Friday, 27 September 2013
Mini Octopus
You know sometimes how you'll see a pattern and just have to make it? Well I spotted this and made this:
FO Friday - Waihi socks
I am thrilled with this pair of socks. The colour, the pattern.... I just love them! I love the way the lace pattern is repeated down the back of the leg
The lace itself is very easy to remember, only 3 rows of actual lace work for every 8 rows of pattern. The simple cables don't require a cable needle so it's actually a really good pattern to knit on the go when you want something you don't really have to concentrate on. If you're new to socks though it's still great because Sarah explains everything really well in the pattern.
I had to do a little modification on these socks simply because I've got big ankles and my gauge was slightly off. They fitted fine on the leg but I had to do a few extra decreases after turning the heel. Not a problem :)
They do fit better on the heel than it looks here! It's hard taking photos of your own feet lol.
Pattern: Waihi socks by Sarah Ronchetti
Yarn: Sparkleduck Spirit in "Mint to Jade"
Joining Tami's FO Friday posts as usual :)
The lace itself is very easy to remember, only 3 rows of actual lace work for every 8 rows of pattern. The simple cables don't require a cable needle so it's actually a really good pattern to knit on the go when you want something you don't really have to concentrate on. If you're new to socks though it's still great because Sarah explains everything really well in the pattern.
I had to do a little modification on these socks simply because I've got big ankles and my gauge was slightly off. They fitted fine on the leg but I had to do a few extra decreases after turning the heel. Not a problem :)
They do fit better on the heel than it looks here! It's hard taking photos of your own feet lol.
Pattern: Waihi socks by Sarah Ronchetti
Yarn: Sparkleduck Spirit in "Mint to Jade"
Joining Tami's FO Friday posts as usual :)
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Grafham water
A yarn free post today I'm afraid. I just wanted to share some photos of our day out yesterday. Thanks to everyone who wished Mr Soaring Sheep a happy birthday :-)
It was misty like this all day. I guess the reservoir is probably fairly low lying anyway so it trapped the mist and gave this rather spooky effect.
There were a few people in boats on the water fishing, it was very peaceful.
Little Miss Naughty spent the first part of the ride on the back of my bike (she later wanted to go with her Daddy)
Here's the birthday boy
It felt very Autumnal with the trees changing colour, the mist and this bank of teazles
About half way round (after some thigh trembling hills...) we stopped for a picnic lunch
Little Miss is very fond of lunch ;-)
This photo was taken about 12:30pm, the mist was as thick as ever
When we got back to the car we had a visit to the play park so the little one could stretch her legs and we could sit down for a bit!
All slides need to have a shoe taken off before sliding down #trufax
It was a lovely day out, I think it was a very good idea of Mr Soaring Sheep. My legs feel a bit stiff today though lol
It was misty like this all day. I guess the reservoir is probably fairly low lying anyway so it trapped the mist and gave this rather spooky effect.
There were a few people in boats on the water fishing, it was very peaceful.
Little Miss Naughty spent the first part of the ride on the back of my bike (she later wanted to go with her Daddy)
Here's the birthday boy
It felt very Autumnal with the trees changing colour, the mist and this bank of teazles
About half way round (after some thigh trembling hills...) we stopped for a picnic lunch
Little Miss is very fond of lunch ;-)
This photo was taken about 12:30pm, the mist was as thick as ever
When we got back to the car we had a visit to the play park so the little one could stretch her legs and we could sit down for a bit!
All slides need to have a shoe taken off before sliding down #trufax
It was a lovely day out, I think it was a very good idea of Mr Soaring Sheep. My legs feel a bit stiff today though lol
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
WIP Wednesday
I've only got one new project this week. Today is Mr Soaring Sheep's birthday and I said I'd make him a pair of scrappy socks. However, when I was looking through my stash I showed him some of my sock yarns and asked if he'd like any of them instead and he chose this gorgeous rainbow colourway from The Knitting Goddess
The pink and blue is a sleeve for a colourwork cardigan for my 2 year old. I've not picked it up at all this week but think I'll give it some more attention this evening as I was enjoying it.
The green squares are for my blanket project. I'm almost 1/4 of the way through making the squares :-) It's going to be very colourful...
