Socks and knitting

Sewing has had to be left for a little while since I have been rather short of time recently. Rather frustrating, but once I have got myself better organised I shall get back to stitching once more......








The nice thing about knitting is that I can pick it up when I have even just a few minutes to myself. I've been busily knitting socks lately. I finished my very first pair just a few days ago.

I used the "On-your-toes socks" pattern by Ann Budd from the Summer 2007 edition of "Interweave Knits". Rather a nice pattern, it certainly made it easy for me to grasp the basics of knitting socks from the toe up. I have now started a second pair......







You might recognise the yarn from my original abortive attempt to complete a pair of socks. I shall get back to that pattern one day and master it.

Summer School

Some photos from the Summer School I was talking about in the last post. The four day embroidery course was held near Ormskirk, Lancashire. The title was "What lies beneath" and took antique underwear as an inspiration. We all worked on designs to make a corset-style top. I designed mine to be worn with the shawl I have just completed.



The next photos shows just one of the items from the wonderful collection of underwear we were able to see.



The next photos are taken from the journal I made during the course with some of the ideas I have been playing around with for my own top. The mock-up shows just the centre panel of the princess-style shaped front.



Yes, I am intending to hand paint the fabric I shall use for this garment. Oh yes, I do intend to wear it.........



The green fabric shows a mock-up of one of the flowers from the front of the garment, as well as a completed free-machine embroidered strip of lace which is intended to edge the bottom of the completed corset-style top.



I met some wonderful people during the Summer School. It has left me with the ambition to start the City and Guild Embroidery course. I just need to work out how to fit in the full-time job................

Back again!

Well, its been quite a long time since I last wrote to this Blog. I have been away from home and on holiday.
For the first week, I went to a Summer School. This was really interesting since it introduced me to the style of working needed for the City and Guilds courses. The Summer School was run by the School of Stitched Textiles.
http://www.sofst.org/
I shall post some photos and more information next time.
The next couple of weeks saw me going away on holiday with my husband. We had a most enjoyable holiday which saw us travelling to Hong Kong, a visit into China, then flying to Singapore, moving on to Bangkok and lastly a relaxing week on Koh Samui.
I was able to indulge myself in buying some gorgeous silk. The photos will follow in the next post.
Its been a really interesting summer...........
Oh, and I managed to finish my shawl!

Knitting and bags.

Well, I completed the linings on my two bags.






Each bag now has a large side pocket which can hold at least one magazine, a zipped pocket large enough to carry a purse and other special items, and a smallish pocket for a mobile phone. I found a rather fun ladybird tag for the zip. Much easier to grab hold of than the tiny tag at the end of the zip.

The following pictures show a project bag I made for myself some time ago.











I made the strip of seminole patchwork a year or so ago for a different project. It didn't suit the project, so never got used. Now it makes rather a nice pocket for this bag. The pocket is a little shallow, but still useful for little bits and pieces which could get lost within the bag itself. At the moment it holds my sock knitting projects.



Yes, I have already bought myself some new sock yarn. I still haven't been able to progress with the current socks since I am still steadily knitting on with my shawl. I am very happy to report that I have now knitted over half the edging on my shawl - 154 repeats of the pattern! There are 288 repeats altogether.......... but I'm getting there!

Getting things done - slowly.

Well, I've been busy, knitting and completing my shopping bag repair.

The photos above show all four sides of my newly completed bag. I just don't have the heart to use it as a shopping bag any more. Well, not everyday. I shall probably have to use it for a little while since my second bag now needs a lining. I shall be adding a big pocket inside this second bag, as well as the zipped pocket and a small open pocket for my mobile phone. I always seem to lose mine somewhere deep down at the bottom......... Why do they always ring just when its impossible to find them?


The original lining on my third bag is also beginning to go, so I shall have to find some suitable fabric for that one too.


The lining I am using for the second bag used to be the cushion cover for a large oblong beanbag. Its now washed and ready to hang out on the washing line to dry. The old zip which fastened the cover is now sitting with the rest of my zips ready for a new use. Sadly, it was far too big to use for the lining I am planning to make.



As you can see from the next photo, I have finally reached the stage of adding the knitted on border to the shawl. Its been a little bit of a struggle since I regularly get myself into a dreadful tangle with the wool, needles and dropped stitches. Still, I'm getting there and it seems to be getting a little easier - oh dear, should I have said that?











The edging looks as if it has been knitted using a darker yarn. I am still using the variegated yarn I have used all along. This part seems to be one of the darker lengths. It looks better when seen as part of the whole shawl. The wooden needles to the left are the ones that I am working the border with. The circular needle to the right is just holding the invisible cast on stitches.





The shawl is being knitted as part of the Elizabeth's Year group knitalong. Its such fun to be part of such a large and friendly group. Many of us are knitting the shawl his month. I have found the project a steep learning curve, finding so many new techniques that I have needed to learn - invisible cast-on, knitting on a border to name but two. It certainly helped being able to learn from the others in the group.

When reading through other Blogs this morning, I visited Christine's Blog. She is another member of the Stitching Sisters group - we are working on a Band Robin project together.
In her excellent Blog, Christine mentioned the Blog without obligation site. I have added the link to the side of this Blog. The basic idea is not to feel guilty about blogging - especially those times when life gets in the way and the Blog doesn't get added to regularly......... Its so nice to be encouraged to give myself permission not to feel guilty.
Do visit Christine's Blog - its delightful. She also has a costume Blog too. Christine is one of those talented people - she makes the most amazing period costumes.

Shawl and socks.

Well, its been a busy week on the knitting front.




Firstly, I got both my socks to the gusset stage. I shall be getting on with these another time, but I had to get started with another project which should have been started on the 1st of July.

This is my shawl. I am a member of the "Elizabeth's Year" group. We are knitting projects from Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitter's Almanac". The first project was to be the shawl. I only managed to get everything together this week. I am using Malabrigo lace weight yarn in Baby Merino.

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.