Attic24

Winter Colour

We ventured out into the cold, cold wintry countryside yesterday, J and I, for a brisk walk around Grimwith reservoir. As you can see, the water levels are frightening low (photos from April last year show how full it was then) and I hope very much that we're not headed for any sort of water shortage situation.

It was blinkin' freezing out there in the Dales yesterday, and even though I was bundled up in extra layers, with my woolly hat pulled down low (yes I'm still wearing that very same hat), the cold wind seemed to reach my bones.

I am always fascinated by moss at all times of year (it's an enduring crush that I have), but in Winter it really makes me love it to distraction. It's so hardy and vibrant, like a bright beacon of natural positivity amongst all the muted dullness out there, and I adore it.

Now get this ---- I just did a quick online moss search and found a mossy blog!! It's called "Moss Musings" (seriously!!) and the tag line reads "for all the buzz about your favorite fuzz..." Oh. My. This is utterly brilliant. I'm laughing into my tea at this point, that tag line is just...well, beyond words really. Life is fantastic when you discover such small and quirky things that make you laugh out loud.

I like lichen too....any lichen fans out there? Its such a subtle and sublime colour, like the true essence of winter (along the lines of eucalyptus, that soft grey-green is just lovely). I do so enjoy the small details of a walk as much as the bigger long distance views.

Being out in the winter countryside is such a tonic, not just physically for the fresh air and exercise, but mentally too. It's like opening a window when the room becomes too stuffy, I find that having a stuffy brain can feel very draining at times, and fresh air and open views make a huge difference to my thought processes. It's liberating, and I really appreciate being able to do this on a Monday morning.

I like to chat to J about my crochet and blogging plans as we walk, I know he doesn't really "get it" but I enjoy offloading onto him regardless. I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind me laying it all out as we walk, it certainly helps me to feel clearer in my mind and more energised for the days that follow. I made massive in-roads into my ridiculous to-do list this morning, and I'm sure it was because of my outdoor walking therapy session yesterday. I can highly recommend it.

And to end the walk........a rainbow, the best winter colour of all.

Back here in the Attic, and Winter colour is mostly yarn related, of course it is. I gathered up a pile of clean socks this morning to take them upstairs - they'd been drying on the radiator downstairs and honestly I just swooned a little at the sight of all those delicious stripes. For those who don't know that I knit socks (I do, I do!), you can follow my "Socks" category in the sidebar for all previous sock posts with yarn and pattern details etc. I didn't make many pairs last year (I'm not sure why .... oh hang on .... yeah .... cross stitch happened!), but plan to have a few more pairs on and off the needles this year. 

I fear I am obsessing about my eucalyptus in a way that is a bit weird, but I can't seem to help it. Gawd, I love it so much. It's become my daily ritual....I sit and sip that delicious first coffee of the day, and rub a little euc leaf between my fingers to inhale at the same time. I think smelly pleasures are highly underrated. 

My sofa is a bit of a colourful mess right now, but I am really loving the riot of colour and pattern. In fact, the whole house is a mess, but I am going against the current January trend of decluttering and clearing and simplifying and choosing to embrace the cluttered, lived in look, just for the time being. Clearing may happen in the Spring, I'm in no rush. 

I was working on my sweet pea blanket for lots of hours over the weekend, and found myself wishing (for the umpteenth time) that the yarn would magically smell like sweet peas. Actually, I read on Facebook somewhere about a lady who puts a scented soap in her organza yarn bag along with her yarn and current project, and I thought that would be well worth a try. So I'm off to search for sweet pea soaps now, I think this could be a Good Thing.

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Sock Update :: Hers and His

It's been five months since my last sock update, and in that time I've had three pairs on and off my needles. This first pair ended up being quite a long time in the making, given that they presented me with a fair few knitty challenges and took some lengthy stints in the Naughty Corner. 

I started these socks back in early February I think, using Christine's Easy Cable Sock pattern combined with her fabulously helpful YouTube tutorials. I loved getting to grips with the cables, and I am super-proud of myself for sticking with them even when they made me want to pull my hair out at times.

Ditto the "crossed rib stitch heel" which I found quite hard going (even harder than the twisty cables). I think this stitch looks really amazing, but don't think I would ever be tempted to try it again unless I was paid a squillion pounds to do so.

I spent over two months challenging my brain and fingers with these socks, and there was a ridiculous amount of pulling back and re-knitting that went on at one point. But finally, that second toe was done and my Cable Socks were complete......

..............................ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE how the gentle gradient colour changes of of this particular sock yarn shows off the cable pattern....and look, I even managed a pretty good colour match. This yarn is from the Stylecraft Head Over Heels range ::

{Stylecraft Head Over Heels : Eiger colourway}

All in all, I'm really rather chuffed with these beauties!

And here we have a pair of GREY socks in progress..... no, of course these aren't for me - you can't imagine for one minute that I would choose to knit socks for my own feet in multiple shades of grey? Nah, it's never gonna happen. 

This next pair came about after J executed a prolonged and dedicated campaign for his very own pair of Man Socks. I admit I felt secretly elated that he wanted me to knit him some socks as he doesn't usually show very much interest in the things I make with yarn.

We had quite the job agreeing on which yarn to use - I point blank refused to make all black/grey socks and J made plenty of disgusted sounds when I showed him stripes, even if the stripes were dark. In the end we reached a compromise and settled on this Opal yarn in shades of grey which satisfied my need for a bit of colour tonal variation, but obeyed the stripes-over-my-dead-body rule. There are eight shades to choose from in the Opal Classics range and it pleased me on some childish level that this colour way is named Elegant. Ha!

{Opal Classics : Elegant colourway}

This yarn was especially lovely to knit with I have to say, despite the lack of colour. It's really soft and smooth and glides beautifully over the needles....and those plain non-twisty rows were such a pleasure after the last pair of naughty-complicated socks. The other advantage of using this yarn is that there is no need to do any stripe matching, not that I don't enjoy that particular challenge, but sometimes it's just rather nice to get stuck straight in and go for it.

J has size 10 feet against my size 5/6, but it didn't make a huge difference to the pattern really. I simply cast on 64 instead of 60, and elongated the foot by working 52 rows. I drew round J's foot on a piece of paper and used it as a guide to help me get the foot length right, and he tells me they are a really good, comfortable fit. Funny thing was, as soon as the first sock was off the needles he insisted on wearing it, so spent a few evenings with just one sock on "trying it out" which made me laugh.

Spurred on by my Man Sock success, I showed J the Opal Classic choices again and asked him to pick a second colourway. He ummed and ahhhed, almost went for "Luxurious" but in the end surprised me by choosing this one.

{Opal Classics : Exclusive colourway}

I worried a little about the Exclusive choice to be honest - the socks came out quite a bit more stripy than the ball of yarn suggested, and although I loved knitting them I thought that those bright flashes of red and yellow might be too much for him to want around his ankles.

Soooooooo.............. do you think these look like Man Socks? I'm not convinced, but J says he likes them and will certainly wear them tucked way inside his boots and under his jeans, so I'm calling it another success story. 

I would love to hear from any of you who've had Man Sock success - what yarn choices have you gone for? And please don't tell me Black or Grey with coloured heels or toes, cos that just won't be happening on my needles any time ever.

