Month: February 2020

Dots and Stripes. Dotty Stripes.

Posted on by Alice Neal

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No. This post is not about socks.

Although, I have to confess, I could gaze upon the beauty of the beauteous boot socks in perpetuity. I enjoy looking at them almost as much as I enjoy wearing them. And this very frosty northern morning, they are peeping above the tops of my boots and keeping my toes toasty. Over tights, no less. Yes. That’s how I roll.

Oh, and I enjoy wearing them almost as much as I enjoy knitting them.

But I digress.

There is of course a limit as to the number of boot socks you can possess (although as previous posts have explained – teenaged boys + washing machine + wool socks = unmitigated disaster) and I still have quite a lot of scraps of the various yarns I used for creating them.

Added to which, my wardrobe of preloved goodness has expanded this winter, and my colours are all rather autumnal.

I  needed a hat to match.

So I made one.

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After which, beloved son number 2 requested one (he has a very chilly wait at the bus stop on his way to college in the mornings).

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And I really love the colours he chose (and banana cake. And coffee).

After which, I made another one just because I could.

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(I also made the lebkuchen because they’re my favourite and the blooming shops have stopped selling them now that Christmas is over. If you love them too, go and check out this recipe. It’s really simple and they’re bloody delicious).

If you have 100g or so of aran weight wool in a few colours and fancy a spotted, dotted, striped hat of your own, you can find the pattern here. And if you do make it, give me a tag? I do love to see it!

Happy Hump Day <3

Scraps

Posted on by Alice Neal

I never really understood scrap yarn until I started knitting socks. Anything I had left over ended up in a big bag of many-weighted mis-matched colours, which usually ended up going to a knitting group, being used for holding the sleeve stitches in top-down sweaters, or being stuffed out of sight at the back of my stash.

Until I started knitting socks. And, more specifically, until I discovered the insanely beautiful yarns available for socks. And the fact that a 100g skein would usually leave enough yarn to make a substantial contribution to another project.

Enter this oh-so-simple triangle shawl-in-the-making.

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Each stripe is identifiable as a sock that I have created, and each colour brings me deep joy. I especially love the little glittery flashes from the two Fondant Fibre glitter sock yarns, which give it a whole extra aspect of beauty. To me, that is.

It’s taking an age, but that is largely because of the (as mentioned on Insta) 48,000 other WIPs I have, incapable as I am of sticking to one at a time. I have great admiration for people who can start one, work on it, finish it, and start the next. But that’s just not how I roll.

Anyway, I can’t wait to finish it.

And as I know I have also mentioned before, in a bid to make my own small difference to the consumer overwhelm, these days I refuse to buy any new clothes, so everything (other than my smalls, obviously) that enters my wardrobe these days is either pre-loved, or created stitch by stitch by my own fair hand.

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This picture is a case in point.

I was particularly smug to discover that my new socks, and my old-favourite sweater matched my ‘new’ eBay skirt perfectly.

And on I go, with plans for more woolly delights to match my preloved wardrobe.

It feels good <3

Tumbling Vines Sock Pattern

Posted on by Alice Neal

Good morning!

Monday.

Awfully windy out there, up here in the North-East. Today is a day for ALL the knits. And there’s very little that brings me more gentle pleasure than knowing that the majority of what I’m wearing was fashioned with my own fingers.

Today, it’ll be boot socks, sweater, hat, mittens, cowl… The works.

And I’ve found myself thinking… it might be time to knit a skirt? Does that work? Any experiences you’ve had with successes or failures would be greatly appreciated. Will you spur me on to try it? Or will you tell me I’m a madwoman for even thinking of it? I can’t decide if it’d be a neat thing to have, or end up looking like a baggy nappy (or diaper for our friends across the Pond)…

Anyway, enough ramblings and to the point of being here today (I haven’t had my coffee yet, and last night was not the greatest in terms of unbroken sleep, so forgive me if I seem to meander into side-roads with little regard for having lost my way). If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you’ll know I’ve recently come up with a new sock pattern, which I have now created both in Drops Nord yarn, and in Fondant Fibre glittery sock yarn. I’m littering this post with pictures so you can see how they came out, and if you fancy giving them a go yourself, you can find the pattern over here. Or from Yarn Canada here.

So feast yer eyes on the lacy creations.

Now.

Kids at school.

Coffee and time to finish writing up my Stashbusting Hats (which most definitely need a new name).

Have a glorious week. Once you’ve got over the fact that Monday has rolled around way too fast.

<3