Nearly Spring!

I had a lovely run this morning. First time it's not been raining, windy or freezing cold. The sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze just as we were starting to get hot (I run with a couple of friends) and it was really nice to be out in the fresh air. We did 5 repeats of 4 minutes running, 2 walking so managed 20 minutes of running in total. Really pleased with how much we've progressed :-)



I love having fresh flowers in the house, especially in the Spring. I'd buy a bunch of these daffodils every week if I could





I treated myself to a pot of hyacinths too, these ones are going to be pink. They've grown a bit since taking this photo last week so hopefully soon I'll be able to see their colour properly



I'm going to take Pippin for a walk in a bit and then I'm going to have a lazy afternoon with some knitting. I've been making good progress on my Hermione's Everyday Socks, they've got some craaaaazy pooling going on lol



I've also got a pair of Blueberry Waffle socks on the go using that yarn I showed you last week. It's working really nicely with the pattern. I'll take some photos later to show you.

Have a good week everyone :-)

FO - Bandwagon Socks

After promising to work monogomously on these socks on Monday I finally got them cast off with ends sewn in yesterday. I planned to give them a quick soak and then hang them up to block and dry. Except I forgot, so they soaked all night and have only been put on the blockers this morning. Whoops!



I love this colourway so much, it's so much more vibrant than these photos capture and it works surprisingly well with the lace pattern.



I'll have to see if I can get a photo of them on my feet once they're dry so you can see how the pattern looks more clearly.

The pattern I used was a free one called Bandwagon Socks which is very straight forward to knit but looks more complicated. The yarn is from Mothy and the Squid and is in the Black Skies Rainbow colourway

My reward for finishing these socks off is that I get to cast on a new project :-D



Look at this yummy yarn :-D It's called "Electric Sheep" and is one of my stash of Laughing Yaffle yarns. And guess what, it's going to become another pair of socks. I'm so radical ;-)


Happy crafting everyone :-) Hop over to Keep Calm Craft On and Yarn Along if you want more crafty posts to read

Slow Go Socks

Thank you to everyone who left comments on my previous post, was so kind of you :) I'm sorry I've not been able to reply to them all yet, I will try! It was half term last week and I worked out several years ago that the best type of holidays for the children and my sanity are to have busy days outside but also some down time where I basically ignore them for a few hours. So we'd go out for walks in the morning and then in the afternoon's I'd get on with chores while they played on the computer. It works but it doesn't leave much time for knitting!



I'm so BOOOORED of knitting these socks. It feels like they've been on the needles for ever and I love them so much I want to be wearing them! It doesn't help that two at a time socks feel slower for me anyway as I'm so used to the progress you get with a single sock. It does help not having to count rows in the same way and matching up tension etc. but I'm just not a big fan.



Did you spot the safety pin? I'm using it as a marker to see how I'm progressing. I want to knit the legs until they reach the end of the stitch pattern on the foot, so about another inch or so. Then I'll do the ribbing for as long as I can stand before I go mad lol. I'm going to be monogamous to these socks until they're finished :)


I think I'll spend a couple of hours working on them this afternoon while the children are back at school. I'm bound to see some progress after that right? :-S

FO - Coast to Coast Fingerless Mitts

It's the half term holidays this week which means that Soaring Sheep Towers is full of horrible demanding little monsters ;-)

OK, they're not actually monsters, we've been rather enjoying each other's company! This morning they accompanied me on my run, 3 of them on scooters and the eldest jogging along next to me making it look easy.

Not much knitting is going on this week but I do have a finished project to share with you and a willing volunteer to help me with getting photos



Oh look it's raining, makes a change, I'd miss all the mud if it stopped... ;-)





Hard to see clearly in the above picture but there is a slip stitch column along the centre of the thumb. I thought it was a rather pretty detail :-)



I love this yarn so much. It's from Sparkleduck in the Neptune colourway and has these gorgeous shades of dark greens and blues. I originally bought it to make socks with but thought it would work well with this pattern too. Might have to acquire more at a later date to make some matching socks lol.



The cables were what attracted me to this pattern, they look so pretty. The wrapped sections were interesting to make and the cables themselves were very simple to follow.