Now then, whilst we're chatting about all things sockilicious, I want to jig your memory and remind you about the oh-so-fabulous Yarndale Sock line that I help organise with my lovely friend Christine, AKA the Queen of Socks. The sock line will be running for a third year at Yarndale in September  so if you wish to join in and make a pair of socks which will be gifted to those in need of a "woolly hug", you can find all the details {HERE}. Last year's sock line was a huge success with over one hundred pairs donated - you can find links to the supported charities and write up's of the previous years {HERE}

Of course, I am proud to work with Christine on this charity project, although to be fair, she does all the work and I'm just the mail lady who gets to oooooh and ahhhh at the visual gloriousness of it all. But......as I did last year, I will certainly be doing my little bit and knitting up a pair of socks to donate, how could I not? I've read the letters and shared in the emotional impact of this endeavor and know just how wonderful it feels to be a part of this generous and kind hearted woolly community. 

SO, do you want to see my yarn?

It's a thing of beauty, let me tell you!

I'm going to be using this ball of beautiful West Yorkshire Spinners yarn which has been produced as a special limited edition colourway to support the Marie Curie charity. As you may know, Marie Curie have the daffodil as their emblem and this yarn has been designed so that the stripes knit up to represent rows of daffodils......awwww!!! I can't tell you how much I love that idea - daffodil socks, how cool is that?!

And while we're here thinking about this beautiful ball of yarn that I'm squishing, please can we just pause and take a teensy moment to appreciate the fact that I'm showing you my fingernails.....I'm so proud of my nails! They are growing! 

Ok, back to the yarn............

The very best thing about buying a ball of daffodil inspired yarn is this - with EVERY ball sold, a whopping £2 will be donated to Marie Curie. You can find this yarn exclusively online at CityKnits if you wish to knit up your very own daffie socks whilst supporting a really worthy cause.

I am sooooo excited to cast these on - the closing date for receiving socks for the Yarndale charity sockline is Saturday 26th August. All details (including labels to print and address to send) is {HERE}.

Right.......where're my needles?

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ps part 3 of my Summer Harmony blanket will be here in the next few days for those who are joining me x

 

 

  

 

Easter Ins and Outs

We are almost at the end of our two week Easter break and honestly, it has been a wonderful time of nothing and everything. For the first time in over a decade (since I was very heavily preggers with Little Lady in fact) we made the decision not to go down to Dorset this holiday. Although I have really missed not strolling about beside the sea on my home turf this Easter, we've enjoyed a very relaxing and restorative time here at home. 

Rather predictably the weather has been very mixed, but as we made zero plans for this holiday other than to wake up each day and enjoy not having to do anything much, it's been great. Early on in the holiday, we had a short run of beautiful, sunny Spring weather so on one gorgeous morning we set out early to make the most of it.

It delights me to tell you that after a lengthy stint (months? years?) of enduring the Little People protesting like crazy every time we suggested a venture into the great outdoors, these days they seem to positively enjoy the idea of it (shock! horror!) It's been a welcome turn about, and not something that I've voiced aloud to them for fear of jinxing the good walking vibes, but oh, I am so so so so glad!

This walk we did to "climb the crag" is a favourite for us - it's local, so less than 10 minutes in the car, and not that lengthy either as the whole round route is only 3 or 4 miles long. The actual climbing bit though, oh that's quite something and takes a bit of doing. The pathway up to the summit is steep and rocky and so for a good 20 minutes there is plenty of huffing and puffing (and possibly a bit of mild, under-the-breath cursing from time to time) as we scrabble slowly upwards. 

But the feeling when you finally reach the top and get to flollop down in a heap is like nothing else, it's exhilarating (in a breathless sort of a way), satisfying and just plain wonderful. This was an impressively early jaunt for us, and we were sitting up amongst these rocks with chocolate, jam sandwiches and hot coffee just after 9 am.

The Little People embraced this walk with such energy and enthusiasm, it made me so happy deep down in the pit of my stomach, like a heart squeeze multiplied by a million. 

Spring is always so slow to get to us here in North Yorkshire, but during April there are always a handful of blue sky days where we feel the first real sunshiny warmth of the year. It feels sooooooo good when those warm days happen!

At the start of the holidays, the warm sunny days encouraged the Little People to take their play outdoors for the first time this year. It's always a lovely time when we can prop open our front doors and listen to the sound of the neighbourhood children playing up and down the street. I generally leave them to it and don't think to photograph what they are up to - but it's pretty much the same simple play that takes place year after year after year. Wheels, bubbles and chalks. Sometimes balls, sometimes an assortment of other toys, but always scooters, skateboards, bubble wands and street chalks. This bucket was half full at the start of the holidays - there has been a LOT of chalky art happening out there!

I didn't decorate for Easter this year, for the first time in ages (last year's efforts are here, if you are remotely interested in my chaotic hang-all-the-things approach). I don't know why I just didn't feel like I wanted to bother, but I'm not going to over analyse that fact. I was content with just a jug of very pretty little daffies on my table, wafting out the most delicious scent. 

In fact, thinking back over the past two weeks, I've spent a lot of time sat at my dining table indulging in quiet me-things. I finally plucked up courage to pull my cable sock out of the naughty corner and give it a thorough telling off. I then spent three hours pulling back the whole of the toe section which had gone horribly wrong and re-knitting it. The relief and the pride was enormous, considering it's just one sock, but oh I am proud! Since I took this photo, the second cable sock is also finished and believe it or not it was even more of a mare than the first one. It took me t-h-r-e-e attempts to do the toe on the second sock, I can't even tell you how cross it made me. But they are finally complete, and I love them, and I am super-proud. I'll write a proper sock update post soon to show you properly and give all the deets. 

In and out, this holiday has been thoroughly dictated by the weather it seems. We spent a lot of time snuggled up at home that's for sure, but on days when it was dry and we all felt like it, we ventured out to walk. 

We visited Bolton Abbey a few times this holiday, and I was surprised to see that the bluebells were well on their way already. 

The weather last week was cold and grey and felt much more like Winter than Spring, so the bluebells looked at odds underneath the still-bare branches of the trees. Still another week or two before they reach their peak here, so I must remember to prime the fam and warn them of an imminent Bluebell Appreciation outing. 

Gosh, never mind the flowers, there has been a lot of chocolate appreciation happening in the Attic these past few weeks. I've been filling little bowls with mini eggs here and there, partly for the pleasure of seeing them sitting prettily on the table, but mostly for the pleasure of being able to pop one in my mouth whenever the mood strikes. I happen to rather like a small chocolate hit with my first coffee of the day, and think perhaps I might need to keep having bowls of little foil wrapped chocolates about the place. The Little People are slowly working their way through their considerable stash of giant hollow chocolate eggs as I'm being very Mumsy and rationing it to small bits each day after dinner. The Teen rebelled a little and took a whole big egg out with him one day last week, but mostly even he is towing the line and sticking to his daily rations.

Did I mention that this past week has been cold? Freezing even? We've been back to lighting the fire, no joke, and although I would much rather throw the doors open and step out in my brand new flip flops, the fireside cosiness has been welcome this holiday. It's felt snug and homely here in the Attic, and we've all spent a ridiculous amount of time wearing pyjamas. 

The kitty has seemingly enjoyed having us about at home, she is a cat who likes to be close to her humans and I've frequently found her curled up with Little Lady or Little B.

As you can see from the above picture, my lovely Hydrangea blanket is very much in use here at the moment. Due to the persistent cold weather, all my blankets have been used a lot during this holiday as we've indulged in a lot of sofa time. It makes me really happy to see the Little People using my blankets (they've all got blankets on their beds right now too), and I wish for these blankety memories to stick fast and hold tight for a long time to come.

