More knitting.

Well, I am busy learning new skills at the moment. Its scary to think that I have been knitting on and off for over 40 years now (actually its 46 years!), but I am still keen to try anything new. Well, new to me........

So I have knitted my very first pair of fingerless gloves. I've wanted a pair of these for ages, but not seen one until a podcast mentioned Knitty..............

The pattern is the excellent "Fetching" by Cheryl Niamath from Knitty, Summer 2006. I have used the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, which is gorgeous to knit with.

And I have started my very first pair of socks.

The pattern I have decided to use was sent to me by Charles of the "Stitchstud and his bride" podcast. Sadly, Blogger doesn't like this photo, so I shall tell you about it instead. Charles was very kind to send me a copy of his knitting tutorial, "Design your own toe up socks" after I responded to one of his podcasts. Since the instructions were so clear, I decided to follow this instead of a patterned pair of socks. Because the pattern I am following is plain, it should show the patterning of the yarn to perfection.

This is where the learning new tricks comes in. To start the first of this pair of socks, I have had to learn Judy's Magic Cast On. It took me three attempts to get this far, but then perhaps I have been stuck using the same cast on technique for rather too long.................. I must admit that I started using my usual way of casting on when I got fed up of waiting for my grandmother to help me to start yet another project. She was really clever, my wonderful grandma. I'm now certain she knew that if she kept me waiting just long enough, I would be able to work it all out for myself............

The yarn I am using is Cotton Surf Color by Regia. The actual colour is rather more of a subtle orange than shown in the photo and is so soft to knit with. A delightful surprise, since I ordered the yarn through the internet - I usually like to handle yarn before buying, but couldn't find anything suitable in my local shops.

Since starting to put this Blog entry together, and taking the photo, I have managed to get to the 16th round of my socks. This is so much fun. I love watching the pattern the yarn makes emerging under my fingers.