Sock(topus)Club Part Three ........ Mosaic

Well the much awaited third parcel arrived in its ever beautiful silver package today and I just couldn't wait to get it open. Once again not a hint of disapointment. The colours are just fantastic,very me and I love them.





So what info do I need to give you? Well the pattern has been designed by Dianne Mullholland (of the Inside Loop )and looks to me like I might have to learn a bit of Entrelac, although I have to say I am relived to find that they are a cuff down design this time. The pattern is just around the cuff so there is some relaxing straight forward knitting as a reward.



Now I am also guessing that these little buddies are going to be useful when completing this pattern too. I love the way the colours match those of the yarn and are in the reverse proportions - very clever and a lovely touch.



That blue really is stunning.

The yarn has been dyed by Middlearth Knitter Yarns, an etsy shop seller and is a Bluefaced Leicester with Nylon mix 75% / 25% and feels very soft. I love the range of tones within each of the skeins of yarn.







But I have to say my favourtie bit of the parcel was this.........



...... and in pink too. My very own members badge. This will be sewn onto my knitting bag and reminds me very much of the badges that I used to get when I was in the Brownies and the Guides many years ago.

I am looking forward to a collection of badges as a reward for each pair of socks I finish. I have managed so far to complete each pair before the next one is posted although the last ones got pretty close. However now the postings are half way through I am going to have to start thinking about saving up for next years membership because how could I possibly not join. I would see everyone else posting and feel like I was missing out.

Neighbourhood Tunnels........................

I have just realised that although I have blogged about these on the Sock(topus)Club board I haven't updated on my own.

So to recap at the start of March I received this from Alice


Containing this

Which turned out like this





But to make them I had to learn to do this


That's right - I had to learn toe up. A big thankyou to Quelle Erqsome without her help I would never have managed it.

So along the way at various stages they looked like this



I took my time to get started on these. The lacey pattern itself is really quite easy and logical but it was the whole toe up thing that made me put off starting and then once I had started the anticipation of having to do the heel.
I put that off for a little while too and then I thought time was running out to get them finished to be in with a chance of the prize draw and also I want to get my badge for completing them. So I had to go it alone and on the Sunday afternoon I had a go and actually it was much easier than I thought although I still think my technique has some polishing to be done. They have achieved the right effect but not as the designer quite wrote the pattern I fear. Emma please forgive me on this one I did my best?

Anyway once I had managed it off I went, plain sailing up the cuff. Now all I had to do was repeat it all again for the second sock. I managed it but I am still not sure I did exactly the same thing on both heels but I do think I understand short rows a little better now.

I am now looking forward to the arrival of parcel three sometime this weekend. I wonder what new technique I am going to have to learn next.

I also have to comment on the most beautiful sock blockers that came with this months parcel (well shortly afterwards). They really are lovely. I desperately want some in other sizes now too. A D&T project for one of the children I think.

The Fog is finished...........................

Ok so I finished this before I went away and it has already been worn almost constantly but with the rubbish weather I wasn't able to get that outdoor shot that I wanted.
Instead you will just have to put up with these......





I did change the next to a very simple roll neck rather than the polo neck in the original design by Tienne. I love this sweater and it was fantastic to knit despite all that 1x1 rib. I know when I read the pattern it did say not for those who don't like rib but somehow I did not quite manage to take on board how much rib there was to do. The sleeves were interesting as they are also knitted up in the round and I found the increases intriguing. I got used to the best way of doing them so not to leave any holes. I enjoyed the whole experience of knitting in the round. It was certainly what prompted me to knit the Sea Vines Vest in the same way. (Still to be blocked and photographed.)

The yarn itself must be one of the most fabulous that I have had the pleasure to knit with and the softness of it is greatly appreciated by the recipient. Thank you Andy at Bluefaced.com for this special purchase.

Also here is the first cable sock completed. However I have run into a little problem. Thinking I had done really well when there was 51grms left after number one had been completed I now think that there will still not be enough as the yarn apparently comes in 115grm skeins. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - its the Flamingo Sunrise all over again. The problem was the skein was a gift and came without tag, I now need to see if I can find another skein and purchase to finish off the socks.





And thats the toe that might be coming out if I can't get Yarn to finish them!
This sock is also my own design so all the more reason that I want to complete them.

It's been a while...........................