I also got some fluffy post this week. I ordered this yarn at the end of August to make a Christmas jumper for Mr Soaring Sheep but it was out of stock in the quantity I needed. It's Cascade 220 Heathers so has a gorgeous fleck to it
It's going to be knitted into an Alec XL which is a gorgeous pattern by Sarah Ronchetti. It's going to have to wait a while though because I've got quite a few projects lined up first. Must knit faster...
I'm linking in with Tami's WIP Wednesday posts as usual. I'm looking forward to reading what other people have been up to lately. First though Mr Soaring Sheep wants to go cycling round Grafham water, oh joy...!
The pink and blue is a sleeve for a colourwork cardigan for my 2 year old. I've not picked it up at all this week but think I'll give it some more attention this evening as I was enjoying it.
The green squares are for my blanket project. I'm almost 1/4 of the way through making the squares :-) It's going to be very colourful...
I also got some fluffy post this week. I ordered this yarn at the end of August to make a Christmas jumper for Mr Soaring Sheep but it was out of stock in the quantity I needed. It's Cascade 220 Heathers so has a gorgeous fleck to it
It's going to be knitted into an Alec XL which is a gorgeous pattern by Sarah Ronchetti. It's going to have to wait a while though because I've got quite a few projects lined up first. Must knit faster...
I'm linking in with Tami's WIP Wednesday posts as usual. I'm looking forward to reading what other people have been up to lately. First though Mr Soaring Sheep wants to go cycling round Grafham water, oh joy...!
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
FO - A girly owl hat
When I was making my first owl hat (blogged here) I found this absolutely gorgeous version by Canderoo on ravelry. It stuck in my head so much that I impulsively decided to make a similar one this weekend.
It's slightly brighter than the pictures show and my little snotty girl seems to like it which is always a bonus! I followed the pattern almost exactly apart from adding an inch extra height and doing the eyes in just one colour. The bow was from this pattern
I do love a cute hat :-) Yay for fast, happy projects!
It's slightly brighter than the pictures show and my little snotty girl seems to like it which is always a bonus! I followed the pattern almost exactly apart from adding an inch extra height and doing the eyes in just one colour. The bow was from this pattern
I do love a cute hat :-) Yay for fast, happy projects!
Sunday, 22 September 2013
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Finished! (Almost)
I've finished my second Waihi sock! I kitchener stitched the toe while these photos were uploading :) I just need to give them a little wash and block and then I'll show them off on Friday next week. I am rather pleased with them :)
Naturally with the ending of one project my mind has turned to the next one. It's a bit of a faff to get my swift and ball winder out so I try to do several skeins of yarn at a time. Look at this morning's collection of pretties
The purple will be a lace shawl for my Mum. The red will be a scarf for my Dad. The rainbow at the top is for Mr Soaring Sheep's first pair of hand knitted socks as it's his birthday next week. I don't expect them to be finished in time but at least they should be on the way lol.
The orange yarn, well that's going to be some socks for me at some point. Probably plain vanilla although I'll have a look on ravelry to see if anything jumps out at me.
I'm now going to rest my arm from all that winding and have a cup of tea. Have a good weekend everyone!
Naturally with the ending of one project my mind has turned to the next one. It's a bit of a faff to get my swift and ball winder out so I try to do several skeins of yarn at a time. Look at this morning's collection of pretties
The purple will be a lace shawl for my Mum. The red will be a scarf for my Dad. The rainbow at the top is for Mr Soaring Sheep's first pair of hand knitted socks as it's his birthday next week. I don't expect them to be finished in time but at least they should be on the way lol.
The orange yarn, well that's going to be some socks for me at some point. Probably plain vanilla although I'll have a look on ravelry to see if anything jumps out at me.
I'm now going to rest my arm from all that winding and have a cup of tea. Have a good weekend everyone!
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
WIP Wednesday - Going Green
I seem to be on a bit of a mint green theme today. Completely by accident, but this green yarn was the next one out of the bag to make some solid granny squares with
Once this square is finished I will have 25% of my squares finished for my son's blanket. It's going to be a big single bed sized one, 140 squares in total plus some sort of border. This square is my 35th :-)
I've got 17 colours to do, with approximately 8 squares per colour. At the moment I'm just picking up a new yarn every time I feel like a change. Later I'll start counting properly.
The other project I've been working on this week is my second Waihi sock. I had to frog an inch of it yesterday because some how I'd managed to create an extra stitch in the stockinette section! Oh the shame....! However, I'm now caught up and starting to work the heel flap
The weather has got cooler here in the UK so I'm enjoying wearing my hand knitted socks again. I'm looking forward to having this pretty pair finished :-) I found out yesterday that I have rather a lot of sock yarns in my stash so I'd better knit quickly!
