Rye Socks

As January nears its end, I still think of and attempt to accomplish my New Year's Resolutions.  I wish to remember Socrates' quote "The secret of change is to focus all your energy on not fighting the old, but on building the new."

I would like to try and concentrate more on finishing and focusing on projects/w.i.p.s.  I would like to be just as excited and motivated on finishing a project as I am thrilled to start a project.  I would like to not be overwhelmed by the amount of projects on the go.  With focus and some dedication, I would like to greatly reduce the amount of projects on the go at the same time.

I am working on these Rye socks by Tincanknits.  It is a lovely free sock pattern that the Dublin Knit Collective have chosen for a KAL (knit along).  I am knitting two pairs, one in sock weight and one in worsted weight.  I am hoping to finish the sock weight first.  The sock weight yarns are my own hand dyed yarns - Ellie and Ada Sock Yarn in the Prismatic Colourway.

Happy New Year!  Happy Saturday!  Happy Weekend!  Happy Knitting!

Stitch Markers and Socks

 I've been making stitch markers and have been enjoying decorating my knitting with them.  The top photo is a picture of stitch markers that I made from a treasured bracelet.  One of my closest friends made me the bracelet whilst we were students, sharing a flat together.  The elastic broke and I kept the beads.  I made stitch markers out of the beads and I love them. 

That Fischer Price dog is another treasure of mine, a prized possession.

Green Sulley

This is the second pair of socks that I knitted with this stitch pattern.  Called this sock pattern Sulley because the first pair were knitted for a friend.  Named it Sulley after the character in Monsters Inc.  Every time that I see Sulley, it makes me think of my friend, Fluffy, which is nice.

I dyed this yarn with avocado pits and skins then overdyed it with a bit of acid dye.

Also have decided that my gauge is so loose with 2.5mm that I am going to knit socks with 2mm or 2.25 mm for the foreseeable future.

Vestigial Finished

This is my second pair of Vestigials.  Nice and easy pattern.  I love the stitch pattern Mistake Rib, it's my go to scarf pattern, delighted to see it knitted in the round.  I dyed the sock yarn.  It is a LHogan 4 ply wool with nylon and the colourway is Shady Shaman.  I was watching a lot of The Mighty Boosh at the time that I dyed the yarn.  Naboo was the inspiration for the colourway and name Shady Shaman.

The pattern is by Beata Jezek of Hedgehogfibres.  You can find the free pattern on Ravelry or on her website here.  And since, I am a fan of starting projects, I already cast on and started two more pairs.

Happy Knitting!

Feet and Flowers

This is a Notecard from the Roman Holiday Series.  You can find it at the Ellie And Ada Etsy Shop.  I love my cat figurine.  It was a lucky find at a second hand shop a couple years back.  I actually got myself this print on a tote bag from my Society Six page.  I love it so much and use it everyday.

Was going to do a granny square with a lot of sock scraps.  I stopped here a long, long time ago.  Laziness and uncertainty got the best of me.  I don't know if I want to knit/crochet another wool blanket.  I do love the look of an auld granny square, not going to lie.  What do folks do with sock yarn scraps?  I've knitted log cabin blankets with mine.  I might make a Lifesavers Cardigan with some of the sock yarn leftovers.  It is another Tanis Fiber Arts cardigan.  I mostly knit worsted/Aran or 4 ply yarns.  In Ireland, you pretty much need some sort of sweater or cardigan all year round.

The flowers are my pansies from last year.  Hardy Soldiers, I think they're going to be just fine this Spring.

Going to work on some soup and finish off a present of socks.  If you are a sock knitter and want a really handy chart of all the shoe sizes.  This way, at least this is what I think, if you know their shoe size, you can figure out their foot in inches or centimetres.  In my experience, it is hard to get people to measure their feet.  Funny but true!

Sulley Socks

Mondays are my days off.  I spent most of today knitting.  I started a pair of socks yesterday.  I am using Wendy Roam 4 ply (2002 Derwent- colour)  I got it at This is Knit.  It is such a lovely colour.

I tend to knit socks using the magic loop method on 100 cm circular needles.  These directions are best suited for this method but easily converted to using dpns.

I cast on 60 stitches with 4 ply/sock yarn on 2.5 mm needles.  Arrange 30 stitches on each half on a magic loop.  

I knitted 2 x 2 rib (k2, p2) for one inch. 

Knit 2 rounds.  

Next round,  k1, p1 for one round, then knit 2 rounds.  Repeat the last three rounds to form the pattern.  

Knit in this pattern for 7 inches.  

For the heel flap, work on half of the stitches only. (work on one side of stitches - that's 30 stitches) back and forth in a slip stitch pattern.

Row 1 (RS): *Slip 1, Knit 1

Row 2 (WS): Slip 1, Purl to end of the row

You will be working back and forth on these 30 stitches and repeating row 1 and 2 a further 14 times.

(You will have worked 30 rows in all).

To Shape the Heel:

Row 1: Slip the first stitch, p16 sts, p2tog p1, turn

Row 2: Slip first st, k5, ssk, k1, turn

Row 3: Slip first st, p6, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 4: Slip first st, k7, ssk, k1, turn

Continue in the same way by taking in one more stitch every row until all the stitches from the heel flap are included, you will have 18 stitches on this needle.

Gusset Shaping:

Knit across the heel, pick up 16 stitches from the side of the heel flap.  Pick up the slipped chain like stitches and pick up an extra stitch if you have to for the gap between the heel flap and the top of foot.

Knit across the top of the foot in pattern (30 stitches)

Pick up the same amount of stitches on the other side of the heel flap (make sure there is no gap again)

Round 1: Knit across gusset until there is 3 stitches left, k2tog, k1 and before the top (the pattern part) section, knit across front in pattern, k1, ssk, knit across rest of gusset/round

Round 2: Knit across gusset, knit across top section in pattern, knit till the end of the round.

Repeat these two rounds until you have 30 stitches left on the bottom section and the 30 stitches left for the top patterned section.

Foot:

Knit sole (bottom) stitches and knit in pattern the top section (pattern section) until the foot measures 2 inches less than your desired length of the heel.

Toe Shaping:

Round 1: K1, ssk, k to last 3 sts on back, k2tog, k1. Repeat on back of foot.

Round 2: Knit around.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 12 stitches on each half/24 stitches in total

Then graft the two sides together using the the kitchener stitch.

Repeat for other sock.

Hello November!

It's hard to believe it is November!  It was a warm October but today is chilly and I have a fire on and decided to spin some wool before dinner.  I haven't been spinning as much but I would like to go through my spinning stash before getting any more.  It's a cozy evening here.

I finally started that scarf for a friend that I have been meaning to knit.  I hope to make a huge dent into it tonight.  I am also knitting hats.  I want to knit hats with knitted linings.  I even saw hats in Lidl's that have fleece lining.  I knitted my sister a hat a couple of years ago and my mother sewed a fleece lining in it.  I might look into making some of those. Also mittens with lining....  Operation Warm!

Lexi loves wooly blankets.


New socks that I knitted.  Love the colours.

Flowers

I took pictures of my knitted socks and my first attempt at gardening (this year).  I have somehow managed to keep these flowers alive.  They are amazing since they have practically died but have been revived many times.  Some family members are much more green thumbed than myself but I hope to learn as I go.

Wonder what the neighbours thought of me photographing socks on my feet.

The socks are plain knitted socks- what many knitters call vanilla sock pattern.

I dyed the sock yarn.

Toys

Lexi got a stuffed animal at the car boot sale.  Her eyes light up and gets very attentive when there is a stuffed animal on the scene.  I decided to try her with stuffed toys again because before she used to destroy and eat them.  It wasn't good.  Now she is a mature lady of 2, she has just been playing with the toys the last couple of days.  I am still keeping an eye on her.

Socks are finished!  The Vestigial pair is finally finished.  I finished a plain pair of socks as well.  I almost finished the first sleeve of a sweater.  I also found a ball of yarn that I needed to find to finish a sweater that I spun and needed to finish the sweater.  Didn't even go looking for it and I wouldn't of found it.  It was in a project bag for another sweater.