It really has been a while since I last updated but I have to say things have been pretty manic over the last month. I can't believe the last thing I posted was the Brownie recipie.
Easter weekend went very well and seems like ages away and it was spent with various friends over various meals - a very relaxing weekend indeed. A good job really so at least I was rested when the phone call came on the Tuesday. The phone call that every teacher dreads - the inspector rang to say he would be coming on Thursday. So we had just over 24 hours notice to get all the paperwork gathered up and in the right place, email off documents and do a general tidy around the school. I was first up to meet at him at 8am. This was all going on alongside the regular parent consultations and sending out of mid year reports. My days off that week were numbered. Having said all that I still managed to get to the Kniterati book group and do a stint at the Relax and Knit stand at Olympia at the Stitch and Craft show. I am not sure how I actually managed to get to Friday. No time to recoup at the weekend as it too was already packed to bursting.
Saturday was the usual ballet run followed by DH going off to Cambridge for a reunion dinner and Em and I dashing to Putney for knitty meet up with the Crimson Cafe Crew. That would have been fine except for the problems with the trains and signals between Mortlake and Putney being down. Anyway we made it and were able to chill for a little while at least. Our return journey was nowhere near as fraut. The Sunday presented its own problems. An early start to get to Eastbourne for a joint retirement and 75th Birthday celebration. No problem I hear you all say. Normally no but when one of the required party is in Cambridge and his train stops outside Bishop Storford for one and a half hours due to a fire in the signal box you do start to worry just a little.
Finally we were all in the same place to set off on our journey and in the end this was fairly uneventful and I made it back for knitting group on time.
The next few days were spent just getting ready to go away on holiday and get packed in between attending a production of the Pest House (a collaborative dance show from locals schools), planning for the next term, school events etc and keeping my sanity.
By the Friday at 9:15pm we finally took off and headed for Antalya, Turkey. If I ever needed a holiday this was it so I was pleased when I was greeted with the following scences for a weeks knitting by the pool. I make no apologise for the large pictures.
Papillon Hotels - Hotel Belvil, Belek

I have to confess to not actually going into the water all week as it was still a little too cold for my liking at this time of year.

This is one of the fabulous views from the hotel window.

This was the main restaurant and facities building.
These were taken on the Sunday when it was snow back at home.

I have managed to get a fair bit on knitting done including on the plane there and back. I was able to start and finish my Sea Vines vest kit which I had for my birthday and knit one half of a pair of socks. I was really pleased that having finished the Fog sweater, which was the first that I had knit in the round that I would adapt the Sea Vines vest and do the same. It has worked really well and no sewing up. Hurray. I wanted to wear it on the last evening but it will need blocking first so that you can see the pattern propaly as it ruffles up at the moment.







This was sitting up on the balcony of our room. The colour of the top and me were almost indistinguishable at points over the week and the legs are still suffering.


I started these on the plane and took Brittany wooden needles and the yarn but didn't cast on until I was actually in the air and it was too late to do anything about it. That way I thought the worst that could happen would be that I would have to hand over my Brittany's but not have to frog anything. The yarn in Cherry Tree Hill and is just divine to knit with. The pattern is my own of sorts so I will write it up when I have a bit of time although it is nothing adventurous really just basic socks with a cable running down it. I am really pleased with the way they have knitted up but a very tight squeeze to get a pair out in the size I am knitting for as I only had 51grms left after the first sock.

I took my lovely Harmony Knitpicks in my main luggage for the weeks knitting and these proved invaluable, especially when it came to putting stitches onto holders. You just leave them there and then screw on ends and attach the options to a new wire. Fantastic. Also the Know knits pouches have also been just right for holiday knitting near to water. I got the small one from Socktopus and the medium size one was a gift from ORK at Christmas, I also own a large one which stayed at home that I bought in Iknit just after my birthday.

Brownie Recipe........................................

Ok I have promised a lot of people that I would get this recipe up onto my blog. Apologies for not having any photographs but to be honest they never, ever last long enough. I am not sure if Craig managed to grab a photo yesterday or not at the new Iknit shop opening.

So here it is................

Brownies with white chocolate (and walnuts)
125g of unsalted butter
100g of plain chocolate
200g of caster sugar
2 organic eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
90g of plain four
pinch of salt
100g walnuts roughly chopped (optional - I tend to leave out and double up on the chocolate
100g white chocolate roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (Gas mark 3)
Rub a deep 16x20cm (or there abouts) baking dish with butter and line with parchment paper. (This is how the brownies stay lovely and moist on the bottom.)
Melt the butter and the plain chocolate in a large bowl placed over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove the mixture from the heat and then add the caster sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.
Stir thoroughly and then add the flour and the pinch of salt. Add the white chocolate and the nuts (if you are including them). Mix gently and then pour into the prepared baking dish.
Bake for 35 to 40 mins. (Check if they are cooked by pricking with a toothpick or similar. If it comes out clean they are ready.)
Cool and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container until ready to eat.

