oops

I'm not sure what I did, but when updating the sidebar earlier, I managed to mess up the formatting of this blog and it looked all weird. I think I've now recreated it as it was, but if you come across anything odd, let me know and I'll try to fix it.

sock yarn stash

Woo, a camera! To celebrate, here's my small but growing sock yarn stash.

From the left: Purple and yellow Fyberspates: I used to love purple and yellow together. I still love purple, but yellow doesn't really suit me. But on my feet, I can get away with any colour.

Orangey brown and green Fyberspates for my sock pal. This was exactly what I wanted to make autumn-leaf-like Elfine socks.

More Fyberspates in 'Valentine'. This is going to be Pomatomus socks for me. These are my favourite colours, purple, pink, dark red.

A small skein of Hip Knits cashmere sock yarn. Lovely vibrant colours and so soft and strokable. Socks for me, probably.

pink is growing

See the Olympic blog.

not gonna happen

Some common sense and mental maths tells me that I've not got enough pink yarn for the whole of the body and the arms of my hoodie. Bother. I think I shall have to use up all the pink to finish the body. I do have two other purple yarns of the same gaage to complete it with. One is a heathery colour, the other a gorgeous bluey purple called Blackberry. Trouble is, they don't really go with each other and I don't think there's enough of either to do both arms and the hood. Do I knit the arms in one and the hood in the other or just the arms and leave the hood off altogther? Oh the decisions.

I think I'll see how far the pink yarn takes me and then decide.

Olympic progress

Progress report on the Team Cambridge blog.

Olympic knitting here we go

Well I've cast on and knit one row. Being at work, that was all I had time for, but I wanted to get the tricky counting bit out of the way in daylight and quiet rather than in the pub. I ought to do the maths and work out how much I need to knit per day to stay on target, but I'm too nervous. I always have more time to knit at weekends than during the week, so progress will be uneven.

Project detail

Pattern: Bpt

Yarn: Vintage Jaeger spiral-spun from my Grandma's stash, in a very bright pink and a heathery purple. I'm not entirely sure how much of the garment the pink will do. I'm hoping it'll do all the body and I'll do the applied i-cord trim and hood in purple. We'll see.

aha

I had a sock pal moment of inspiration. I want to make something very English since my sock pal lives somewhere else. And what could be more English than Anna/Amelia's Elfine sock pattern, inspired by Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

So, the yarn. I want something autumn leaf-ish. And preferably UK-made. Fyberspates aren't English, but they are Welsh. (And they've got a sale on at the moment.) And they make a colourway called October. I think that might be the one.

But first, I need to practice my lacey sock knitting skills. I've got some more Fyberspates in the colourway Valentine, which I plan to use for Pomatomus.

And I might soon have access to a camera again so I can bring an end to picture-less blogging.

Knitting olympics - Team Cambridge

Ooh look, a button made by the lovely Liz. That's exciting. And an Olympic knitting blog. Although it does feel like treachery to be joining the light blues, when I'm a dark blue at heart. Ah well, when in Rome.

ready, steady, go!

Quick off the mark as usual, I'm joining the Knitting Olympics. I'm going to be knitting BPT. This time last week, I'd never cabled. Last Friday night I did my first cabled swatch and it turned out OK. Cabling seems to look weird and messy when you'd doing it, but when it's finished, it sort of magically transforms.

I think I might end up making a few cabled garments over the course of this year. I've just bought the pattern for Glampyre's Bulky cabled cardigan and ordered some Debbie Bliss Maya to make it in and there's that tree hoodie I'm thinking about.

Must stop planning new projects when the old ones aren't finished.

Oh, I cast on for the second jaywalker last night. So that's something.

sock it to me

Sockapaloooza began yesterday and I've now got my sockpal's details. I've just been to look at her blog and wow, she's a great sock knitter! Feels like I've got a lot to live up to in knitting socks for her. Time to learn a few new techniques I think.

I'm thinking of something lacey, which will be a new thing for me. I'd better get some practice in. I've got a couple of sock yarns coming my way soon, neither of which is quite right for my sock pal, but I like them, so I can practice for sock pal socks and make socks for me. I'm thinking of trying Pomatomus which is a challenge to say and will be a challenge to knit. I've a feeling it might need resizing and I've no idea how to do that. Changing the needle size might do. Cross that bridge when we come to it. But first I really REALLY must get the other jaywalker sock done. And buy a camera!

look, look! a picture

Daddy's socks 2
Originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

My Dad's birthday socks. Not too bad a picture of his own feet. I'll see if I can get him or someone else to take a better one though.

Pattern: made up by me. Toe-up, 72 stitches, using the seed stitch rib pattern from Thuja, eye of partridge heel stitch and 1x1 ribbing.

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Camouflage.

Needles: 2.5mm and 2.25mm dpns

They fit and he likes them. A successful knit, I'd say.