Summer Socks

A new post about my Summer Socks over on my new Kate Lore Designs Blog.

Kate Lore Designs Blog

I was looking for a quick and easy project to fill in between bigger projects and socks are always first up in my mind.

I didn’t need another pair of long wintery wooly socks but instead I decided I need to add to my summer sock collection.

I have this skein of yarn that my sister dyed and gifted to me last year. It’s such happy colours and who doesn’t want happy feet?

In an effort to make the socks, and therefore my feet, even more happy, I decided to do the heel and toe in a brilliant yellow. The ball band was lost many eons ago and I’ve been using it to make “flower” pompoms.

It was just sitting on my desk as I cast on my socks and I made the decision to add it in. There is a bright yellow that appears in the variegated so it…

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project :: all wound up

Early this summer, I was happy and delighted to be asked to knit some samples for my favourite yarn shop All Wound Up. I joke that’s my local LYS even though it’s in another country.

I had to keep these projects under wraps until the Christmas showcase that happened last weekend, and so now I’m going to highlight what I got to work on.

Brittania Toddler Sweater. The pattern is by Tin Can Knits and this pattern, as with all of their patterns I’ve worked with, was a delight to knit. The yarn is Berocco Vintage DK.

A simple cable pattern up the centre with diagonal eyelets and garter stitch. It was interesting to knit and got me back into some cabling grooves.

Modular Christmas Stocking. This pattern is by Nona Davenport, one of the owners of the shop. In her pattern she offers many different design options for you to choose from to make your own stocking unique to you. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash.

It’s been awhile since I did colourwork and it was fun. I need to do more of it, although I had to research again how to hold the yarns to get the dominant colour knit. I can’t even remember which it is, but I did save a youtube tutorial for the next time!

Freeport Cardigan. Oh my, this was a bit of a challenge and got me to work on my cabling skills as well as other things that I haven’t done in a long time. With Nona’s suggestion of colour coding the cable charts, it actually went very smoothly and the yarn, an aran weight, made the project go quicker than I thought it would. The yarn is Berocco Remix.

Of course I decided to start this when we were having our hottest weather. I would situate myself at my dining room table so the sweater would rest on the table and not me and I then pointed the fans in my direction. Iced lattes helped as well.

Wussypillow Beret and Mitts. Actually I made only one mitt, and it was a long one! This had a very simple charted pattern and despite it being fingering weight, knit up pretty fast. The yarn is Anzula Nebula and it’s sparkly!

Tiny Window Cats. These little puffs of kittens were so fun to do! I was provided with four different colourways and tried to come up with some different combinations of kittens. A lesson learned however, don’t use wood DPNs as they might (will) break when trying to fiddle with the ears. Metal will do nicely.  The yarn is Berocco Vintage DK and it’s being sold as little kits at the shop.

So that has kept me pretty busy the last few months, trying to make the deadline and get some of my own projects worked on. My hands have knitter’s fatigue right now, so I’m taking at least a week, maybe two, break before I cast on for a pullover sweater for myself.

 

But that doesn’t mean I can’t crochet! Moorland Blanket.

The blanket was inspired by the moors of England. From the green hills to the purple wildflowers to the blue skies. The pattern is by Lucy at Attic24 and the yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, sold as a package through the Wool Warehouse in the UK.

My goal was to get it finished and I did get it done! It’s amazingly big even though I made it smaller than the pattern. There will be lots of cuddling and cocooning under this blanket this winter.

Fall Shawls

Okay, I think I’m good with autumnal shawls this year. I’ve been on a craze lately finishing wips, starting new shawls, spontaneously buying yarn for another… With the cooler weather around here now, I find that I’m usually wrapped up in a shawl so they all are definitely being used!

For my watercolour mood: my HandPainted Eyelet Ridge Shawl.

 

The yarn is KnitPicks Stroll Bare Sock Blanks. My sister and our friend Julie and I spent a fun afternoon dyeing our blanks. I was going to make socks, but decided to make a shawl instead. I’ve made my pattern a few times for myself out of lace or handspun, but I didn’t have a shawl out of fingering weight yarn. Now I do.  Ravelry Link.

