FO - Mallard Socks

How wonderful - I have been wearing lovely BFL handknitted Mallard socks all day.  They are yummy scrumptious. 

The path to completion has not been without it's ups and downs.

 

Can you see that? I got a bit too excited and tried them on when I shouldn't have. One of the needles snapped so I had to finish with only 4 and definitely couldn't try them on again. I gave up on doing a fancy design - I just wanted to knit and wear them.

With the leftovers I've started on some little socks for a nephew or a different baby if the nephew's feet are too big.

I'm so excited about socks that we wound two big cakes for the next two pairs - one for me and one for him indoors.  They are both hand dyed by Fyberspates. The yarn on the left is 75% wool and 25% polyamide; the yarn on the right is 100% merino. 

I've had a chance to try out my new sock needles now.  The Knit Picks ones are longer, slippier and pointier than the Brittany ones which makes k3tog easier but also split the yarn more.  I found it interesting that the Knit Picks ones didn't say where they're sourced from.  The Brittany ones claim to be sustainably forested. I'm not sure where I'll buy my next needles from - perhaps Jeni can make it easier for me and make Fyberspates a one stop ethical yarn and needle stop. I have my eye on some cappuccino and lime biscuit pie colourways but as I just found a moth in my yarn drawer I'm on a mission to knit more yarn and store less. No more purchasing for me until I've made at least three more pairs of socks. Hooray/Sigh.

Oh yes. Made a decision last week to move out of the community I'm living in and get a real job and real house near my family. Can't wait to move. It's been a great experience but I've realised I have lots of needs that won't be met here even though it seemed that they could be.  Will probably fetch my knitting machine soon aswell.

Getting my mojo back

 

Here we both are, enjoying a little bit of rain in Windsor. I learnt a lesson that day: don't go shopping having been drinking or else you may end up spending £10 on fudge when you don't really like fudge anyway.  I learnt a similar but less insightful lesson last week: being ill in bed might make you want to knit socks.  Internet shopping in a flu haze is rather wonderful and you can end up purchasing all sorts of things you hadn't planned.

My first thought was for sock needles. I've taken on a commission for some socks and thought I didn't have the necessary equipment so hotfooted it to Getknitted for reasonably priced wooden dpns. In fact, I would have settled for non-wood because I was feeling a little desperate. I went looking for sock needles in Reading a few weeks' ago (odd coincidence?)  and was very disappointed with both John Lewis and Hobbycraft. Whilst it's true socks can be knitted in any weight yarn, I particularly was looking for 2.5mm and 2.25 mm needles as I have 2mm and 2.75mm and have been slowly losing and bending my 2.5mm current set.  I like to knit lots of small, tight stitches on small needles. It is not everyone's cup of tea, I accept, but is seems to me I am more alone than usual in Reading.  So, to the internet and the lovely shop that is Getknitted. I have shopped with them several times before and always been pleased. This time, however, I was a little disgruntled to find some of the needles I had ordered were out of stock so I needed replacements and no they wouldn't be with me before Easter. Don't they understand my desperation to knit?!?

Well all stories I like to tell have a happy ending and this one is no exception.  I swatched the commission socks and found I achieved gauge with my existing super lovely ebony 2.75mm Lantern Moon dpns that I hadn't had a chance to use before.  This is all rather wonderful! I then started feeling a little guilty - I'd accidentally bought two extra sets of dpns and three loads of sock yarn. This used up almost half of the fee I'm being paid and I hadn't even started yet. Well, hahahahhahahaha is all I can say because everything has arrived in the post, I'm well into the paid socks, I'm rolling in beautiful yarn and I have my sock knitting mojo back. Hoorah! And it seems, I have some blogging mojo back too. La vie is bella sock yarn.

From Getknitted, I purchased 150g Opal sock yarn in Tiger (on special offer I think, and with my dad in mind but more about that later in the year), some Brittany 2.25mm dpns and Knit Picks 2.5mm dpns.

 

   The Knit Picks dpns were substitutes for the out of stock item and that pleased me as I hadn't realised I could buy the sets individually.  I find it very funny that there are six in a set but I expect I will soon reduce that to four.  The lovely people in the shop also sent me a pen and a lollipop. Can't say fairer than that.

I did start getting distracted by other sock yarn so decided to amble over to Jeni's see what was going on. Accidental purchasing ensued.

 

On to the scrummiest of scrumptiousness: British BFL sock yarn in Mallard and Superwash Merino sock yarn in (I think) Chocolates and Roses.

 

Ooooooooh, I think this will make socks for me and some tiny ones for my rapidly growing littlest nephew.

 

This might also make lovely socks for me. I did start to feel a little guilty about all the other people in my life who don't have hand made socks so it's possible that these two hanks won't be just for my feet. Especially as there are so many more colours and yarns out there to choose from! Just take a look at the lovelies on offer at Fyberspates.

Keep plodding on

Just for the record, I do not hate my mother.

Another thing, I have not yet put the leaf pattern up for Bev.

Also, I had a comment from Noblinpa asking why he never gets mentioned.

The last few posts didn't get labelled so I think I'll go back and edit them.

I've developed a bad habit of giving knitted gifts away without getting proper photos of them. Shedir has been finished and posted and received so you won't be seeing that for a while. I'll try to get a modelled shot when I'm visiting Aunty again. I missed my chance this weekend but was very busy. I stayed with my sister and managed to get you some pictures of the hat I made my nephew for his 1st birthday. It is a Lucinda Guy pattern but I changed the yarn and colours as the ones in the book weren't available. It is adorable, especially when being wrenched off the young one's head.














I have made progress on my parts of Aunty's blanket. My sister and mum have aswell but they deserve their own post after I have blocked the squares which got very crumpled in my suitcase.






On one of the long sections, I knitted too far and had to undo several inches.




Last weekend, we saw the inlaws for an opera and a wedding. It was all very fun and tiring so then I slept late for a few days.




Noblin Sighting: