Spring?

Mr Meadow Yarn had a birthday this week. We don’t make much of a fuss of each other as a general rule, in part because we’re frugal but I suspect it’s about mutual laziness as well! There were a few little parcels to unwrap… fancy seed packets and some nice wooden plant labels and he was showered with garden centre & nursery tokens by his parents and his in-laws so the occasion wasn’t completely ignored

In addition, given that the socks he’s been expecting to roll off the needles since before Christmas still haven’t progressed much further than this…

I thought maybe an interim solution might be in order!

Simple ribbed socks, made from a Corrymoor Mohair / Nylon blend that promises to be hard wearing, warm and machine washable. I know I could’ve pulled my finger out and finished the alpaca socks that are in progress but I’ve actually had these ‘Goat Socks’ on my mind for a while now. I first came across Selina Scott’s version (didn’t you know… she’s now a goat farmer!) and then saw these while browsing the Wiggly Wigglers web site. The claims for the longevity of the socks alone are enough to make them worth a go – Chris makes holes in ALL his socks, whether store-bought or hand knitted, which can be just a little bit depressing… especially when contemplating the knitting-hours required to produce a pair! I shall let you know how they fare

We snuck off for the afternoon as well. Down to the coast at Bawdsey, where the river Deben meets the sea…

The weather map showed little splodges of rain here and there… clearing a bit towards the coast… hmmm…

This is the boys, racing back to the car park after we ventured onto the beach in a ‘bright’ spell… The littlest is very much further away – can you see the little red dot in the distance? He needed to be rescued when the skies let forth yet another torrent of rain and both he and I got just a little wet en route to the car! By the way, if anyone knows what the stuff in the foreground is (some sort of seaweed, sponge or similar?) let me know, the boys are keen to identify it and we’re struggling!

You can’t really see the rain in that picture… but you get the general idea!

The view across the estuary through the windscreen when we got back to the car was less ambiguous

That isn’t blue sky at the top of the shot by the way… just the effect of the sun visor strip that ‘vintage’ Volvos have at the top of the screen. And if anyone should bump into ‘Spring’ out and about this weekend, send it our way! We’ve had enough of this ‘drought’ now!

Where-we’re-at-Wednesday

It’s been a busy week already,  thus far we’ve been…

walking in the woods (again)

baking (that’s Chris not me, I just eat it…)

digging the allotment in readiness for sowing (again, I must confess, Chris did all the hard work )

watching things GROW before our very eyes (roll on Rhubarb season)

carrying out essential scooter maintenance…

in anticipation of the new scooter season’s arrival

plodding on with the sock knitting (while dreaming of and planning more exciting new knits)

fondling gold silk lace weight (swoooon!) An amazing sample skein from one of our most beloved artisan suppliers… all will be revealed in due course

Spring start-itis!!

It’s a sure sign that Spring is finally almost here when I find I’ve got endless projects whirling round in my head and almost as many on the needles!

Something about the changing of the season makes me itchy to get started on new things… Maybe the sudden influx of new Spring/Summer yarns into the Meadow Yarn barn helps with the inspiration, maybe the first few warm(ish) sunny days and the very faint green glimmer about the hedgerows and borders adds to the need to create new things, who knows? What I do know is I’ve lots of just-started (and not very many nearly-finished) projects on the go…

Cookie A socks (Stalagmite) and my first experience of Wollmeise.

A ‘Cowl da Via’ in Babylonglegs Apples & Pears.

Inspired by a Ravelry adaptation of this capelet project, in Noro Sekku. Not that I’m one to enable but Noro Sekku does happen to be a very good deal in the store at the moment!

In other news, we’ve some fabulous Spring Specials running through March. It’s not too late to get 20% off Schoppel Wolle Zauberball. Offer applies until Friday 11th March.

Now, I’m off to contemplate the next cast-on…

knit.sock.wollmeise.love

I’m not sure why it took quite so long for me to invest in a copy of Cookie A’s new book “Knit.Sock.Love”… I’ve long been a fan of Cookie’s innovative sock designs and have knitted several over the years. The book is beautifully presented with great photography and I am sure I’ll knit almost all the socks at some point in the future. I have of course been immediately inspired to cast on and first up on the needles is ‘Stalagmite’ (from the ‘columns’ section of the book, which is divided up into sections determined by the style of the pattern – ‘columns’, ‘tessellation’ etc. etc.). The pair in the book are knit using Lorna’s Lace ‘Shepherd Sock’ which I’ve never used and was sorely tempted by (any excuse…) but then I remembered… Cocooned in my stash, just waiting for the perfect pattern, I had this…

No, not the foreground… that’s the Old Maiden Aunt ‘Midnight Owl’ that I used to such great effect in my recent ‘Chipmunk’ adventure. No, not that (although it would of course make a lovely pair of socks!). I’m talking about the other skein of green perfection that is the Wollmeise! Purchased last year at Knit Nation it’s been calling out regularly and has been considered for all manner of cowls, shawls, scarves and other 1 skein projects that would show off it’s wonderful shade of slightly limey, mossy green which is labelled ‘Pistazie’ (Pistachio). But hey, why not go completely wild and use sock yarn to knit… socks!?

It’s wound… and the 2.5mm Nova dpns are poised…

It even coordinates perfectly with the book cover

Let the battle commence!

(I hoping for something like this…)

October – knitting round-up / confession

October has been a busy month! The store has been getting steadily busier as we head into prime ‘knitting season’ and home life has had the usual variety of birthdays, minor illnesses, kid’s parties and other incidentals all adding  to the day-to-day excitement!

