Hi there, once again I’m late… I have been quite busy at work lately and so everything else has been somewhat on the back burner unfortunately.
But today is Friday, I have finished work and am looking forward to the weekend. I have plans of knitting and lots of prepping! Yes prepping because I’m going to vend at a yarn festival here in Normandy. It is the first show I vend at since 2014 so it’s been a while. It’s also the first wool/yarn festival to be held here in Normandy so very exciting. I have lots of organising to do, lots of yarn buying and dyeing, planning etc. And I hope to get some of that done this weekend; not to mention as much knitting as I can possibly cram in.
I will be telling you more about this yarn festival in later posts here on the blog.
Since my last post I have managed to finish 2 1/2 pairs of socks. So I thought I should show those to you today. First up is a pair called Sterntaler socks by Becky Sorensen of Sopranoknits. These were a quick knit. Fairly simple socks with a little bit of texture. It says to fade out the textured pattern on the back before knitting the heel. I tried that but didn’t like it so I just stopped when it was time for the heel and did not do any sort of transition and I think it looks just fine.
I knit these using my SOX yarn and I think they look quite nice. I’m setting these aside to use as samples of my SOX yarn knit up on my stand at the wool festival I told you about.
The second pair I finished just a few minutes ago. These are the Resfeber socks by Mina Philipp of the Knitting Expat. This is the first pair of her Wanderlust sock club. Being the crazy sock knitter I am, I signed up for both of her sock clubs this year so I will be getting a pattern a month and the plan is to knit them all as they arrive!
This was a simple textured knit and purl pattern with a garter stitch heel which was fun to knit. I used my new favorite sock yarn which is a merino/mohair/nylon blend. It is perfect for socks and garments alike and I think it is especially perfect for colorwork projects. The yarn is ultra soft and a joy to work with and because of the mohair there is a slight halo.
I joined a sock test knit at the last moment this week. I joined on Monday, got the pattern on Tuesday and had to finish one sock by Thursday. And I made it! Well, I was only knitting the smallest size so not really a big feat but hey!
So this was a test knit for Dana Gervais. It’s been a while since I test knit for her and so I was very happy to be able to join, even if last minute.
This was a fun knit and even if the pattern looks somewhat complex it really is super simple and easily memorizable. I knit this sock in my SPARKLES yarn in the Something about CC colorway which is a very very bright pink! Now I just have to finish the second sock so it does not become a lingering wip as so many before!
And on the subject of lingering wips, it is almost time to start my challenge! I just need to finish the second sock I just showed you and I will be ready to start fresh beginning of February. The idea now is to always have 1 new sock and one old wip sock on the go at all times. I know I will always have at least two pairs of socks at any given time so I figure if I do one from my pile of wips every time I start a new one; I might actually get something done.
I think I will be starting with the socks from my wips. I’m currently somewhat actively working on 2 cardigans so the ones in the pile will have to wait a bit longer. I’m also getting ready to cast on for a new wrap so the old shawls will have to wait too.
I’m sort of hopeless! I’m sure you are rolling your eyes at me as you read this. Thinking I’m never going to do as I say. And you may be right! But I’m going to try. I really do need to make my pile of wips disappear and I prefer to do so by knitting everything up rather than frogging everything.
Some of you have shared with me that you too have lingering projects that need love and I’m happy to have you join me. I have opened a thread in my Ravelry group so we can share and give each other the moral knitterly support needed to keep focused:)
My knitting plans for next week are to finish the second sock I talked about and to choose the first wip sock to work on. I have one cast on planned ( and many more I’m dreaming of). It is a brioche wrap in two colors called the Midnight Sherbert by Madeleine Windsor. I have dyed up some organic, non superwash DK merino yarn especially for that.
And I’m going to continue working on my colorwork cardigan that I have yet to show you…. I think I have to write a whole post about that one. I have so much to say but just to tease you, here’s a glimps
That’s all for today folks. Thank you again for stopping by and spending some time with me. I hope you have enjoyed your time in my company. I hope to be back beginning of next week as usual. February is around the corner and lots of fun knitting is planned. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a good work week ahead.
Until next time, take care and enjoy your knitting:)
Super excited for you for the yarn festival – I had to google it to find out where it was and then sadly became disappointed as we aren’t in France for those dates! I look forward to seeing a sneak preview of your prep here – maybe there might be a few pics afterwards too?? Love the colourwork you are working on.
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Yes the festival is here in Normandy, not next to where I live so we will have to get a hotel. I will be sure to show you my prep for the festival as well as pictures from the event. Thank you for the compliment on my color work, I’m very excited about it as it is my first all over color work garment, first steek and first time with this particular yarn. I’ll be telling you more about this soon
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Good luck with it all. And WOW you tried steeking – looks terrifying!
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I’m about to try steeking! I’ll let you know when I get there and be sure to share pictures of the process:)
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Look forward to that x
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good luck for the yarn festival, and ooooh those shocking pink socks are very yummy ^^
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Thank you;)
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Stunning new socks, and the colours and yarn is amazing. Love the sparkly bits too.
I absolutely love the cardigan you are working on. Those colours together is amazing. 🙂 Can not wait to see more.
All the best with the yarn festival. It is sure to be pleasant.
Hope you had a good crafty weekend and enjoyed it. 🙂
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Very exciting that you’ll be participating au fil de la manche. I wish I still lived in France or at least in Europe, there are so many festivals I wish I could go to. I really like this hot pink sock, it looks amazing! And can’t wait to see more of your colourwork, it’s beautiful 😍
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thank you 🙂
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Ooh a yarn festival, how exciting! That must need a lot of prep though, good luck to you 🙂
I love the pattern on the test knit sock, is it really not difficult? It looks so fancy
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thank you:) and yes truly the pattern I’m test knitting really is simple to realize
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Hello! I might have missed it but is that Dana Gervais pattern yet available?
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Yes it had been published and you can find it here https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/speckled-eggs
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