Pink socks

I'm really pleased with how my new pink manolo is progressing.  The pattern is a combination of simple and interesting which is what I need in a sock to make sure I finish.  I'm going to Germany for a few days so might come back with a finished pair.  and lots more sock yarn :)

The Wedding

Today is the first day since the wedding that I've felt I'm back to normal.  The wedding was wonderful. I couldn't get to sleep the night before but I was up at 8, in the bath and packing.  I had bags and bags of food and clothes and makeup although I still managed to leave all my eye makeup behind.  I got to the hotel at 11.15am and went to have my hair made beautiful and sip champagne with the bride, m-o-b, bridesmaids, photographer, hairdresser and make up artist. Quite an entourage.  I checked into my room and ate lunch and started tarting around until my sister turned up and helped me focus.  She had to get ready and practise her songs with my brother outlaw playing guitar.  My aunt and cousin surprised me in my room but fortuantely I was nearly ready.  I even had time to paint my nails and use my nail stickers.

 Here I am with pretty hair and a pretty dress and heavy earrings:

I was sort of in charge of my brother's children and we all read a poem each.  The hotel was great and the registrar lovely and the service beautiful and although I didn't cry at the time I did when I went through the photos and videos. Such a great wedding. We ate and I missed most of the speeches as I was fussing over the nephews.  I enjoyed chatting and gossiping with my aunts.  One of my aunts almost didn't make it but then she arrived looking lovely and danced with me for ages even though she wasn't well. My camera battery ran out pretty early on but here is one of the family another aunty took. Aren't we a good looking bunch!

The day flew by and suddenly it was the final dance.  My mum and dad made it onto the dance floor and we had a family group hug which was unexpected but lovely.  It struck me that it was so different and far better than my own wedding in so many ways.  After much persuasion, the nephews and I had lights out at 1.45am!!!!  Suddenly it was the morning after and I'd had less than 6 hours of sleep. The people who'd stayed in the hotel had breakfast together, in various states of Why am I up so early.

A highlight of the morning was streetpassing my nephews on their new consoles.  Eventually though, we all departed, seperately, in the cold and rain. I spent most of Saturday was eating leftover snacks (I had to feed the nephews every few hours to keep them happy) and finishing off series one of the killing (US version). I still don't know who killed the poor girl and am beginning to suspect I never will.Sunday was a write off too and I was pretty weepy still on Monday, and worrying that I looked like a fat vampire in the photos, and tired on Tuesday and Wednesday but today I feel normal! At last!

The blanket was finished but big sister (shown below) didn't finish the counterpart so we decided to wait until after the honeymoon to present the presents.  I think this was a good idea as the wedding day was so busy there wouldn't have been enough time for appropriate levels of adoration and gratitude.

So there it was. I'm really looking forward to seeing my brother and new sister-in-law when the get back from their honeymoon.   Now that the wedding is over, I feel a bit bereft so I'm going to suggest my SIL learns to knit to tackle her post wedding blues. I'm cheering myself up with knitting and planning the trip to Japan in November down to the finest detail.  I currently have about 3 days too many of activities so the itinerary needs to slim down. I'll see big sister at the weekend to discuss whether she can skip all the places I've been to before.


In other news, I knitted a pair of baby socks, probably for PWW.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! PART 2

Apparently this is becoming a theme.

It happened yesterday and it really threw off my groove.  I found it quite hard at the time to keep it in perspective. One the one hand (foot) it is only a holey sock.  A really big hole but just a hole.  I could attempt a repair, I could reuse the rest of the wool or I could just bin them. Not the worst dilemma to have to face.  On the other foot, these socks represent a significant investment of time and money and belief.  It really made me question how worthwhile it is to knit socks.  This is like losing religion to me.  People used to mock me when I'd spent a small fortune on hand dyed sock yarn and then many hours with teeny tiny needles and I'd say these socks are so much better than shop bought socks. It didn't really occur to me that they wouldn't last very long. And by that I mean, they wouldn't last forever.   

Yesterday, I was beginning to think I would give up on luxury socks. I would divert all sock yarn to shawls or gloves.  My friend at knitting group is making some lovely fingerless mittens at the moment which I'm really coveting.  I'd like to design some shawls without tipping myself into insanity by using laceweight (I like the result but not the process as it rarely ends in result with me) so I've plenty of things I could use my stash on.  Then, this morning was another cold morning and I put on some GORGEOUS socks that I've been very careful with.  No trips through the washing machine for these puppies. And I'm reconverted.  Hand knitted socks are still the best socks. No question.  I promise, my faith will not waver in future.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

This sock does seem to have been cursed. I don't even know how it happened. And I'm not sure I can fix it.

A slight miscalculation

In preparation for the warmer weather, I've been rootling through my sock drawer, looking for my winter wool socks. I love handknitted socks, especially in the winter.  They're warmer, more comfortable and much more stylish than shop bought cotton socks.  They're thick enough to reduce the rubbing on my heel from my trainers, they fit into my hiking boots, and they don't restrict my circulation at the ankles.  In the past I've treated them with great care and always handwashed them but (not being much into handwashing) this really reduced the amount of wear I got from them as they were always sitting in the laundry basket. In my search, I found three without their pairs so then tipped the laundry basket upside down to find their missing mates. I'm not sure what possessed me at this stage to put the three located dirty socks in the washing machine but I did. Two socks were pretty happy but one was not.

My colour catcher was bright purple but fortunately none of the other washing was ruined. I suppose now I have to bite the bullet and put the other sock in the wash and hope it fades to the same colour scheme. I don't think I can really wear them at the moment as I might as well have worn the original odd socks instead of finding their pairs. On the bright side, at least it didn't shrink.