Variations:
I have already mentioned that I often leave out the nuts these days, alergies and all that, and double up the amount of white chocolate. This does work particularly well. I have also substituted different nuts and Pecans and these also have worked well.
Avoid using chopped up plain chocolate, I tried this the other week and it seems to remain very runny and causes the brownies to fall apart and also makes you think they need cooking longer and you end up with crispier, firmer edges than you may want to have. My oven is also a little tempermental so I tend to cook mine for nearer 45mins at Gas mark 4. Please adjust for your own oven.

I will add pictures if I ever have any around long enough to photograph. You can see a picture of the pre- cooked mixture in my earlier post about Mothering Sunday.
Happy baking everyone. If you try these please leave a comment and let me know how you get on.

Odds and Ends. What do you do with them?.........

Well apart from having a bad case of startitis at the weekend it is important to look at the root of these problems. I had been wanting to sort my yarn out for a while and after a trip to Ikea on Friday night with G and a non purchase of storage items I ended up resorting my yarn on the Saturday. So how do you go about sorting? Well there is a box for undyed yarn, a box for yarn purchased for specific projects, a hamper (and I do mean hamper of the picnic kind) full of beautiful individual skeins of yarn, the hand dyes, the sock, the luxurious and then there is the box of odds and sods. Mostly made up of old balls of arcylic or left over balls of yarn from projects etc. But what to do with the left overs? Some of it beautiful yarn needing someone and something to put it to good use.

So hence the series of startitis (and a bit of finishing) which has resulted in the following knitted items starting their life.



A very small amount of some lovely yarn from the Sock(topus)Club part I which was too good to just use up holding stitches for fingers for gloves so I created the following. There is a third but it was finished after I had taken this photo.



Staying on the theme of the Karenina, I loved the pattern so much that I wanted to see how it would look in different colours so scabbling around I found the following. You may recognise the pink Smooshy from my gloves.



I am not sure how these will turn out colour wise as they are such a contrast to the purple and yellow but they do remind me of summer and Ice Creams.





And finally I needed something to knit on the train last Friday so I started another beret using the left over yarn from my Chrysallis jumper (yet to be photographed, blogged and logged on the Rav). In fact I think that this was what started the need to sort, classify and use up the remenants.




I will take pictures of the other finished articles as they are completed. This is my contribution to the environment by doing the reduce (my stash) and reuse (my leftovers) bit.

Sock(topus)Club Part Two - Neighbourhood tunnels..........

Ok so I am a little late in posting the arrival of the most recent Sock(topus)Club parcel which arrived on Monday last week. This has been eagerly awaited since finish the Karenina socks back in February. Unfortunately I am one of those that is going to have to wait a little longer for my sock blockers - but hey as long as they arrive in time to block these what does it matter?
So the yarn - Sheldridge Farm Ultra in shade Arcade Fire, especially dyed for the socktopus sock club and the colours chosen by our designer Emma Haigh, better known to us all as Quelle Erquesome leader of the Moustachio liberation front.





I have to say I was initially a little wary of this colour having had experience of the same brand of yarn in another colourway pooling a lot with a pair of lace socks that I knitted and not being as pleased with the yarn knitted as I was with it on the skein. However, this has now grown on me and I am feeling far more confident about it. The blue isn't turning out to be as dominant as first thought it would. I have to say I do love the red and orange colours in the yarn and actually the end of the skeins here shows it well.



I still think though I would have loved them to be this colour all over, although I can always buy more yarn and knit another pair. The sock club is all about challenges for me and taking me out of my comfort zone and it isn't only the colour way that has done that!

Toe up! What's that all about? Having battled with loading the CD, still not solved at this point I went on to look in more detail at the pattern keen to cast on. But hello, what is this? A crochet hook and make a chain! Ahhhhhhh.

OK lucky for me Emma is not too far away and kindly agreed to meet up to teach me this new technique. I am sure I could have managed but it is great to have the reasurance of the designer on hand with coffee in a cafe in comfy leather sofas. The key here I think was reading the pattern carefully for each step and not just guessing.

So after much hilarity here is my first efforts at a toe up sock....







Thank you Emma for taking these pics for me as although I brought my camera I had forgotten to put the battery in it. Forgetfulness has been something of a theme this week but that is for another day.

And the following is a little further progress once I carried on at home..


I am really quite happy with the way the colour in the yarn is knitting up now.
I did try to attempt the next patterned part of the sock but alas I made a mess of that and need to find a block of time when I can shut myself away and concentrate. Although at the moment I am thinking another coffee session and tutorial with Emma maybe needed later in the week.