Just when you thought it was safe to peep over the parapet…here are more unblogged socks from last year.

I promise this is the last of the pairs I made for the hubby, but Miss Minx has agreed to pose for photos at the weekend if we can squeeze it in.  Her socks are much cuter!

However, these aren’t too shabby, if we squint and ignore the mismatching.  This was the last ball of sock yarn in my stash and I swear I’m only buying either plain or matching stripes going forwards.

Thankfully the colours in this yarn are so lovely all is forgiven.

The fact that it makes the most perfect stitches also helps!

It now feels rather odd not to be knitting socks.  Hubby had so many that over Christmas he went all Marie Kondo on his sock drawer.  It’s now only full of socks that spark joy.  Thankfully there are plenty, which leaves me free to knit other things.

So I’m swatching for a sweater for me.

And casting on these little beauties for Miss Minx for Easter.

If you’ve never come across Little Cotton Rabbits’ delightful animals before, go, check them out.  They are just beautiful!

Oooooh it’s nearly Christmas.  And whilst I’ve all but avoided the madness of making lots of gifts, I have finished all the sock yarn in my stash. More on those later, because my treat to myself for achieving this was to, finally, knit the Mind the Gap yarn from Trailing Clouds over on Etsy.

I bought this yarn at the beginning of August, following a tip from my lovely friend, Julia, who is happy to enable all the stripy sock knitting Chez Stitches.  Within minutes of her text arriving with a link to the yarn, it had been ordered.  And it’s been sitting patiently in a drawer until all less exciting yarns had been converted into socks.

I haven’t been so patient about wanting to knit it. But, it was well worth the wait!

The yarn is just delicious.  Its 75% British Blue Faced Leicester, 25% Nylon.  Crisp enough to get really nice stitch definition, yet squooshy enough to feel lovely in the hand.  It’s not remotely splitty, and slips off the needles at just the right rate (I knitted these on KnitPro Symfonie DPNs).

The colours…..oh, the colours are deeply saturated and sublime, and represent each of the colours of the different lines on the London Underground. The name of the yarn is a reference to signage and announcements on the London Underground, which extoll you to “mind the gap” between the train and the platform, and therefore avoid untimely mutilation, or worse!

Thankfully, the yarn is dyed in such a way that you get perfectly matching stripes all the way through.  Joy!

This is the first project in a long time that I was sad to finish.  I really wished that Trailing Clouds did other, equally luscious, colourways, because I’d be sure to purchase more yarn from her then.

If you like a stripy sock then I cannot recommend this yarn highly enough.  It’s just wonderful.

Hubby is overjoyed that they’re finished (to be fair, I did make him wait!).  I’m trying to get him to save them till Christmas.  I’m not sure I’ll succeed!

And speaking of Christmas…this time next week it will all be over.  So I’m ducking out until the new year.  2017 has been a bear!  Whilst we have much to be grateful for, and many blessings to count as the year bimbles to it’s close, there have been trials and tribulations this year that I am glad are behind us.

So for the rest of the month I shall be spending family time, chilling out with my loved ones, and edging slowly into a new year that I am hopeful will be gentler and lacking in drama.

Let me take this opportunity, then, to wish you and yours a peaceful and joyful Christmas, and a new year filled with happy adventures and dreams come true.

I’ll see you there!

As I’m working through my fabric stash, I’m also working through the yarn stash, although, thankfully, I have only a few skeins of sock yarn yet to knit. My friends are as generous with yarn as they are with fabric, and this ball was a gift from Linda last Christmas.

I was glad to get to this one, as it has obviously been sitting there for a while.  The colours are more subdued than I usually knit, but I really enjoyed the change!

I love the little pop of burnt orange, which lifts the blues and purples to another level.  I’m sure there’s a colour theory explanation for this, but I just find it a really pleasing colour combination.

The yarn is study and quite crisp in the hand. This concerned me whilst I was knitting them, fearing that they’d be uncomfortable for The Husband to wear.  But I’ve just checked with him and he assures me they are comfy, cosy and warm.  Which is pretty much what we’re looking for in a sock, right!?

They’re also machine washable, which is absolutely a must in my book.  I know the hand washable yarns are softer and totally wondrous, but socks in this house have a habit of sneaking into a shirts wash and meeting an untimely, felty end if they’re hand-wash only.

And also, joy of joys, the stripes match.  I have a pair of socks on the needles that are likely to be scrapped, because I just cannot any more with the mismatched stripes.

Project notes

“Yarn Shop Day is an annual celebration that takes place in hundreds of yarn and haberdashery stores across the country. Pay a visit to your local participating shop on the day and take advantage of what’s on offer, ranging from free patterns, discounts and competitions to book signings, goody bags and workshops.”

Yarn Shop Day (YSD) was held this year on 6th May and shortly afterwards Instagram lit up with lovely examples of socks being knitted in the official YSD yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners.

It’s such a pretty stripe that I couldn’t resist, and immediately hunted down a ball for socks for The Hubby.

My enthusiasm didn’t stretch to getting them straight on the needles, but they’re done now and I’m very happy with them.  Funnily enough, so is The Hubs!  We all know how much that man adores a hand knitted, colourful stripe!

As a little aside, I was recently knitting socks in the car with the kids in the back.  Hubby was jovially bemoaning the fact that the socks were on the needles and not on his feet, when Miss Button piped up from the back that perhaps it was time he learned to knit his own socks so that mummy could knit other things.  She possibly had the sweater for her, that was also on the needles, in mind, but I hooted with laughter. 

She may also have had an extra treat that day…just sayin’!

I have to say that WYS make a really lovely sock yarn.  It’s soft but sturdy, with good stitch definition, and, having knit with it before, I can confirm that it washes and wears well too. I think that makes the WYS sock yarns are great value for money.  If your budget doesn’t stretch to some of the lovely artisan sock yarns out there, or, like me, you like to stick your socks in the washing machine and then over a radiator to dry (please don’t judge) then you can’t go wrong with WYS.

Also, they make stripy yarn with stripes that can be easily matched across a pair of socks.  I may have mentioned previously that this is a personal obsession bugbear preference of mine.

I’d definitely recommend this yarn!  City Knits still had stock last time I looked.

Project notes

For some time now Pa Stitches-in-Law has been eyeing up the socks I’ve been knitting for The Husband and dropping some not very subtle hints about having cold feet.

Knowing that he wanted a pair for himself, and that he’s the same sock size as hubby, it was a complete no-brainer to make him a pair for Father’s Day this year.

Last weekend he and Button finally took some pictures of said socks for me to share with you.  So without further ado….

The yarn is lovely but it’s impossible to stripe match so I won’t be using it again.

For this pair I unwound the whole remaining ball and still couldn’t make it work.

Unmatched socks drive me unreasonably crazy but I’ll be sad not to knit this again as the socks are lovely and wear really well.  If unmatched stripes don’t bother you then I heartily recommend the yarn.

Thankfully Pa isn’t remotely bothered and absolutely loves his new socks.  He’s now angling for a second pair.  How many weeks until Christmas???????

Project notes

Pattern:                             Regia 4 ply sock

Pattern cost:                     Free

Yarn:                                 Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock

Colourway:                      11

Purchased at:                  Black Sheep Wools

Yarn cost:                         Sssssh….it’s a secret!