Brushing the Dust Off!

It seems odd not having posted for ages but I've been contentedly knitting and spinning away and blogs have been far from my thoughts. Maybe it's the faint promise of Spring and the lengthening of the days that's drawn me back but here I am (admittedly it's too cold for me here so I'm wrapped up with Agatha!).

I've always wondered how some people can manage to knit so many socks in relatively short periods of time so I surprised myself by knitting and casting on for three pairs of socks in three weeks. Admittedly there are only 2 pairs and one lonely Elfine so far but I was distracted as I'll explain shortly. Obviously if you've read my previous post you'll know about the first of my finished socks which are my hand-dyed Plumkin Pie Chevrons. The pattern is one of the Chevrons from 'Sensational Knitted Socks' which isn't to hand right now or I'd give you the exact details! Nice comfy socks - shame about the bit of pooling around the heel flap but other than that I'm really pleased with my home made self- striping socks even if they are a bit like tiger feet!!

Next up was a first try of my Colinette Jitterbug stash in the Gauguin colourway which I got on holiday last year in Devon. The pattern is 'Lorelei' from 'Lets Knit!' a month or so ago which was done in the exact same colourway so I thought I may as well give it a go and try and avoid the odd pooling the Jitterbug sometimes seems to do as the socks in the photo looked great. And mine done on the same size needles? Weird purple stripe that turned into blobs on the soles of my feet (a Paul Simon song if I'm not mistaken!!) which made me think of either birthmarks or grape pickers feet! And the pooling on both sock was different to the other. But as for the sock - lovely and squishy and comfy but I think I'd have rather do them on smaller needles for a bit more of a snug fit but that's just being picky!!


Finally the aforementioned 'Elfine', a pattern I've been wanting to knit for ages now and have have wool set aside for ages specifically for it. I'm of a mind that I need the right colour sock yarn to go with a pattern sometimes and Elfine screamed greens to me. Now my wool looks nothing like the photo below the blues and purples are more vivid than shown but as Mum rightly says you can't really see the pattern for all the variegation of colour. All the same it's pretty and I like it. It also happens to be a good variation for me (like Lorelei) in that it's a toe-up sock but this time using a figure of eight cast on which is a bit fiddly to start but lovely and neat. the trouble is I need to be fully awake and have my brain in gear before I start the next one and lately I've just been that little bit too tired of an evening to gear myself up for a bit of work.

I'd finally decided that it was about time that my Japanese Feather Stole was finished off as it was far too simple a pattern for it to be neglected. So Elfine number two was delayed for the moment whilst I slogged on with the stole which grew quite quickly once I paid it some attention and thankfully it's that straight forward enough of a pattern that I was able to do it whilst DD was around which says a lot seeing as she's definitely going through the Terrible Two's (BTW what's next - Frantic Threes; Fearful Fours?) and I could even knit it at our Knitting evenings albeit slowly!!

I'm not sure if it's a Spring Thing but I've cast on for another shawl with Summer in mind. DH mentioned how many weeks it was before we'd be off to sunny Pembrokeshire for our hols and I decided to cast on to make sure it's be finished in time. It's Norah Gaughan's Medallion Shawl from Vogue Winter 07/08 which involves knitting up 15 separate hexagons which is actually quite satisfying to knit up. So far I've 9 knitted up in some Jaeger Alpaca 4ply in a cream shade making it look like little snow flakes (so much for a Summer shawl!!) and 6 more shouldn't take too long to do but I think the crocheting together of them all may be a bit testing of my meager crochet skills!

I shall leave you with photos of the extremes of the month. First off is a shot of the mountains from the moors behind Mum's house (one is probably Snowdon but I'm not too great at remembering the names of them from a distance) which was taken this Monday. And the final shot for you are some Dog Tooth Violets which appeared in one of my plant pots last year and are providing a beautiful shot in today's bright sunshine - definitely a month of mixed up weather!

Anyway I'm surrounded with piles of raspberry fluff to be spun up so I'll leave you for now and attempt to return with more news as soon as possible, hopefully within weeks and not months this time!