Once Upon a Sock - June

Morning everyone!

I'm a bit late to the party but here is my first post for the Once Upon a Sock link up.

Socks

I finished a pair of socks in a month! They are a pair of vanilla socks knit in Head over Heels by Stylecraft. Now that may not sound exciting but my sock knitting so far has been slowww. With a mixture of job and other commitments, I usually get to the end of the month with a partial sock with no friend. As my goal this year was to knit a pair of socks a month, I have a lot of single socks waiting for their partner!

My finished June socks

And all my single lady socks (Beyoncé anyone?)

My aim for June is to have a match.com for my socks and start knitting the seconds so I can have happy socks. Wish me luck!

Books

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm moving across the UK at the end of July so I've been trying to reduce the colossal amount of stuff I have accumulated over time. And I have a lot of books. And I mean a lot. This is what I have left after getting rid of two large boxes to the charity shop:

That doesn't include the bookshelf in the hallway. So I'm enjoying a trip down memory lane and re-reading all the books I own to decide whether to keep them or donate to the local charity shops. My next book to read is Magic Kingdom For Sale by Terry Brooks. I remember loving this book and I'm looking forward to revisiting the story.

If you would like to join in with the link party, click on the image below:

You can also click the link to see the other lovely bloggers posts as well.

Have a wonderful weekend, Charlotte and Harvey x

Monday already?

Where did that weekend go? It felt like Friday afternoon only happened five minutes ago. But on the plus side it's been a great few days and I'm off to Woollinn this Friday and I can't wait!

So what have I been up to?

Friday

Local Yarn Shop Day

Did you make it to your local yarn shop on Saturday? I don't have one near me at the moment but there is a yarn shop local to my boyfriend in Portsmouth so I decided that it was going to be my local for the weekend! As I'm in Portsmouth a lot I think it may become a regular haunt especially after my experience on Saturday.

I'm not too familiar with most parts of Portsmouth so I Googled the shop and then got Will to drive there! He likes to get an insight into the knitting world occasionally and was descended on by the ladies knitting outside the shop for a chat. Perfect timing for me to look at yarn!

I don't know of any other yarn shops in Portsmouth other than Seeded. They run regular classes in the shop although I haven't had time to try one yet. I tried taking photos of the interior but it was so busy I couldn't get a clear shot. The plus side of this is that the shop was really busy! It's lovely to see similar people gathered for the same purpose. Alexis who owns the shop generously offered 20% off all yarns except Stylecraft for anyone who signed up for Local Yarn Shop Day at the shop. You can find her website for the shop here.

At the entrance cupcakes and a pile of yarn were sitting either side of the door, not that anyone needed any encouragement to go in. I even managed to capture a patient partner heading out of the shop or potentially a knitter?

Directly inside the shop was a heap of finished knitted items which had been submitted to the competition for the day. The rest of the shop was crammed with yarn in various shelves and nooks and crannies but in a way that you could see everything. There was also embroidery thread and ribbons and haberdashery items.

Alexis was very friendly and organised a raffle ticket for every £10 spent in the shop. I won a tote bag with the shop logo on it in gold. Who doesn't love a good raffle? The shop regulars were chatty and very keen for new local knitters. Within the first five minutes in the shop I was invited to the knit night and also any future dinners and drinks that they organize. This natural friendliness and reaching out to new people is one of my favourite parts of the knitting world. Long may it continue.

Aaaand there may have been a little bit of stash enhancement. Only three balls so fairly controlled and already allocated to projects. #winning!

First was a ball of sock yarn by Regia in dark blue with slim lines of orange. I'm hoping to make a pair of socks for Will for either his birthday in July or for Christmas. I've never knit socks for someone else and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Next was another ball of sock yarn but with a difference. This is Regia cotton in Tutti Frutti. Again something new to me which is knitting with cotton and also knitting cotton socks. I'm interested to see if cotton can be knitted like normal socks or if it requires a bit more elasticity in the cast on and more stitches. Perfect timing for the hot weather we're having here in the UK. I'm thinking two pairs of short socks would work really well.

Last was a 200g ball (cake?) of Stylecraft Batik Swirl. I was attracted to the colours but had no idea what to use it for. The colourway is poppy fields and when I saw the colour mix it really evoked an image of poppy fields in my head. In a complete coincidence, I borrowed Issue 131 of Let's Knit magazine from my local library and their one ball knit for the month is a shawl using batik swirl and pattern looks nice. Sorted.

Did you go to your local yarn shop on Saturday? Any purchases or new knitting friends?

