just make up your mind already

The Royal Melbourne Show deadline for submissions is looming ever closer, and despite my firm intention of focusing and getting mine complete I seem to have made very little progress.

The fact that I have changed my idea for the socks entry not once but twice since then has most likely not aided this endeavour.

I read two very good blog posts about Show entries and judging criteria over at needle and spindle recently that made me rethink the Torrent socks as candidates for my entry in the sock category.  The openness of the lacework on this pattern is beautiful in my opinion, but I can see how that might be judged lower due to potential suitability for use as intended?  I will finish them for myself and am already so happy with the colour, yarn and pattern combination, but decided to quickly start an alternative for the Show.

Gladys is a free sock pattern that caught my eye and seemed like a good candidate.  The pattern replicates aran ganseys (practical) and looked easy to knit up during the daily commute (convenient!).  So I grabbed some of my stash of Lang Jawoll 75/25, which is a wonderful, sturdy sock yarn (suitable) and cast on.  

It was all going swimmingly - I was liking the gauge of this yarn on 2.25mm needles very much - until I started the gansey pattern.  Whilst I love the marled effect of the yarn and I'm not perturbed by it diffusing the patternwork a little, I started to worry again that it would be judged down for this?  I persevered for a bit longer but finally decided, no; it wasn't the best choice.   

So back I went to my collection of sock patterns, and I have finally settled on Denmark, from Nancy Bush's beautiful book 'Knitting on the Road'.  It's a lovely Viking-esqe cable pattern, with a single round of nupps just after the completion of the ribbing on the cuff.

  

The pattern calls for sportweight on 3.25mm, but looking at the stitch count I felt confident that I could use fingering weight with 2.5mm and still have them fit my foot well.  I'm using Patonyle, because you can't get more "Australian sock" than Patonyle, and so far I'm very happy.  I think I've finally settled, but now I need to hope I can get them completed by September 9th!

Update on the other items - the shawl edging is nearly at the halfway mark, but the tea cosy remains un-seamed and un-pompom-ed.  I obviously enjoy the stress of last-minute flurries...

Nothing new under the sun

Recently I knit a pair of socks for myself, without the aid of any pattern other than my own understanding and acquired knowledge of how a sock is knit.  This is nothing ground-breaking or particularly clever of course. It's just simply a by-product, an accumulation, of the construction of the hundreds of patterns I have knit over the years and held within my mind and hands. Regardless of all that, it does still give one a pleasant sense of achievement, knowing it can be done.

The motivation came as I unexpectedly finished the project I'd brought into work that morning, so at lunchtime I grabbed a skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Vatican Pie (oh, that saturated red!) and some needles and cast on ready for the train commute home.

Granny's Lucky Red Longjohns
Colinette Jitterbug - colourway: Vatican Pie

To alleviate boredom I added a 1x1 garter stitch rib, which pleasantly formed a lovely snug sock that fits my foot beautifully.  It's also rather warm as garter stitch rib has a waffle-y texture similar to that used in thermal underwear amongst other things.  

I took a calculated risk and cast on many less stitches than I would normally for socks - 54 on 2.5mm needles, instead of my usual 64.  This decision was influenced by my experience of Jitterbug as a "hefty" sock yarn and the anticipation of stretch in the ribbed stitch pattern.  Turns out it was a great decision - go me!  

As I finished the first sock and started the second, I thought to myself "these are such great socks, how could it be possible that nobody else has ever written it up before?"  They are simple enough to knit whilst other things are happening like conversations, meetings, TV-watching, and I discovered they are also an excellent choice for gift knitting as the rib pattern is very accommodating when you are working with unknown foot and leg dimensions.  

Knowing that there was an excellent chance there probably was this very pattern out there, I had what I thought was quite a thorough look on Ravelry and was surprised that I couldn't find one that was quite the same. There are many patterns utilising this stitch pattern, socks included, but none in the specific combination of 1x1, gauge and yarn weight that I could see. 

a gift pair, for Mum (photo credit: Mum!)
Colinette Jitterbug - colourway: Caramel

So I got excited to share. I wrote down my notes into a more coherent format, made a couple more pairs, and was just about to upload them as a free pattern....when I started reading my copy of Sock Architecture which was given to me by a friend recently.

