A story of lots of mitred square garments, including my very favourite finished object of all time.
Category: knitting
Polly Socks! Pattern available now…
Welcome to the new Polly sock knitting pattern from Alice in Knittingland, derived from my Dolly socks, with several changes. Read about the processes here.
Gone fishin’ – new boot sock pattern release!
So, continuing my desire to produce simple but striking patterns, patterns that relatively new knitters might look at and think “I could have a crack at that!” this pattern contains lots of photos of the socks in progress and is designed to be easy to follow and simple and quick to make. They were knitted top down, one and a time, have a Dutch heel and contrast toes, both of which are reinforced.
New socks, new obsession?
Well, look. First things first, hi! It’s been a while. With one thing and another (and massively glossing over what a very peculiar place the wider and smaller worlds are at the moment), like most I’ve been busy keeping my head above water while my own little part of our planet settles back into some kind of semblance of normality (I laugh out loud at that word!) But I’m sticking my toe gingerly back in the water – do people read blogs any more? – and aiming to document the small part of it that is more or less within my control 😉 I have, after all, never stopped knitting / drafting / designing, but not yet managed to write everything up…
Whilst the intervening years have seen most of my boys find gainful employment and leave home, some of you may remember my Teddy – he starts a SEN college course next month and I’m really not sure where to put myself about it. My tiny Ted is 6 foot 3 and magnificent. He has spent most of the summer modelling Pokemon out of polymer clay, and is a major fan of overworking a piece until it is large enough to mean a substantial loan may be necessary if he wishes to continue… And our little granddaughter (now 3) came to live with us back in February 2024. A funnier pair you never did see.
And so to begin! I took a deep dive into my old posts on various social media platforms. I needed to find where I first came across the lovely Laura (aka The Lonely Knitter now also Folk Yarn Studio). It turns out it was 4 years ago, shortly after my family and I landed up on the Suffolk Coast, and when I was very excited to learn that she was local and organising a mini-yarn festival in my new hometown.
I found these images:
Fast forward four years, and a fortuitous chance meeting with a lovely lady who attended a couple of my workshops found me joining Laura’s Stitch Night. It has become the thing I look forward to most in the week.
Laura’s hand-dyed yarn is beautiful, but even better she runs occasional workshops at her studio and I signed up to dye some myself. It’s been many years since my mini-foray into dyeing my own with natural dyes (onion skins, blackberries etc) and the world has taken many twists and turns since then, pulling me in other directions. So I was delighted to sign up for a few child-free evening hours with lovely (friendly, welcoming) like-minded people, splashing squirty bottles of acid-dye into tubs of virgin yarn awaiting transformation.
It looked a little underwhelming to me, especially when I saw what everyone else was creating, but literally 24 hours later, at our Stitch Night, Laura had it dried and wound into skeins ready to collect. And I was utterly thrilled.
Needless to say, other WIPs took a back seat (mostly… I mean… come on… let’s be real)
I started with a lot of texture (top pic above), but once I got to the plain stocking stitch and saw the beautiful natural stripes, I decided to frog it back and just leave a little eyelet lace top to allow the colours to show themselves off more fully (bottom pic above) and my first pair of socks is now complete. (Meeting up with Laura seems to end up with knitting socks in heatwaves – it’s an August thing?)
The contrast heel is a Dutch heel and, obvs, they’re a top-down sock, in this case knitted one at a time.
I’ve written it up here, if you fancy making a pair of your own 🙂
I also now have the wherewithal to experiment with a little dyeing of my own at home, but that’ll have to wait until spaces have been created: physically by a little shake-up we’re currently plotting, and mentally by nursery and college starting in a couple of weeks time.
So, if it interests you at all, watch this space…
In other news… when the aforementioned space does finally arrive, I am going to get my head around writing these up:
More exciting news!
Back in October, I took the loooong train ride from Lowestoft to Devon to film an episode of Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas 2021.
Socks 5 and 6 of the 52 socks of 2021
I’m quite excited about these, for a number of reasons.
Let me list them for you:
- They are super cosy and snuggly.
- They are bright and cheerful.
- They are, technically, worsted weight and therefore not quite as bulky as my other boot socks
- THEY ARE MACHINE WASHABLE
- They knit up really speedily.
They’re knitted in Novita 7 Veljesta Raita (self-striping) and Lappi (solid colour) on 4mm needles and one ball of self-striping, knitted as I did, does EXACTLY one pair. You’ll only use around 35g (around 70m) of the ball of solid colour.
Let me show you how much of a yarn chicken winner I was with these ones:
I’ve written up the pattern and it is available for a nominal fee of £1 for a while over here.
The Novita Raita self-striping yarn you can find here, and the Lappi solid colour is here.
