Om shanti, om shanti, om shanti, om.............

The perfect socks for the Yogicknitter, finished and completed a little while ago and just as I collected the next package.
This sock pattern is a perfect match for the yarn and they are just so comfy and squishy to wear.



I have loved the garter stitch toe and heels with no wraps to try and hide when doing the short rows.



I also love the funky little stitch pattern when I finally got a grip on how it moved around the needles from pattern repeat to pattern repeat. The toe cast on has to be one of my favourites so far and I am definately going to knit a second pair of these as I have another couple of skeins of this yarn in Flamingo Sunrise lurking around in the stash waiting for the perfect pattern.



Remember this yarn from the Socktopus launch party and the extra two skeins I had to buy to finish the toe of these socks.....



Yep that was all I needed to finish but because of matching dye batches etc I had some shifty dealing and exchanging to do. Now I have a plan for the remaining yarn.

March Socktopus Sock Club 2009.......a late entry

So yes I am really late blogging about this latest package arrival, in fact the next one is due really soon! I decided to take the pictures with the new camera so took me longer to get around to downloading them.



The March installment was named 'Over the garden wall' and had a definate growth theme embedded in it. The pattern was designed jointley by Lou and Emms who are co-authors of the Loumms website, where they are on a mission to get as many of us as possible to grow, create, make, re-use and re-cycle as much of daily life as possible.





The wiggly growth on the side of the foot is an optional extra and is a bit of free form Icord. Ingenious!

The yarn was 'Sweet Feet' from Artist's Palette yarns and is a fantastically soft blend of Superwash merino and Bamboo, that has been hand painted in Worcestershire.





Amongst the little goodies that arrived with the package was a cute little owl fabric bag containing seeds to grow my own soup.

Now all I have to do is cast these on and find a pot for the mint and the peas!

Results of fibre club installment one...........

I seem to have been a little behind with things all year so far and fibre club wasn't an exception. Arriving back at the start of February I thought it was time I actually got it out of the packet and spun it rather than stroke it and put it back.

The first installment was some Polworth fibre which had come all the way from Australia and had been dyed in a lovely combination of browns with just a hint of pink.



I think the name Jackaroo is just perfect. I sat with my little fibre digestive and read through all the information on the fibre and then the tutorial from the talented Diane Mulholland. So I did as I was told and split up my fibre into four equal parts as evenly as I could, marking each of the ends with clips so that I knew which way I had spun my fibre from.





Apparently knowing which end I had spun from was important so that I could ply the gradients of the colour together. (I have to say this didn't happen in the end as I wasn't brave enough to do the breaking and the spit splicing.)



I got to use my new Niddy Noddy (which was ordered for my birthday and finally arrived at the start of March!)



I am sure hardened spinners will point out here that I have forgotten to put a coin in when I photograph the yarn. I don't get that bit!





Anyway it appears I have managed to spin up a thickish fourply which is going to make some gloves for Carl when he is standing out watching the rugby in the autumn term. I love the way the colours have blended together, even though I didn't quite manage the gradients suggested by Diane but I am really happy with the outcome of my yarn and can't wait for the arrival of the next parcel which I know will be very soon.

Published pattern designer...........well sort of.

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this before but this appears to be the case.
So two issues back of yarnforward, Issue 11 to be precise.



See this a bit closer..........



I have to say if I had been given a choice I would definately have called this licorice allsort but I guess there must have been trademark issues with that one.

Yes, that is the original scarf sitting right next to the magazine, the one in the picture. The one that is credited to me as my design. I have to be totally fair here I was only expecting a part mention for the design as it was the inspiration of Shannon Okey who said "Can you knit me up a lengthways scarf with this stitch, oh and use anything from your stash, oh and can you have it done and in the post by Monday".... and I did.

So first of all a bit of stash raiding was needed and I came up with this pile



There were quite a few oddments of collinette amongst the pile so I went ahead trying to identify some of the other yarns.......



.......I am afraid some of these remainded unidentified!





Deciding on the order of colours was great fun.



And finally the uber long finished scarf. I have only blogged now as I actually gave this away to a friend yesterday for her birthday and then remembered I had never posted anything about it. She admired it when I first knit it back in January and it only seemed fitting that as she loved it so much she had it.

Seeing the whole thing published in a magazine with my name there got me really excited and I am now plotting a few things for the future, so watch this space.

Surprise Baby..............

No I am not expecting but in the last month three friends did deliver a gorgeous number of babies, well three to be exact, one girl and two boys between them so I have been rather busy in baby garment department. Have taken a short break after organising the Baby Shower blanket for Robynn I also knitted another friend a cable blanket for her impending arrival.

After two blankets and greatly admiring the Baby surprise jacket that Robynn had knitted for Claudia I decided that it was time to have a go myself and see what all the fuss was about. I had a ball of Opal sock yarn sitting waiting to be knitted up so I cast on. I have to confess to needing some initial clarification from some seasoned surprise jacket experts and the very useful cheat sheet but finally I cast off and was left with this!



Ok so I already knew I was only going to be sewing up the top of the arms so I did have a bit of a head start when it came to folding it up into a jacket but I still found the whole process fascinating.



So here is the final garment folded into baby wear. Here the buttons have not yet been attached. I did manage to get some little white ones with blue teddies printed on them. I really want to have another go at one of these this time thinking about changing colours and putting edgings in. If you haven't had a go at one of these it is really worth it just to see how the whole thing works. However did EZ know that this would actually make a garment when it was finished.

Oh and a few quick pics of the cable blanket...............

Unblocked...



...and blocked