And lo and behold; there they were!  Strie socks, by Lara Neel.

Photo credit: Lara Neel

Reading through the patterns they are not exactly the same, but close enough to make me laugh out loud right then and there. 

As the saying goes - there's nothing new under the sun! 

For the love of Faux-isle

Arne and Carlos for Regia; colourway "Summer Night" 

If you follow knit-bloggers or are active on Instagram, you'll probably be feeling like these Arne and Carlos sock yarns are just everywhere at the moment.  I've seen dozens of posts featuring the beautiful self-patterning fair-isle in gorgeous Scandy-colourways and was pretty keen to get my hands on some to try for myself.  

Although not normally a fan of faux-isle yarn, I must admit I adore everything about this yarn for a number of reasons. Regia has always been a favourite sock yarn of mine.  It's got a sturdy fibre content with the inclusion of 25% nylon, knits to a decent mid-size gauge, and is good on price point too.

The self-patterning yarns do give you maximum impact for minimum effort too.  I had many converations on the train with people fascinated by how the pattern was emerging, and almost disbelief when I told them it was no knitting magic skill but just the yarn.  The most I did towards the patterning was to wind a bit off before starting the second sock so I could manage to get them matchy-matchy.  Still, impressive apparently so who am I to argue?

I worked them toe-up, starting with a Turkish cast-on and then following on from my pledge to keep trying new things, I decided to try the Fish Lips Kiss Heel.   I had been wondering about this heel method for sometime, as it had been mentioned of several of the podcasts I follow and people were singing it's praises.  

It is very simple to work - don't let the 16 pages of pattern notes put you off - and it fits my heel rather well.  I have rather skinny heels and ankles (as can be seen in the first photo!) and to date I haven't had good results with the fit of short row heels in the way I find a heel flap fits me.  This heel still struggles a little to address this, however the detailed instruction within the pattern notes on how to determine when to place the heel has resulted in a more accurate foot measurement, and that has definitely helped in this instance.

I will be interested to see how these wear in comparison to a slipped stitch heel flap, as my feeling is the stocking stitch heels may not be as sturdy along the "seam"?  As mentioned the yarn is true sock yarn, so I think it has been given the best chance possible and I remain hopeful. This is a limited edition colourway, so I am keen to have these socks last.

The sock drawer is looking decidedly healthy again now, but they are such good projects for the train so I think I'm just going to keep knitting them and start a little stockpile for gifts.  There is no shortage of sock yarn in the stash, and there are only so many socks and shawls one person needs, right? 

Do you ever have a quandary of the need for knits and the need to knit?  I'd love to hear all your methods of managing it, if you do?

Toe-up Socks

Handmaker's Factory workshop - April 18th

The way one knits socks is a topic that often polarises knitters - people tend to be very passionate about their preferred methods!   

Many stick with the method they first learned, often through familiarity and sentimentality, which is perfectly fine.  However there is a lot to be said for utilising specific methods for specific results, rather than one–size-fits-all approach.

Both techniques can be knit using your preferred method - dpn’s, two circulars, or magic looping, and both have a vast array of variations to employ to customise to your preferences. 

Toe-up socks have some specific benefits that often make them very appealing to many sock knitters, if for nothing else but the fact that you can try them on as you go and make adjustments as required to ensure perfect fit.

Om Shanti from Socktopus by Alice Yu

There is also the benefit of “maximising your yardage”, something very close to the canny knitter’s heart.  Sock yarns can be expensive, and many people like to either use every last scrap or use up smaller skeins of yarn.  With toe-up socks, you can simply divide your yarn and knit each sock until you run out, instead of guesstimating how much is left as you approach the toes, as with the cuff-down method.

