princessdeia

Yarn: Knitwitches Sock Yarn in Lavender Sunset.
Pattern: Pomatomus from Knitty.
Needles: 2.75mm.
Notes: With my first pair of Pomatomus socks I suffered from SSS, even though I loved the pattern, this time around they knitted up amazingly well.

Published with wonder of Wordpress, whilst I am away.

Yarn: NDS - ALBA Shetland 4ply, in Green.
Pattern: Baudelaire from Knitty.
Needles: 2.5mm
Notes: The last time I made these socks I had a few problems with the casting off - but this time I used the Tubular Cast off and it works. I brought yarn at Ally Pally last autumn, unfortunately it is no longer available.

Published with wonder of Wordpress, whilst I am away.

Last night was the first meeting of the the Socktopus Sock Club at the Troubadour Coffee Shop in Earl’s Court. Some of us arranged to meet up at the tube station first, and planned on walking to the cafe together.

After waiting for a while the call of knitting was too strong and we headed to the cafe, but concerned we might have left Alex behind we left her a little note, thanks to Mel and her Post it Notes!

Once we got to the cafe (and found Alex), we discovered it was buy one get one free on cocktails, I figured it was safe to have a couple of Cosmo’s and knit, fully expecting that I would have to rip back my knitting this morning!

It was great to catch up with everyone, meet some new knitters and even watch as we converted our waiter into a knitter! It almost makes up for having missed Alice’s Hen Do.

All in all a perfect night, knitting, greats and some rather lovely Stockey Tiffee Pudding!

When I first started this round of Project Spectrum, I had a lot of big intentions. I was going to use this opportunity to stash bust, experiment with adding more colour into my life and blog away about all things fiery. Of course, it didn’t work out like that at all!

I have had very little free time recently, which translate to very little knitting and even less blogging. So in a last minute attempt to show I have been embracing all things pink, orange and yellow! Now I haven’t painted any walls yellow or rushed out to buy a bright pink coat, I have slowly been adding more colour into my life.

I figured the reason I never considered wearing yellow or orange was because I had never found the right shade for me… so before going to Rome I brought this mustard yellow top, I thought it was a safe bet, it works well with the staples in my wardrobe (dark blue jeans or brown cords).
Please ignore the lame photo it was taken as part of the “Fontana di Trevi Experiement” on Ravelry!

However, I am yet to find the perfect shade of orange and this colour is still missing from my palette. Pink has been the easiest colour for me to play with, it is very easy to throw on my pink converse shoes, and I have previously knitted several pink socks and of course I have had another pair of pink socks on the needles this month! I am hoping to finish these tomorrow, so I can start working with the earth tones for the next cycle of PS3.

I don’t have the time to commit to a long swap like Secret Pal, but I still love swaps, (it is the joy of getting post). I love the idea of the Mystery Swap, a parcel with a theme and a few years ago I had so much fun with the Project Spectrum Postcard Swap, so imagine my joy today when I got two interesting pieces of mail (along with a rather boring bank statement).

First was this parcel from Karin, as part of the Mystery Swap, she picked Miss Marple as the theme but as I have all the books, she is calling it “The Miss Marple package without a Miss Marple book” package… Karin thought the darker blue yarn would be perfect for the Reading-In-Bed Shrug (pdf file) - which I think is very Miss Marple.
Also included was some sock yarn, rose napkins, a pattern book and frog candle (not pictured).

Next was an ATC as part of the PS3 - Elements, this firey creation was by Meg, she was lovely enough to also include a spring ATC for my collection - but for some reason I forgot to photograph it :S

As I am blogging about PS3 it make sense that I should show off my fire inspired knitting. My second pair of Pomatomus Socks this time in Knitwitches sock yarn.

Yarn: Knitwitches Sock Yarn in Evening Sunset.
Pattern: Monkey from Knitty.
Needles: 2.5mm
Notes: For the last year, every socks knitter has made themsleves a pair of Monkey sock, as every reader of this blog knows I am always late of the starting blocks when it comes to knitting trends. What I didn’t realise was reason knitters love this pattern is the simplicite of the pattern and the amazing final product. Like with Jaywalkers socks, the pattern is easy to memorise and looks fantastic.

