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Koigu pair!!!

All I can say is.... Hooray!!!!!!! The second sock is done!!!!! I have a gorgeous pair of Koigu socks!
I'm really pleased with the fit of the heel flap - I usually knit an hourglass heel, which is a lot quicker, but always seems stretched to fit. I like this - I'll be knitting it again.
On to the next!

Second sock syndrome and birthday pressies

This is my temptation. These gorgeous things are looking at me all the time I'm battling on with the foot of the second Koigu sock, begging to be cast on as something gorgeous..... But it's so close! Only another 12 rows till the toe begins! I can do that... can't I? This prompts a disturbing question though - if I find a second sock dull marking-time knitting, what chance does the jumper I started have? Uh oh......
This was a surprise birthday parcel from my best friend from Uni, who I haven't seen since the day we graduated (I can't quite believe that, even as I type!) I do have some excuse, though. Last time I was in contact with her, she was in France. We lost touch for a few months, then I get a birthday card from Finland. Finland? Last time I heard, she spoke French, German, Italian, Latin, a bit of Spanish, Russian, Welsh and fluent gibberish, but I didn't think Suomi was one of her languages! I'm seriously behind, here! I might have to learn Mandarin or Greek or Magyar or something to gain a bit of respect. Bit busy at the 'mo, though. I've almost abandoned my plan to learn French this year as well as everything else. I just don't have the time!
The parcel which dropped through my letterbox the other day (redirected from my Mum's) contained a birthday card, a letter and 2 Moomin lollies! Where on earth do you find Moomin lollies? Finland, apparently! Soooo cool! Can't possibly eat them. Not on the diet, anyway.
Yes, I have given up and joined Weightwatchers again. I weigh as much as a baby elephant (or possibly more). I'd like to lose a stone by Christmas, which might be possible? I'll let you know.
Next birthday pressie? A scarf, plus this little chap: From my Auntie Jane. The one who wrote the poem! Could it be a more perfect mascot for Knittingsheep? And I haven't even told her about the blog! Spooky psychic link........ or Mum might have told her, I suppose!
Willow says "What do you want? I'm sleeping!" She has been an exemplary moggy ambassador today... She was out with the chickens wandering round the garden for 3 hours and didn't chase them! She got quite close, nose to beak about 4 inches away, and came to investigate the sweetcorn I was feeding them, but seemed quite happy to just sit and watch them clucking around the place unmolested. Good cat! I gave her lots of praise and treats, because it'll make my life so much easier if I can leave them all to it without having to be there to referee!

A couple of attempts to chart a pattern for chickens... look a bit more like ducks to me. Back to the drawing board...
And last but not least, a fabulous birthday pressie from Carey, the not-quite-sister-in-law up in Scotland: Real Aran wool! It's fabulous, so thick and warm and I think when I've knit it up it'll be so strong and hardwearing! I think I've got 4 100g balls here, but it's very chunky stuff. Does anyone have a clue if it'd be enough to do a jumper? I'm a large lass, so I'm thinking almost certainly not! Maybe a bodywarmer?
Dunno. Anyway, this is how it came, straight from Scottish sheep with no gauge or weight suggested, but it seems to knit up into a beautifully heavy fabric on 5mm needles. Think I'll have to make up my own pattern though! I love the colours, must do some gorgeous pattern, stripes or squares, something to mix up all the colours but not use up too much extra yardage, like fairisle. It won't be a traditional Aran jumper, because I don't like the look of cables on my large torso, but whatever it becomes, I bet I'll still have it in 20 years! Thanks, Carey!

Sock update!

My attempt to felt half a sock (the ankle, not the foot) a little smaller has been a mixed success.
The ankle is definitely a little tighter than before, I think it may need a little more shrinking to be perfect, but as we all know (and have found out to our extreme exasperation - don't ask) felting is a one-way street! So it's better to have to do it again than to go overboard the first time and end up with an incredibly thick baby sock. The koigu has fuzzed a bit, don't know if you can see that clearly here:

If you look at the difference between the fabric on the far right of the photo where the heel flap begins, you can see the colours are sharper. That isn't my camera, it's the sock. It doesn't really bother me, plus I think that the wool will probably fuzz a little during first wearing and washing anyway. Everything else I've ever made in merino has! And they are, at the end of the day, just socks. If you gasped with horror there, get a grip! I love socks too, but you probably need to get out more.

Sock 2 has been started, with 80 stitches cast on instead of 100 (it was quite a bit too big) and is looking like this:

We'll see. I think that by the time I knit the next pair in the purple koigu I got on the same naughty shopping trip, mmmmmm.... koigu...

...the pattern should be perfect. Oh dear, I might have to have another pair of koigu socks! How will I cope? Sooooooo soft......

I was a bit naughty this afternoon though. I started yet another sock (the benefit of many sets of DPNs) in some gorgeous Lorna's Laces.

Pretty colours! I'm just like a magpie really. I can't help it. Just had to see how the colours would come out. From what I've read round and about, lots of people hate it when they get odd pooling effects in handpainted yarn - I love it! I'm far too much of a free spirit to want identical handknit socks. Identical is for bought things, for suits and work clothes and dull. Live a little! Embrace the mad possibilities of wackily different socks! I actually have a 'pair' of house socks of which one is yellowy orange english 56's wool, and the other is turquoise and purple merino - it drives my Mum nuts whenever she comes round, but it makes me smile, and was intended for a perfectly sensible purpose - to see which kind of roving would hold up best as handspun for socks. I'll let you know which one wears out quickest, if you're interested? I bought more of both, of course. Fleece stash is more than equal to yarn stash in terms of sheer volume, although both are still dwarfed by the fabric stash! (It's a great excuse to have a craft room - that's right, a whole room! - because darling hubby knows that if it wasn't in there it would be all over the rest of the house!

That's all for today, except for a purr from this gorgeous little madam who has just jumped on the desk and pushed lots of papers off on to the floor to make room to sleep...

I heard you all say 'ahhhh........', you big softies!

Koigu sock finished!

My first ever completed koigu sock. Yippee! (Yes, my ankles are chunky. So is the rest of me.)

There is, I will admit, a little more to this story than meets the eye. The actual first shot of the finished sock looked like this: You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the foot was too short. By about a quarter of an inch. This may not sound like it matters, but as a woman with size 8 feet (European 42), I have been wearing mens' socks since I was 12 because womens' socks are made to fit sizes 4-7, and I can't stand that feeling of the heel slipping down under the foot. So. I went to bed, slept on it, then got up on Saturday morning feeling calm, and did this:

It's a good job darling hubby was out. He's frighteningly enthusiastic at unravelling knitting. he loves to see all the loops pull out of each other. Now, it's lovely to have your husband interested in any aspect of this loopy girly craft, but a little scary to hand over something that you only want unravelled a little bit. A month's work can be undone in 30 seconds, if you're not careful. Not that he's ever destroyed any of my hard work that I haven't asked him to, but I'm still a teensy bit scared....

Anyway, sock reknitted with a far pointier toe, and I decided it was time for my first attempt at grafting. Deep breath.....No, I fluffed it. so I unpicked it, and consulted the internet. I don't know who put video clips of knitting techniques here, but whoever you are, I love you. Don't ever take them away or I might have a nervous breakdown. This has saved me from screaming sooooo many times.

Sock toe grafted. I dunno about you, but I was pretty impressed for a first attempt! And with the pointier toe, the foot is now a perfect fit:

Now all I have to worry about is that the ankle is a teensy bit loose. Can you felt half a sock?? I'm going to give it a go! I just couldn't bear to rip the whole thing back! I'll let you know...

I'm a bit scared about the second sock, since all the yarn I had left over from this one was about two and a half metres! Ouch! I only bought 2 skeins, one per sock, and just set off blindly, hoping I would get a sock out of each one. Knitiing top-down, I guess that was quite a risk! Please, knitting goddess, don't punish me on the other sock......?

Good news for today: Willow is very nearly back to her old self. She's finally been let out this week, for short runs at first, but now her cat flap is open and she can come and go as she pleases. She's very interested in the chickens, keeps sitting on their run and dangling a paw through - I think it may be awhile before we get an egg! They're a bit on edge. Still, I had them all out on the lawn together yesterday, and so long as I stood between them, she didn't chase them, they all just watched each other carefully. I'm sure they'll get along eventually. My Mum's never had any problems. The very clever thing Willow has done, though, is get her tail moving! The vet said that only 2% of cats would ever recover movement, even though she had feeling in it, but after 3 weeks of it being limp, 2 days before we had to take her back to the vets to see if she would have to have it amputated, she twitched it in front of us! i shrieked so loudly that she ran away! It's getting stronger every day, and yesterday I managed to get proof:

It's a little dark, but that is a cat with her tail in the air! she had it almost straight up when I went downstairs this morning. I'm so proud of her! I think she must be the luckiest cat in the world.