New Year, New Knits

So January is nearly over, how's 2014 treating you so far? I note from my stats that most people reading my blog at the moment are from the US, which surprised me a little, power of the Internetz eh?  Must tell you that my children refer to the "Pesky Americans" fairly frequently, mainly due to the fact that my husband's American colleagues often phone him at work just at the time that he's supposed to leave the office (due to time difference they're just getting going as he's clocking off). So I'm afraid the Pesky Americans get the blame for Daddy not being home in time for bedtime, sorry about that.

Socks in waiting...

Anyway, this is supposed to be a craft blog, so how about some lovely colourful photos of knitting amd yarn? Winter is all about knitting for me. Knitting and listening to The Archers early evening is especially good (I've been listening to The Archers since I was a little girl, it's full of irritating people I love to grumble about). If you *are* a US reader, then you may not know the delights of 'an everyday tale of country folk', so here's a handy wiki page.

Socks in action

I've made some lovely warm socks for me (think the yarn is a Regia Kaffe Fassett but I've lost the label). I also knitted some for the Husband before Christmas as he approached me sheepishly and said 'you've never made any socks for me'. So a suitably manly yarn with blues/greys stripes was purchased and the resulting socks have proved very popular.

My five year old daughter asked for a red hat with snowflake patterns, so I had a go at some fair isle with reasonably successful results. I'm going to write a separate blog about this as my husband wrote a little computer programme for me to produce the snowflake pattern which we'd like to make available to other crafters. I'll link to it here when it's up.

And the last little project is a gift for a friend, such lovely soft yarn...

Work in progress

Hopefully by the time I've knitted a few more pairs of socks, winter will be on its way out. In the meantime, clickety click and tum ti tum ti tumpty tum...

Knitting Frenzy

The arty shot is my husband trying to get a photo of me knitting on double-pointed needles. I'm fairly sure that my dad doesn't read this blog, so feel it's safe to report that I have just finished a pair of socks for his birthday on Wednesday.

The children had an inset day today so whilst I frantically knitted right up to the deadline, they made some birthday cards with varying amounts of glue and shiny stuff. Very much their own work... Then we made a special trip to the post office to send the parcel off, so things now are in the hands of the Royal Mail. Fingers crossed.

P.s. Yarn from the excellently named Sock Yarn Shop, natch.

The Weird Kid

When my son started school two years ago, my main concern was not how quickly he'd pick up phonics or get to grips with numbers. No, my main concern was that he wouldn't be the 'weird kid'. You know the one, home haircut, cord dungarees, general air of social awkwardness coupled with an embarrassingly precocious vocabulary. Yes, it was me... I was the weird kid, and occasionally I feel like I still am.

But naturally my son has surprised me by being completely socially at ease, and the fact that his school has a uniform means that fashion faux pas opportunities are thankfully limited. He has two (male) 'best' friends - the three of them have been a tight unit since they started in Reception, and he is also seemingly very popular with the girls in his class, judging by the volume of party invitations he receives...

So I think I'm safe in hand-knitting him some rainbow socks (pictured above). He chose the yarn himself and was trying them on this evening, they were pronounced 'comfy' and 'really warm'. There's a bit of room for growth in the toe area as he's shooting up alarmingly at the moment.

The only problem is that now I've finished them I have nothing to take to craft group tonight, might just have to take some Christmassy fabrics and see where that takes me.

Freewheeling

After writing about getting back on my bike, oh, ages ago, I then didn't really get on it again. The thing is, I live in Bristol, which may be a 'Cycling City'  according to Sustrans, but does go up and down a hell of a lot. Not so good for the slightly less fit among us.

But then one sunny afternoon a few weeks ago, a friend invited me for a ride along the Bristol to Bath cycle path, and what a revelation! For a start it's pretty flat, and secondly it's a whole track just for cyclists and pedestrians, so no cocks in Audis trying to force you into the gutter. Result. In fact, it's a bit like riding along a country lane should be, except nicer because you don't have crazy locals speeding round blind bends, or tractors...

So spurred on by my positive experience I decided to ride the other way today, and go into Bristol city centre. I  used the excuse of needing some stocks from the craft shop, but really I just fancied a ride on a sunny day while I had some child-free time. The cycle path isn't the most direct route into town for me, but it's certainly the most scenic. It was definitely quicker than getting the bus, and I had the pleasure of depriving First Bus of  four quid (take that - The Man). I did a few errands and then returned home the way I'd come, stopping in for a cuppa with a friend who lives conveniently close to the cycle path.  And I picked up some more double-pointed needles whilst in town, so Autumnal sock knitting can begin in earnest. Hurrah...

If you live in Bristol or Bath and haven't been on the cycle path (it's nice for a walk too), then find out more here, it's got a fancy clickable map and everything.

p.s. The frog photo has no link with the post at all, my husband took it this afternoon in the garden and I just liked it

Sock Rocking Feets

The Sock of Doom is finally laid to rest, check out my lovely stripy new socks. My heel-turning phobia is conquered, hurrah!

They are knitted with a Regia sock yarn purchased from Pip at the Sock Yarn Shop on 2.5mm double-pointed-needles. This yarn knitted up a little more tightly than the last socks I made - although this could just be my stress levels coming through...

I confess that one of the main reasons I wanted to try making socks was that it looked really cool seeing someone knit on what looked like cocktail sticks. Non-knitters are often super impressed as they think it's very complicated, but of course the really good thing about knitting in the round is that you do continuous knit stitch to produce all that stocking stitch (of course there is a bit of purling in the heel). I learnt to knit as a child but didn't learn to purl until a few years ago. Even now I feel I have to concentrate more on a purl row, where as knit seems hard-wired somehow.

What really helped in my heel-turning endeavours was this excellent tutorial on YouTube. It makes such a difference when you can actually see someone doing it, rather than just trying to follow a book or a pattern.

I have quite a few sewing projects on the go at the moment, but my next knitting adventure will be a pair of rainbow socks as requested by my five year old son. I reckon I won't have many more years of him wanting to wear my hand-knits so happy to oblige now. And it gives me an excuse to gaze at some more yarn...