A knitty Christmas.........

Yes I have finally got around to taking some pictures of my lovely knitty christmas gifts. I was very lucky indeed. Lots of lucious goodies and not a ball of yarn in site.
So what did I get?





Well you can see I finally got my lovely Harmony wood Knitpicks - they are just divine. They are so smooth and I am now going to ask for the DPNs for my birthday (which I am hoping to purchase on my jolly out to Getknitted next Saturday).
I also received the lovely Lantern Moon crochet needle case from my Mother in law (you can grab a bargain if you are quick as Robynn has these on sale on her website at the moment - click here). I was also given a larger size Know knits pouch for those bigger than socks projects from Gabrielle who had it couriered over from Canada. (A very willing courier I might add.) I also finally got my hands back on the Jane Brockett book - The Gentle Art of Domesticity which was whisked off me as I came home through the door after my venture out to Crafternoon Tea back in October. I had a chance to sit down and have a read today and I was inspired so took the following photo after putting my recent John Lewis Sale yarn purchases (they were allowed they are for presents for others so don't count as stash as they are allocated gifts not yet fully formed) into a basket and all my odds and ends into a glass vase. I also added a couple of sets of needles for effect.



And I am sure that it also inspired this:



I was also very pleased to receive Not Just Socks - Sandi Rosner. I already have Not Just More Socks which I have already knitted a number of items from. I am looking forward to knitting the mittens on the front cover. Stitch and Bitch Nation also appeared from my sister in law and there are a number patterns I have bookmarked aswell.

New Year Knitalutions....................

First of all a Happy New Year to everyone and anyone who stumbles across my blog. I have had a lovely christmas and New Year. I have made quite a few new year knitalutions some of which are a bit of a carryover from the last couple of years.
First of all a round up of last years knitalutions - there was just the one 'to learn to crochet' (you may see a recurrance of this theme). Ok so I wasn't totally sucessful but I did make a start. I managed under the guidance of Robynn (form Purlescence - great sale on her site at the moment, go grab a bargain)to crochet one granny square and a sample of geko rigde. I know what a double and a treble is now I just have problems putting them together. There is also the whole thing of the yarn in the other hand which I still haven't grasped. I need some gloves to wear, one marked yarn and one marked hook (just like you have when teaching children to learn their left from their right). Anyway I intend to persue this further in 2008. Other achievement in knitting in 2007 in no particular order were as follows:

1) to go to a meeting at Iknit London
2) to knit socks which are not plain, I managed a lace pattern and a fancy rib
3) to knit a sweater with cables in (to slow me down - gabrielles idea, to slow me down that is)
4) knitted the river stole from the Rowan magazine in Kidsilk Haze
5) ventured into the land of blog
6) signed up for Ravelry
7) going to the SnB day in London
8) knitting a prosthetic breast (breastcancer awareness)
9) having a go at dyeing my own yarn - with varied amount of sucess and steadily improving
10) I joined a sock club (Socktopus club 2007)
11) knitted 32 hats for the Big Knit with innocent smoothies to support the work of Age Concern
12) I knitted 3 mobieus scarve things, again with the help and tuition of Robynn.
There are many more but I don't want to bore you all

So what to achieve in 2008.......
1) to learn to crochet and make the blanket in Rowan Magazine 41 - I have already made some progress with this in the fact that I have actually made a commitment and ordered the yarn yesterday. I also ordered a range of crochet hooks from Purlescence
2) to further experiment in dyeing yarn - I have ordered an acid dye kit from texere yarn at the same time as ordering my cotton for my throw.
3) to knit all my sock for the Socktopus 2007-08 sock club in the alloted time - looking forward to trying new techniques.
4) to get to Iknit at least once a month
5) to go to a Stitch and Bitch meeting - most likely to be achieved in a school holiday
6) to get more knitters down to Amida for our fortnightly knitting group
7) to blog at least twice a week and not always get hung up on having to have a photo
8) to reduce my stash ( yawn, boring - actually what I wanted to write here really was increase my stash so I have to get a loft conversion to turn into a sewing and knitting workshop - fat chance while the kids still live at home)
9) to find and visit the LYS (local yarn shop) for any new place that I visit. That is going to be a fun one and it is going to drive my family nuts.
10) to read the books for the Kniterati even if I can't make the meeting - umm that may be a hard one as reading time is always short in term time unless I make better use of Eric time (Everyone reading in class - me included).

