Sock Yarn Squares

Morning,

Here's a quick update so show you progress on the sock yarn blanket so far. It's beguiling, because it seems like it's growing really quickly due to the squares being pretty quick to knit, however I'm gonna need about 700 of them!!

Actually, having taken the picture it really doesn't seem like I've done anything at all! I've done a lot of individuals because I've been making 2-4 squares from the same yarn due to rapidly running out of yarn scraps! I've bought a Colinette creative pack, and some gorgeous mini skeins from Knitting Goddess so hopefully supplies will arrive soon! I've also signed up for two travelling swap bags through Ravelry, and picked up mini skeins through Folksy and Etsy. I'm also thinking of biting the bullet and buying another dying kit, this time using acid fast dyes which seem to have stronger, bolder colours. If that goes well I might be tempted to start selling mini skeins myself as there are a lot of people knitting sock yarn blankets! 

I've also had a load of sock yarn arrive from Ravelry destashes and a sock yarn club, so I'll get on with taking pictures of those in the next week or so :)

Happy knitting :)

xx

Folksy Lustings!

Morning :)

I've woke up with a horrible pounding headache today after staying up until 3am knitting the first half of Clue #1 of the Criminal Knits Mystery Knit-A-Long so I thought I'd have a browse on Folksy and easy my pain!

If you weren't already aware, you can follow Folksy on Twitter which is how I found the tweet about some of the latest featured sellers who I went to visit...

So here is CoCo Crafts of www.cococrafts.co.uk. I love their bags! I've picked out about 8 that I would be very, very happy to buy if I wasn't skint - always the way! I have my own little wish list with what I would use each bag for!

(All photos are from the item descriptions, and copyrights belong to the shop owners, not me.)

This Dawn clutch is gorgeous. A lot more grown up than I normally go for, but perfect for nights out or when I'm dressing up, I just love it! 

This is Bethan who is just lovely. I love this style of bag, and the longer handles means that it's easier to put the bag on your shoulder, and the roomy bag means I can put everything I need for work in it!

Bethan even comes in a range of gorgeous colours and fabric combinations!

This is Laura who would live inside my Bethan bag :)

Laura also comes in awesome different colours and fabrics, which just means that I want to buy them all!

This is Gemma, who is very cute and perky! She'd be a knitting project bag, for an awesome pair of socks!

Sian would be awesome to wear on nights out because I always wear little bags that go across my body so that I can dance for hours without having to the awful 'dance around your bag' huddle, or the 'keep one arm tightly pulled in on your handbag' dance!

I realise that I could have just said at the top 'GO SEE THIS SHOP!' but that wouldn't have been half as fun as this post! Why do I always find gorgeous things on Folksy when I can't afford to buy things?! I'm just my own worst enemy lol.

xx

My First Socks!!

Evening,

I am rather proud of these babies :)

They fit perfectly, and are knit in Abstract Cat Crafts Pool Party. Love them! Go get yourself a skein and join in the fun :)

xx

New year, new lusts!

Evening!

To distract myself from my chest infection I've decided to post some lovely things I've found on Folksy :) (All photos are from the item descriptions, and copyrights belong to the shop owners, not me.)

First up...

I'm loving my greens/blues/teals lately. I love the teal bits in between the beads, and how the colours all mesh together. I need to find some sock yarn in this colour! You can buy this lovely bracelet from AMIdesigns :)

In keeping with the blues/greens/purple phase I'm in, I found this yarn 'Petulant' from Spinning a Yarn. I think this colourway would make gorgeous socks - it's not too girly for work with the stripes of grey, and it would look really good even knit up as a plain stocking stitch sock :)

And last but not least....

Anybody feel like buying one of these in a size 10 and sending it my way? ;) I adore this dress from Dig For Victory, and this particular dress is just the latest one from their shop that has caught my eye!

xx

Ripped my Sleeve

Evening,

Monday night was Knitting Night. Week 4 of the Knitting course. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'd nearly finished my sleeve so I took it along with me, and Gabrielle came to have a look at it. Me being impatient and overeager - it turned out I'd read the pattern wrong, and instead of doing increases on each end of a certain row, I'd only done them on one side. I ripped back 82 rows! Then started another so that I can steam the kinks out of the old ball so as to not affect the tension in any way.

Bit of a horrible day in work last night. It seems like everywhere apart from Reading has had snow this week. One of our courier collection points was snowed in, and meant that instead of us getting ~100 samples at 5pm when there were lots of us around and plenty of time to process them, we were told we were getting 120 of them after 10pm!