Haven't sewn a stitch in a while.  Maybe this weekend.

I made applesauce.  It's my not favourite thing to eat but I had nothing to eat for breakfast.  I added too much sugar and it was like eating apple pie filling.  I added more apples.  Now I have lots.  I hope it's nicer now.  Going to make more chutney, hopefully this weekend.

Socks and More Socks

The purple socks with the black heel was finished ages ago but I just weaved in the ends today.  I dyed the yarn and called the colourway Priscilla Purple.
Brian's socks are the blue socks were knitted with another yarn that I dyed.
The other socks are Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball, that I purchased about 3-4 years ago in The RDS Knit and Stitch Show.

Hopefully, I will get my sock knitting mojo back and finish presents for loved ones and getting cracking on other sock projects.

I went apple picking on Sunday.  I didn't take any pictures because it was lashing rain.  I might take a photo of my spoils tomorrow.  

Knitting and Cake

I have a bit of birthday knitting to do yet.  Still slugging away and it is all late.  Lucky for me, the birthday folk are flexible.  Weird year for birthdays.  Our family's birthdays come in clumps and mine is the last one.  The July-August group have 2- 3 weeks between each.  Usually by the time my birthday comes around, we are all fed up of cake and borderline diabetic.  One year, there was so much sugar in the icing/frosting that none of us could sleep the full night until the cake was finished.

This year, my mother didn't want a cake.  My brother is crazy busy at the moment, so we will celebrate or I will make him a cake when he gets time off.  I don't think this soon to be birthday girl (me) will be having a cake as well.  I am trying out the Autoimmune Protocol Diet this summer.  Anytime, I try and go back on any of the no list, I am not well.  As much as I love cake, I don't want to be sick on my birthday.  It is mad to think that this is my first year without a cake but it is a worthy sacrifice to feel good.  (Not 100% easy all the time)

This is a raglan that I am working on and hope to finish soon.  It is actually a remake.  I followed a pattern that is one size fits all.  I must of made a mistake.  Not to worry!  I finally ripped it out a few months ago and finally started cracking this summer.  I have a lot of projects on the go.  I love starting new projects the most.  Trying to finish more projects!!!!

The mitten is knitted with some Studio Donegal and some of my handspun from batts I made myself a while back.

Mint Julep

These are simple socks knitted with Merino yarn that I dyed with tan commercial yarn that I had in my yarn stash for ages.  I finished these on my holiday in Rome with my family in March.  I didn't weave in the ends for ages.  Love the colour.  Sea Foam was my favourite Crayola crayon.

Many Socks On The Go

One of my favourite things is hand knitted socks.  I pretty much only wear hand knitted socks.  I am going to start photographing more of what I am making.

I knit socks every morning after breakfast while reading my kindle and drinking my coffee.  I love reading and knitting my kindle.  I found it difficult to knit and hold a book open as I knit.  MacGyver could have learnt a thing or two from me, I tell you.  I was getting very creative with ways to keep the book open as I read using hair bobbins and whatnot.

I started sewing box bags so now I have more happy homes for my sock knitting.  I have big plans of starting socks and have the top, ribbed bit down and ready for a trip in a car or to the cinema.  As my 7th grade Social Studies teacher said 'Organisation is the key to success.'  I have a few pairs always on the go.  Can't wait till the organisation embraces other avenues of my life.

The pink socks were finished and photographed in Rome.  Was there in March 2013 on a family trip.  The green pair are modeled by the lovely Lexi.  I had 3 skeins of this yarn that I dyed.
The pair that Lexi is wearing was for my father.


I am going to cast on another pair of socks for my brother soon, as soon as I find a pair of needles not in use. I got a nice thank you on Facebook from him. He was delighted to put them on after work after coming in from a typical rainy, Irish winter night.

I have opened an <a href="http://http://www.etsy.com/shop/EllieAndAda?ref=search_shop_redirect"></a>Etsy shop called Ellie and Ada.  At the moment, I have some stitch markers for sale.  I am hoping to have more products for sale soon.  Have a Fun Friday!  It is sunny day here in Ireland, a rare and welcome gem!