Have a great week x

On the needles

Hello!

I hope your weekend has started off well, whether it's with a night out or a cosy evening in. This morning I am still in bed at 11 with a fresh cup of tea, some knitting and listening to one of my favourite podcasts by the Grocery Girls. Tracy and Jodi are so much fun and every episode feels like a chat with friends. If you haven't watched them before I would definitely try out one of their podcasts.

I'm working on two projects this weekend, firstly the Flax Light jumper by Tin Can Knits.

April - a month of Finished Objects

Now that I’m back in the UK with free time, I’ve been looking at all the projects gathering dust in various corners of my room. There are a few. Well more than a few and suddenly I couldn’t cast on something new without at least trying to finish some of them. I tried casting on a basic hat and I couldn’t without looking at my WIP pile! This had to change. So without meaning to, April has become the month of finishing things. 

The first WIP was my Feb socks for the Grocery Girl Sock Bash. I have no idea why I thought joining a knit-along during the lead up to exams was a good idea! I have now finished the first sock:

Sleepy Sunday

It's been a strange week! I've settled back into my room after moving back from a hospital placement, started a new placement in the community and then tried to get through the day despite some weird headache flu thing. Cue slightly sleepy and grumpy person stumbling onto trains for my new lengthy commute! After lots of naps and general sleep over the weekend I am feeling a bit more human. Not sure what other species you would be instead? A sloth probably judging by this week....

Anyway! Lengthy commutes mean knitting! (And falling asleep and trying not to lean on strangers, especially in London. Awkward...)

I started a pair of socks for the Grocery Girls Sock Bash but midway through the month and have run out of time. Unless I can knit the second sock in the next four days which is not going to happen. But that's ok! Because I have really enjoyed the pattern and the yarn. The pattern is the Easy Lace Socks by Winwick Mum which can be found on her website and Ravelry. Despite one setback at the start of the lace part (post here), the first sock has come along really quickly. 

This pattern has been a really gentle introduction to lace knitting. The video tutorials which come with it have been helpful especially after my confusion of Slip Slip Knit (SSK) which it turns out I have been doing wrong for aaaages. The yarn is Cascade 220 4 ply in Purple Grape. I use 2mm circular needles although I would like to try the mini circulars again if I can ge hold of a 2mm version. 

In other WIP news, my Flax jumper is so close to being finished!! I am roughly 45 rows away from finishing the second sleeve and then I just need to weave in the ends. I cannot wait to get it finished. I'm already looking at other jumper patterns to try next, my only hesitation is I have no idea how to gauge the pattern difficulty level. Any suggestions?

Will post photos as soon as it's done!

What are you knitting? Are you taking part in any Knit-alongs?

I'll leave you with a picture of Harvey. I took all my yarn out of the yarn cupboard to have a look through it for inspiration and Harvey decided that he should take it's place:

Have a great week everyone x

Throw me a lifeline!

For my first socks of 2018 I'm knitting Winwick Mum's easy lace socks using Cascade 220 4 ply sock yarn in the colourway grape juice. It's such an accurate name for this yarn! It's just so purple and reminds me of the really synthetic grape juice I used to drink when I lived in Chicago. I was only eight at the time but that memory really sticks for some reason. Anyway, let's turn back off memory lane. And onto the learning bus! As the saying goes - you learn something new everyday.

This was the beginning of my lovely sock on Tuesday. The sun was shining and making the purple look very purple indeed. Lovely.

Aaaand this was Friday night. Disaster! I've never done lace and thought smugly, well the cables weren't too bad, let's just crack on with a bit of lace! No no no.....

The Winwick Mum easy lace sock pattern is actually easy. And her tutorials come with videos and written instructions. But don't start a new technique while watching QI on a Friday night. I guarantee you won't pay attention and your 64 stitch sock will start getting smaller. Erk... So what happened I hear you ask? Well apparently I can knit two together followed by a yarn over. Tick! But then came the slip slip knit followed by a yarn over. Nope! I just couldn't do it. A while ago I posted about the large-ish holes I was getting on the SSK side of the heel flap and gusset on socks (see here). And here comes the learning - I've been doing it wrong! No surprises there... But the silver lining is I learnt to SSK properly not just for this lace pattern but for all future socks. Winning!

And what else did I learn? You may have guessed from the title of this post. The importance of putting a lifeline into knitting especially in patterns which are difficult to frog/ rip back. I started my sock again.