This is how the corner of our living room looks right now though, with the blankets being used to make a rather sprawling hideout for Little B. Goodness knows what goes on under there, but he's been in and out of it all day long.

In and Out - a different kind of out this time though, and as far from the bluebell woods as you could be. We took a train ride to Leeds for a day of shopping, lunch out and posh afternoon drinks in our favourite Sky Lounge. It was the first time we'd taken the Little Peeps to the Sky Lounge and they absolutely loved the whole experience - the big glass revolving doors into the hotel, the ride up to the 13th floor in the lift, the plush golden sofas and velvet cushions, the views, and the posh drinks delivered to our table (pictured above is my mojito which was stunningly delicious)

For the shopping portion of our trip we split into two - J took Little B shopping with his pocket money to the Lego store (huge excitement for this!), whilst I accompanied Little Lady on a bit of a clothes buying jaunt. I don't think I am the best clothes shopping companion (it drains me just thinking about it), but we did OK and she was really happy with her modest purchases. It was such a lovely day with the Little Peeps, one of those times when everything just clicks into place and feels easy and good. Little B was in his element, still so excited by simple train journeys, in awe of big city shops and streets, thrilled by escalators and lifts. 

Yesterday we went to the coast to meet up with J's mama who was spending a few days in St Annes. It wasn't particularly beach weather (it was freeeezing) but we wrapped up warm and made the most of the day. 

After a delicious morning coffee in the cafe on the pier, we set out to attempt to see the sea. This might sound odd given that we were right there at the seaside, but low tide in St Annes means that the actual sea is far, far away. This is more SANDside than seaside. The beach here is seriously huge with great long miles of gently rippled sand, and you need to be quite determined to make it as far as the shoreline. We walked and walked and walked.........

.....and after HALF an HOUR we still didn't make it. I kid you not. We did reach a shallow patch of sea water, but not the sea itself.

Impressive sand ripples though, yes, we saw lots and lots of those. And I loved watching the Little People lark about on the beach as we walked. Collecting shells, using driftwood sticks to draw in the sand and generally letting loose with all that stored up kidlet energy.

After lunch, we spent some time in the municipal park - Ashton Gardens is so beautifully designed and kept, it's a really lovely place to visit at all times of the year.

I went a bit bonkers when I spotted the tulip beds (the local lady walking her dog looked at me as if I were utterly crazy, getting down on my knees to really loooooook at the blooms, which were huge and beautiful and well worth looking at up close).  The Little People burnt off the last of their hot chocolate fueled energy in the play park before we called it a day and headed back inland and home. 

After some wonderful Outings this week, some In days are needed now though as I try and catch up with all that has been neglected recently. After all the excitement and long, full days which led up to the Hydrangea Blanket reveal (thank you so so so much for all your shared excitement over that by the way!), I've appreciated this quiet down time with my family very much. Back to it now though - lots of Yarndale stuff happening behind the scenes right now, as well as some other bits and pieces I'm working on for magazines too. I've been designing and working on a commission this week using this gorgeous, soft summery palette of cottons, as well as writing stuff for various features and generally trying to do what people are asking of me. 

Gosh, this has been a super-long post, I've been writing it on and off for days! It's been so lovely to catch up though, and I promise I'll be back very soon with a proper sock update (I'll have Man Socks on my needles next, what colour do you think J has gone for?????!), and some other yarny news too.

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...more little snippets from the Attic...

Coastal Walking :: Whitby

Dorset Summer 2015

Back Home

Socking Along

In the days dominated by the colours of the Moorland and the many hours spent hooking up the stripes that make up a blanket, I found myself picking up the pointy sticks again. The Moorland Blanket had become way too big to cart out-and-about to the cafe/pub so I was looking for a small portable project. And socks fit the bill perfectly.

I am getting better at knitting in public, more specifically knitting whilst talking/howling with laughter and drinking gin. I am more relaxed with those stitches (gin helps), my shoulders don't hitch up around my ears quite so much, and I'm starting to ease out of the need for complete silence and laser-intensity concentration at all times. It's still not really what I would call a relaxing hobby for me yet, but I can feel that it may well eventually become that in the distant future. 

I love to document my progress on all things creative, so am super-glad that I can use this space to keep a track of my sock production. You can find all my sock-related posts by looking in my<<  left sidebar << in the "category cloud". Look for the small sock word - this will bring up all posts with socks embedded in them, with each pair photographed and the yarn details included. 

So lets shimmy back in time for a quick catch up on my sock happenings, shall we? You might remember back in my last sock post that I showed you the new Stylecraft Head Over Heels yarn?

I picked out this gorgeous stripy colourway called "Everest" (the colours seemed rather appropriately Moorlandish I thought) and cast on back in October.

I whizzed through these beauties and enjoyed watching the subtle stripes form themselves into woolly socks.

{Stylecraft Head Over Heels : colour Everest}, blending beautifully with the Moorland stripes.

After the Everest socks, I cast these ones on at the end of January as portable knit/natter material. They aren't perfect - in fact, due to the pub setting, one of the heels developed a severe lean to the left when I got thoroughly too big for my boots and thought I could turn the heel whilst socialising. Rooky error. In my world of sock knitting, a heel turn requires Absolute Silence, and a brain fueled by caffeine rather than gin. 

But oh, just feast your eyes on those scrumptious stripes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This yarn tickles me (not literally, it's pretty soft and smooth) as it is part of an Opal range inspired by Rainforest birds and animals, which pleases me on so many levels. I love love love to know what inspires colour schemes, the design process is just fascinating I think.

If you are searching for this sock yarn online, you need to look for the word "Regenwald", eg. Regenwald 11 and Regenwald 12. The labels on the yarn show you a picture of the bird/animal that inspired each colourway, just to add to the whole brilliant experience of choosing.

{Opal Regenwald 11 : colour 8976, Kalle the Villain}

I think this pair is one of my favourites to date (despite the wonky heel), the colours are certainly very Me.

I get such a kick out of this small pile of knitting, such an ooomph to the heart of pride and pleasure. I keep my hand knitted socks in a neat pile beside my bed, for the pleasure of having them always to hand when my feet are cold (which is often) and also for the visual delight they provide. Admire, wear, wash, dry, stack, swoon, repeat.

If you've been following my sock making journey from the beginning, you will know that it was my good friend Christine who got me addicted started. For all of my socks so far, I've used her absolutely brilliant Basic Sock pattern which is a full tutorial designed to enable complete beginners. She says that if you can knit and purl then you can make socks, and I am certainly proof of that fact. So if you've always fancied giving socks a go, I can highly recommend joining Christine's Sockalong which tells you exactly what you will need to acquire (needles, stitch markers and yarn), and how to get going.

A few weeks ago, Christine published a brand new tutorial for Easy Cable Socks, and something in me sat up and took an interest. I absolutely LOVED the look of those cute little twisty patterns forming in the stitches! I am really not a competent knitter and the idea of creating twisting cables seemed like it involved a little bit of voodoo magic somehow. But spurred on by the knowledge that there are video tutorials to demonstrate the voodoo elements, and by Christine assuring me it wasn't that hard, I decided to take on the challenge.........

................oooooooooooooooooooooo looooook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go me, go me, go me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made twisty cables in my stripes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you are suitably impressed?! Hahahahaaa!

