Blackrose

Ta dah! Another pair of socks. I am on fire!


These are Blackrose Socks from the winter edition of Knitty in Midnight Meadows Sundara sock yarn. I love this yarn, but it nearly had me beat. The varegiation in the dye is quite subtle and I wanted a pattern that would show it to its best advantage. I cast on a number of socks in this yarn which were frogged - Leyburns, Paul Attwell Socks and Charade, twice. Then I chanced on the Blackrose pattern. It is lovely! Just enough lace to be interesting, yet an ideal television viewing sock. However I did get slightly more than I bargained for when whipping up the left sock. I thought my stitch marker had disappeared, and then I found it knitted into the ankle of the sock. Alas, the marker had to be snipped.


And here is Mr Wriggly showing his latest wip - two bottom incisors!

I was going to wait

I was going to wait until Middle Sister emailed me the photos, but I just cant. My Mum lives down the far south coast of NSW, and has been hoarding some of my knits to enter into the Pambula Show. She was holding off especially (and in the case of the Jay Walkers and Embossed Leaves socks three years) until the 100th Pambula Show. That was meant to be last year, but the equine flu epidemic lead to it being postponed.

So Mum entered four items of mine in the show: the first ever pair of socks I made, Jay Walkers natch,; a pair of Embossed Leaves socks in lucious cashmere sock yarn from The Knittery; Evie the Kim Hargreaves cardigan and Aunty Norma's Elm Row in Sundara Silky Fingering Merino.

And I cleaned up! Two firsts, a second and a highly commended. In my suprise I had to check with Mum that other people had entered. They had.

The prize winners were the Embossed Leaves Socks (no photo alas)for a wool item and Aunty Norma's Elm Row for a wool mix item.


Evie took a second for best knitted piece of apparel.


And the Jay Walkers took a highly commended, which I thought was rather generous given they were made during my pre-Kitchener, sew it all up anyhow phase.

Casting on fever

Taking my cue from Knit Devil's Feel Like a Floozy KAL for January, I have the following projects on my needles:

The (possibly previously) mentioned Paul Attwell Socks:


A Selbu for Nikki:


Another pair of Rock and Weave Socks in Hot Flash (but I so want to call the colourway Hot Flush) for Liza:


Blackrose Socks in the much cast on and frogged Midnight Meadows Sundara sock yarn:


In in a fit of complete indulgence, I am awaiting the arrival of some red Classic Elite yarn to cast on my big project for the year - Bijou. It features lots of terrifying things, like short row bust darts. But I've decided as part of my New Year's Resolutions that I will read the pattern before I cast on so I dont repeat the chain of events that lead me to make my son into a hunch back.

My pretties

This is what I was longing for while in Perth. Yes, here are some progress shots of my pretties.


Rock and Weave socks in STR Jewel of the Nile. I like the linen stitch, I like the pooling, and I love the star buttons!


Paul Atwell, looking rather sophisticated in some sock yarn I bought from The Knittery an age ago and cant remember what its called.


And some general eye candy from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts sale last year.

The truth about my Christmas crafting

I took two projects to Perth for Christmas crafting. After rekindling my love of socks and following on from the success of the Leyburn experiement, I immediately cast on two other slip stitch based sock projects: the Paul Atwell socks and Charade socks. However in a moment of supreme foolishness I didnt pack them to go to Perth. Instead I packed a coat I am knitting for Lloyd and the hexagon blanket I am making for my friend Suzy.

I doubted my choice the moment I packed them. Lloyd's jacket needs to be frogged as I misread the pattern. When I discovered my mistake, I thought I could bodgie up the shoulder seam to cover up the extra stitches. Suitably enough I was watching Richard III (as played by Laurence Olivier) when making this decision, and the resulting lumpiness will turn my son into a hunchback. Because of the construction of the jacket, I have to frog the neckband and a large chunk of the right front. The fact that its a baby jacket and therefore a small amount of knitting is not consoling me, I'm just not enjoying the project. I think it needs to hide out in my knitting bag until the weather gets a little cooler.

You'd think the hexagon blanket would be a plain sailing, fun project. I like the pattern, especially the bit where the hexagons are crocheted together so there is almost no seaming required. I'm making it in koigu that I bought ages ago, and I know my friend will the like the colours. The problem here is that I dont. Its too pastel for me, and I chose two colours that are quite similar and cant be placed next to each other. I think this one also needs to hide out for a while, and possibly be completely rethought. See my problem?




Still, now I'm home and back with my beloved socks. And a fab new dvd - Green Wing. I am planing on adopting some of Sue White's management techniques on my return to work later in the year. Actually Green Wing isnt helping the knitting cause, as its so funny I laugh too much and lose my way. Luckily I've got some old eps of Miss Marple!