First sock of the year

 Hi there!  I hope everyone has had a good week, it's been super hot and muggy here, not like our normal dry heat in summer, the humidity really takes it out of you!  

I have mostly been working on small projects that are nice and portable, like the super cute Little Boxes Socks by Summer Lee Designs.  Her sock patterns are available on Ravelry and are great for colour play with colour work knitting and for using up small amounts of yarn like  Advent sets and mini skeins.  She has so many lovely designs, I want to make them all!

This is the first one completed, I have started the second one and hopefully I'll stay interested long enough to actually finish this pair! :)  I really like the after-thought heel that Summer does in this pattern (and lots of her other ones too)  it is so easy!  I do get tiny holes at the corner of the heel, but I will darn them closed when I weave in the yarn tails. 

I can't remember if I mentioned it in my last post, but I am joining in on a Year of Socks for 2022 too, so aiming for one pair a month.  These are the January ones, I have a feeling they might drag into February before they are finished, so I'm already a bit behind.  lol, I tend to plan too big and run out of steam, but this is a bit early in the year to give up completely!   I have some other gorgeous colour combinations picked out, so that should keep me motivated. :)  On the positive side, I have already started my second Hexie for the Persian Dreams Blanket, so I'm ahead of schedule with that one! 

I have some crochet on the go too, just some spotty facewashers, I'll show you those at a later date. 

(I'm finding it a challenge to get back in the swing of taking photos for posts during the day and loading them onto the computer, I think Instagram has made me slack, the quickness of posting on there is quite an addictive thing.  I'll need to find some discipline to get back in the habit of planning posts and getting the right photos for them!)

Ok, better go now and get dinner ready, it's my son Jesse's birthday today.  I'm feeling the time flying by, I feel too young to have a 26 year old son, but it has happened!   So it's a birthday celebration tonight, maybe a nice cold glass of champagne is called for! 

Talk soon! xxxxxxxxxxx

Sock knitting in 2018

Hello there!  Happy New Year 2018! 

2017 went by in such a blur, I really hope this year meanders a bit more so there is time to do all the things properly.  Enjoy, relax  and savour the process of making, and not the 'half arsed, that will have to do, run out of time' rush of a year like 2017!  

I'm sure I will make big plans that never get realised, it happens every year.  I think I will do a priority list so at least the things I really want to try get done!

Which brings me to Sock Knitting.  :) 

I am so in love with sock yarn, I really want to make All The Socks, there are just so many beautiful colours and clever dyers and challenging patterns out there! 

I'm thinking a doable goal would be one pair a month for 2018, that would give me 12 pairs or 24 individual socks, (because I just know I'm not going to want to make a second matching sock, they can be samples for the shop of all the amazing yarns!) Surely I can manage that! 

I'm off to a good start anyway, the photos are of my first sock for the year, I started it on the weekend and am going to go and turn the heel after I finish this so hopefully I'll have one finished later this week! 

I'm loving the combo of charcoal with the amazing speckles, 

this is 'Strange Trip' from Spun Right Round with Cascade Heritage Sock in Charcoal.

I still have a couple of skeins of these in the shop I think, but will have to order more, its so lovely! 

The pattern I'm using is the excellent 4ply Basic Sock pattern from Winwick Mum

There are so many colours speckled through this yarn!

Anyway, that's the first of my yarny ambitions for 2018, I'm sure I'll come up with plenty more! 

There are lots of new yarns coming to the shop over the next few months, I am always inspired by new yarns and just have to give them a try out, so lots of new projects are sure to be started, and maybe even finished! :) 

Have a great day my crafty friends, Julie xxx

My creative space....half way there

Hello.

I don't know where the days are going at the moment!  Every time I look up it is Thursday or Friday!

The early part of the week just seems to disappear into a big jumble of stuff that I find hard to recall,  all 

my well laid plans and things I want to cross off my to-do list seem to get pushed to the back of the week and I actually have very little to show for how I spend my day.  

I think I spend a lot of time day dreaming.  Imagining how things could look, or things I could make, or things I could plant, or just procrastinating.  Think I will do something about all this dreaming, not sure what though!!

Anyhoo, I have managed to finish one sock!  Half way there! Yay!  It wasn't as hard to negotiate the heel and shaping as I was anticipating, so that was a good thing.  I just followed the pattern to the letter.

I am using the sock pattern from  'The gentle art of knitting'  by Jane Brocket,  such a great book! 

 Must keep soldiering on to the second one and not say I am finished till I have a pair of socks. 

 I quite like the way the pattern has come out with this wool.  I think it is that German sock wool brand Opal, they do lovely things with self striping yarn.

  

..........also been making some little hats for the cooler weather, the crochet hook is so much quicker than the needles!  These are for babies and I have made them in lovely soft merino so they are nice and cosy for those cute little bald heads.  I got on a bit of a roll with these, so many lovely stripey combos to make up!  I like this classic shape too, I think it really suits simple striping.

Think these will go towards my on the never- never market stall, slowly collecting some things to sell.  Maybe some in my little shop too, I have some more combos to try out yet!!

What have you been up to lately?

See you later!

Sock begins......

Hello.

       Well, my creative space today is all about my first attempt at knitting socks.                

Yes, I am edging closer to the granny side with every day! hahaha..... 

I am finding it slow going at the moment, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it  eventually.

Don't you love this wool! I do!

We went for a lovely drive in the country yesterday when Gary had a day off, and I went to a great yarn shop in Kyneton and I picked up these cute little knitting needles just right for socks.  

I think I could get quite addicted to making socks, so many beautiful self striping yarns out there!

Joining in over here today at Our Creative Space.