princessdeia

As October is all about the Sock - I had to sign-up for the Hot Socks Swap! This exchange teamed up two of my favourite things, sock yarn and coffee - without sounding too much like a Gilmore Girl - I love my morning cuppa coffee.

My swappee Anja, sent my two bags of Tchibo coffee, one Kenya Dark Roast and one mild, as a treat they was a mountain of chocolate - one with macadamia nuts (I think she has been reading my blog). 

When I realised my swappee lived in Germany, I was a little excited as I was hoping for some Opal yarn in an different colourway - and I was not disappointed.

For a while now I have this dream that in Germany they have a secret stash of Opal Yarn not designed for the export market and that all sock yarn is a pound or something - yes I have silly dreams about sock yarn!

Even the card, Anja sent had coffee on it.
She also include this amazing Cross Stitched Scissor Keeper, now I just need to get some decent scissor to attach it too.

For a while now I have been thinking that knitting and the Internet work so well together. Ever since I started knitting again nearly two years ago, the Internet has been my crafting buddy. I started knitting again to relax and unwind the evenings, I picked up some yarn and Vintage Knits in John Lewis one Sunday afternoon, came home found my old needles and two weeks later had made a lace vest.

One day whilst bored at work, where I was wishing I had my knitting with me, I started hunting around on Livejournal for knitting communities. There I found several devoted to the Stitch ‘n Bitch Handbook. I fell in love with the new interesting patterns – I adored the idea of an iPod cozy (my other new obsession at the time was my iPod). I was straight on to Amazon to order the book (again the Internet was there to help my obsession).

The other thing the livejournal communities introduced me to was knitting blogs and knit-alongs.  The following spring I started sharing my craft with this knitting blog and signing up to several KAL’s. soon I had several daily reads and I started using the internet to find new patterns, (like Spring Fling and the OSW), learn new techniques (Socks 101 was a great help for my first pair of socks) and discovering new yarns (I am still dying to try Knit Picks Wool of the Andes). Of course this isn’t mentioning all the other knitters I have ‘met’ from various swaps and exchanges.

This weekend, I brought some Sirdar’s Blur yarn to make a scarf as a birthday present. Instead of looking in my knitting books I headed straight online to find a pattern. The silly thing is I have no idea what kind of pattern of wanted. To me this yarn is the thicker version of Kidsilk Spray, so I was thought of looking for a pattern involving this yarn, however all I found was lacy patterns, and the yarn is too thick for this.

So I never did find a pattern – but whilst hunting on the Rowan website, I found this book. It only has six patterns but all of them are amazing. This is the knitting magazine I have been dreaming about. Recently I have been obsessed with grey yarn (I think it started as I had trouble finding grey cotton this summer), I am already making my dress, but I have plans for a cardigan and capelet. I had an idea what I wanted them to look like and intended to just make up the pattern. But they were Kelly and Harvey.

Feeling good about my new discovery, I turned to bloglines to catch up on my daily reading (see what you all have been up to over the weekend). And there on Lolly’s blog were images of there My So Called Scarf – the perfect pattern for my Sirdar Blur.

This month, is meant to be about Socks - and I have done very little updating. For me one of my greatest knitting pleasures is shown right here. One completed sock all ready for grafting.

I am still amazing when I look at the toe of a hand knitted sock and the grafted stitches - Kitchener stitch is fabulous - even an someone who is awful at sewing (e.g. Me!), can end up with neat, smart looking socks.

I should add I learned to do kitchener stitch via a tutorial on knitty.com - as I said the Knitting and Internet perfect companions.

This amazing postcard arrived on my doorstep this morning, the envelope was correctly addressed, the correct stamp for airmail and the postmark is from the 19th August, but it still took nearly two months to get here - I am sure it has an amazing tale to tell. It was my final postcard from the Project Spectrum Postcard Swap, created by Jody and Javajem for August, the Neutral month.

I have been extremely busy at work over the last few weeks (hence the lack of updates), the top secret project we were working on over the summer is still on-going and hopefully, I can post some very exciting news soon!

To make matter worse, I am still working on my grey dress, and it is going very slowly 228 stitches per row. Last night, I was watching a movie and after 2 hours of knitting it didn’t seem to grow at all.

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
I was sent the Sock it to ‘em Starter Pack by my Secret Pal 5 (Tracy), the kit came with instructions, needles, yarn and even stitch markers and a darning needles.

What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?
Fine, I although I think a small hole is about to appear by the heel (one of the picked up stitches from the heel flap).

What would you have done differently?
Try to pick up the stitches better

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?
I am pretty unadventurous with socks, I have only really used Opal and Cygnet’s Wool Rich 4ply. They are both good standard sock yarns - but I think I need to try more yarn.

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
I have only knitted socks all in DPN’s.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)
I found the short-row heel a little tight to wear - but I think that was because, I didn’t really know what I was doing.

How many pairs have you made?
4 currently!