Warm feet, warm wool, warm quilt

The crayons socks with the eye-of-partridge sole are finished, and on the feet. Hopefully they will keep my tootsies warm tomorrow, standing in a field in Wales all day.

Aren't they beautiful? I especially love the little dots of color on the sole created by the stitch pattern. The idea behind this is to make the soles more hard-wearing: my socks never wear out on the heels, always on the sole. Usually under the ball of my foot - maybe I tiptoe everywhere and don't notice!
There has also been more Tomten knitting. I've finished the first sleeve and started the second, but it doesn't look very different from yesterday, so no picture today. Instead, some new acquisitions: (bought with xmas money from the M-I-L... thankyou!)

Grey Shetland top from Spinning Weal in Clevedon. I had 100g of black Shetland for xmas from my lovely hubby, and it was heavenly to spin. I have visions of a lovely chunky fair isle jacket in natural sheep colours. I have more black and some white on order.

The purple cotton fabric in the background also came home with me, along with some cotton batting. They are to complete a second funky baby quilt, just like Hardy's. Here's the top, very similar, using up the extra squares of fabric that I cut out:

I just love mad multi-coloured things. Can you tell?

Tomten resurrected

My exceedingly chunky Tomten made in Lamb's pride bulky, which weighs a ton but will be super warm, has come out of the abandoned pile and gained a foot of sleeve in the last two nights. It's almost certainly the cold weather plus the prospect of standing in a field all day Sunday that's driving me... Not that it will be finished in time, no way. Not even if I knitted constantly from now until Sunday morning without sleep. It's only about half done, if you consider the other sleeve, a hood and a front band. My arms are aching from holding the weight of it, and most of it's resting in my lap as I knit!
Tomten, with one sleeve about three-quarters done. Still not sure about the hood. Want one for warmth, but don't want to look totally stupid. On the other hand, if it's cold enough to wear this, I probably won't care how I look. I'm even planning on lining it with fleece at some point, but I'll have to decide which is the right side first. I love both, and at the moment it's reversible.

Mumiversary

So, the mystery shawl was going brilliantly, right up until the point where it wasn't. I need to rip a few rows and rethink. So it's in disgrace at the moment, until I work up the patience to rip back and re-knit.

Meanwhile, I keep trying to phone my Mum to wish her Happy Birthday, but she's out! I dunno, officially an OAP and out painting the town red.... Well, actually at sewing group, but that's not as amusing an image.

Happy Birthday, Mum!!

Designing something easy...

...is surprisingly hard!!
This fabulous variegated grey (which isn't as dark as this pic, but does have that fabulous shine thanks to being 20% bamboo) is my test-knit of a knotty problem: Design a pretty little shawlette pattern that's simple enough for my Mum to have a go at. She really loved the Ishbel and I think she'd really like another 7 or 8 in lots of different colours. Since I'd like to knit other things as well, I'm having a go at a simple pattern. I'm talking really simple - I want it to be elegant, but I'm trying for one pattern row with only 4 stitches: knit, purl, YO and SK2P. That way, she may get through it. Possibly. There's still her first and only sock sitting without a toe in her knitting basket...
Watch this space!

Finished!!

It was touch-and-go for a while there, but at 00:20hrs this morning, I cast off Mum's Ishbel. It was quickly soaked and pinned out to block dry, and then this morning hastily unpinned and wrapped. This picture is the most accurate colour of it (on my screen at least). I think I may be making yet another! It's such a useful size and shape... Mum's also asked me to try and simplify the pattern for her, so that she can have a go. I'm going to try to chart the edge pattern only onto the middle stockinette section... that way it's only one pattern row to remember!

I think she liked it... it was round her neck within seconds of unwrapping! This is my Mum laughing in disbelief that her children could be mad enough to really cover a cake with 60 candles... it was quite warm!

Happy Birthday, Mum!