kroy Socks, done.

Yay, I've finished my first pair of real, able to wear, socks. I love the feel of them on my feet and am spurred on to knit more.

I used the Kroy sock pattern with Regia Jacquard yarn in 5296 Brussels and 2.5mm DPNs. The stripes don't quite match up, I thought I'd gotten the beginning colours right but obviously I didn't, oh well, just adds to that hand knit quality :-)

Even though I knit the smallest size they are still a little large so next time I'll use Violet Green's sock calculator pattern and hopefully they'll fit much better (that's what I get for having a Uk size 3 foot) I'm looking forward to my next pair.

I forgot to share.

What with the Ravelympics and the furious knitting I forgot to share the beautiful new spindle purchase and some new Merino roving.

First off, I bought a beautiful new hand crafted spindle from here. Kevin is great and delivers a very fast and efficient service, I ordered it on August 15th and it arrived the next day. It's 39g and spins beautifully.

Next I bought some beautiful Merino from Kraft Mania, this stuff is so soft I can't help but fondle it. I got 100g of each colour (soft lilac and purple), going to see if I can make a nice variegated yarn. I'm having a real purple phase at the moment and all the yarns and fibres I'm attracted to seem to be in the purple family.

Just hope I can do the roving some justice and get hours of pleasure from my new spindle.

My Ravelympic Medals.

Well, the Ravelympics are now over and I managed six medals and six finished projects during the Beijing Olympics.

My first finished item was for Hand Spun Heptathlon and Hand Dyed Hurdles:

My next medal was for WIP Wrestling:


Next came the Hat Dash:

Shawl Relay:


Scarf Stroke:

Finally, to late for the finish line but still get a medal Cowl Jump:I had so much fun whilst doing this and look forward to the next time, hopefully I'll get all my projects over the finish line in time for medals.

Shawl Relay

I've finished the Clapotis, okay I ran out of yarn and as I really didn't want to buy any more of this particular yarn I just used some from my stash to finish.

So I have a mostly green Clapotis with one blue point. I think I will end up knitting this pattern again as it's a good TV knit and delivers a really nice shawl. Next time I think I'll go for a variegated yarn.

I'm not doing to bad for the Ravelympics, so far I've completed three projects and there are still a couple of days left, wonder what else I can get done before the closing ceremony?

Cherry Tree Hill Hat.

I've never knit a hat with such light weight yarn before, I've always used DK. But when I saw this Cherry Tree Hill yarn called Sockittome it didn't scream socks, it wanted to be a hat and scarf perhaps a set of fingerless gloves as well.

The instructions were very simple although they didn't mention if they were to be knit on circs or straights, I chose circs but towards the end had to change to DPNs. The pattern is called Avatar hat by Barbro Wilhelmsson it was a nice easy knit and the sock yarn gave me a lovely shmooshy hat that is really light but warm.

I quite pleased with how the colours pooled, they seem to have a slight spiral to them. Just now have to find a nice scarf pattern to go with it.

K9 Knitters Greyhound dog coat

Remember way back in March I told you about the K9 Knitters?

Anyway, it's a dog charity that raises money by donations and also by selling dogcoats that knitters donate, I have after all these months finally finished the greyhound dogcoat I started back in March.

I did feel a fair bit of guilt about the fact I said I'd knit this coat and then for months I got distracted by other things and it languished unloved in my WIPs pile.

Well thanks to Ravelry and the Ravelympics I have completed the coat in the WIPs Wrestling event. I'd like to say I enjoyed knitting this coat but I can't. I'm sorry this just was not a nice knit for me.



It's not the pattern, there is nothing wrong with the pattern, it was the yarn I chose. For the past two days I've done nothing (and I mean nothing) but knit this dogcoat. The only problem was that as it grew, it got heavy, very heavy. To the point where it actually hurt to knit, my wrists are killing me and are giving a big sigh of relief at the moment that they no longer have to hold the weight of all that chunky yarn. I did use circular needles to help with the weight but it didn't seem to help.

I do actually look forward to knitting something else for this charity but next time I am definitely going to choose something smaller, much easier on my poor wrists.

After I've given it a quick wash (some of the yarn I used is quite old stash and smells like old stash) I'll get it posted off to Carrie.

My first handspun.

I've now got 34yards of handspun and hand dyed thick and thin yarn, that's all I got from my 50g Shropshire wool top. I'm assuming the better I get at spinning I'll get better yardage.

