An actual FO and an almost FO

An actual FO! I forgot it in the excitment of my previous post! Here are the finished socks for the Squeeze. If you look carefully in the background you'll see evidence of the enormous amount of little visitors that we've had recently.


And here is my holiday knitting and reading. Barry Maitland has written a number of books*, and they are all excellent. The Redlight Special is coming along ok. The pattern is a breeze, but I'm not entirely happy with my slacker's decision to use Noro sock yarn instead of using acutal different coloured yarn in order to avoid weaving in lots of ends. If I made it again using Noro, I'd choose specific colour sections instead of just letting it come what may. I'll post it again when its an actual FO.


*If you like crime fiction. My favourite is Silvermeadow, where he manages to evoke all the terror of the forest in medieval times in a modern day shopping mall.

And the winner is.....

While I used a scientifically validated method to decide the winner (ie drew a name out of those who called it for Lloyd), I'd like to specially mention Charisse for her judge-inducing comments that Lloyd is adorable, and Lara for her words of wisdom that babies grow while screaming, while socks tend not to grow while babies scream

Anyhoo - heres the proof of who is longer, Lloyd or the sock:


And the winner is Lara! Email me Lara and let me know which skein you'd like. The runner up (drawn from everyone who commented) is Chris. Drop me an email Chris and I'll send you the remaining skein.

It was a close run thing there for a while - until Lloyd stretched out his long, long legs. Personally I would have bet on the sock, but now I know where all the energy gained from feeding every 2 - 3 hours is going. He reminds me a bit of Inspector Gadget with his 'go go Gadget legs'!

The socks are almost done - proving a number of things to me. Its still a joy to make socks, they should not be so entirely absent from my wips and theres time to squeeze knitting in around the edges of the round the clock feeding cycle. Now to find some knitting patterns for little boys. Anyone have any suggestions?

Return to first principles, and a competition!

Its been a long time since this blog has seen any sock action. Because I dont have the attention span for anything more complicated than some rib, and because its been a long time between socks for the Squeeze, I've been mindlessly ribbing and enjoying the simplicity of the sock. Just to make things even more colourful, I've been striping the Sour Apple with Noro sock yarn. This is in part because the Squeeze has huge feet, and also because the Noro is hand wash only, which wont be happening, so its an attempt to avoid wholesale felting. It certainly is bright.


To celebrate Lloyd's first month, and a return to sock knitting, I've decided to give a choice of a skein of Sundara sock yarn (colourways below) to the person who can guess which is the longest - Lloyd or the Squeeze's sock. Just include a guess at the length of each in a comment on this post. To give you all a hint, Lloyd was 56cm at his last measurement a week ago, and the sock includes a generous mid ankle cuff and a big foot.


The Sundara sock yarns are Candied Chrome...


... and Charcoal over Emerald. The winner will be posted on Tues 8 July. Am happy to post yarn overseas.

Before and after

Its no exageration to say that Little L has turned our world upside down. 8:30pm is now a late night, while 1am seems like a dark version of midday. This can also be visually represented through my current wips. Behold:

Pre L: I was racing through the basketweaves section of the Hamani stole (Haidmaiden Sea Silk in Ebony).


Post L: Have cast on for a sock for the Squeeze (Sour Apple Sundara sock yarn). This has taken the best part of a week - however to be fair it has returned from the frog pond twice.



I also got a couple of treats that I'd ordered a couple of weeks ago. The arrival of the swift and ball winder has made casting on for new projects temptingly easy as it no longer involves winding things on by hand.


And I couldnt resist this tree broach by Elk. Jewellry is an excellent treat when almost none of your clothes fit!