All done.

Well, I did it. I beat "second sock syndrome"! It took some discipline I can tell you. I cast on the second sock immediately after I finished the first. Within minutes. And worked a few rounds. Later I took out my little bag of crochet squares.and then put it away again. And worked a few more sock rounds. 

 

I almost got waylaid by this lovely blog into yet another tank top. But I stuck with the sock. And of course there's this hat I want to knit up too. But still the sock held out. Well apart from a little sewing make, special little valentines gifts for three special little people:

(Apologies for sharing photos across blogs - how lazy of me).
And how differently the same colours look under different lighting conditions. The socks are more this purple combination than the pinks of the previous post!

But here we go. Second sock finished. Finally, a make for the gift box. 

Technical details:

Yarn used - Opal sock yarn, but label missing so shade unknown!

Amount - 53g.

Size - approximately UK 5-6.

Needles - 2.5mm DPN's.

Pattern - the often used one in my head!

So did I say two a month? Better get cracking on then!

-x-

This is it!

This is the scrap bag I'm trying to work my way through:
 

Doesn't look so much does it? 

But thinking of things to make from 2kg of yarn split into approximately 30+shades, half a dozen plies, a multitude of textures and varying from 10 - just under 100g individual weights means some serious planning going on in my sleep denied head.

Good job I have this wonderful little book to inspire me:

Very Americanized in it's wording but some oh-so-lovely designs to be knit and crocheted from under 50g of yarn of all types.

And so onto the next project:

 

 

Oh yes, stripes again, I know now why my nana's handknits always featured heavily on stripes ;-) Waste not, want. Although my striping will probably get more random the more I work through the scraps. This project though is just a little one and I'm certain I have far more than I need to complete this make, especially as I'm using 2 of the biggest scraps for a teensy little make......

Well less chat and more knitting if I want to get through that lot.

Catch up with you all again later when I might just be able to reveal what's on the DPN's......

-x-

Shades ready?

I finished the tank top. Oh yes, a scrap yarn extravaganza! About 50g of blue DK, and less of yellow, pink and white. All left over from other projects, mine or other peoples. The blue left over from knitting a scarf and mitts for one of Jen's friends, the pink from Jen's scarf and mitts, the yellow from some long ago Easter knitting and the white from a bag of white oddments found at a car boot sale.

SO the tank top went well, knitting up pretty quickly on 4mm DPN's, a nice ridged pattern forming around the staggered stripes where the colours changed. Well to be honest the ridges weren't intentional and I was going to block them out but I kind of like them now. I did get fed up with stopping to untangle the yarns every few rows so when I opened up the round to form the front and back I decided to use blocks of colour to continue. Not enough yarn in the contrast colours to knit the back and front the same so I chose to use pink for the back and yellow for the front. 

Heather definitely likes it:

The colours are much brighter in true light:

An exercise in brightness and thrift, what do you think?

So continuing with the scrap yarn busting, what next? This lovely blog is inspiring me to go for an all out scrap yarn colourfest crochet blanket but not sure I have the patience for such a big crochet project. Any other colourful WIP's you'd care to share?

-x-

Headband and mitts.

Original title don't you think?

A request from Helen - a knitted headband with a large flower trim. Apparently they're "everywhere" just now. So we had a search through the stash and after finding the right wool I set to work. And this is the result:

Worked in Mirasol (yes you know how much I love their yarn!) Miski 100% baby llama the whole thing took just about the full 50g skein with only a few inches of wool left at the end. Lucky really as I bought only the one skein some time last year and have been waiting patiently for a fitting project ever since.

It is about an aranweight yarn and I knitted up the headband on 4.5mm DPN's.

The flower was crocheted following this pattern. I didn't feel confident enough to make this flower up as I went, especially as I was aware of how little wool I had left. 

Jen sat with me whilst everyone else went to bed and as I finished off the headband she put in a request for one too. And I'm thinking this would also be nice for a present for other girls in the family too........

Also knitted up since the last post were these mittens for Heather:

I used the Mirasol left over from the gloves I made for myself and I still have enough to knit up one more pair of mitts I think. Worked on straight needles in size 3mm for the rib and 3.5mm for the main body these mitts are just so tiny and took barely any time at all to knit up, definitely a quick knit fix!

Definitely on a roll at the moment, but I think I need to try fit some sleep in too.....

-x-

Finished.

And this is what I was knitting:

See sock love is still holding me tight.
These were knitted from a pattern in the latest issue of simply knitting magazine but I decided to use stash yarn rather than that specified in the pattern. I have no idea what the yarn is as I found it, label-less, lingering in a basket in the charity shop and it only cost me 50p for what I guess was pretty much an unused 100g ball. It feels like a wool/acrylic mix DK. This picture shows the true colour, photography is not my strong point!


Knitted up on 4mm DPN's so they came along very quickly and actually finished a couple of nights ago but not had the time to photograph them. Super cosy for John in winter and I think I may have to knit up a couple more pairs for myself and Helen. Not yet though as I am thinking of having a little break from knitting and trying to get on with a different UFO.
In fact I might just have a search through the rapidly diminishing pile right now.
xx