I got off to a rocky start (and nope, not a drop of gin was involved), as I counted wrong and then tried to undo the wrong stitches across the twisty bit of the cable, which resulted in a Dropped Stitch and some minor panic. I managed to rescue the dropped stitch but it meant the first cable went a bit rogue. However, undeterred I carried on and the more rows I did, the easier it became. 

Now if you've been following my sock knitting from the start, you will know that I knit on short 23cm circular needles, and that I taught myself (using YouTube) to learn continental knitting - this is where I get to hold the yarn in my left hand in exactly the same way as I hold the yarn when I crochet, which is rather brilliant for us hookers who are using sticks. However, I have only been able to make knit stitches this way, needing to switch back to English knitting (yarn in right hand) whenever I needed to purl. 

With the cable pattern, there is a fair bit of knit and purl switching that needs to take place in every row, so I set about learning how to do a continental purl. I'd been told a while back by some skilled ladies with knit-know-how, that I should look up Norwegian Purl, as this keeps the yarn at the back of the knitting and would work for me and the way I hold my yarn. Well.....if I thought cables were made of voodoo magic, Norwegian Purl looked like the work of the the devil. There is a lot of needle wiggling and yarn twisting, a lot of procedure needed for just one stitch. It looks complex and impossible. But...............after stopping and starting this video a gazillion times, I finally, finally mastered it. 

WOW. What can I say? It has transformed the way I knit socks and I am so so so happy.

I don't mean to brag here.....but I am ridiculously proud of my cables, and my newfound Norwegian Purl technique. It has given me a real buzz to challenge myself and find that my brain isn't as foggy as it so often feels. 

By the way, the yarn I'm using for these socks is {Stylecraft Head Over Heels : Eiger colourway}

I'll be sure to show you this pair when I've finished. There may well be gushing.

My Cable Socks are actually pair number ten, believe it or not. Two pairs went south to warm my Mum's toes, and one pair went off to Manorlands Hospice to warm poorly toes as part of the Yarndale Charity Sockline.

I am still aspiring to fill a whole drawer with socks one day, yes, #operationsockdrawer is very much happening in the Attic, slow and steady.

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...more little snippets from the Attic...

❤ Three Things ❤

The Colours of May

Sock Update

I've had socks-on-the-brain this week (I'll explain why in a bit), and it occurred to me this morning that I could really do with having a little chat about the socks I've made since my last update back in May. I don't keep a physical record of my sock making journey (other than the finished socks themselves of course), and never manage to keep a hold of the ball bands, so it's really helpful for me to be able to record the yarn info here on my blog for future reference. Plus, it's always nice to share colourful yarny stripes, these photos make me really happy!

Seven pairs of socks (an actual stack of them!) plus the pair I sent to my Mum last Christmas makes eight pairs in total. I still can't quite believe that these socks have been made by my very own hands, with pointy sticks and teensy stitches and skinny-minny 4 ply yarn, it truly amazes me that I can do this magical sock thing. I am a Knitter of Socks, and I am so proud!!

After the handpainted Pea Green socks that I knitted for my Mum, I decided that she must have a super-stripy pair to follow. I went with {Opal Viridian Schafpate sock yarn : colour 'Thelma'} as I love the way that Opal sock yarn comes out so very cleverly stripy, they are quite irresistible.

I got rather a bit addicted to making this particular pair of socks (I couldn't seem to leave them alone) and cast the pair on and off my needles within about two weeks. Boom! Go me! I'm hoping to be able to get down to Dorset at the end of October so that I can gift them to my Mum's cold feet in person. She is a hand knit sock convert since the first pair I made for her and quite honestly I know exactly how that goes. They really do feel like a woolly hug for ones feet.

There are many things I love about knitting socks, the bestest thing by far being that I get to wear them and flaunt my knitting skillz. I also love that a good many of my yarny friends now knit socks (many pairs are often on the go around the café table at Knit and Natter sessions), which makes me feel like I somehow belong to a rather special Sock Knitting Club. Although truthfully I do still struggle with knitting in public - I can crochet quite happily with only a small portion of my brain engaged with what my hands are doing, but knitting? Nope, I most definitely need all my grey matter to cope with the itty bitty stitches and counting of the rows, and find that talking and knitting simultaneously presents a bit of a challenge. I'm told this does get easier with time - I'm hopeful that one day I'll be able to cope better with chatter+coffee+knitting.

The pretty pink and green socks in the above photo were on my needles in July, the yarn is another {Opal Viridian Schafpate : colour 'Kate'}. I decided about half way through the second sock that I wouldn't keep them, but would give them away instead. Not to family this time, but to a complete stranger......

....I wanted to join in with this year's Charity Sockline organised by my friend and sock-queen extraordinaire Christine.

So once my socks were off the needles and all nicely washed and blocked, I made a label for them and added them to Christine's fairly impressive pile......

....oh just look at that, a whole mail sack full of beautiful hand knitted socks! During the past few months, parcels containing knitted socks have been arriving at my studio, waiting for Christine to come and gather them all together. It took most of yesterday to sort through them all......

....with more than 80 pairs lovingly knitted and sent to Yorkshire by followers of Christine's blog and Facebook Sockalong group. The socks will be displayed at this year's Yarndale festival (this will be the second year for this fabulous project, you can read about last year's charity sockline here).

After Yarndale, Christine works hard to make sure each pair of socks is donated to a charitable organisation where they will be gifted to those in need. Places like shelters for the homeless, women's refuges and children's hospices, where it's hoped that a pair of gorgeous, hand made woolly socks will make a tremendous difference to someone who needs a little bit of extra love and warmth. You can find out where last year's socks were given here.

It's a wonderful thing to be a part of our generous yarny community here in Blogland, I really do think crocheters and knitters have very huge big hearts indeed. And very clever fingers.

Now then what have we here......not MORE pretty sock yarn surely?? I know you must think I lied very badly indeed when I told you that I really don't stash sock yarn at all. Uh-uh, not me, I buy just one ball at a time as and when I need it, honest I do! Cross my heart! 

These six balls of gorgeousness were given to me last month to squidge and have a play with, aren't the colours lovely? This is a brand new 4ply yarn called "Head Over Heels" made by Stylecraft. It's been specially developed to be durable enough for socks, but also fine and light enough for knitters and crocheters who like to make shawls. The three balls on the left (from top to bottom : Matterhorn, Everest, Kilimanjaro) create short stripe repeats, whereas the three balls on the right (from top to bottom : Eiger, Olympus, Fuji) have much longer and more graduated colour changes. There are some pictures showing how they each look when knitted up here, so you can see what I mean about the short and long colour changes. It's fascinating how these colour changes work and I'm looking forward to having a play with them once I can breathe out again after Yarndale.

Oh, such beautiful stripy goodness! The Attic24 #operationsockdrawer is still a bit on the miniscule side, more of a small select pile than an actual drawer, given that I only have four pairs so far. Gotta start somewhere though, there is definitely a full drawer in my future I'm sure of it!

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ps All my socks are made following Christine's fabulous Basic Sock pattern which you can find for free on her blog {Winwick Mum Basic Sock Tutorial}

If you want to find out more about my own sock making journey, all my posts are archived in the Sock category {my socks}

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It's All About the Socks

 

It's been almost two months since my last sock-knitty update back in March, and this morning I decided I have a burning need to show you what's been on and off my needles since then. I've been busy, and have managed to produce five complete socks which I'm rather proud of. My little pile of cosy comfort is growing slowly but surely and I remain delighted with my humble efforts.

