Whooooooooooooooosh (part 1)...

Ok....so that's the sound of a quarter of the year passing by since my last post. I have been busy with work and other things and just plain kept forgetting to log onto here and post pics of my finishes. There have been a few, so I won't bore you with a lot of chat about them just the pics and details of what they are if that's ok with you! 

I'll start with the socks....since April there have been 12 pairs of socks knitted. 

In order from Left to Right.

1. Guinevere Socks by Margrete Dolff published in Issue 15 of Yarn Forward knitted in The Knitting Goddess 'Diana Goddess'.
2. Heelless Sleeping Socks by Nacy Bush published in Knitting Favorite Socks, knitted in Three Irish Girls Kells Sport merino in Alchemy.
3. I Love Gansey by Janine Le Cras published in Sock Club; Join the Knitting Adventure knitted in The Knitting Goddess 4ply Luxury Sockyarn in semi solid slate.
4. Joy (a genius with dye) by Rachel Coopey published in Coop Knits knitted in The Knitting Goddess self striping sock yarn in Patriot.

1. Kai-Mei by Cookie A published in Sock Innovation, knitted in The Knitting Goddess Merino/Bamboo in Agate.
2. Labyrinth by Wendy D Johnson published in Socks From the Toe-Up, knitted in Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merino in Madigan. 
3. Manly Aran Socks by Wendy D Johnson published in Toe-Up Socks for Everybody, knitted in The Knitting Goddess BFL Superwash in Semi Solid Charcoal.
4. Nine to Five Socks by Nicole Hindes published in All Buttoned Up, knitted in The Knitting Goddess Merino/Bamboo in Ruby.

1. On Hold Socks by Wendy D Johnson published in Socks From the Toe-Up, knitted in The Knitting Goddess BFL Superwash in semi solid Turquoise.
2. Pulsations Socks by Amy King, published in Spunky Eclectic, knitted in Ba T'at Yarns Sock Yarn in Daffodil.
3. Quickie Socks by Susan Lawrence published in the Joy of Sox, knitted in Woolcraft Aran Knitting colour 811.
4. Rib Fantastic Socks by Barb Brown, published in Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn, knitted in The Knitting Goddess merino superwash sock yarn in Indian Summer. 

I hope you can excuse the lack of links for all the details but it would have taken for-ev-er! I've provided as much info as I can. Some of the yarns are now discontinued and I've had them since 2008! 

Part two to follow where it will be all about shawls....

Til then, take care and feel free to Rabbit On.....

G is for Guinevere...


I have managed to knit my 7th pair of socks this year. I've had this pattern for a while now and new I wanted to knit them as soon as I bought the magazine. (Yarn Forward # 15) I also knew that when the Goddess Diana yarn arrived through my letterbox in January 2010, that it was destined to be turned into a pair of these socks. 
Fast forward to April 2011 and I am mightily pleased with the yarn/pattern combo!

What do you think? And yes, those are my rather pale legs on show for once....I don't know what came over me....Here's a more pleasing shot....

The unusual construction of the sock made for a new challenge but they fit really well on the foot and I do like the i-cord cuff.

I am off out to Baa Ram Ewe tomorrow to learn how to become a hooker! I am soooooooooo excited...I am rubbish when it comes to crochet and as I have a lot of yarn, and as crochet uses a lot of it and can be quicker than knitting, then I thought I'd give it a go. I'll report back on how I've got on....

Till then...have a good weekend and feel free to Rabbit On....

E is for Escher....
I have finished my E socks, the fifth part of the UK Sock Knitters A-Z-a-long on Ravelry. When I started this challenge, I thought that I might knit a few pairs of the socks along the way...I didn't think that I'd manage to do the whole challenge of 26 pairs in the year.
So...I am rather pleased with my self and my little 2.25mm Knit Pro Symphonie circular needles for 'turning out' 5 pairs of socks by 13th March!


Without further ado, I present Escher Socks.

The pattern comes from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn and it is one of my favourite sock books. I think it is a really interesting read and I love the section where it explains how yarns pool and how you can change the way they do in fact pool. 