For other WIP Wednesday posts hop over to Tami's Amis in a bit (the post isn't up yet). Thanks for dropping by :-)
Once this square is finished I will have 25% of my squares finished for my son's blanket. It's going to be a big single bed sized one, 140 squares in total plus some sort of border. This square is my 35th :-)
I've got 17 colours to do, with approximately 8 squares per colour. At the moment I'm just picking up a new yarn every time I feel like a change. Later I'll start counting properly.
The other project I've been working on this week is my second Waihi sock. I had to frog an inch of it yesterday because some how I'd managed to create an extra stitch in the stockinette section! Oh the shame....! However, I'm now caught up and starting to work the heel flap
The weather has got cooler here in the UK so I'm enjoying wearing my hand knitted socks again. I'm looking forward to having this pretty pair finished :-) I found out yesterday that I have rather a lot of sock yarns in my stash so I'd better knit quickly!
For other WIP Wednesday posts hop over to Tami's Amis in a bit (the post isn't up yet). Thanks for dropping by :-)
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Reality check
I've just been rummaging through my yarn box, always a fun way to spend an afternoon lol. I thought I'd clear out some packaging and store all my sock yarns in the same clear bag. Well there were quite a lot of them but it was a lovely cheerful looking bag :-)
I just went on ravelry to add some new yarns I got today. Out of curiosity I thought I'd have a look how many sock yarns I have in my stash...
17. SEVENTEEN. I guess I hadn't found all the ones in my yarn box after all. Whoops! Might have to set myself a challenge for using them up after Christmas.
I would just like to share with you the two I got today. They are from Posh Yarns and are such rich and saturated colours.
Rather Christmassy looking actually aren't they. Didn't occur to me until they arrived! The gorgeous red one is destined to be a scarf for my Dad. He requested a red, fingering weight scarf (I did offer first lol) so I'm going to knit up this pattern for him I think
I'm hoping the pattern will stop it being too monotonous to knit, and I'm sure the red yarn will be lovely to play with :)
The green yarn, well it just kind of fell into my basket. I love this kind of green. It may become socks or possibly a shawl or a hat. I've no idea yet. I just think it's wonderful so will enjoy petting it until I've made up my mind
Does anyone else have a guilty sock yarn stash? I'll show you mine if you show me yours lol ;-)
I just went on ravelry to add some new yarns I got today. Out of curiosity I thought I'd have a look how many sock yarns I have in my stash...
17. SEVENTEEN. I guess I hadn't found all the ones in my yarn box after all. Whoops! Might have to set myself a challenge for using them up after Christmas.
I would just like to share with you the two I got today. They are from Posh Yarns and are such rich and saturated colours.
Rather Christmassy looking actually aren't they. Didn't occur to me until they arrived! The gorgeous red one is destined to be a scarf for my Dad. He requested a red, fingering weight scarf (I did offer first lol) so I'm going to knit up this pattern for him I think
I'm hoping the pattern will stop it being too monotonous to knit, and I'm sure the red yarn will be lovely to play with :)
The green yarn, well it just kind of fell into my basket. I love this kind of green. It may become socks or possibly a shawl or a hat. I've no idea yet. I just think it's wonderful so will enjoy petting it until I've made up my mind
Does anyone else have a guilty sock yarn stash? I'll show you mine if you show me yours lol ;-)
Monday, 16 September 2013
A fun day out
On Saturday we were very lucky to get a free trip to Warwick castle courtesy of Mr Soaring Sheep's work. We arrived around 10:30 and had free cups of tea/juice in the big marquee. The children all enjoyed their free packet of sweets!
We then headed off for a little wander round before lunch. We saw a real trebuchet!
And then visited the Watermill
I love gunneras (the big plant on the right), I'd love to have a massive, stately home-sized garden with a lake and gunneras around it lol.
The children made friends with a peacock :-)
We had a very tasty BBQ lunch back at the marquee followed by an ice cream (both free, awesome!) and then went for a walk along the castle walls and towers to burn some of it off. There were over 500 steps apparently, it certainly felt like that towards the end! I didn't take any photos because I was too busy making sure the children didn't fall down the stairs or something :-S
After we'd finished exploring we headed back to the marquee for a final cup of tea and the children had their faces painted
It was such a great day out and we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to go :-)
We then headed off for a little wander round before lunch. We saw a real trebuchet!
