Latest FO: Booties and Cardigan

I've mentioned before that a lot of my friends/relatives appear to be having babies at the moment. The result of this is that I've discovered the joy of making baby clothes. I think I may be addicted. If you like making garments but have a short attention span and a limited budget, then baby clothes are your friends.

This package has been safely delivered to my friend Sarah, who had a gorgeous little girl a few days ago:

The booties are made with sock yarn, using this pattern.

The cardigan is the lace version of this pattern, and I used superwash DK. It was my first time doing picot edging, and now I want to put picots on everything.

Speaking of warm clothing, there's a definite chill in the air now that summer's drawing to a close. Clearly, I'm going to have to knit (or crochet) a jumper for Dice - a daunting task, since there is SO MUCH of him. But I can't have him feeling left out when Freya and I are prancing around in our matching red jumpers.

Latest FO: Sock Commission

Last Christmas my Mum asked for a pair of hand knit socks, and I was only too happy to oblige. That particular pair of socks was my first attempt at a short row heel and toe, and the result was... well... let's just say that short rows and socks are not a good combination for me. Fortunately, the gorgeousness of the yarn was enough to divert the eye from the too-visible short row wraps.

Mum, bless her, was nevertheless delighted with them, and wore them all winter long. During some kind of social gathering, her best friend noticed them, and asked where she'd bought them. Finding out that I'd made them, she said something along the lines of: "ooh, if I bought the yarn, would she knit some for me? And I'd also like a pair for [daughter], and a pair for [friend]..."

I'm not sure she quite understood the amount of work she was asking me to undertake, but I'm all for spreading the sock love. So of course I said yes. And then, obviously, I had to go to the yarn shop and buy beautiful sock yarn with somebody else's money - such a tedious chore! *cough*

This week, I finally finished the last pair of socks. And because I'm incredibly anal, I also blocked and made packaging for them. This is the end result:



I hope she loves them. They are definitely prettier than the short-row attempt I made for Mum. (I plan to make her some new ones this Christmas.)

So, what am I planning to knit now that I've completed four pairs of socks in quick succession? (I made a pair for my sister too.) Why, more socks of course! I definitely need to make another pair of Monkeys, because I only got to wear my first pair once. They were beautiful, and they got wrecked in their very first wash. Sodding Adrafil - superwash wool is not supposed to felt at 40 degrees!

I also want to make some Jaywalkers, because I believe they are the perfect pattern for the ball of King Cole Zig-Zag I currently have in my stash. I get horrible pooling with that yarn when I do a regular stockinette sock, unless I deliberately make it too big. I'm hoping the extra stitches involved in the chevron design will compensate for that.

Incidentally, my 2.5mm DPNs are the only needles that don't ever get put away, because there is always a sock on them...

Latest FO - Comfort Slippers

My local yarn shop has a bargain section where they sell odd or discontinued balls of yarn very cheaply. My knitting/crocheting friends and I love it, because you can get amazing yarn for very little money; the downside is that there are usually only one or two balls, so you have to pick your projects carefully.

One visit, I found a gorgeous ball of variegated sock yarn for £1. It was only 50g, not enough to make a pair of socks, so I hung onto it for months wondering what to do with it.

Then one day I was browsing through Ravelry, and found the comfort slippers pattern. I immediately knew what my little odd ball of sock yarn was destined to be!



I'm really pleased with how they turned out - they'll be perfect for summer evenings, when I want my feet to be cosy but don't want to spoil my summery look with huge furry boots.

After a little bit of wear they became slightly loose, so I threaded clear sock elastic through the cuff and around the garter edge. This makes ALL the difference! The fit is nice and snug now, and they stay in place beautifully.

I would definitely recommend the pattern, especially as all the proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross. I'm sure I'll be making lots more of these. They would be nice/fast gifts, and a great way of using up those sock yarn remnants!

Quest for the Perfect Sock

I think starting a new blog broke my computer. Fortunately my significant other is a computer nerd, and managed to fix my desperately sick laptop in just a couple of days. If you're not lucky enough to have a computer nerd as your significant other, I highly recommend becoming very good friends with one.

This is what I'm working on at the moment:


The yarn is Hot Socks Circus, and it smells as delicious as it looks. (Yes, I like the smell of sheep. Don't judge me.)

If you already know me, you won't be at all surprised that I'm knitting a pair of socks. I almost always have at least one pair of socks on the go. I knit my first pair last August (during the World Cup), and have now made approximately 14 pairs - I say approximately, because I lost count after 11 or 12.

Knitting the perfect pair of socks has become an obsession of mine. I am determined that one day I will knit a sock that is SO neat, comfortable and well-fitting, that I will look at it and not be able to see anything that needs improvement. That will be the blueprint for every future sock that I knit. I'm still a long way from that point, but I'm sure having a lot of fun getting there.

Every time I knit a pair of socks, I do something a little differently. Try a new cast-on, turn the heel a bit differently, do a different toe. The current pair is a return to cuff-down after several months of trying to perfect toe-up with short-row heel and toe. I really wanted the short-rows to work because they mimick commercially made socks, but mine never look neat enough or match on both sides. Going back to cuff-down feels like coming home.

Here is my current sock formula:

• 56 stitches, twisted German cast-on over a 3mm needle
• 2.5mm needles for the rest of the sock
• 1 x 1 twisted rib cuff, 2 inches deep (To make twisted rib, knit into the BACK of every knit stitch. It twists the stitch around, tightening it up and creating lovely neat, deep ribs.)
• Stockinette stitch for leg and foot
• 7 inch leg
• Reinforced heel flap of 28 stitches (on WS row, slip every other purl stitch)
• Pick up extra stitches in corners, knit through back loop to tighten up and minimise holes
• Toe from Kim Goddard's beginner sock pattern

My next mission is to find a good way of disguising the "jog" at the cast-on join. It always looks fairly obvious with the Twisted German cast-on, no matter how clever I try to be about darning the end in.

Only 3.5 more pairs to make for other people, then I can make some for me again!