When we went to Ally Pally last summer, Laura had done her research and discovered Knitwitches, when we got to the stall all of us were amazed at the colours, at one stage I think I had six colorways of the sock yarn in my hand at one stage, this was one of the colors I came home with. I love the brightness of the purple.

I have been really bad and writing (and knitting) lately, Jason and I spent last week celebrating that fact we have been together for 10 years. It seemed a little silly celebrating our “dating” anniversary when we have our first real anniversary coming up - but it was such an achievement we thought it needed to be marked!

I wanted to start the new year off with no projects on the needles (and then start stash-busting in the new year), but I didn’t get a chance to finish my monkey socks, over the last few weeks, I have been busy working on Broadripple Socks - this is a fast knit and uses 3.25mm needles so should be finished soon… I have also cast on #One Husband Socks, for Jason - this will be the first thing I have knitted for him and he seems excited - he has already warned me I can’t get second sock syndrome with these - it seems he does listen to my knitting ramblings!

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Brindle Heather.
Pattern: Baudelaire from Knitty.
Needles: 2.5mm
Notes:I actually finished these socks a while ago, but never blogged about them, and as I was wearing them today (with my Belle Shoes), I thought I should write about them. This was my first attempt at toe-up socks, I had a little problem with the cuff being too tight - but I changed to a thicker needle for the rib and it was fine.

Yarn: Natural Dyed Studio Alpaca/Silk - DK in Midnight Ice.
Pattern: Pomatomus.
Needles: 2.75mm.
Notes: These were the first socks I experienced SSS with - at first I thought it was the pattern - but once I cast on the second sock, it seemed to knit up very quickly!

I loved this yarn - the colours are beautiful and it knitted up fabulously - I have even seen they have some more on eBay (I can’t buy more can I?)

All along, I had planned that this weekend would be devoted to my hubby in celebration of his birthday, so all along I knew I would be missing The First Official UK Stitch ‘n Bitch Day, but it hasn’t stopped me getting jealous of everyone else’s lovely new yarn, so instead this week I am reconnecting with my yarn and attempting to shrink my stash a little, first of I cast on and finished the Monkster Sweater from Kidsknits for my Build-a-Bear in some Wool of the Andes. This was a fab little knit - great for stash-busting and so simple, it took me about 3 hours to finish.

Then I finally, cast on some Monkey socks with the KnitWitches Sock Yarn I brought at Ally Pally, I have to say I get the attraction! I had wondered why over 230 Ravelry users currently have a pair of Monkey’s on their needles - now I understand this pattern in so easy - it looks stunning and they seem to knit up really quickly.

Yes that is a little yarn cake there - I finally got around to buying a ball winder now all I need a swift (I am hoping to convince my FIL in make me one for Xmas).

We have all heard of Facebook Envy, I am thinking I have Ravelry Envy, I subscribed to my friends activities, now whenever I see a project I like I have to queue it, or else I am coveting a new yarn. The problem is, I am picking patterns that I don’t have the yarn for when I should be trying to get rid of the yarn I have.

Last night, was meant to be the first of the Chiswick Ravelry Meet-Ups but it ended up falling to bits. So I spent the night finishing off some projects, I am actually really pleased with myself - I cast off two projects last night, the birthday scarf is blocking on the ironing board and my Baudelaire are on a wire-hanger-blocker.

I made a promise to myself this morning that I am going to have this many projects on the go at once, has made me so unorganized, I have forgotten the repeats of lace and ended up having to frog the sock more than once, I also don’t really have the place to store this many projects (my flower basket shawl is currently in a tesco’s carrier bag).

Stromtroppers, Heroes World Tour, 6 Month Anniversary, and trips to the dentist have all meant I have very little time to knit.

All I have been able to go is knit a few lines here and there. My Gretel Beret is nearly finished and last night I cast off the cuff on my first Baudelaire sock. I am pretty pleased with this sock as it was my first attempt at a toe-up sock, I loved the figure 8 cast on.

Hopefully, I will be able to post soon with some lovely finished items - I seem to just love everything I have knitted recently, I’m almost longing for the autumn so I can start wearing them.

Speaking of Autumn, I am trying to organise a New Fall Season Swap at the Pop Culture group on Ravelry, it is just a mini-swap - just some yarn for a nice small Fall project (enough for a scarf, hat or gloves or socks) and a TV watching treat (candy, chocolate or hot drink), pop over and join.