More Socks and stash

The Stitches & Craft show really did not live up to expectations this year. There were only a few stalls with yarn/knitting related stuff and thousands of people who wanted to look. In the end I bought a sock knitting kit with a lovely blue/brown colour mix for bedsocks, a lighter brown & cream self patterning yarn for socks, some bamboo sock needles and Nicky Epstein's Knitting Over the Edge and Knitting Beyond the Edge.

By far the best find of the show was Biggan yarn. There was a fashion show on right in front of me just as I was drooling over the knitting books. I was quite impressed with the colours and wandered by the stall afterwards to see if the wool was just as soft and lovely as it looked on the models. It is! I spoke a little with the designer - she was wearing a full length skirt and a long sleeved top that she had made with the yarn about 3-4 tears ago. It had seen some wear - but was still soft, minimal pilling, no saggy bits - and she machine washes them apparently.

So yes, more stash was purchased, though I was very restrained and just bought 4 balls of 2 colours suitable for baby wear and have plans for a little cardi of some sort. If it is as nice to knit with as I expect, there may end up being bigger plans afoot.

Even though I can't wait to get on with the lovely soft yarn, I actually cast on the blue/brown socks when I got home. The bamboo needles are easier to work with in the round than the metal ones, my knitting in the round stocking stitch "ladders" are improving (though not completely gone - I think I need some more advice). It's knitting up quicker than I expected, I hope to have the first one done by the end of this weekend. Here's where I was up to on Monday:

The piggle that wasn't...

The velveteen piggle finally got finished... except that it isn't a piggle. I gave up on the piggle when I discovered how limply the velveteen knits up, so decided to knit as a beanie:

The blah blah secret knitting plan has also come to fruition. A scarf for hubby in Inca in a mix of lovely dark browns. 26 st in 2x2 rib on 7.5mm needles, 1 ball = 40cm, used 4 balls. Inca is a lovely yarn to knit with - warm, bouncy and knits up quickly.

Have plugged along with pink fuzzy scarf the nth - it's over 120cm now, so a week or two to go with that one. Have made a bunch of mistakes in the green throw rug punchwork pattern, but the yarn is too fragile to pull it apart & start again, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do about that. May just leave them in and space the rows with stocking stitch, haven't quite decided.

Plans are being laid for future projects and I'm off to the Stitches & Craft show this weekend for some stash addition, more books and inspiration...

Lacy cardi complete!

Spent Monday night sewing up the lacy cardi - and ta da!

Now I need to find the right kind of brooch to hold it together as the kilt pin is needed elsewhere...

Pair'o'socks and sunbeams

I have managed the other sock & the pair are now done - hoorah! Knitting with such weeny needles in the round does hurt my fingers after a while, so any socks in future are going to be on bigger needles. I have bought some yummy fuzzy Caressa in the same colours as the PJ's I made for myself - they will be the next socks when I find a suitable pattern.

The basketweave scarf is also complete! And I've finished all of the knitting for the lacy cardigan. Need to sew it all together now.

Also complete is the 3rd pinwale cord skirt and the niece's flanny cot sheets. Most of the mending is up to date as well - including hemming of work pants & jeans...

The two pink scarves are coming along, no work's been done on the green blankie. I spent some time this morning planning the next lot of knitting in a very sketchy sort of way. I need to have a closer look at what I should do next in the garment arena.