Didn't make the for the best evening. We finished all the samples by 9pm, and then had to lose 1.5 hours. Thankfully I had my knitting with me so I did about 12 rows of my sleeve which is good.

The exciting news for yesterday is that more wool arrived! I naughtily bought some more Abstract Cat yarn last week. I blame Laura (the lady that makes them) for making them look so pretty! She currently has a sale on (so be quick) and I picked up two skeins of Pool Party. I'm not supposed to be buying any until after Christmas but I justified it because it was on sale... hehe!

I rolled one into a ball while I watched a documentary on iPlayer, thankfully it didn't take very long!

I did think about using them for a shawl or something, but I've impulsively just cast on my first sock!

It's so pretty :) There's plenty more left on Abstract Cat if you fall in love like I do!

I didn't fancy knitting any more of my sleeve, and this week was Sock Knitting focus week on the Knitting course. We have two ladies making their first pair of socks on magic loop, and on Monday Gabrielle brought in several pairs of hers to better show how to construct and turn the heel, and finish the toes.

I've been saying that I was going to make socks for a while, I bought my 2.5mm dpns two days after I went to the Knitting & Stitching Show back at the beginning of October. Well now I'm finally using them! I'm using Silver's Sock Class as a tutorial, which has plenty of pictures of the different stages on dpns and I'm trying to get used to holding 4 needles at once!

Wish me luck!! 

xx

Pizazz!

Howdy!

On Friday this lovely package was delivered for me in work, it certainly cheered me up! (The pictures were taken at home, not in work - no twister bed covers in work unfortunately!)

(I'd already been impatient and opened it in work, and then wrapped it up and opened it again to take pictures of it :)

Ta dah! Isn't she gorgeous?!

I'm completely in love. The colours are gorgeous (although still having camera colour issues, it's even more beautiful in the flesh/yarn). 

It didn't take very long to wrap into a ball either - unlike the 1000m laceweight yarn I bought in the Knitting & Stitching show which took Mam and I three hours to do!

I'm chuffed, now I just an easy sock pattern for me to make my first pair of socks with!!

Don't forget you can get your hands on some of this if you visit Abstract Cat Crafts on Folksy. You just need to make an account and off you go! I highly recommend it :)

xx

Folksy Lusting

Howdy,

Thought I'd cheer myself up by browsing Folksy - always a dangerous idea!! (I've used smaller photos as I don't want to annoy the sellers. Click on the links to see the item in full!)

I bought myself this on Tuesday (to celebrate pay day, plus I couldn't resist!):

It's available from Abstract Cat Crafts and I just love it. I'm looking forward to trying out my new dpns when it arrives. Each is hand dyed and hand painted, and I just *want*.

[I should probably explain I own about 100 pairs of socks, and each one is different. I kinda collect them :) So my colourful sock urges have spilt over into yarn buying!]

I'm lusting after the Bejewelled, Doodlebug, Gershwin, English Country Garden, Hippy Chick, Big Top and Birdhouse yarns that are listed at the moment! I'm being very good though :) I might add them to my Christmas wish list!

Next is this Nellie The Elephant photo frame from Marge Designs. I have a similar box frame that I bought when I was 11 or 12. It has a teddy bear sitting on the toilet, reading a newspaper in his bathroom. I loved it then, and I love it now. Something about it tickles me :)

I love these owl earrings from Szeya Designs, they're exactly the style of my friend Liz. She always had the quirkiest, coolest earrings in school and these would be right up her street :)

And finally this Petal print from Arty Herberts. Each print is unique and is part of their 1 million pieces of art project. This one is number 0627 :)

What have you found on Folksy this week?

Happy browsing!

xx

Folksy Lusting

Howdy,

Today I'm loving the Folksy people Peris & Corr. They're based in Snowdonia in North Wales, and I'm in love with their bags and Welsh cards (myself being Welsh too).

This hand printed Blackbird tote bag is simple, but stunning. They also have a gorgeous Magpie tote bag too. Both are £6!

I really like the ornate style of these card, plus (speaking from experience) it's really hard to find Welsh cards unless you made them yourself, usually. This one says 'Thank you'.

Cariad is Welsh for 'Love'. Both are £2.50 each. This one would be perfect for Valentines if you don't fancy making a card yourself.

xx

Folksy Lusting

Evening,

I've been following American blogs for a while so I'm familiar with Etsy, but only recently discovered Folksy.

Here is a gorgeous item that I'm lusting after right now:

It's handmade and sold by 'madebylucy' and you can buy it here.

It's simple but stunning and I want, badly.

xx