At the end of the ribbing I put a lifeline in. It's recommended to put a strong thread that's slightly thinner than the yarn and strong enough to last during a potential frog. I used some bright yellow sewing cotton doubled and threaded it through using a needle.

I found the needle was a bit sharp and split the yarn so I used the eye end instead. Mind your fingers! I knit a few stitches at a time and then threaded the cotton through those stitches. It was really easy to do and will save you any heartache if you do make a mistake. Admittedly this is a straightforward lace pattern but this will be really useful for future projects as well. 

It's not very visible but here's the completed lifeline. And below after two lace repeats.

And that's all there is to it! You can put as many lifelines in as you like such as after every two repeats or more or less depending on how confident you're feeling. 

Have you got any other tips and tricks to save your knitting?

Have a lovely Sunday x

Sweet Shop Candy Cane Yarn

Have you seen the latest yarn offering from West Yorkshire Spinners? Its a candy cane striped yarn in time for Christmas this year and I love it!

Photo from: www.theloveliestyarncompany.co.uk

Christine from Winwick Mum has designed a sock pattern that I believe comes free with every ball sold (her sock post here). I'm tempted to knit these especially with the contrasting cuffs, heels and toes. I agree with Christine that they remind me of Will Ferrell in Elf!

Photo from: West Yorkshire Spinners. Socks by Winwick Mum

However I'm also tempted to use it to make a Sockhead Cowl by Kelly McClure (Ravelry link) so I can pretend I'm wearing candy canes around my neck. Delicious! Although I hope it won't make me too hungry for sweets every time I look at it. 

I'm going to be ordering mine from www.theloveliestyarncompany.co.uk not because I'm affiliated or anything but because I love their Instagram and the sweet messages they add to every order. It's these extra touches that mean I will always check their website first before searching elsewhere.

In case you're interested the matching green yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Chocolate Lime and the red is Cayenne Pepper. Yum!

Will keep you posted on what I decide to make. Although I still need to rustle up some pumpkins first! (And the rest of my Christmas gift knitting but shhh). 

Charlotte and Harvey x

The Frog and the FO

This seems to be a week of firsts! I finally frogged a project and I finally finished a project. I started the Hermione socks but having changed both my needle size and starting number of stitches the sock was going to be far too small. So the logical choice was to rip back and start again. It's amazing how reluctant I was to do this! I think the knowledge of the time spent knitting up to that point meant that every stitch I pulled off the needle felt like time lost. Conversely poorly fitting socks would be far worse in the long run and would remind me of time wasted making a whole two socks that didn't fit.

The sock

Back to the start

Another exciting first for this week is my first ever finished object!! I counted the other day and I have 16 works in progress (WIPs) currently sitting in my room. I can now say that's down to 15! Still a huge number but I'm getting there. No new projects can be cast on until I'm down to 10 projects. I think I'm going to set that as my new maximum. What's that I hear you say? You don't care about WIPs, what's the FO? Fair enough really, I am rambling...

Well back in July I went to PomFest (see my post here) which was a combination of a yarn market and a series of talks. I made it to PomFest late on Saturday afternoon so missed the talks but still got to see all the yarn stalls (yay!). I got chatting to the lady running the Garthenor stall and ended up standing there for a good twenty minutes. Garthenor is a company based in Wales which sells 100% British wool yarn and has been around for a few years now. Inspired by her enthusiasm and humour, I bought 100g of Llanwenog DK yarn which is naturally a beautiful creamy white colour.

Garthenor has a huge range of yarn from different sheep breeds from around the UK and on their website they have a page for each one explaining their origins. I really like their story of the journey from sheep to finished ball of yarn. Their website is here.

Less than ten minutes after getting home from PomFest, I cast on the Llanwenog to make a hat! My first ever hat as well. The yarn is described as giving good stitch definition so I chose a cable hat pattern. My Ravelry pattern notes are here

It started as a moustache of a hat while doing the rib.

Then a fringe:

I quickly got to the cabling, the best bit! I think basic cabling makes a plain hat more interesting without much extra effort. At this point I went to Tanzania on holiday so of course I took some knitting.

This hat was knit on a plane: (with a cheeky G&T)

And on a beach in Zanzibar: (yes those are my pale english legs)

And then finally finished! 

It's surprisingly hard to take a photo of a hat on yourself! The first three photos looked a bit manic because I was concentrating so much, looking at the floor seems to be the way to go!