Either side of the main cable panel are these little columns of fake cables. They're really simple to do and I think they frame the design nicely. I might try pinching the idea and using it in a pair of socks at some point.

The pattern by the way is Coast to Coast by Jacqueline Fortier. It's very straight forward and well written. Didn't take me much knitting time at all but I had several other projects on the go which is why my ravelry project page says it took 2 months.



The remaining yarn is already being encorporated into my sock yarn blanket. I'm onto my 46th square now, still haven't woven in the ends yet :-S My little helper decided I needed to get his paw into the photo too, he's currently flat on his back with his legs in the air after a rainy dog walk. I'm going to snuggle up with the children to watch a dvd and hopefully get this square knitted up

Linking up with Keep Calm Craft On and Yarn Along

Sleepy Sunday

We were up and about fairly early this Sunday morning. Usually we're quite chilled out and mooch around in the mornings but today we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and head out for a walk



I drove us from home to a local country park. I've not had much practice in the family car so thought it was a good opportunity. Went fairly well apart from getting in a muddle at some traffic lights and stalling it repeatedly. Whoops :-S



We don't normally do much for Valentine's day, maybe get a takeaway and watch a dvd together. I was very touched when Mr Soaring Sheep presented me with this beautiful rose on Friday, he's such a sweetie when he wants to be lol



I've been knitting away on my Hermione's Everyday socks and I think I'm about an inch off starting the heel. I'm planning on working on these this afternoon whilst watching the next Little Bobbin's podcast. The pooling is turning out very dramatic. I'd prefer if it was a bit more swirly but hopefully it will sort itself out with the heel



Pippin is very tired out from his walk and has barely moved since we came home. I think we'll have a lazy afternoon chilling out and maybe watch a family dvd together



Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone :)

Wednesday's WIP's

I've been making progress on my Bandwagon Socks, as you can see I've turned the heel on one of them and I'm going to do the second in a bit. I'm not sure whether to continue the pattern up the whole of the leg or just the front part. It's an easy enough pattern but TAAT socks feel so sloooooow and I'm kind of looking for a quicker method!



I love the pooling on these socks so much



I wouldn't normally pair such a multicoloured yarn with a strong stitch pattern but I think it works ok with these. They look even better when they're worn so hopefully when I've finished and blocked them a smidge you'll be able to see the pattern more clearly.



I've also started a new project, it's another pair of socks! I know, what a surprise ;-) My camera doesn't like these colours at all. The yarn in the ball is a more accurate version of the colours. It's called "Fire Bird" and is by Flamboyance yarns who are no longer trading.



I've had a struggle finding the right pattern for this yarn. I have cast on a few times with different patterns and none of them felt quite right. Currently I'm doing Hermione's Everyday Socks which I think I'm happy with. Hmm maybe that means I'm not happy. I dunno, what do you guys think?




I'm still keeping up with my running. We moved up to running for 2 minutes today and having just 2 minutes walking time. Next week the running is 3 minutes :-S However I am finding it ok, I think I'm starting to get better at pacing myself and can just keep plodding away. It's a good challenge and I'm pleased with how I'm improving. We repeat it 6 times each session and try to have 3 sessions each week. It's half term next week so I'm not sure when I'm going to do my runs, might have to wait until Mr Soaring Sheep is home in the evenings.



Pippin is being a bit of a goof lately, he's teething so likes chewing on hard things. Carrots straight from the fridge feel good on his gums apparently. And I've no idea what's going on with the ears...!


Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along :)

FO - Stripy Rainbow Socks

I'm really pleased with my latest FO, can't wait to wear these socks now I've photographed them lol



I cast these socks on over the Christmas holidays so given the amount of other WIP's I've got going on at the moment I've knitted these up quite quickly. I ended up frogging my first one back a little so I could knit it a bit longer. If you've got glittery rainbow yarn then you want to make the most of it :-p



I did a FLK heel (fish lips kiss) and it helpfully worked out that one half of the heel was exactly a stripe's worth. I guess I could have done an afterthought heel or used a contrast yarn but I'm not bothered



I managed to get the stripes to match up almost perfectly. It did require cutting the yarn near the begining on the second sock to match it up but I think the extra couple of ends were worth it. I also made the cuffs longer than usual so I could have 3 complete stripes of colour and then a single round of the pink stripe before the cast off row. Normally I'm someone that counts every row and like things to be even numbers so just doing it by eye was a bit radical for me lol. I love how it's worked though so will try to be more relaxed about numbers in the future. At least on stripy projects ;-)


Linking up with Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On.