Climb from Journey, by Jane Richmond

Knitting socks from the toe-up is also a seamless method, requiring no Kitchener or “grafting” of stitches (unless you use an afterthought heel, of course!).  you often find the colour sequencing is kept in order better with this method too, which is especially appealing when working with self-striping or patterned yarns.

 I'm teaching a workshop this Saturday at the Handmaker's Factory in Melbourne, where we will be learning all sorts of lovely techniques and tips for making your socks toe-up, including Turkish cast-on, a short row heel that minimises the "gap", and a super-stretchy cast-off.  We'll also be working with the "Magic Loop" technique, a great one to have up your sleeve for not just socks but all sorts of things...including sleeves!

There are a few spots still available for this Saturday's workshop (April 18 - 10am-4.30pm), so if you're keen to have a go, head over to Handmaker's Factory to book in - we'd love to see you there!

Growth

Growing up in my house, you could often hear my mother declaring with a defiant pride that any recipe requiring her to “cream the butter and sugar” would be thrown out.  If you couldn’t melt ‘n’ mix it, it was deemed “too much pfaffing about”!  We’d often laugh about it, and it became a bit of a running premise of our home.  Looking after a family as well as working, Mum wasn’t much one for anything that required her to pfaff.

In some ways, I’ve recently realised that I’ve taken a part of this on board in perhaps not such a good way for me via my knitting of late.  I’ve noticed I’ve been slowly rejecting more and more patterns if they call for something such as an unfamiliar cast-on, or a technique I’m not proficient at.  Becoming set in my ways it seems, as the effort required to attempt something new becomes seen no longer as a challenge but an uncomfortable inconvenience. And all of a sudden, this struck me as rather silly.  I had always supposed myself as an adventurous person, willing to tackle new things in the aim of keeping the mind active and the creative brain stimulated but in fact I now recognise that I actually don’t seek being in situations where I’m short of accomplished!

In an effort to rectify this, I decided to actively seek new skills and embrace the discomfort as part of the process.   As luck happened, whilst collecting another book I had on hold from our local library I glanced quickly at the knitting section, not expecting much I hadn’t seen before but to my delight I found Socktopus – a collection of beautiful sock patterns by Alice Yu all using different and interesting stitch patterns and construction methods.

Socks are a great way to try out a new technique, I reckon.  They’re also great projects to work on while doing the daily work-commute.  Being small, there is the obvious advantage that they are very portable (especially when I’m magic-looping - I switched from my beloved dpns to magic after dropping one tiny dpn in a crowded peak hour carriage one day and having to scramble awkwardly to retrieve it, amidst legs and bags and looks of annoyance from those around me) but they also are great sources of different techniques.

My first choice of project from this book was OmShanti.  Having been a devout yoga fan for over 15 years, the name immediately drew my attention. I’ve just recently returned to a daily practise (which has made me feel so good I question my thinking of why I ever gave it up?) and these little ankle booties will be perfect for Savasana, when the body can chill very quickly as it succumbs to mindful peace.  

The added bonus was the stitch pattern looked just perfect to show off some speckled handpaint yarn I’d been squirrelling, and the construction was one I’d never attempted before.  Tick, tick, TICK! all the boxes.  

The pattern provided the opportunity to try quite a few new-to-me techniques so it was perfect. I learnt:  toe-up sock using a provisional cast on (love it!); short row toes and heels in garter stitch (love them!), and Latvian braid and stranded rib (liked the end result, but perhaps not enough to warrant the fiddly process!)

 The yarn itself is so beautiful.  It’s the something sock base from Republic of Wool in the colourway “Thrasher” and the way it knits up in both garter stitch and the slip stitch pattern nearly makes me weep I love it so much.  I’ve had it on hold in the wings for some time now, just waiting for a good showcase project.  This, my friends, is the project!  I really do think this is my favourite pairing of yarn/pattern ever.

