Sock-tacular!

Well I'm having fun with socks right now having completed the Horcrux socks from the Six Socks Knit Along. The pattern has been ammended slightly for the knit-along but the original pattern can be found here. It was a nice simple pattern with only one row where my brain had to work a bit but other than that it was a lovely quick knit that's resulted in really comfy socks. I wore them in work the other day and was really grateful of them as they are lovely and warn which is just as well with the onset of our traditional gloomy (and cold) bank holiday weather.
The yarn was some of my Colinette 4ply cones stash and was knitted up on 2.25mm as it was a bit thinner than the likes of Opal, etc and I wanted a nice thick fabric. Now I know this yarn was from the Mill shop so there was bound to be something wrong with it (it only cost about £1 for about 120g so I can't grumble) and if you look closely in the above photo you may be able to see the colour variation on the left hand (or foot) sock. The heel and foot are definitely less yellowy green and suddenly has pink bits in! But I don't mind they will be in shoes after all and not noticeable unless I wave them about telling everyone!

I was trying to get a good shot of the lace zig-zag on the leg but had no success whilst wearing them and was on the verge of giving up until I had a brainwave.

So here you have it - lace through a glass! I was really enjoying the effect I was getting having the sock on a glass on such a sunny day that I got a bit carried away and you can see more of these shots on my Flickr site. Be warned - you may see more lace socks on glasses in the future!

And no sooner had I cast off those then I cast on for some Baby Jays for Emily so we could be sad and have matching socks!
Now most of the time I was working on these was when she was in bed asleep and I'd forgotten to do any measurements so I'm not really surprised that they are a bit on the big side for her. I knew the toe was OK as I'd tried it on her early on before she'd gone to bed but after that I was basing the measurements on some of her shop bought socks. I'll not do that again then. So, very pretty though it looks above this sock is no more because on top of being too big I hadn't enough yarn to be able to make a matching sock. But at least being toddler socks they don't take long at all to knit up so they shall be reborn hopefully into a size that will be better for little Emily!

Future projects other than take 2 of Baby Jays include Norah Gaughans Lacy Jumper from 'Lace Styles' and a lacy little shrug for Emily seeing as the poor thing doesn't have much knitted for her - fingers crossed she'll wear this!

To Do or Done?

I got this from DreamCatcher.
Edit the list, bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Free form knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

If you'd like to do the meme just copy it and leave a comment to let me know! It quite interesting to see everything listed in black and white as a personal reminder of what you've don and still have to try. Maybe we should all come back to this Meme in a years time and see what we've got left to try!

7 Random Things About Me

Riggwelter has just tagged me so here you go!

Here are the rules:"Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog."

My seven things:

1) I used to drive mainline trains to London and was the only woman driver at my depot.

2) When I was younger I did some 'adventurous' things. I used to be a boson for the Ocean Youth Club (now called the Ocean Youth Trust) and spent a month sailing round the Irish Sea. And I used to go Paragliding until I flew into a barbed wire fence and hurt my leg.

3) My Taid (welsh for Granddad) when tracing our Family Tree thinks we are descendants of Morgan the Pirate.

4) I dislike feet (except baby / toddler ones!).

5) I love walking on pebbly beach and picking up pretty pebbles and even did a GCSE in Geology as I like stones and fossils so much.

6) I proudly consider myself Welsh even though technically I'm half Welsh, a quarter Irish (North) and a quarter English and have spent more time living over the border in England than I've lived in Wales which is a very sad thought. We'll have to move back when DH & I retire (a looong way off!!)

7) I was born with a hole in my heart and had a heart Murmur until I was 3 both of which healed up on their own and have caused me no problems.

Okay, whose turn next? I tag....

Chris
Ra
Helen

and anyone else who'd like to have a go that's not been tagged already!

Finally FO's!

Well Butterfly has finally spread her wings and joined the list of FO's and I'm so pleased with the results! Admittedly the photo isn't brilliant and the collar still needs pressing to get it to stop rolling but other than that I'm really in love with this! It's shorter than the pattern states as I'd only got 500g and not 550g as the pattern needed and I could have taken some length off the sleeves had I actually really thought about how long my arms were compared to the sleeves - as you can see this should keep my hands warm on cold days!! The colours seem to be quite hard to capture accurately - this detail shot is a bit more realistic in that the lavender blue section on the collar is not as purpley as it seems above! As for the yarn - so soft and cosy, a really good buy as far as I'm concerned!
I'm still debating which stash project I'm going to start next - there's yarn set aside for 4 jumpers, 2 patterns decided upon but still needs some narrowing down before I'll be happy to cast on yet. 'Melon' is still calling me from 'Victorian Lace Today' and would be a great way to really christen my Boyes needles but it will probably take need more concentration than my brain is possible capable of right now! So just for the ease of it and to keep those fingers knitting I've cast on for (and knitted the first of) some Horcrux socks from the Six Socks Knitalong. I've got until the end of the month to finish them by but I've no worries about that as sock 2 is on the heel already and flying along! It's a comfy sock as well - very elastic and I'm sure there will be no Nora Batty sagging here!

In amongst all the madness of Birthday Parties (which was really more of a get together than a party and went really well!) and new bathrooms (also going well but still chaos!) I've also been getting some spinning done. Again I've not been able to get a really good photo of this, try as I did I could not get a really good close up unblurred shot. But you should be able to get the idea from what you can see which should end up as completely OTT socks. I'm spinning the colours in the same order each time but I'm not really convinced I'll end up with blocks of colour as there's been no real attempt to have equal sections. So there should be a bit of a mix of colours which I hope won't be too bad on the eyes! As soon as its plyed I will show you the results (unless truly horrible!)
I've been meaning to post for ages now but things do seem to have been hectic lately and by the end of the day my head has not been up to sitting in front of the computer so I apologise for the huge essay and heap of photos I'm inflicting on you all. I really couldn't leave without sharing these glimpses of Spring which I've seen over the last couple of weeks.

I just love the effect of the light in those last photos lighting up those shady woodland plants - so easily overlooked but so beautiful.

And of course some bluebells - it's been such a fantastic year for them so far and I just love the way they've tinted so many hillsides blue.

Anyway back to the knitting, thanks for the continuing support and all your comments even though I'm being a slow blogger - I will try harder!!