I already had the book when I purchased the yarn. It was a sock club yarn, a cashmere/merino/nylon mix by the Knitting Goddess in the colourway Speckled Egg. 

The socks only took 62g of yarn and they were a quite simple knit, however, I do have to admit that I began to suffer from a bit of boredom on the foot of the second sock. It seemed to take forever!

I've also been busy this month with knitting my 3rd shawl for the knit 11 shawls in 2011 challenge.

The yarn is yet another Knitting Goddess sock club yarn, this time merino/nylon in the Goddess Ops colourway. 

Ops is a fertility goddess and is very much linked to all things 'earthy' so I wanted that to reflect in the choice of  pattern. I therefore used a lace pattern from a shawl called Wheatsheaf Shawl from Issue 28 of the knitting magazine called Yarn Forward. It is a KAL media publication, but has recently changed it's name to Knit. 

This shawl unfortunately, is not staying with me. It is being gifted to my mum's cousin's wife as a present from my mum. I told her that I had yarn to use up and wanted to knit some shawls but that as I also had over 10 of my own, maybe I could do with knitting some up to give away. It's somewhat typical then, that the one I knit first, I actually want to keep! lol

I love the colours and am happy with how this worked out. 

My next installment of the mystery blanket has arrived so from the 15th onwards I'll be knitting on the next 5 squares. I'm still plugging away at a cushion cover for my mum for mother's day and I am really enjoying it. I am­ ¾ of the way up the front.

 I've also just cast on my 'F' socks, so once again this rabbit's needles are going to be smoking.

I hope all is well out there in blogland and send out my thoughts and wishes to anyone who has been affected by the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan....

Until next time, take care and please feel free to Rabbit On.....

D is for Diamonds and Cables....
My D socks are done and at last I have some purple socks!!!! I adore purple and have lots of purpley things but not some handknitted socks....until now.

These are Diamonds and Cables by Wendy D Johnson and are from the rather lovely Toe-Up Socks for Every Body: Adventurous Lace, Cables, and Colorwork from Wendy Knits.
This book has a number of patterns in it that I want to knit and although this pattern didn't immediately scream out at me, when I got the yarn, I knew they were meant for each other.
The yarn in my Knitting Goddess Birthstone sockclub yarn in the colourway Amethyst in the merino/bamboo mix.
I am really pleased that I am keeping up with this knit-a-long as I didn't think I'd be able to...26 pairs of socks in a year is a big challenge!
I have now cast on my E socks in a lovely cashmere mix yarn and will post my HD when they are done, hopefully in another week or so.
I have also cast on a shawl for my mum's cousin's wife...it is a mixture of two shawls and again I'll update when I finish it which will be in a few days if all goes to plan.

I had a rather lovely day out in Ilkley on Monday. I took a Knit up your Stash course at the rather wonderful Create This is one of my favourite yarn shops. The staff are soooooooooo nice and helpful and very friendly, it's just such as shame that it's a 90 mile round trip for me or I would be in there more often!
The course was run by the equally fab Debbie Abrahams. To be honest, I didn't really need to go....despite having a rather large stash, it isn't made up of odd balls of yarn, it is made up of garment quantities or of sock yarns. However, I love attending Debbie's classes and I did have left overs from my mystery blanket from last year and wanted to use them for a cushion cover. I could have done this at home without any help, but by going to the course it made me start it and because I keep feeling a bit run down lately, it was just great to have an easy day out spent knitting with a group of nice people in a lovely setting....'nuff said.
I have booked to go on another course in July, one that involves knitting a little beaded project, again something I don't need as I can use beads in knitting quite easily, but it will be another great day out for me and as it's in Ilkley, I can visit the shop at Betty's again!

I bought some lovely Sublime Soya cotton yarn in some neutral colours and will knit mum a cushion cover for Mother's Day, so I had a little s.e.x too.....bonus.....

I've just come back from an hour's walk in the late evening Winter sun....it is quite cool out there but I love walking in weather like that as you get that wonderful 'rosy cheeks' glow....

I hope everyone had a great weekend and managed some knitting/stitching or both, take care and feel free to Rabbit On....