This project has also been an excellent summation of a number of aspects of my life at present; a period of growth on numerous levels; a beautiful, mindful link to my yoga practise, which has given me so much solace during a recent stressful and emotional times; and a rediscovery of how good accomplishment feels even with the accompanying discomfort!   We are often reminded in yoga practise that the very asanas your find yourself resisting are most likely the exact ones you need.  If that isn’t the perfect analogy on this subject, I don’t know what is.  Discomfort (as distinguished from pain) is not a bad thing every now and then.

Using a special skein of yarn that seemed almost too perfect to see any pattern and the pure bliss of sitting with a special yarn, and reflecting on a knitting project as a piece but also a mindful practise, has been a truly lovely experience. 

Every time I look at my feet in these socks, I smile and feel content.  They snug my tootsies in such a delicious way, and the specks of colour against the mint and dove-grey base provide many moments of glee as I discover different little harmonies of colourplay.

How much happiness can be wrapped up in two little booties I don’t know, but there it is.  Pure delight.  

Om Shanti, friends.   May your knitting be delightful and your world contains some peace and contentment this week.

Colourwork in a flash

I've spent some time this passed week getting to know my knitting machine, and having a bit of a play around with punch cards.

Colourwork is incredibly quick on a machine.  Well, when I say quick, I should clarify.  

Once I get passed the 2 days of frustration and bewilderment as to exactly why it's not working; the numerous cast-ons only to realise I've forgotten to flick a switch to position B, or I've threaded it wrong, or the tension is too tight/loose, or as I pass the carriage over for the seemingly simple row, half a dozen $*&#% stitches jump off the hooks and run aalllllll the way down - then, after all this, it's incredibly quick.

I was determined to pass on at least some small thing to the very friend that I got this sweet machine off, before she sets off on her adventure to live in Scotland.  It seemed only fitting that small thing be a piece of machine knitted colourwork.  It tied in a good deal of things I've been lucky to learn from her since meeting up in 2013, and I felt very proud to hand these over to her last week at lunch.  I did not, however, manage to get a photo of them completed!

Once I found my stride, I went in search of more yarn and came across two balls of Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette.  I think this yarn has now been discontinued?  It's a lovely alpaca blend in sportweight and I'd picked up these two contrasting colours in a sale. Two balls of sportweight isn't quite enough with which to do much, though.  I settled on a small cowl, buttoned for ease of getting on/off.

The yarn went through the machine beautifully, and the high contrast swan white and charcoal have worked together in such a perfect way.  I handknit the ribbed bands because although I know you can simulate rib, and create buttonholes on a knitting machine, my skill are not there yet.  I personally also like the blend of machine and hand.

Buttons gleaned from my recently felted (sob) cardigan were a perfect match, and the cowl was quickly snaffled up by Lily with her now-patented trick of "Oh! Did you make that for me?!".  I might secretly decide that we'll share it though.

There was even more colourwork experimentation, but I might save that for the next post.  It involves a Very Special Skein, and I think this one deserves it's own day in the sun.

I did a quick progress shot of my Summer of the Single Skein progress yesterday and I'm happy so far.  Depending on your interpretation of when Summer "ends", I feel like we are at the halfway mark?  March seems like as good a time as any to wind things up and start thinking about Autumn, don't you think?

How are all your special skein plans working out?  Are you planning or winging it?  I'm doing a little of column A, a little of column B.  Don't forget to tag your projects with #summerofthesingleskein on Instagram, or do a bit of show-and-tell over on the Ravelry group - we've got over 100 members to date, and lots of inspirational posts, chat and encouragement.

All about the marle

The Summer of the Single Skein is rocking along nicely, thanks to everyone who's jumped on board!  There's an enthusiastic lot of discussions going on over in the Ravelry group with people posting their plans, WIP's and FO's.  It's always so exciting to see not only what others are making but also their gusto as they embrace a new project or concept.  Feel free to come and join the discussion!

I'm really enjoying getting some things on (and off) the needles, and finally using up some of my special skeins.  It's funny too - what's "special" to me.  It might not look like anything out of the ordinary to others, but to me there is something about that yarn that has kept it in the must-find-perfect-project section of the stash.