When I last talked all about the socks, I was half way through this pair, oh how I loved making them! 

This yarn is scrumptious to knit with {West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply, colour Peacock}....

....and the resulting stripes are really, really lovely. These socks wash beautifully and come out very soft - I'm super pleased to have peacock feather colours on my tootsies! 

After the peacock socks were done, I started straight away (like the very same day) making another pair, this time for my Mum. You might remember back in November I gifted a pair of socks to her for her Birthday? Well, she fell in love with the cosy warmth of hand knit socks and asked if I might make her a few more pairs. I decided to try a different brand of yarn and went for this hand painted beauty in colours of the sea {Cascade Heritage Paints, colour 9770 Celtic}.

Wow, this yarn is sooooooo soft and gorgeous, made with 75% merino yarn, it feels quite different to the Opal/Regia/WYS that I'd got used to knitting with. For one thing, it was really smooth and slippy on the needles, which resulted in some fairly speedy knitting. I loved feeling like I was flying through the rows.

The colours are soothing and very easy on the eye, although I did find myself thinking about green vegetables quite a lot whilst I was making them. They became known as The Pea Socks. And then the Boring Pea Socks...............there, I said it. I realised, not for the first time, that I am a stripe addict and one of the main appeals of knitting socks (aside from getting to wear them on my feet), is the visual joy of the colourful stripes emerging before my eyes.

So I diligently worked the Pea Socks for my Mum, enjoying the speed and softness of the yarn whilst lusting for some visual excitement............

...........oooooo, bring on the Opal Stripes!

 This is {Opal Sweet & Spicy 3, colour 9127 Fruchtgummi}

Oh hello stripy, colourful loveliness, I have missed you!

Aren't these just a weeny bit beautiful? I was in stripy heaven knitting up this pair, it was so much fun discovering how the yarn worked especially after the yawn of the Peas.

I knitted this pair of socks a little differently, in that I worked on both at the same time instead of completing one and then the other. I find that even though I use a little clicker thingy to keep a track of my rows I often get distracted and forget to click. Or else I do click but then immediately forget that I've done it and end up clicking twice. So I bought myself a second small circular needle and worked both socks in sections, checking at the end of each section to make sure the stripes on both socks were matching up with each other. Does that makes sense? I divided the knitting into six sections (rib, leg, heel flap and turn, gusset, foot, toe), and it somehow made the knitting process seem faster and more enjoyable working two socks together. I think I'll do it this way from now on.

This particular Opal yarn didn't feel all that soft when I was knitting with it, but the socks softened up a treat after they'd been washed and blocked and are wonderful to wear. I love them very much, well I love all my socks....

I've knitted six pairs of socks now, which is roughly a pair a month. The Pea Socks will be posted off to my Mum next week, and I've got another ball lined up to make her a super-stripy pair next. I just want to mention that my Mum wears purple Dr Marten Boots which have been hand painted all over with flowers, so super-stripy socks won't faze her in the slightest.

Do you know something amazing? I think this might be the very first time ever, ever, ever that I'm arriving at the end of Winter and not craving my flip flops! I've loved wearing my socks and red boots so much this winter - the joy and the comfort of having warm, cosy feet tucked up inside all those itty bitty hand made stitches is not to be underestimated. It feels absolutely, stonkingly wonderful.

I realised this morning when I was taking my sock photos that I am building a little collection of left-over sock yarns, of course! For some reason I hadn't really given much thought to the left overs as I've been stashing them away in a small wicker basket and had forgotten all about them until today. I think I might have a go at some 'happy scrappy socks' (inspired by these ones made by Susan Anderson).

Now before I go, let me just quickly show you two inspirational sock drawers............

 

{sock drawer found on Flickr}

{sock drawer found on Ravelry}

Sigh. #operationsockdrawer is really rocking my boat.

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 ps I use Christine's fabulous Basic Sock pattern which you can find for free on her blog {Winwick Mum Basic Sock Tutorial}

If you want to find out more about my own sock making journey, all my posts are archived in the Sock category {my socks}

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The Sock Pile Grows

Now there's a pretty picture!! Doesn't the sight of all that glorious colour and neat knitty stitches make you go just a tad weak at the knees? Piles of handmade yarny things are my most favourite kind of piles, and I am thrilled to have the beginnings of my very own personal Sock Pile. They are mine, all mine!!!

Ok, so if you've just recently landed here in the Attic looking for the crochet and wondering if I've gone a bit off the rails with all this knitting business, fear ye not. I am still first and foremost a dedicated hooker at heart, with just a little bit of an addiction to knitting socks on the side. You can read about my sock making journey here and here.

If you already know about my sock making story, then lets have a quick catch-up on progress shall we? I do so love to share my creative carryings on, thank you as always for egging me on with my yarny adventures. You are very good enablers, every last one of you.

I finished my third pair of socks at the end of February, they really were a delight to make.

The stripes in this yarn aren't as overly stripy or patterny as the Opal or the Arne and Carlos ones I've made previously, but the glorious colours more than make up for that {this is Regia sock yarn :: Design Line by Kaffe Fassett :: Ombre Stripe, colourway chilli pepper}

I've worn them a lot since they came off my needles a few weeks ago, as they look so good with my red ankle boots. If you don't remember my beloved boots, you can see them in this post, and imagine these socks cutely poking out the top of them. I love the feel of wearing hand knit socks inside boots, my feet are never, ever cold when they are wrapped in woolly stripes.

Knitted socks + crochet blanket = cosy x a million. The perfect combination of yarny happiness.

Now as you would expect, once my chilli pepper socks were on my feet, my needles didn't sit empty, not at all. I had already carried out the necessary 3.5 hours browsing the internet drooling over sock yarn, and my next ball was sitting waiting patiently for cast on.......

....oooooooo, I've got me some Peacock yarn!! This yarn is divine, it's made by a fabulous local Yorkshire company called West Yorkshire Spinners and contains 35% Blue Faced Leicester sheep wool, which is rather nice to know when you have this yarn running through your fingers. WYS have designed a range of 4ply yarn inspired by British country birds, there are nine to choose from. Quite a few ladies in our Creative Coopers group have been making socks with this yarn and I loved how the stripes turn out in the different colourways (wood pigeon and kingfisher are particularly lovely).

But there was no doubt which bird's feathers would float my boat as these are definitely my colours - blue, turquoise, teal and lime green, it had to be the peacock for me.

I cast the first sock onto my needles on a wet and wintry Sunday morning, and spent a whole afternoon falling in love with the stripes as they emerged from the yarn ball.

I just adore sock yarn for it's cleverness, it really is marvellous the way the yarn is dyed to produce these stripy patterns.

It didn't take me long to make my first Peacock sock, and I am already started on it's twin.

I silently squeal with delight to my inner self when I think about creating a pile of hand knitted socks for myself that one day might have a special drawer to live in. These little things please me so much. Not quite as much as a pile of crochet blankets (still my everlasting love, I remain devoted)

One last thing to share with you - a sock drawer belonging to the creator of hashtag Operation Sock Drawer no less,  Susan B Anderson.....

If you're on Instagram and search for #operationsockdrawer you will see that many of the socks belong to Susan. She's a sock making diva. With a beautiful set of drawers it has to be said.