Do share your pictures with me if you have a crack at them!
Happy knitting <3
In pictures, in progress… (updated with pattern links)
Last year, I designed a sweater I called the Vintage Chic sweater, in Paintbox yarns super chunky.
This year, I’ve reworked it for their 100% wool worsted range.
And I’m loving how it’s coming out.
Pattern to follow ❤️
Update:
I finished the adult version and then made a couple of little ones. The pattern is available in many sizes, from baby to adult. Here are some more pictures and links to the corresponding patterns.
You can find the adult version of the pattern, pictured below, here,
the child’s version, pictured below, here,
and the ‘Mummy and Me’ version, which includes both patterns as pictured below, here.
Happy knitting! x
February Finished.
February was wonderfully productive, I’m delighted to say. I feel like 2019 has brought me back my design mojo, which was waning a little at the end of 2018.
Clockwise from top left (click links for patterns, where available):
- My Dolly Socks, in wool and cashmere superwash – the perfect prettiness for Spring.
- My first pair of gloves, knitted exclusively for me. I haven’t bothered with the pattern as they were my first pair, but I’m already looking forward to designing some beauties, now that I have these ones under my belt. Motto? Feel the fear and do it anyway 😉
- Aphrodite’s new jumper: the Juno’s Friend Jumper. And apparently we’re to expect a late blast of snow in a few days’ time, so that will come in handy. My beloved husband tells me I need to make her a pink spotty one next. Watch this space…
- My Lilac and Lime Bobble Socks, in a not-at-all lilac and lime colourway, which I love to bits with my Duckfeet.
- My husband’s woodland jumper, already tried and tested in the woods, and the pattern for which I have yet to write up, but WILL. I promise <3
I’m already excited to see what March will bring.
Happy knitting, lovelies! <3
Lilac and Lime Bobble Boot Socks
We know about my Beauteous Boot Socks, don’t we?
You see, in the summer, I’m in flipflops, and autumn, winter, spring, I’m in boots. I’m not sure I actually possess any shoes.
And in the winter I get chilly tootsies, I’m afraid, so big chunky boot socks are the way forward for me.
And we know I’m a Mama, too, right? And I have some rather fabulous teenagers who, I am delighted to say, have been helping me with the laundry.
See, the thing is… Well… Put it this way: Note to self – Don’t put wool socks in the general family laundry basket. Keep them separate and wash them myself. I am now the proud owner of some very tiny, thick, heavily felted boot socks. Which, I confess, are a thing of beauty in themselves, but entirely useless when it comes to wearing them now… sigh.
So, it was time for a pair of superwash socks, which even if they are put in the machine a bit hot, are far less likely to end up quite so tiny.
I had this really gorgeous yarn in my stash (I do love colour-changes, as you may have noticed) Lang Yarns Merino+ Color which is pure merino. One of my favourites. And I had some Drops Nepal, too, which only occurred to me rather too late was something that will also shrink (I’m a little tired, I confess, which often leads to a rather slower brain 😉 ) so having put a little research in, I would suggest Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (also a superwash) in Citrus to match the ones I made.
This weekend, like most just now, has been a bit gruelling. My youngest needs meds through the night, 3-hourly, and I couldn’t get back to sleep after the 3am dose. My lovely husband is off in the woods with his bushcraft buddies on their monthly trip, so I turned on the light and got on with my socks, Netflix and headphones. And having started them yesterday lunchtime, by lunchtime today they were finished so they’re a fairly speedy knit, too (though I don’t recommend the crazy early starts if you have the option to snooze merrily till the sun is well and truly up).
(If you fancy a crack at these, you can find the pattern here).
In other news, I’ve got to the heel-turning point on my second Toast sock, so I’ll be updating you on those in the not-too-distant, though I’m rather hoping for a better night tonight, so it may be a few days yet, fingers crossed!
Right – back to school-runs, teatimes, the daily grind and squeezing in a few stitches where I can.
Have a gorgeous week! <3
One Hat Two Ways
I thought you might like this…
See, in the spirit of waste not, want not, and not having loads of scrappy bits of yarn left over that you can’t bear to throw away but won’t quite make something else…
The Owl and the Pussycat, remember?
So, I had one ball of Lang Merino Color+ yarns in colour 9 and one ball of Debbie Bliss Falkland Aran in Camel
The Debbie Bliss provided the base colour for the hat, while the Lang Merino produced a beautifully undulating colour up to the crown.
Well!! I had quite a lot left, so I thought “Why the heck not?” and I reversed the colour scheme.
I completely love the result. What do you think?
Here they are together:
I should probably stop knitting these now, but I’ve seriously loved them so don’t be surprised if one or two more sneak in…
(You can find the pattern here if you want some owls and pussycats yourself)