This fortnight, I've really gravitated towards my collection of marled skeins which, again, have been too precious to use for some time now.

Within this group, I had two balls of Zara Chine which is your fairly standard 8ply merino I guess, so what makes it special?  This particular shade reminded me of composition notebooks from the minute I saw it, and I had big plans to make chunky slouchy socks with it but could never bring myself to cast on.  Truth be told, I'm not really a great fan of DK weight socks and I didn't want to waste my precious skeins. 

In the end, I made a squishy ribbed beanie in the style of Sons of Anarchy's Opie (oh how I miss that tall drink of water).  

It was a good decision.  I absolutely loved the way the wool knitted up into a subtle marle fabric, and the resulting beanie is exactly the type I like to wear.

The pattern was a freebie found here.  For a simple beanie, it was well written with a nice variation on the crown shaping and a good amount of slouch.  It's one size only and I'd say it's a men's but I have a head on the larger side of women's standard sizing so combined with the 2x2 ribbing, it fits me really well. 

Adding to the marled knits this week was some more socks, using Lang Jawoll that I specially ordered last year from England.  Then promptly put into the Precious Stash Section.

The colourway is Baker's Twine and I fell in love with it from the get go.  It's one of those perfect blends of blue and white that makes me think of vast oceans and coastal skies.  

As a sock yarn, this one is on the lightweight side (think Opal) which does make them good for Summer, however I think if I use the other skeins I have of it for more socks, I will most likely go up in stitch count and down in needle size though.  The fabric is almost too loosely knit as I have done it, and I do worry about how they might stand up to wear?

Because I was keen to let the the marle stand on it's own, I decided to use my standard 60sts/2.5mm pattern base in a 3x1 rib.  To avoid too much purling, I knit the leg cuff 3 knit, 1 purl then when I got to the heel flap I flipped it inside out so the previously purl stitches became knit stitch spines.  Once I hit the foot, there were only the top stitches to purl so it really wasn't any more painful than knitting any other stitch pattern on socks.

Again, I really like the marled fabric this wool created.  It makes me so happy to see those flecky stitches coming together, and got me thinking about all the other skeins in my stash that I could probably combine to create the same effect.  Possibilities abound.

It's one of my favourite parts of the creative process, those moments when one thought or experiment begets another and so on and so on.  I need to remember to look for it more often and take notice when it unexpectedly pops up, one of my goals for 2015.

What's exciting you this week, and getting your creative flow going?

Paintbox

It seems that a heap of people I know are currently taking part in #operationsockdrawer on Instagram, and it's made me take stock of the current status of my own sock supply.

I sorted out my favourites, the ones in high wardrobe-rotation, and then did a good cull of those I no longer wear (for varying reasons; too big, too old, wrong colours).  I was left with about 5 pairs of socks which obviously is not nearly enough, so I went through my sock yarn stash and it seemed there was also a serious shortage of good sock yarn! 

That wasn't hard to rectify (ahem) and now the coffers are well and truly replenished,  I was able to select with delight a super-bright skein of Colinette Jitterbug in the "Paintbox" colourway and cast on.

I posted a progress photo of these socks on Instagram recently, with the caption "Nothing even remotely tasteful about these socks. Or subtle. I love them"  

And I still do.

They are just complete *fun*, and the pops of all the 1980's highlighter colours were a joy to knit.

I deviated from my normal 64st vanilla sock pattern for these, instead using the Madder socks from Nancy Bush's excellent book "Knitting Vintage Socks".  I really do love this book, with all the wealth of information and history contained within it's pages, but to date I have possibly read it more than I have knitted from it.

The Madder pattern uses a Dutch or Horseshoe Heel and a Pointed Toe, so I thought it was a good opportunity to try something different and see if I liked it.

The upshot was I didn't.  Well, I didn't like all of it.