Here's a shot of the alpaca jumper from La Paz.

a PHOTO OF A SOCK

I had a bit of a panic when I couldn't actually find this sock to photograph but here it is. At last.  Not very impressive but it does exist.  I'm using unicorn yarn and making up the pattern.  I'm not making it up very well though as this sock is too small for me, only by a smidgen, but just too short to be comfortable.  I always seem to rush the toe in my desperation to finish something. I have a lot of sock yarn.  A LOT. I haven't bought any in ages, not since last year but I still don't seem to be making a dent in the mountain.  Which is why I shouldn't be dreaming about buying this.  I know I can't justify buying it for me, especially as I have imposed a complete shopping ban on myself, so I'm trying to find another excuse.  Not good, a shopping ban is a ban, so I'll just have to focus on using up what I have. 

Anyone for tennis?

I had a lovely afternoon watching the tennis today. It was far more exciting than I anticipated. First we saw the Williams sisters lose in the doubles, then Laura Robson pull back in the second set to win in the girls singles, then flicked over to see Federer two sets down, watched him lose then flicked back over to see Nadal had lost a set. If that wasn't enough, Murray dropped his first set and played an unconvincing second but then woke up in the tie break and played well to win. Phew.
Amongst that, I did manage to finish the first of my Mum's birthday socks. I only had to redo the toe so it really didn't take long and I even grafted it up and it fits, hooray. I also had strawberries and cream.


Here's the front of the christening gown. I don't know why it's upside down.

I dug this little glove out of my drawer to take to knitting group last night. More on that another time.

This is my swatch

One of the reasons I make up my socks as I go along is so that they fit me. A quick swatch and then lots of trying on sessions have given me some very satisfactory, custom fitted pairs and I like it that way. I've been put off of complicated sock patterns before because of the limitations in sizing. None of this crossed my mind when I embarked on Blossom.



I have knitted the foot section of Blossom and it occurred to me I should try it on. It is a trifle large and I think I will have to rip at least several inches. I'm now kicking myself (with a bare foot) as with a little foresight this could have been neatly avoided. The front of the instep is a lace panel and if you can't get gauge then there's very little in the way of simple alterations that you can do. However, the back panel is stocking stitch and has an increase section near the heel so you can tweak the width very easily and reduce or entirely remove the increases if like me it's coming out large. I really missed a trick here.

No matter. I'm enjoying the pattern and the yarn and will do some ripping with minimal fuss. It's not so bad once you've done it - just a bit painful to think about beforehand.
On a brighter note, I ordered some Unicorn yarn . I was a bit surprised to see it had pretty much sold out on Friday lunchtime but knew a second upload on Friday afternoon was planned. At 11.30pm on Friday I remembered the update but was too tired to go online. I was worried it would all have sold out again. Fyberspates was out of stock but Natural Dye Studio weren't so I chose aqua mark 2. It looks a bit more variegated than a semisolid but should show off stitch patterns nicely. I'm looking out for the postman (and also for a massive parcel that I accidentally ordered from Bliss online full of bathroom lotions and potions but one day I'll meet a billionaire. I used to think a millionaire would do but why limit myself?)

FO - sneaky baby socks

I couldn't resist.


In other knitting, I have finished the back of Colonial Cardi by Sublime in Fyberspates Scrumptious. I also have a cold.

FO: Mum's socks

Grumpy

Well, obviously I jinxed it by saying I would finish the shrug next as I then realised I hadn't decreased to match the initial increases and I would have to unravel it a bit and then figure out what I'd done and blah blah blah really couldn't face it. I'm also struggling with learning fair isle as a new skill and then I saw my bank statement and realised that I should get a job and frumph.

I cheered myself up by starting a new sock though. Pictures another day.

True to my word: FO Tiger socks

Hooray these are finished. A long stint in front of the tennis on Saturday and a bit of weaving on Sunday night did the job. I think I over decreased slightly on the toe so my foot shape is rather flattered in those photos. I really like the yarn - it is Opal 6-ply in one of the rainforest shades (tiger) which I think has been discontinued now but they might do another version. I used 2.75mm needles which made it feel like I was flying through the sock as often on socks I use 2mm. In previous posts, you'll see I experimented with circulars and dpns but thanks to my birthday present I finished off just using 5 dpns. It really is my favourite method. I didn't try to match up the stripes on each sock as that would have been too much trouble for me. I did make a note of the pattern repeats and it was about 20 repeats long and quite confusing. I quite like not exactly matching socks. It reminds me of that phase everyone goes through of wearing odd socks. My next project is a shrug: I've finished the arms so will seam it and then consider a border around the neck as I have a whole ball left of Rowan Ribbon Twist.

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.

Mallard Socks

I have been having a sucky week but hey, snow.

Fortunately I have mallard socks to take my mind off things.  I was so excited on Wednesday night that I could start them and swatched in front of Hairspray (love it, love it) but then had a panic.  The yarn is so beautiful - I don't want to ruin it!  I was away for the weekend and decided I couldn't take the socks with me because I didn't like the swatch so I'd need to take my pattern book and note book with me and I only had ten more minutes to pack and the bag was really heavy etc etc. And I was stressy from work.  So, I took some other knitting that I will show you later and let my little brain think a bit more about what I want.

This is the swatch. I just don't like the colour and pattern combination. I'm not sure why but it speaks to me of the 60's I think. I don't dislike the 60's though.  I've offered to make purple socks for Chris with it.

Absolutely yummy yarn though. Blue faced leicester. Which reminds me - I need to research sock reinforcement thread.

I've had a plan for a while to knit a sock in reverse stocking stitch because I like the pattern on the inside of stripey socks as much as the pattern on the outside. Noone I know, however, likes to knit endless purl (rather, to purl endlessly), so I'm making them inside out! Not sure what the plan is for the heel but I'll tell you when I get there.