In the mornings when I wake up early, it’s cold in the house. Our furnace doesn’t kick in until 7 and I’m usually up at least an hour before that. My Mysteries, She Wrote shawl is what I wrap myself up in to keep cozy while I have my first coffee o’day.

 

I started this in May when the KAL started but set it aside to work on summer projects. I picked it up again to finish and voila, my cozy mornings shawl.  Ravelry Link.

Fresh off the needles is my Spice Market Shawl. The pattern is Sweet Shoppe Shawl, but given the colours I chose and the season, I’m spicing this up.

This was a totally spontaneous purchase. I was visiting my LYS, Urban Yarns here in North Vancouver, and I saw a sample made up in colours almost identical to these. It looked fun, (polka dots! stripes! picot edge!) and I really wanted to work with this yarn, Peppino by Rhichard Devrieze. It looks and feels very much like Koigu and lo and behold, Rhichard was a dyer for Koigu. The yarn is a superwash merino and it is gorgeous in colour, textural in feel and really soft to wear. I’ve got it on now and it’s keeping the chill off while making me feel a little like wonder woman. Ravelry Link.

 

So that is what I’ve been up to. There’s been other knitting happening as well. I did a lot of sample knitting for All Wound Up and I’ll write another post about what I made for them.

Next up for me, work continues on my Moorland Blanket. Crocheting is a very welcome change from knitting, as well as swatching for a new sweater for me. Happy October!

🙂

September

Dipping my toes in the pool and trying to get back in the swing of things.

Even with the kids grown and out on their own, September still feels like the start of the year…. without all those pesky resolutions and snow. More to come…

here and there

As a follow up to This and That, Here and There seemed a natural title. Also, it’s a rambling kind of post. shrug.

Okay, I have to admit that I have fallen off the 52week bandwagon. I should have known but January 1st always gives me hope that I can do anything, but alas. No.

There:

 

I just got back from a trip to Ohio with my sister to visit our brother and his family. They live in a small town close to where our father was born and our grandparents, great-grandparents. The corn is in our blood it seems. We had a great visit, ate way too much yummy food, visited family, drove around the countryside, sat and knit during an all-day thunderstorm, watched the fireflies with amazement.

 

May we present to you… corn. Shoulder high before the 4th of July!

Getting to Columbus, however, is no easy task and it was an all-day (24 hours) expedition that entailed changed flights, backtracking flights, puddle jumpers and conflicting information. Why does it have to be so hard???

New York is not on the way to Columbus from Vancouver, but nevertheless, we had a layover there. shrug.

Our favourite porch at the Ivy Inn, our B&B in Saint Paris

Hello jolly tractor man… one of about 30 that drove by our place because tractor parades are a thing.

 

Stately Kiser Mansion, refurbished and gorgeous.

Early mornings on the porch.

Stained glass in the Ivy Inn.

Here:

I’m back home now and happy to be here to get some projects done before I head off on another trip with my oldest daughter.

I brought these socks to work on for the Ohio trip. I packed minimally, carry on only, so I wanted something small, compact and that would last me the whole time without running out of knitting. These are basic socks, 2×2 ribs but it’s the yarn that’s amazing. I bought a skein of Intrepid Otter in colourway “Breaking Bad” on the Washington State LYS Tour in May, at Quintessential Yarns in Duvall, WA. I was able to finish one sock and get halfway down the leg for the second by the time I got home.

Breaking Bad socks

I’m also doing some sample knitting for All Wound Up, some secret stuff so I can’t post it here for now, but it’s involving colour work in worsted weight, so it’s fun and creative and a complete change from my size 2.25mm sock needles.

Porch knitting

In between knit projects, I’m getting our guest rooms spiffed up for company coming at the end of the summer… painting both rooms, getting a new bed, re-caulking the guest shower. It’ll keep me busy till I leave in July to meet Robin in Zurich. At least I don’t have to worry about my knit project for that trip because it’s all ready to cast on, but not until I’m at the airport.

😉

Hope you’re enjoying your summer!

Dear brother Mike with his Missy and Rosie.