The Dutch heel is, as the alternate description implies, quite horseshoe shaped which I found too boxy for my heel.  It also pooches a bit, despite blocking.  Add to this the fact that the heel flap is knit in stocking stitch rather than a slip stitch, and overall; it's a heel that I don't like and don't think is going to wear particularly well. 

I've done Pointed toes just recently and again, they aren't my favourite, so rather than add a non-favourite toe to a non-favourite heel I decided to go with my usual decrease-either-side front-and-back method.  It fits my stubby little toes rather well.

I find Jitterbug a really "plump" sock yarn, does anyone else think this?  I usually get a result somewhere between a fingering weight and a sport weight when I knit it on 2.5mm needles, so the Madder pattern (60sts) was probably a bit big too, not helping it's cause.

If I go down a needle size I don't like the fabric though - too stiff.  I think next pair I might try a 54-56st, see if I get a snugger fit.  As I said though - these are destined for house socks so the roominess doesn't really matter.  I probably should have worked the leg and foot in the suggested rib, if we're being honest.

It's always good to try something new though, and with my mods and different gauge, it's probably best to take this review of Madder socks with a grain of salt!

If I was a flower growing wild and free all I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee...

I seem to be getting rather theme orientated lately and this week's post is no exception, as will soon become apparent...bear with me.

First things first - there was a slight detour from the Year of Sweaters by Season project.

Instead of casting on my Spring sweater (a light and lacy little cropped cardigan in fingering weight alpaca), I decided to make a Beeline in some lovely fuzzy Creative Focus, and it has barely been off my back, so comfortable and warm that it is.  Warmth being the key word, given how freezing it's been in Melbourne this past week!

This was another great pattern from Heidi Kirrmaier, backing up after my Peasy.  Her attention to detail is spot on, not only in her pattern writing but also in her design aesthetic.  There's the lovely eyelet detail on the raglan increases that is also echoed in the bias line mirroring both sides of the front.  The neckline has just the right amount of scoop, and the slightly tapered body means it's roomy without looking oversized.   Very flattering and very wearable, on a number of body shapes.

Mostly I knit this to pattern, using the M2/42" size.  There's 5-10cm of intended positive ease, and I think that's the exact right amount in my finished piece.  I did add a bit of length to the body, about 5cm in total.  At the recommended length it was sitting right on a point of my waist that I know I don't like, from previous experience. It makes me feel like I've got to keep tugging at the hemline!  I also shortened the sleeves just a smidge, apparently I'm short-armed!

As for the yarn, I really did um and ahh on whether this was the right choice for the project.  There are mixed reports and reviews all over Ravelry and other forums, none really that flattering in honesty, but the colour (Golden Heather for those interested) was exactly what I wanted and I really wanted to try for myself; to make my own judgements.

I'm so glad I did!  Yes, this yarn sheds, and it has a splitty tendency; two of the main complaints against it.  It's a very loosely plied wool/alpaca blend, so neither of those statements are really that surprising.  I didn't find the splittiness as annoying as others, although I did need to pay attention.  A couple of times I had to drop down and fix a split stitch, but that wasn't a lot, or a huge inconvenience. The benefit of the yarn's blend is that there is a lovely halo of long fibres on the finished fabric, and that was part of my intent.  I wanted a slightly retro feel to this jumper, almost like the mohair jumpers of the 50's and 60's.

The other common complaint was that for an alpaca blend, this yarn was super-itchy.  I'm actually quite sensitive to wool-itch, and normally can't wear even blends next to my skin, but this jumper has surprised me in being one of the softest, non-itchy jumpers I've ever made.  I can comfortably wear it next to bare skin, even up around my neck, where I'm usually the most sensitive.  So go figure.  Whether it's the particular tension I've knitted to, I don't know.  But no issues with itch, from the Princess of Itch.  That's a win in my book.

Also, I’m shocked at how little yarn was needed, which seems to be a trend for me this year (possibly due to knitting everything in alpaca blends?). This took exactly 5x 100g balls of Rowan Creative Focus and that's good value in any language, for a jumper of this style.