I'm still feeling a bit sorry for myself with my cough keeping me up at night and having to sleep on the sofa for the fourth night in a row so I can be in a more upright position. Luckily it just seems to be a cough (and sore stomach muscles!) rather than anything more unpleasant so I'm just being a bit whingy. Hopefully I'll be back to normal again by the weekend :-)

Sunday Stashing

I decided on a solution to my problem with Mr Soaring Sheep wanting socks knitted in yarn I wanted for myself. I ordered the second skein. And another to keep it company. I really should stop now :-S



The colour of the blue skein is much more accurate outdoors *swoon*



It's called "Big Fish in a Little Pond" by Countess Ablaze and on a 75% merino 20% nylon 5% stellina base.



This one is on the same base and is called "You Keep Me On The Edge Of My Seat" and is a red-orange colour. There is some variation in the skein but as it's pretty much the same colour I think it will become something patterned, maybe cables?


I'm itching to get some new socks cast on but I'm going to finish a pair first. My rainbow stripey socks are almost finished, I'm on the ribbing now so shouldn't take long. I'll show you some photos of them next week and hopefully some photos of the new socks I've got planned.

Thank you for the recent comments, I am trying to get round to all your blogs but I've been a bit busy and sleep deprived recently (due to an irritating cough, nothing serious) so focussing on something is a bit challenging. I'm still reading, just rather slowly lol

Yarn Along

I thought today that I'd share with you some pictures of my sock yarn blanket, and maybe a pair of socks I've got on the needles. This didn't quite go to plan...



This poor suffering puppy was left alone for just over 2 hours this morning while I went for a "run" (slow jog interspersed with lots of walking) and then again for 15 minutes while I had a shower and freshened up. Oh he suffers...



He is currently lying next to me on the sofa with his head on my lap. I'm having to strain to type with the laptop precariously balanced on the arm of the sofa. Poor baby lol



That's the best I can do for photos right now. I'm on my 36th square and starting to have to repeat colours to get it looking balanced. I guess I'll just have to knit more socks! Good job I've got lots of sock yarn lol.



My third and final chicken has started laying. The other two have been doing it for a while now but she took bit longer to get going. The egg on the left is hers, it's huge compared to the others, about 20% bigger. I'm glad I'm not a chicken!


Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along

Keep Calm Craft On

Morning everyone :) I've got a couple of new sock yarns to show you today as well as a progress update on my rainbow socks.

I've had quite a few nice yarns arrive into my stash recently, hopefully these will be the last for a while as I'm trying to reduce my stash not add to it lol. These two are from a dyer I've not used before but I spotted them in her latest update and couldn't resist



They are both from Countess Ablaze. The blue is on the "Viscount of Spark" base which is 75% merino, 20% nylon and 5% stellina. The pink one is on the "Lady Persephone" base which is 75% bfl and 25% nylon



This one I found difficult to photograph the colours right. The blue is more of a petrol colour and the orange is more coppery. It's called "Big Fish in a Little Pond" and I originally bought it for Mr Soaring Sheep. Now it's arrived I rather fancy keeping it for myself! Except Mr Soaring Sheep quite likes it too, even with the sparkle. There might be a fight ;-) There is some more of it left in the shop but I don't know if I'd want to knit four socks in the same colourway. Hmm what to do...



This one has gorgeous dapples of colour, really looking forward to seeing how it knits up. It's called "Eccentric Geeks"



My plan for today is to turn the heel on these socks. I kind of wish I'd done the leg part on the other sock a bit longer but at least it means I'll have lots of yarn left over for my blanket


So I ask for your opinions, what should I do about Mr Soaring Sheep wanting the blue sock yarn?

1. Be kind and generous and make it into socks for him
2. Be selfish and keep it for myself but maybe get something else to make him socks with
3. Buy a second skein and knit us matching socks in the same colourway
4. Something else?

Keep Calm Craft On