Knitting has been ticking along though, sometimes in the foreground and other times most definitely in the background as ‘life’ takes over. This ‘pile’ represents the progress, or otherwise, made during this crafty month…

There’s been a bit of progress on the blue ‘correspondent’ scarf…

Quite a lot of progress on the wonderful ‘Kozue’ scarf/wrap in the beautiful green ‘Past & Present’ Posh Yarn…

The remnants of the balls of Sublime used for a couple of reversible squares for a secret cot blanket (ssshhhh….)

and perhaps most excitingly, my Chipmunk is ready for steeking!!!

More on that next week – I’m going to make sure that you’re all holding my virtual hand when I get to the point of cutting the current sweater in order to transform it into a cardigan!!

The skeins of Hazel Knits – in the fabulous ‘hoppy blonde’ shade – are just about ready to cast on for my next project, the Madeline Tosh ‘Hay’ cardigan which I am very excited about…

What the observant among you may have noticed is the very obvious lack of socks…

Hmmm, now the ’round-up’ becomes a confession!! After all my contemplation and deliberating over the choice of yarns, the subtleties of shades of pumpkin and saffron, the excitement over the imminent Through the Loops Mystery Sock pattern…. I have failed *miserably* to even cast on!!! A sock-less Socktoberfest seems certain given there are only 2 days of October left (and one of those is going to be consumed with a fifth birthday!!) Oh well, there’s always next year…

Are you a Hazel Knut?

‘Cos Hazel Knits is here…

Yep! A big box of Artisan Sock Yarn landed in the office last week and it lives up to (and beyond!) all expectations.

It was hard choosing just a dozen shades to kick off the range with…. but I got there in the end and there are none that disappoint!

This yarn base is custom milled for Hazel Knits and is a super tight twist yarn, the closest I’ve come across – and also from the US – is the Socks That Rock ‘Lightweight’ although I don’t believe that has the nylon content and it’s definitely a little heavier.

The colours are *amazing*! Rich, true shades that are subtly ‘tinted’ to add ‘pop’ (to quote Wendee from Hazel Knits!)

I just don’t know which shade to test knit (ahem!) first… because of course, while it’s perfect for socks we’re really really excited about the possibilities for shawlettes, scarves, mitts and all the other lovely projects that will showcase the georgous colours and amazing stitch definition that the twist will give.

Here are just a few of my current favourites… but I’m fairly confident they will have changed by this time tomorrow

'shady verdant'

'spanish wine'

'chocolatier'

'pacific'

'blacklight'

'high ocTANG'

A mystery no more!

Well, I finally finished the Mystery Socks started on October 1st to celebrate ‘Socktoberfest’. They were a pleasure to knit – just my sort of project with the right combination of interesting construction and yet easy enough not to have to pore over charts late into the evening! I used some Natural Dye Studio Dazzle sock yarn that had been waiting for the right project and the results are a very soft, toasty pair of socks just in time for some chilly weather…

Olive anyone?

teeny tiny sock needles!

Yes… it does feel a little like knitting with cocktail sticks!

I’m road testing these 10cm double pointed needles from Knit Pro… and I like them a lot! After a couple of rounds feeling like I’d somehow been transported into the pages of Gulliver’s Travels I soon developed a nice easy rhythm and in no time I’d got half a sock – and Chris has now stopped asking me if I’m going to do some teeny tiny knitting…

They are smooth and pointy – as you’d expect from Knit Pro – and the short length does make for very speedy, tidy knitting as well as making the sock-in-progress very portable, which is always handy!

(Especially when you are up against a deadline… yes, that is indeed a Through the Loops Mystery Sock that you are spying… ssshhhh!)

The yarn is Natural Dye Studio Dazzle Sock in Aqua… and it is gorgeous!

Socktoberfest 2009!

I have a penchant for hand knitted socks, indeed a pair of socks were my first ‘finished object’ as an adult knitter. It was the desire to knit socks from wonderful yarn that forced me to make the leap from ‘learning to knit’ random squares to a full-on project (and one with 5 double pointed needles, heel turning and toe grafting to boot!)

pomatamus

I usually have a pair of socks on the needles… small enough to carry around lest there should be an ‘opportunity to knit’ while playing at a friends house with a total of 6 children between us (there never is but we live in hope) or watching over my 3 at the local park (there never is but we live in hope), complex enough to keep me engaged – I like a little bit of lace and the odd fancy heel flap to up the ante!

And here we are again… Socktoberfest. The annual month of celebratory sock knitting. For me, celebrating the change in season to sock-wearing weather (we often have that in July here as well but we don’t celebrate that!) and welcoming in the ‘proper’ knitting season – there’s something not-quite-right about knitting on the beach unless you’ve got a tweed blanket over your knees and a Thermos by your side.

This year I have a Mystery Sock on the needles courtesey of Kirsten from Through the Loops who hosted a similar Knit-a-long (KAL) last year to rapturous applause.  Somehow, dividing a sock pattern up into 4 chunks a revealing them week by week results in a perfect pair of socks, complete & resplendant with no hint of the dreaded ‘single sock syndrome’. It’s only day 4 of the KAL and sock 2/clue 1 is almost complete so I have high hopes. I’m using a particularly wonderful shade of Dazzle sock weight yarn from the Natural Dye Studio…

Dazzle - aqua

Just to make Socktoberfest just that little bit more enjoyable we’ve also got 10% off all our sock yarn for the whole of October – so there’s no excuse not to be just as excited about socks as we are!