Overall, a very happy detour was my sweet Beeline, and very happy I decided to see for myself about the yarn.

There was another little project I finished this week - some Honey Badger socks.  Like the Beeline, I used some yarn that I've been wanting to try for a while - Ella Rae Laceweight merino.  Despite the name, this yarn is actually a fingering weight 100% merino, not a laceweight, lest you think I've lost my mind and forayed into knitting laceweight socks!

I've had this skein of hand-dyed in my stash for a few months, having originally purchased it with the intent of making a small shawl of some type, however I had begun to think it wasn't really a colour I'd wear as a shawl.  Being 100% merino, it's probably not the best choice for socks, but I have compared it to Jitterbug and it has a similar high twist so I'm thinking it may be alright?  I'll probably save these for house socks and keep them away from my boots though, just in case.

Upon knitting, this yarn is a bit softer than Jitterbug, but it does the same lovely crisp stitch definition, highlighted by this pattern which utilises a PSSO as part of the lace pattern.  Honey Badger is a free Ravelry download from Irish Girlie Knits, and is very well written for a freebie.  The lace pattern is very addictive so it goes rather quickly too.  These took me just two weeks of not very consistent knitting to complete.  

Aside from some inconsistent pooling between each sock (what's up with that?), I'm pretty happy with them.  Oh, I did a round toe, just to give it a go.  It's OK, kinda like crown shaping on a beanie.  Will let you know how it wears, but seems comfortable so far.

So there you go. This is the week of the Honey and the Bee.  Perfect for brightening the Winter's days and lending thoughts to warmer days ahead.

I think on that note I'll leave you with one of the sweetest songs around, nearly guaranteed to put a smile on your face, and referenced in the title of this post.  Enjoy x

The fortnight in which Kylie was super productive

So productive, she forgot to blog last week - oops!!

I  finished off some lingering knitting projects...

Climb socks (samples for the shop)

Anklets - these are samples for the upcoming sock workshop I'm teaching at Sunspun in October.  Very exciting times, to be able to share my passion for handknit socks, and my own pattern, with other knitters in this format!

Both socks are knit using Naturally Waikiwi sock yarn, which is a blend of Merino, Alpaca, Nylon and Possum.  It's a really sturdy but soft yarn, and noticeably warmer than some other sock yarns I've worked with.

I frogged some old FO's that just weren't right, including my Whisper.  Which means I now have 200g thereabouts of beautiful Madtosh fingering weight to play with.  

I'm leaning towards a Halligarth, by Gudrun Johnston. What do you think?

I may have also purchased some more yarn...

Jitterbug "Caramel" (top) and "Paintbox" (bottom), because everyone knows sock yarn doesn't count as stash.

I've also cooked up a storm...

- lentil, bacon and vegetable soup
- country chicken casserole, in the slow cooker (yum)
- zucchini slice, a near-weekly standard in this house
- apple and oat crumble
- san boy chow
- beef chilli, another slow cooker recipe
- mandarin and poppyseed muffins
- Spicy chickpea and eggplant tagine
- Vietnamese Pork ball noodle soup

It's perfect weather for soups and casseroles, but I'm often out too late to make them each evening, so this should keep the freezer stocked for a while.

Then I planted more herbs, succulents and natives out into our backyard, as things were looking a little bare after the end of the tomatoes and other seasonals, and I tidied up wardrobes and cupboards inside.

I've caught up with loads of friends - Uni friends, knitting friends, old work friends, and roller derby friends - which has been wonderfully rejuvenating!  I really miss seeing all these people on a daily basis, but it's hard to fit everything in, isn't it?   

As tiring as the thought of being super busy can be, sometimes I need a little push to get out and make time to do things I enjoy and that nourish me.  I've found I'm actually more energised and the creative ideas and motivation has been on a high, simply by making myself tick things off my list (after making a priority list, mostly that didn't include household chores!).

Anyway, hope you're all having a great week and have had an equally productive time of it.