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ps I knit my socks using Christine's brilliant Sockalong tutorial which you can find on her blog >>here<< Christine, you are the Queen of Socks :)

pps my own sock making journey started here, with an update here, in case you missed it and want to find yarn details etc for my modest pile of socks xx

ppps Bird-inspired WYS sock yarn can be found at Wool Warehouse, if you feel a need to feed the stash....find it >>here<< You only need 1 x 100g ball for a pair of socks.

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Sock Drawer

Hello my yarny friends! I thought it was about time I shared some more of my sock knitting progress with you, following my revelation about the pointy sticks back in November last year. Well the first thing to say is that I am still really enjoying this new hobby, there is quite a lot about knitting socks that brings  a heap of joy to my creative soul. The yarns, oh the yarns!! So many endless stripy possibilities in every colour under the sun, I've developed something of a love affair with these balls of 4ply yarn. Striping sock yarn is a smidge on the addictive side you know, although so far I have resisted the urge to stash. My first pair of socks (pictured above) was made from yarn gifted to me for my Birthday, when sock making still seemed very much like something other people did. I've since discovered a whole online world of sock yarn, virtual shelves full of the stuff, so tempting, so desirable, so very, very stash-worthy. After my first pair of socks was off the needles {Opal sock yarn :: Sweet and Spicy 2 range :: colourway Sprinkles}, I duly purchased yarn to make a second pair. But I promise hand on heart I only bought enough yarn for just one more pair, still very much all under control and absolutely no stashing. Are you impressed by my self control?? Admirable don't you think? I am strong, I can resist! I can look and peruse and drool and sigh.....and then I can buy just the exact yarn that I need for my very next pair. Go me!

This is the second pair of socks I made - I spent an absolute age doing all the perusing and drooling bit (hours and hours) before finally settling on these particular Norwegian inspired stripes in this particular colourway {Regia sock yarn :: Design Line by Arne and Carlos Edition 2 :: colourway Summer Night}

I absolutely loved using this yarn. I really got a kick out of watching these clever stripes practically making themselves as I knit round and round and round on my small circular needles. So very, very clever. I wonder if I'll ever lose this sock yarn amazement, it just gets me every time!

With this second pair, I messed up a little bit in that my row counting went slightly awry and one sock ended up shorter than the other. So although I meticulously worked the yarn to ensure perfect matching stripes (Christine's explanation for doing this is completely brilliant), my toes ended up a little different to each other. And somehow because of the messed up row counting and resulting mismatched toes, these particular socks ended up just an incy-wincy bit too small for my wide, size 5-but-almost-size-6 feet. My toes felt squished, and I really cannot bare squished toes. So I decided that I would wash and block the socks and then......................

..............I would give them away.

What a pleasing decision, I was instantly full of the joy of gifting handmade. My heart was full I tell you. And then I remembered that within Winwick Mum's SockaLong Facebook group there was a "File section" containing Useful Links. And within the list of Useful Links there was a place to got to where you could download and print some sock wrappers. Genius!

If you like doing this sort of thing, then I can highly recommend using the PDF on Buttons blog {here} A simple black and white paper wrapper to pop around your beloved hand knit socks, and there you have a most perfect gift.

I used Picmonkey to add a little bit of personalised text to the reverse and felt rather pleased with my attention to detail. I wrapped them up and gave them to my Mum who suffers from very cold feet just like me and had a Birthday in December just before Christmas. 

So my needles remained bare and sockless for just a short while, but faced with a 7 hour train journey (my trip to Dorset in December) I decided to purchase more yarn for my third pair of socks. This time I went for hot colours, as I thought they would look rather snazzy poking out the top of my red Fly London boots which I wear every day. The yarn is lovely to work with {Regia sock yarn :: Design Line by Kaffe Fassett :: Ombre Stripe, colourway chili pepper} with the stripes forming in a pleasingly ordered way.

I do still struggle with using the pointy sticks needed to shape the toes, but with each sock it's becoming less fraught and troublesome. Can't yet say that I enjoy "wrestling with the hedgehog", but at least I can manage to get through it in a relatively calm manner.

Now then - do you see my neat little stitch markers in the above picture, the little beady rings nestled amongst my stitches there? These are a recent discovery which I want to share with you, as I absolutely love them and they are pure joy to use.

I found them in a very round about way, the exact ins and outs I can't recall (it was one of those lengthy internet journeys where you hop from place to place to place without remembering a thing about it).

These gorgeous little markers are designed especially to fit small circular needles, and they are called Mini Ring O's. They are made by Sarah, who's small business on Etsy is delightfully named Fripperies & Bibelots, oh I do so love that quirky name! Sarah is a trained silversmith and jeweller who has created a wonderful reputation for herself designing and making the most beautiful stitch markers for us yarnies.

It was early December when I fell in love with these beauties, and Sarah was right in the thicket of making and fulfilling her Christmas orders. At that time there were no mini ring o's to be found in her shop, but after a few conversations back and forth, Sarah kindly offered to make a set designed especially for me - in full rainbow colour of course! She named them "Lucy's Rainbow" and I was so enchanted by them that I ordered six extra sets so that I could give them to my sock making friends for Christmas. As you can see from the above picture, these are teeny tiny little rings which slip easily on and off the needles. Because they are very small and smooth, they don't cause any snagging or accidental holes when passing them on your needles and knitting over them. The different colours mean that you can choose contrasting markers to show up against whatever colour sock yarn you are using, and you can choose two different colours to mark the two decrease points when you shape the gusset. I really do love using them, they are beautiful and practical and I LOVE buying handmade and supporting small businesses.

Sarah has just restocked her shop with some sets of mini ring o's, you can find them in her Etsy shop {here}. She also messaged me last week to say that she's been busy making some special rainbow spectrum sets inspired by the sets made for me last month, and they should be landing in her shop very soon (squeeee!!!!!). So please do keep checking back if you can't find them listed straight away, they will be there very very soon. Sarah is also very good with social media and shares regular news on stock updates via Facebook, Ravelry, Twitter and Instagram.

And now we are all up to date with my knitty goings on - I'm  currently about half way through the second chili pepper sock at the heel flap stage and I hope to have them on my feet asap. I can't wait.

I would love to know if any of you have been inspired to start on your own sock knitting journey and how you're getting on? Are you loving it? Are you wearing your first pair of socks yet? Remember you can find this brilliant Basic Sock pattern and tutorial for free on Christine's blog Winwick Mum {go here to find all the info and pattern links}.

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ps about the title of this post :: #operationsockdrawer is a brilliant hashtag on Instagram that has kept me inspired and amused for many months now, I do love a good hashtag. It's my aim to keep knitting socks in all colours of the rainbow until I have a sock drawer like this......

{Photo credit :: Nanette Blanchard via Fickr}

pps Wool Warehouse has recently increased their sock yarn stash and now have in incredible selection for you to peruse and drool over - do go and have a peep!

{sock yarn at Wool Warehouse}

ppps don't blame me if sock yarn accidentally on purpose falls into your virtual basket and then turns up on your doorstep, tis not my fault ok.

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Here are some useful links for you if you feel inspired to embark on your very own #operationsockdrawer....

Chistine's Sockalong Tutorials (all the help you need with choosing needles, yarn, matching stripes, casting on and knitting)

Sockalong Facebook Group (online support and all round lovely community)

Super Socks (Christine's book)

You will need....