If you would like to try Garthenor yarn but want to squish it first, they are sponsoring the Great London Yarn Crawl after party and will be there with a stall. Tickets are already be sold out but there may be a waiting list. More details on the Yarn in the City website here. I think I might take my hat and show the people at the Garthenor stall :)

Freedom! AKA the holidays have arrived!

Today is the 5th day of my long awaited three weeks off. I have been catching up on sleep, podcasts, more sleep and my languishing knitting projects in that order. It is wonderful. I have sat down to knit without the normal niggle that I should be working and found that half an hour can go by without realising. Does anyone else ever have that feeling?

I finally put pen to paper and worked out how many works in progress (WIP) I have. 
9 knitting WIPs including 4 lonely socks without partners, half a scarf, a hat, a jumper and a bunny that just needs to be sewn together. 
2 crochet WIPs, a crochet blanket (Moorland from Attic24) and a virus shawl. 
And last but not least a weaving sample that's been ignored for nearly six months.

I think my current time off might not be enough.... Better get cracking!

What are you working on? 

Wo-oh! Halfway there!

Wo-oh we're halfway theeeeere! Wo-oh living on a prayerrr!

Two exams down and one to go! The last exam takes place over two days so I'm tempted to count it as two really. A two day exam is just wrong on so many levels. I haven't posted on here for ages because revision has had to take priority leading up to my end of year exams. But by midday next Thursday I shall be free to relax and do whatever I feel like! I CANNOT WAIT. Can you tell I'm excited?

Knitting-wise a few things have been on the needles. I have taken some speedy photos - be prepared for a bit of blur!

I tried my first piece of colourwork:

The square is a little bit smaller than the plain knit square behind it so more practice needed (and blocking)! It was fun to try something new and get started with a new technique. This is from the Knit Now Enchanted Cottage KAL. You end up with enough squares to make a blanket. There are three square patterns in each magazine aimed at either beginner, intermediate or experienced knitters. Not entirely sure how many magazines you need to buy to complete the pattern, on five so far.

I've started a pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks. The pattern is free and available on Ravelry.

Sitting on a beach definitely helps when knitting. This is the lovely West Wittering on the south coast of England. The sound of the sea cures everything and gives you a deep sense of calm. I love this place and if I could, I would be here everyday rain or shine. The yarn is Regia 4 ply in Mosaik Istanbul.

I have also started the Tin Can Knits Flax Sweater, or a jumper as we Brits call it, in worsted weight yarn . There's not much of it at the moment so photos will follow once its more substantial! I am knitting it with some acrylic yarn from Hobbycraft which is obviously not what I would have as my first choice. As a beginner knitter I'm not yet ready to splurge on a sweater quantity of more expensive yarn. It would add pressure to get the jumper exactly right because of cost rather than for the end product. Now I can enjoy discovering how to knit raglan sleeves, shaping and how to make a jumper in general. Its toasty here in the UK right now but it should be done in time for cooler weather in September. 

That's my five minute speedy update! Back to the revision books! How has your July been so far?

I shall leave you lovely people with a picture of Harvey in his normal state of being - asleep and content:

Charlotte and Harvey x

April Summary

April was a mixed month for knitting. After the general upheaval of a very last minute change of my entire dissertation plus an exam, my needles were ignored for a lot of the month. However, despite that I finished one sock and am nearly done with another one! As you might notice yet again, they aren't exactly matching!

The original arrival of the wonderful West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Tequila Sunrise and Rum Surprise.

The finished Easy Cable Sock by Winwick Mum. I reviewed this pattern before (here) and have really enjoyed the whole knit. Its leads you step by step and is a nice pattern for the newbie sock knitter who wants to try something just a little bit more challenging than a vanilla sock.

After the cabling success, I decided to go back to a quick vanilla sock which was easy to knit on my daily commute. However, ever since I started knitting socks a whole 3 and a half months ago (basically expert level now right?) the right side of each heel looks perfect and the left always looks rubbish! I picked up a stitch in each corner and decreased each side. The only difference is the type of decrease. K2TOG is fine but the SSK seems to be making a run for it. Going to have to figure out how to fix this before I knit any more socks, especially if I want to try patterned socks! 

Any suggestions? Help! 

First sock! Ever!

I knitted my first sock!! And it fits! Although millions of socks have been knitted before this one with far more complicated patterns, I am so happy to add my basic sock to this number. 

I used the Super Simple Sock Pattern by Allison Sarnoff. Its a free pattern available on Ravelry. The instructions were really good although as a complete beginner I did use quite a few YouTube videos for the heel and the toe. 

The real test will be to see if the second sock matches the first...