Sosesaswa 2011

Oh my poor neglected blog.... it has been so long I have forgotten where I left you.

I have a few things to share, but let us start with two pairs of socks.

These:

Monkey socks in The Yarn Yard Toddy, in colourway Making Mischief.
Knit from the 2nd to the 18th November, for my Socktopus Secret Santa Swap pal, Sandykins.

And these - knit for me as part of the same swap

Marilinda by Cookie A. Knitted in Cascade Heritage in Raspberry (I asked for pink socks and these are just perfect)
They arrived with all of these other fabulous things:

Another skein of Heritage in Jade, some crochet snowflakes (now hanging from the mantelpiece) and a folding owl bag from paperchase, handbag notes from Past Times, a grey Herdy keyring, a woollen brooch (a WOVEMBER meta badge ) and a bar of the new Crispy Milk from G&B’s (now sadly eaten).

Check out the heels on the socks... aren't they amazing?
I am a lucky girl...

Next time.... hats.

Ruck n' Maul

Ta daaaa!
Thomas' 4 ply jacket is finally finished (minus some buttons).

The pattern is Sirdar 1240 with a few modifications.
I knit this in a 4ply sock yarn (Ochil from The Yarn Yard in the Ruck n' Maul rugby inspired colourway ). The pattern calls for DK - so I ended up casting on for the age 4-5 years but knitting to the dimensions of the 1-2 year. I also knit in the round to the armpits.

A pretty rubbish photo, just to prove it fits....


A close up of the cables and the half fishermans rib (which looks almost as good on the wrong side).

And finally, the back.

Cabled Cardigan progress

Making a cardigan in sock weight yarn is turning into a bit of a mission - even if it is only to fit Thomas! I've been working on this since the end of July. Hopefully that last sleeve won't take too long.

At least it seems to fit.

The pattern is 1240 from Sirdar.

I am messing about with it a little as it is written for DK. I knit in one piece up to the arm pits, casting on the right number of stitches for the age 4-5 years but knitting so it measures the same as the 1-2 years.

A hat for Evie

My friend Cath asked me to make her a hatfor her little girl to replace a lost one like this from Mothercare.

I evenutally chose McKinley's Springtime Hat


I chose the deliciously soft Malabrigo Worsted, this is made from leftovers from my Brownie Hat and my February Lady Sweater.

It was super-fast to make, it was completed in a couple of hours one evening.

Thomas modelled it before it was sent off to Nottingham - he got the pose just right ;o)

15 months

And a very cheeky chappie

Making Monday - The 2 B Cake

We now have an abundance of beetroot at the allotment. It was planted by my inlaws, but as they are on holiday I have been harvesting it before it gets too big. It is not ordinary beetroot, it is (I think) Chioggia beetroot and is striped inside like a candy cane!

This seems to mean that when it is boiled and pureed it turns into pink mush rather than dark red mush! (However it doesn't stain your hands, which has got to be a bonus!)

I was looking through the Abel & Cole website for ideas of what to do with all of these beetroot and decided on Sara Blackmore's beetroot cake rather than another chocolate cake.

It is certainly moist, and is nice enough, but isn't the best cake I've ever made. A little too sweet and, despite the mixed spice and nutmeg, possibly needs a little something else.

However, it still hit the spot at 11am this morning whilst Thomas slept after a hectic morning at Tumble Tots!

Making Monday - A Wolves Scarf

It is football time again, and my team are sitting at the dizzy heights of 5th in the Premier League (we were top for a short time on Saturday).
This scarf, made for the Stephen West KAL, is my new football scarf. I am hoping it is lucky.

This was a mystery knit along and after much deliberation I decided on Wolves colours and I am very glad I did. I am not sure any of my other choices from the previous post would have looked as good. I was hoping the pattern would be more like his stripey shawls such as daybreak - however this helped me overcome my intarsia fear and I quite like the end result.

The yarn is The Yarn Yard Clan in Saffron, Soot and Tanzelope. The Tanzelope was a club colourway, the Saffron was a recent purchase and I got the soot from someone destashing on Ravelry.
Clan isn't my favourite sock yarn, it isn't hard wearing enough for me. However it is perfect yarn for a shawl; lightweight, warm and soft.

I used the whole skein of Saffron, bar a few metres. However I have about 1/3 of a skein of Soot and over half a skein of Tanzelope left. Socks for Thomas maybe?