100g ball of Sock yarn (I like and Opal and Regia brands, especially the lovely self-striping patterns)

30cm circular needle 2.5mm (eg Addi needles on Amazon)

20cm set of dpns 2.5mm (eg Addi needles on Amazon)

2 stitch markers in 2 different colours/designs, to mark places for decrease pattern (I like Mini Ring o's by Fripperies & Bibelots)

EDIT TO ADD >>

I have to share just one more inspiration picture - a very swoon worthy set of sock drawers.......

{photo credit :: Christine Petterson blog}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Joy of Knitting Socks

I absolutely hate having cold feet and ever since being a child I have suffered with poor circulation and chilly toes. I was cursed with chilblains every winter through my teenage years and the memory of that annual pain and discomfort in my poor toes is rather rotten. So it goes without saying that I always need my feet to be warm and dry in wintertime and that I also love thick, warm socks, the snugglier the better. I have a whole collection of commercial Snuggle Socks (you know, the really fluffy kind that appear in the shops just before Christmas), but I can confirm, through extensive testing and experimentation, that hand knitted socks are in a league of their own when it comes to warmth and comfort for ones feet.

Having my feet snuggled up inside hundreds of little woolly stitches all created by the hands of someone who adores the knitting process is just magic. Hand knitted socks represent hours of creativity, patience and love, and I am convinced that those feelings are embedded in every knitted row and therefore make one's feet feel extra warm and cosy.

The socks in the photos above belong to me (mine, all mine!), and those are my warm and cosy feet modelling them. Aren't they a bit gorgeous? Do you note that those knitted sock rows are rippling themselves gently up and down, kind of like my crochet ripple blanket? Well there is a little story behind these socks and the way they came to be nestled on my feet. They were designed and made by Christine Perry who writes a blog called "Winwick Mum". Now amongst other talents, Christine is a very accomplished knitter, and I'm sure she won't mind me telling you that she is a Sock Knitting Obsessive. Uh-huh, obsessed I tell you. Just as I have my addiction to crocheting blankets, Christine's thing is knitting socks. She knits all the time, every day. One pair of socks follows another, and another and another. And not content with just knitting socks, Christine also possesses the necessary know how to design her very own sock patterns - I know!! Clever or what?? And this is how I came to have this delicious pair of Neat Ripple Socks at the end of my legs - Christine came to say hello to me at Yarndale last year and asked for my permission to use the "Neat Ripple" name for her socks which were inspired by my crochet ripple blankets. I was only too happy for her socks to share a name with my beloved blankets, and hadn't in any way expected to be thanked so beautifully. What a treasured gift these socks are, I can't tell you how much I love wearing them (a whole lot of cosy happy for my cold feet), and how I love the friendship that came from these ripply stitches.

The above socks were also designed and made by Christine - she based this design on a knitted shawl pattern. I was so in awe of them when I first saw them, so unbelievably impressed by the notion of someone not only knitting their own socks, but somehow creating a lacy pattern at the same time - way beyond skilful in my humble opinion. You may be interested to know that Christine shares all her sock patterns on her blog for free, just the same as I do with my crochet patterns. She is an enabler, an inspiration and guru to would-be sock knitters all over the world.

As well as writing very clever ripply and lacy patterns for advanced sock making, Christine has also written a simple sock pattern to encourage complete sock knitting beginners. With years of sock making expertise under her belt, she has created not only a very nifty Basic Sock Pattern but also a full step-by-step tutorial to go with it. In her tutorial she covers everything you need to know about embarking on your very own sock knitting journey - lots of useful information about choosing the right yarn, buying the right tools (needles etc), how to match stripes so your socks come out like identical twins, how to cast on and make a tension square etc etc. It's a very comprehensive guide and really useful for complete sock-knitting newbies. Once you've digested all the info and got your kit together - a ball of 4ply sock yarn, small 30cm circular needles (2.5mm) , a set of double-pointed needles (2.5mm) and a couple of stitch markers - you are good to go.

With her brilliant tutorials (she uses lots of photos like me), Christine's basic sock pattern is written in easy to understand plain English with lots of helpful explanations along the way. But that's not all - back in the Springtime, Christine hit upon the idea of  starting up a Sockalong, a virtual knitting circle where she would encourage all and sundry to join in with her sock-making adventure and give it a whirl for themselves. Via support groups on Facebook and Ravelry, an exciting new community began to form and many hundreds of ladies began to discover the joy of knitting socks for themselves. Christine is a true inspiration - she is skilled at trouble shooting and offering advice and information, and as a result of her enthusiasm and the knowledge she shares via her Facebook and Ravelry groups, I know many, many people have successfully made a pair of socks for the very first time.

Here in Atticland, Christine's sockalong reached out and inspired many of my real-life friends to start their own sock knitting journey. It was wonderful to witness the joy of sock knitting in the hands of my friends, and truthfully a little part of me began to feel a tad jealous as they oohed and aaaahed over their achievements. I started to feel just a weeny bit left out when there was so much sock talk around the knit and natter table each week. As I really genuinely love wearing hand knitted socks, I found myself quietly wondering if this might be something I could have a go at. Could I do it? Was it possible? Me and the Pointy Sticks?

Christine says that if you can knit and purl, then you can definitely knit socks. She makes it sound very easy and achievable and rewarding. Now I can knit and purl, although it's been a very long time since I did so. I used to knit a lot through my teenage years, in the 1980's when big shoulders and mohair yarn were all the rage. I don't recall really being passionate about knitting when I was younger (I loved stitching and embroidery way more), but I did enjoy it as a hobby and loved wearing the things I made. And so the quiet little thoughts that sat inside my own mind (could I knit socks? could I manage to learn? would it be fun to join in?) started to leak out into real life and several of my sock-knitting friends picked up on my interest and began to encourage me. Go on - give it a go, they said! You'll love it, it's such fun, they said! We can help you if you get stuck! But more than anything, I think they thought it would be fun to see me put down my trusty hook and grapple with the pointy sticks! Haha, they wanted a laugh at my expense I think!!

And so that is how I came to receive a very special Birthday present from my friend Joy, who lives all the way down south on the Isle of Wight. Inside the parcel was a ball of gorgeous sock yarn, and at the end the of the yarn was a set of small circular needles with six and a half rows of rib already knitted up. Ready and waiting for me to carry on.............

So here I am at Coopers Café one Tuesday afternoon, with everyone watching me pick up those needles for the first time. Oh boy, I was so nervous (note the White Knuckles of Tension!) My hands aren't at all used to knitting, they aren't used to holding such small needles or working such tiny stitches with such thin 4 ply yarn. It felt very strange at first, and I had to concentrate like fury to get that ribbing done. Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two. I couldn't really speak and count and knit all at the same time, so I just smiled, ignored the jibes about Going Over To The Dark Side, ignored the photos being taken and counted hard in my head.

Once the rib was complete, the knitting became much easier. Knitting on small circular needles is actually much easier than using sticks, and the best part is that you don't have to turn the work and make purl rows. You just knit round in a spiral, using a stitch marker to mark the start of each row. I found I got into a slow but easy rhythm with those 60 stitches - can't claim they were relaxing or especially enjoyable as I was still very tense at this point and had to knit in complete silence, but I began to feel ridiculously proud of my rows. Knitting!!!! I am actually knitting!!!!

The thing that most pleased me about this first sock was discovering the way the striping yarn worked. Oh my goodness, it was so fascinating and pleasurable to see the stripes emerge from the yarn ball as if by magic. There was no ball-band on the yarn that Joy sent me so I had no picture to tell me what the socks would end up like. I just knit, knit, knit those rows and watched as the stripes changed colour and made patterns all by themselves. So clever! I really, really, really love sock yarn.