I guess that sounds rather a lot but there is a whole year to try and achieve and I feel happy that they are take up things rather than give up things which to me always seems a really negative way to approach a new year. Why not change by learning something new. I could have gone for fitness goals but I do like a small chance at least in achieving them so they are out from the start.
So what has everyone out there got as their New Year Resolutions then?

Yogi feet.......................

I was kindly given a sample skein of yarn to knit up and see how it washes. As it was a 50grm skein it needed to be something small but also washable if you know what I mean. I had already queued these little yoga sockettes on Ravelry a few months ago and decided that they would be a fitting project. They are currently drying out on the side of the bath but here are a few pictures of the finished article. I love the way they actually match my flip flops. I will post details of the yarn once I have checked with the person who gave it to me.

So here they are......






The yarn is incredibly soft and appears to have washed up well. It has been dyed with natural dyes.

I have also cast on my first pair of gloves which are coming on very well - they are another creation from the Sandi Rosner - Not Just More Socks book. They start on straights where you knit a very elegant cuff and then transfer onto DPNs to knit the palm and the fingers. I have currently completed, two cuffs, a thumb increase and half way up the palm of the first glove. I have used my Dream in Colour skein of Smooshy for this. I am now on the look out for small but elegant pearl buttons to adorn them with.
I have taken some pictures which I will try and load up tomorrow, yoga and knitting permitting!

Drying socks..........................

OK so how else am I supposed to get seven pairs of handknit socks that have just been handwashed dry. Ok Handwash cycle on the machine but when it is raining I have no way to dry them. I was quite amused at the site of them all lined up along the bath. Anyone have any ingenious ways for drying socks in this typical british weather? When its bright and sunny they go out on the whirly gig thing. But when its wet its a buggar.

What do you buy a resistant sock knitter for christmas?

Sock yarn of course! I Decided it was time that I fully introduce her to the pleasure (I promise) of sock knitting. So what did I do? I hand dyed her some yarn in a colourway that I knew she would appreciate. I then produced my own label and then burnt her a CD with some free patterns searched out through ravelry and a free sock tutorial to help her on her way.







I have to say I was quite pleased with the end result and have kept the second skein for myself. Yes I know there are no sock needles in the kit but they are to follow. I have also discovered that the towel hanger that sits on the back of the door in the bathroom is great for drying the skeins of yarn on.
In case any of you are a little worried she also received a mobieus scarf in Handmaiden Seasilk. If you scroll down to some of my earlier posts you can see the finished article.

Ravelry 'T' has arrived............................

Finally my Ravely T-shirt has arrived from across the pond.

All I need now is an excuse to wear them. Maybe to the Iknit first knit in of the new year at the Royal Festival Hall from 6pm on 2nd January. Go the the Iknit website for more details.

SOCK(topus)Club 2007 has arrived............

OK so here it is the very first Socktopus Sock Club package. It arrived beautifully packaged in its destinctive silver bag. Alice you always pay such attention to detail.



And inside was.........




Which in more detail is.........

This bag is exquisite and just my colours! I like the little zip pouch in the front were you can put your tools. Great for carrying around with you, although I am not so sure that I will be carrying this particular pair of socks around as they appear to require a little more concentration.

I love the extra touches such as the tree decoration and the mini chocolate bar. The tree decoration is perfect as our tree is always in red and gold and every year we add one new decoration.


These are colours I would never have even dreamed of putting together but they work so well and I am so excited about trying something new.



Jane a big thank you on all the work that you have done to create this pattern especially for us. You can find Janes blog here.

My next job is to download the audio book to my ipod so I can also listen while I am knitting. I may however have to enjoy the book after if I find that I can't concentrate on both, despite normally being able to multitask to the extreme.

The only job I have now is to cast on. I finally wound the skeins yesterday in the car while travelling down to Eastbourne. Unfortuately I do not yet have a swift or ball winder so I have to do it by hand. It did make the time on the journey pass a little more quickly. I am going to cast on on New Years Day so that I start the new year knitting socks.