And then visited the Watermill
I love gunneras (the big plant on the right), I'd love to have a massive, stately home-sized garden with a lake and gunneras around it lol.
The children made friends with a peacock :-)
We had a very tasty BBQ lunch back at the marquee followed by an ice cream (both free, awesome!) and then went for a walk along the castle walls and towers to burn some of it off. There were over 500 steps apparently, it certainly felt like that towards the end! I didn't take any photos because I was too busy making sure the children didn't fall down the stairs or something :-S
After we'd finished exploring we headed back to the marquee for a final cup of tea and the children had their faces painted
It was such a great day out and we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to go :-)
Friday, 13 September 2013
FO Friday - Little birdie decoration
I'm feeling a bit startitis-y at the moment. Probably because I have two fingering weight knitting projects and a crochet blanket on the go. Yesterday I had a little rummage through my scraps bag, pulled out some colours that went together and hooked up this little bird.
Isn't she sweet? The pattern is by Attic24 and as usual is very well explained and easy to follow. The hardest part was figuring where to position the eyes and wings!
She's going to live in my kitchen near the window to make me smile when I'm doing the washing up. I love this sort of quick crochet project :-)
Hope everyone has a good weekend, we're having a big day out tomorrow thanks to Mr Soaring Sheep's work, I'm sure I'll have a few photos to share with you later. I'm now going to pop over to Tami's Amis to check out the other FO Friday posts. Bye!
Thursday, 12 September 2013
Iris Folding
I really love the Iris Folding technique for making cards. It looks so complicated but is so easy. I made this card on Monday for my Dad's birthday. Aside from the scrawly writing I'm rather pleased with it :-)
I think I'm going to make something silly today. I fancy a quick and easy pattern so probably crochet. When I get back from the school run I'll have a look in my scraps bag and pull out some colours that hopefully inspire me. I'm wondering about making one of these from Attic24...
Edit: I've created an Iris Folding board on Pinterest if anyone fancies looking at more examples of this beautiful technique
I think I'm going to make something silly today. I fancy a quick and easy pattern so probably crochet. When I get back from the school run I'll have a look in my scraps bag and pull out some colours that hopefully inspire me. I'm wondering about making one of these from Attic24...
Edit: I've created an Iris Folding board on Pinterest if anyone fancies looking at more examples of this beautiful technique
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
WIP Wednesday
Today I have a sock and a cardigan to show you :-)
The sock pattern is Waihi socks by Sezza.
I've turned the heel as you can see but I'm a bit stuck now. My gauge is off and although that wasn't an issue with my chunky ankles (!) it's making the heel not fit quite right. I've decreased a few extra stitches so I should probably work a few more rows and see if it sorts itself out, otherwise I might have to frog back and redo the heel.
This is the beginning of a sleeve for the Happy Days cardigan. I started it last night and it's satisfyingly quick to knit in comparison to the body. I'm finding my stitches have a tendency to be tighter though for some reason so I'm having to concentrate a little more on that. Hopefully it won't be too long before I have two finished sleeves ready to join onto the body and not long after that comes the scary bit!
I think today I'll work on my sock a bit more because it's such a lovely pattern to knit and I'm really cross with myself for not doing a big enough gauge swatch/having odd shaped feet! To find out what other people are up to this week visit Tami's Amis
The sock pattern is Waihi socks by Sezza.
I've turned the heel as you can see but I'm a bit stuck now. My gauge is off and although that wasn't an issue with my chunky ankles (!) it's making the heel not fit quite right. I've decreased a few extra stitches so I should probably work a few more rows and see if it sorts itself out, otherwise I might have to frog back and redo the heel.
This is the beginning of a sleeve for the Happy Days cardigan. I started it last night and it's satisfyingly quick to knit in comparison to the body. I'm finding my stitches have a tendency to be tighter though for some reason so I'm having to concentrate a little more on that. Hopefully it won't be too long before I have two finished sleeves ready to join onto the body and not long after that comes the scary bit!
I think today I'll work on my sock a bit more because it's such a lovely pattern to knit and I'm really cross with myself for not doing a big enough gauge swatch/having odd shaped feet! To find out what other people are up to this week visit Tami's Amis
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