At certain times during the knitting of a sock, you have to abandon the cosiness of those little circular needles and bring in the dpn's (double pointed needles).

I was nervous about "turning the heel" as there seems to be a certain mystery around doing this magical thing. Christine's instructions (with lots of pictures to help) made it very do-able even for a newbie like me. I did have to use YouTube to learn how to SlipSlipKnit (a form of decrease), but I got there in the end.

Oh just look at that!! I am very proud of my neat heel flap and gusset!

I had help from the Sockalong Facebook group when I got stuck at times (I experienced the joy of an online community always there when you need help), and I also had to learn how to unpick knitting when it went wrong. In fact, the hardest thing about knitting isn't actually the knitting or following a pattern - it's learning how to trouble-shoot when you go wrong. I found it very handy to keep a 2,5mm crochet hook near me at all times as I frequently had to rescue dropped stitches.

I progressed quite quickly with my first sock, eager to work through all stages of the pattern to see if I could do it. I became a little bit obsessed with it. I found that in order to knit successfully, I had to be sat at my dining table with nobody speaking to me, so it wasn't (and still isn't) a sociable hobby for me. Knitting for me is quiet time, me-time. I knit in the very early mornings or sometimes in little gaps of time in the day like after-dinner-before-bathtime when everyone in the house is occupied and will leave me well alone to concentrate. I find I can't knit in the evenings when my eyes are tired as I make too many mistakes and get too cross.

Knitting the toes is the hardest part of all. Once you've made the foot (oh hello easy rows of knit, knit, knit), you have to get four pointy sticks out in order to decrease to form the toe shape, and honestly it is a right mare. Christine calls it "wrestling with a hedgehog", and that about sums it up. I really couldn't wait to get those rows out of the way, I didn't enjoy them at all. Not one bit. But eventually there I was at the end of the toe, with the required twenty eight stitches, ready to get to grips with The Kitchener Stitch. This is a method of threading the yarn onto a needle and stitching the toe together so that your stitches mimic knitting. The idea is that you "graft" the ends together and make them seamless - it's not as hard as it at first seems and Christine explains it very well in her tutorial. If you are nervous about doing this for the first time, I would  advise going to YouTube and watching it in action - a lovely lady on my Facebook page posted a link to a short video and it made my second sock so much easier {Kitchener Stitch Video}

I have been really pleased to discover how easy it is to knit with these little 30cm circular needles, they really do make the whole sock knitting process pretty easy. There are different brands of needle that you can buy, I'm using Addi ones which are German and lovely to use. You can find them online (try Amazon UK / Amazon US)

Oh - errrr..................................Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made not only one sock, but a matching pair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to tell you, now that my socks have been washed and blocked, they feel amazing to wear. They are soft and oh-so-very warm and toasty.

I have really LOVED working with this gorgeous yarn too, thank you SO MUCH Joy for this wonderful gift, for choosing yarn that has given a huge amount of colourful pleasure and encouraging me to make a start. I owe you big time :)

So what happens when your first pair of socks is on your feet and you've got empty needles sat there in front of you?

Why, you spend a good many hours surfing the net looking for your next fix to feed your new addiction. Of course!

The yarn that Joy gifted me is made by German company Opal (this particular yarn is from the "Sweet & Spicy" Opal range, the colourway is called "Sprinkles"). Opal make a huge range of sock yarns in beautiful colours which really are lovely to knit with and produce stunning socks. 4ply sock yarn generally comes in 100g balls (easily enough to make a pair) and is made from 75% wool / 25% nylon. The commercial sock yarns are machine washable, and come out beautifully soft after washing, with no shrinkage or fluffing or bobbling. Once you start looking at sock yarns, you will seriously be spoilt for choice, they are all so appealing!

The self-striping pattern thingy that happens in sock yarn really has entranced me, I am fascinated by the way it works. If you've got a spare 6 minutes right now, do watch this little video about how Opal sock yarns are made, it's ace.

So I have a second pair of socks on my needles already, oh yes. In fact, the very same day I finished my first pair I ordered some new yarn online and it was on my needles the next day (thank you Wool Warehouse for such speedy, reliable delivery, you feed my yarn addiction very nicely!)

So what do you think of these stripes then? Aren't they cool??? It amazes me to look at the ball of yarn and know that it will produce these stripes and patterns. This is Regia yarn, another fab sock brand from Germany and this particular range has been designed by Norwegian knitting designers Arne & Carlos.

I've learnt that sock yarns come in different ranges, and within each range there are different colourways to choose from. So for this particular yarn, the brand is Regia, the range is "Design Line by Arne & Carlos, edition 2" and there are six different colourways to choose from (this is number 03657 Summer Night)

Once again, I have really enjoyed seeing the stripes emerge, they are very pleasing indeed. Clever yarn, it really is.

So now we are up to date with my journey, and you can see where I am at right now - almost finished the leg of my fourth sock. The knitting is getting easier for my hands, my tension is more even and I've not dropped nearly so many stitches with this pair. And I'm relaxing a bit more with it now which is good, but this is still a quiet, full concentration hobby for me. I'm told it does get easier.

Super Socks is the book that Christine wrote to accompany her online tutorials. Gosh, my friend wrote a book, and I am more than a bit in awe of that fact and very proud of her, especially as it's a very good book too.

Just like her blog tutorials, the book is full of photos and well explained text which accompany the pattern and help you along the way.

I found I much preferred having the book pages rather than a computer screen next to me whilst I was knitting, it really helped to see the pictures alongside the pattern to keep me on track.

Something else I want to tell you is about the knitting method itself - somewhere in the early rows of my first sock I decided to try and teach myself Continental knitting. This is where you hold the yarn in your left hand and use the needles to hook up the yarn (rather than "throwing" the yarn around the needles). I am still very much learning, but it has totally changed the way I knit and crucially the speed I can knit. It really suits my hands as I can hold the yarn in exactly the same way as I do when I crochet. There are masses of tutorials on YouTube teaching the basics of Continental knitting - as I say, I am still learning and haven't yet mastered purling the continental way, but it has encouraged me to learn more.

If you've been encouraged by my knitting journey and think you might like to have a go at making your toes cosy with some hand knitted socks, all I can say is Go For It, you will be so glad you did. Christine's pattern and tutorials do really make it achievable, plus remember you can join the Sockalong Facebook Group too which is just the friendliest community of people who will inspire you and give help and advice when needed.

Here for your info are some links for patterns and essential kit...

Chistine's Sockalong Tutorials (all the help you need with choosing needles, yarn, matching stripes, casting on and knitting)

Sockalong Facebook Group (online support and all round lovely community)

Super Socks (Christine's book)

You will need....

100g ball of Sock yarn (I like Opal and Regia brands, especially the lovely self-striping patterns)

30cm circular needle 2.5mm (eg Addi needles on Amazon)

20cm set of dpns 2.5mm (eg Addi needles on Amazon)

2 stitch markers in 2 different colours/designs, to mark places for decrease pattern (lots on Amazon)

I am really enjoying this new creative hobby of mine, but please rest assured that I am still first and foremost a hooker. Crochet is still the love of my life :)

Speaking of which, I'm off to darn in my ends as I've got some photos to take ready for my Sunny CAL tomorrow....see you then....

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