my favourite time of year and sunny Spring days like we've been having recently are just perfect. I've been enjoying sitting out in the garden and looking at the flowers (even if some of them have been nibbled on!)



These tulips are some of my favourites. I think you're supposed to lift the bulbs every year but these ones are in the same pot as some Summer flowering lily bulbs so I've never timed it right with lifting them and not disturbing the others. I'd love to have a garden full of different tulip bulbs just planted in clusters



The colours just scream "happy" to me lol. The place where they are positioned gets some afternoon sun and they absolutely glow when the light catches them. Gorgeous :-)



Our raspberry canes are continuing to multiply. We're not going away for a Summer holiday this year so I'm hoping we get to munch on lots of fresh berries :-)



It won't be long before the flowers come out



I've been joining my spotty squares together. I had lots of fun arranging the colours



Just a simple slip stitch join on the back, I've got 4 more rows to go and then I can start making the other side of my cushion



Have a good day everyone :-) Visit Keep Calm Craft On for more crafty posts

Spotty Friday

I thought it would be a good idea to make all the spots I need for my cushion cover in one go and then I can do all the edgings and sew in the ends



But now I'm looking at all these circles knowing each one will have 4 ends to sew in and I'm slightly regretting it! Might just work on my socks instead >.<



No FO's to show you this week I'm afraid. I have finished the cardigan I was making but I've not decided on buttons yet so it will probably be next week when I show it to you. Goodness knows when this spotty cushion will be finished! I'm definitely doing something faster for the back! Probably a solid granny square or something.

Joining in with Creative Friday and Fiber Arts Friday

Too Many WIP's!

I'm feeling a bit scatter-brained with all my WIP's at the moment. I should probably focus on finishing them one at a time but actually I'm quite enjoying knitting a few rows here, hooking a couple of squares there... I would like to get back to 3 WIP's by the end of the month though, a complicated knit, a simple knit and a crochet project.



These spotty squares are going to be a cushion cover for the sofa. I originally thought I'd need it to be 8 squares wide but now I think I can get away with 7. Means I'm over halfway there through making the squares now :-D Weaving in all the ends takes forever though!



This colourful project is a Spring Time in Hollis cardigan. I'm deliberately not showing you too much of it because it's knitting up beautifully and I want to show it off properly when it's finished. The yarn has been sitting around in my stash since my eldest daughter was a toddler (she's now 8!). I'll tell you a bit more about it's story at a later date



Next up is a poor photo of an Out of Darkness shawl I'm making for my Mum. It's more or less stalled at the moment as I'm about to start the lace section and it's the Easter holidays so trying to concentrate on something is more or less impossible when there are lots of small people around! I'll probably work on it some more after they've gone back to school



I've finished this sock for Mr Soaring Sheep and I'm now working on it's pair. Made a mistake when casting off and missed out a whole stage of the stretchy cast off I was using. Had to unpick it last night and re-do it because he couldn't get the socks past his heel. Whoops!



Finally, these squares have been a hibernating project that I decided to dig out and work on again. Unfortunately my gauge seems to have changed since I last worked on them so my new square is smaller. I guess I might have used a slightly bigger hook before but I don't think so. I guess I could try gently steaming it to see if I can block it to the right size. Then again it's going to be a sofa blanket so it doesn't really need to be perfect anyway, as long as it keeps my legs warm I'm happy!



Once your eyes have recovered from all these garishly bright (over exposed) pictures you might want to hop over to Keep Calm Craft On, WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along to see what other people are working on this week :-)

I'm not sure when I'll be posting again as I don't think I'll have any FO's for Friday and taking photos with little helpers around is tricky! I was in the middle of taking one photo when my little boy decided to empty a tin of dominoes all over my knitting >.< Anyways, have a good week everyone and I'll see you again soon

If at first you don't succeed

Frog it and try again >.<



This collection of yarn was a Capricious cardigan. I wasn't happy with it. The fit wasn't right, it needed to be longer and I just wasn't wearing it.

Now I won't have it glaring at me unloved from the wardrobe, it's full of potential again. I've even got a pattern in mind for it.

I'm looking forward to knitting it into something beautiful :-)

FO - Mystery KAL socks (Hailstones socks)

I cast on these socks back at the start of February to join in with a mystery KAL but ended up working on other projects and falling behind. Eventually though I had a little peak at other people's finished socks and after seeing how gorgeous they were I decided I needed to get mine finished quickly!



The yarn is actually more purple than the photos show. You also can't see the silver thread running through it either which is a shame as it's so pretty. I love having sparkly socks!



The socks are top down with a slip stitch pattern for the heel flap. I knit socks a little looser than the designer does so I went down a needle size and also made the small size over 63 stitches as I normally use even smaller needles over 64 stitches for my standard vanilla socks. It worked perfectly and I've got a lovely fitting pair of socks :-)



The stitch pattern is very easy to knit so would be fine for a beginner sock knitter looking to build up their confidence. I love the way it spirals around the leg and then down onto the foot



I'm very pleased with this latest addition to my knitted sock collection and rather tempted to make another pair!

Ravelry project page: here
Pattern page: here
Yarn: "Deep Purple" by Flamboyance yarns on their meteor base

Ooo and my new sock blockers made by Mr Soaring Sheep for my Mother's day present last weekend :-) Isn't he a sweetie!

Joining in with Fiber Arts Friday, FO Friday and Creative Friday.

Today I'm working on my Mum's shawl I think, I'm almost ready to start the lace section. I'll probably stop at that point though and work on Mr Soaring Sheep's socks which require less concentration. Last day of term for the children today so hoping we get some sunshine during their Easter holidays. I don't think that will be the case for this weekend though, lots of rain forecast :-S Have a good weekend everyone