End of financial year catch up

I haven't blogged in a while, so I better do the projects in summary.

Project: Anon's socks



Yarn Harlot's basic sock receipe in The Knittery's 4ply Merino Cashmere in Moses Fire.

These socks are for a girl Jim mentioned who had been in an accident (I think) and was having therapy for her feet. I hope they warm her feet as they heel. I hope they let this person I've never met (and probably never will) know that people care for her.

Project: Mum's birthday socks



Yarn Harlot's basic sock receipe in The Knittery's 5 ply Merino Chubby Sock in Orchard Blossom.

No finished picture yet, but they have been finished for a while and well worn. Made to mum's specifications. Although this yarn is not a 5ply. Its more like 3ply. I wonder how thin the "slim 3ply" really is.

Project: Amy's baby kimono



Mason Dixon Knitting's Heartbreakingly cute Baby Kimono in Zara (*sigh*)

The seaming on this really pushed me over the edge. I'm trying to come up with a seam free (with grafting) version. (We'll see how that goes.) Amy (the mum-to-be) really liked it though. She even commented I've subversively used Swan's colours.

Project: Kyle's Jamaica Hat



Rasta Hat by Shannita Williams-Alleyne in Lana Gatto Minicaraibi.

Not a very hard knit although I did almost run out of purple yarn (but had to make the centre in purple otherwise there would have been toooooo much yellow). The colours and size are definately not my cup of tea, but Kyle LOVES it.

Project: Kanga's booties



Sartjee's booties in Eki Riva Supreme.

Because I don't swatch, I ended up needing to knit the larger size to make newborn size and made the straps 25sts instead of 12 (I tried it the other way and it just wasn't going to go over any kids foot, even one belonging to a mother with size 4 feet). I finished them at the baby shower and they were a raging success.

Project: Mayz's birthday socks



Yarn Harlot's basic sock receipe in The Knittery's 4 ply Merino Cashmere in Holiday.

The colourway seemed lovely in the skein and ball but seemed to loose something in the knitting up. Too much turqoise for my liking. Still, the socks are nice if a bit repetative (although I'm a repetative girl).

Honey photo



A slightly large paperweigh?

Snazzy socks

I've been given a knitting problem (someone else's daughter's socks) and I don't understand the first part of the pattern.

Its Snazzy Socks from some paperleaf knitting pattern thing. I pmed the one person on Ravelry who had knit it, and she confessed that she hadn't understood it and had just done ribbing. Unfortunately, someone else has already knit the first sock, so I have to follow the pattern.

Can anyone help?

Socks: With pair of 5mm (no 6) needles and B, cast on 42 [52:62] sts. Working edging in rows as foll:

1st row: (RS) K1, yfwd, *k5, sl successively 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th sts just worked over 1st and off needle, yfwd, rep from *to last st, k1. 19[23:27]

Yfwd - from what I remember is just bringing the yarn to the front as if you were getting ready to purl. Meaning you'd end up with a yarn over. Right?

sl successively 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th sts just worked over 1st and off needle - this is the bit that reall doesn't make sense. Normally you slip the first st over the 2nd not the other way round (except for double decreases that want to centre on the middle st). Can anyone write this out for me in simple English? I don't mind if you sound patronising. I just can't see it.

Otherwise, I'm just going to give it back and claim defeat.

Hmm...

The recipient of these socks rang me up the day after I left them outside his door. (Long story).

Him: "Did you come round in the middle of the night and measure my feet?"
Me: "Ummm...hehe...no"
Him: "Then how did you knit socks that fit so well?"

(I finally managed to stumble out something about knitted fabric being stretchy and also normal socks spanning a range of sizes.)

Happiness...

A couple of weeks ago, I fell off the wagon and got a couple of packages from The Knittery. I wont admit to the rest of the contents at the moment but inside one was this..



Aren't the colours just gorgeous?



The two outside yarns are Merino Cashmere 4ply sock yarn in Holiday and Moses Fire.



The inside is Merino 5ply Chubby sock yarn in Orange Blossom. I'm not sure its a 5ply though. Its actually thinner than the 4ply Merino cashmere, but it looks divine and is a 3-4ply, still okay for socks. I heard the 3ply slim is just thicker than laceweight.



Can you tell I'm besotted with it? My mum choose the yarn, and I actually think I like it better than the other two colourways but we'll see how it looks once its knit up.



These socks are for my mum. She keeps hassling me for a pair of socks. She points out that everyone else has gotten socks except her, inspite of the fact that in that time she's got a hat and scarf. Still its her birthday in early May and I was planning to make them for her anyway.



Don't you just love how they pool? They're just Yarn Harlot's basic sock receipe and its going really quick. That photo was taken yesterday and I've already turned the heel.

Okay....you can stop listening to be smitten.

Knit Aid

Last night at church, we had a knit-in to knit blankets for Ethiopia. It's much like the Wrap with Love Knit-in except that these blankets will be going to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.



(It doesn't look that exciting but for a small-medium sized church, with about 15-20 women attending the knit in, there would be enough squares already for 3-4 blankets and some more squares are on the way.)



We seem to have lots of knitters and not enough crocheters - although we did manage to teach a couple of new people. Unfortunately, not I. (Perhaps that a good thing, otherwise I've have to crochet the blankets together instead of knit them.)



I started my square on Monday and I had tried to do maths so that I would have done just enough of a square, so that I would finish by the end of the knit in. Unfortunately, I misjudged and finished a little early, so I had to begin another one.

I used some Panda Carnival 8ply I had in my stash (due to miscommunication between me and my dad). Despite my anti cheap acrylic stance, it was actually bareable for the square. I'm not sure I'll buy cheap acrylic but I wont absolutely refuse to use it.



It doesn't seem like much but this is a sneaked picture of the knitting of the knitting speed demon of our church. She claims its not true and that there are others faster than her, but everyone knows she is by far the fastest.

Pretty yarn pics tomorrow (or when I next post)...

More socks

[I bought the dark grey coat - inspite of my worry that the size was too big and others comments that the colour was too drab for winter and that it looked like a blanket.]

On the 6th April, I finally finished the Afternoon tea socks. (They were the last of my Southern Summer of Socks Socks, albeit 6 days late. This means that excluding the six days, the only goal I didn't complete was knitting a sock for my sockblocker keyring, which I imagine would take about an hour, once I find it. So fairly sucessful, particularly for someone who 6 months ago had never knit socks, to now have 6 pairs.)



They're Earl Grey socks in Ranco (Colourway#488), 76 stitches around on 2.5mm. It used up most of a skein.

I named them afternoon tea socks because they aren't grey and I keep thinking there is a flavour of tea called "Afternoon tea" (although I could be making that up), that I think I remember the receipient it drinking once.



(Why is it that I either forget to take a photo at all or only remember to take a photo right before I have to give it to the person so the lighting is shocking? That or I only finish it last minute and have no choice? Yes, I'm stretching the sock out on my camera bag - but never fear - I now own sock blockers!

[Tune in next time for prudy sock yarn, an extra bright rasta hat, sock blockers and other goodies, charity squares and a returned easter show project!]

A dilemma

Hilfe! I want to buy a new coat and I have a few in mind, but I can't decide which one. I would love it if people would provide their opinions. (I wont comment on what people have already said.)

The dark grey one....







The light grey speckly one with belt...





The cream one with belt...(it didn't come in my size at this store but I know it does exist in my size in other stores).



This is a close up of the fabric on the cream one...





Please let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate it.

Normal knitting content will resume shortly.