The dyeing was easier than I thought, it was just a Dylon cold water dye in colour Sea Green. After spinning the yarn I set the twist by putting it in very hot water for about 15 minutes, I think you're supposed to let it dry before the dyeing process but I didn't. Seen how it was already wet I decided to just go ahead and give it a go.

With an old bowl I added enough really hot water to cover the yarn, I added 13floz of vinegar and dropped in the dye tablet, very gently I swooshed it around and then left it for about an hour. I gave it another swoosh and again left it for an hour. Then I just rinsed it in the sink until no more dye was coming from it and dried it with a towel then hung it from the banana tree to dry, this morning I had a lovely pale coloured yarn.

I was hoping to get enough yarn to make Urchin a hat from thick and thin yarn that only requires 77-109yards of yarn but that obviously wasn't to be. Now I'm on the hunt for a pattern that only requires my 34yards hehe.

I've got a 100g English wool top that has yet to be spun, I'm hoping I'll get a much more even yarn and enough yarn to actually make a hat or something. I've also got my eye on a new spindle from here, not only are they really pretty but from what I've been reading are highly recommended. The price is also really good.

The spindle I've got is great, but it's probably better for laceweight yarn (when I'm even and consistent enough to actually start spinning laceweight LOL) and I want to do more sock/dk weighted yarns so think I'm going to go for a spindle in the 35-40g weight.

No matter the outcome, it's just so much fun, plus the pleasure from seeing my own little mini hanks of spun yarn is too good to pass up. yes, a new passion as been aquired.

Okay, I succombed...

I did it, I've just ordered my first drop spindle. A 28g top whorl drop spindle, at the same time I also ordered 100g English wool top for practice with.

Also for the wool top and the drop spindle I got a real bargain, it only cost me £7.09 with shipping from here.

You know this means that I'll be on here in a couple of days either sobbing about the fact that I can't do it or crowing about how easy it is and what wonderful yarn I've spun.

Of course it'll be the sobbing as nothing ever goes right straight off and it's not so much making mistakes as gaining experience on what not to do LOL. I'm so sticking with that one.

So wish me luck and I'll report back, hopefully before or during the weekend.

Spinning out of control?

I'm getting sucked in further and further...but I think I like it.

I've been reading up on spinning, yup that's right, spinning. As I can't afford a spinning wheel I've been looking at drop spindles, dear god how did I miss this? It looks fantastic and I think is going to become a new passion.

I've been looking at an Ashford drop spindle that comes with 100g of merino roving to get you started, my mind is awash with all the things I could do.

I could make beautiful yarn, I could dye said beautiful yarn into beautiful steins that I could then stroke/admire or even gosh darn it, knit with.

My mind is buzzing with ideas and imagination, is this something I really want to plunge myself head first into, damn right it is and I'm going to have a blast doing it as well.

I checked out a couple of videos on Youtube as to how to do it and I'm sure they make it look easier than it really is but I'm all geared up and raring to give it a go. Just now have to wait till payday when I can buy a spindle and give it a go.

My stash is going to grow and my bank balance is going to be hit (hard) but it'll all be worth it when I'm wearing my first hat/scarf/gloves made from my very own spun and dyed yarn.

Paris Summer Top

Yes, I know I shouldn't really be casting anything else on (but the yarn just cries out to be made into something). Because I've been working on the Goddessknits anniversary shawls for quite a few weeks I just felt the need to knit something a little quicker, I want knitting gratification damn it!

So to that end I was thumbing through my mags when I came across a pattern called Paris by Betty Barnden in Let's Knit magazine issue 9. I liked the fact it wasn't all boring stocking stitch and I even like the Eiffel Tower stitch, I just didn't want to do it right now. So I changed the Eiffel Tower stitch to a Leaves of Grass stitch and cast on.

I've completed the fist six pattern repeats and have now started on the yoke of the back, this is a quick knit and if I keep it up I should be able to wear my new summer top at the weekend (of course now that I've said that something will come up and I wont have time).

The pink picture is the original picture from the magazine, the teal is the top I'm working on. I'm using King Cole Smooth colour 802 Teal. I'm quite liking the King Cole even though it is acrylic, it is so soft it's going to feel lovely next to my skin.

Sun Dress.

Monday was such a lovely sunny day I decided to make myself a new sun dress, it's cobbled together from a couple of patterns.

The bodice is from New Look 6459, as is the mid section and the fuller skirt is from Simplicity 4070.

I liked my fabric choices all cheapish cottons (from stash) until I actually sewed them together, then I wasn't overly keen. However, when I put the dress on it looked so much better than on the dummy that I decided I did like it after all.

The black dress and the green/cream dress are also made from New Look 6459, I made them last summer.