FO Friday- fish socks edition

So, as I mentioned on Wednesday, the fish socks have been finished! Woot! This turns out to be perfect timing, as my viva is next Friday, so I will wear the for the first time then. Very excited about that!!!

So here they are in all their glory.

*lesigh* Socks are such a pain to photograph yourself… Ahh well. And I’m not that keen on the line caused by the heel flap…

So, these are knitted from a zauberball, with the pattern ‘Farmer McGregor’. I completed 4 and a half rounds before going for the heel, as instructed by the pattern (errata says 3 and a half rounds, but I don’t think that 4 and a half makes them ridiculosuly long. And I didn’t read the errata until after knitting, and I didn’t want to frog that much…). They are also a smidge tight, but I expect that they will loosen over time.

I also keep reminding myself why I despise doing socks cuff down…kitchener stitch is a royal PITA. Ahh well, I have a while to forget that before my next socks as I’m not (shock horror!) casting on another pair of socks immediately. I do have a pair of socks to knit for Christmas, but I’m not in any great rush to do that. More on what I’m doing instead on Sunday 😉

WIP Wednesday- fish socks edition

Another Wednesday, another pair of socks on the needles. This is the second of my fish socks (for no sensible reason really, the name just came into my head).

I think that I’m finally getting the hang of not combining a complicated yarn with a complicated pattern! The yarn is very pretty and is the main attraction here, but the knitting pattern gives a bit more ‘oh la la’ to it.

The pattern is from ‘Socktopus’, which contains 17 sock patterns (including a vanilla pair). This is the second pair of socks I’ve made from it, and I’ll probably make a couple more (I probably wouldn’t’ve bought this book for myself, it was a birthday present from my sister).

WIP Thursday- Omnibus edition and a bonus FO

Ok strewth this has been a busy *some vague length of time*. I feel as though I’ve been getting on really well with all my various WIPs, which may be because a lot of time has passed, I’m not quite sure how much time has passed (partially because I’m not quite sure when I’m counting from???).

So, I thought I’d do a thorough update of all my current WIPs. (I also looked at my ‘current WIPs’ page and was horrified at it…)

Firstly, the conservatory cross stitch- butterfly fairy. This is kinda not really a WIP at the moment- I had to put this scroll bars away beause my sister’s cat is here for the week and parked threads on the aida + kitty =bad idea. But I have still done some more on it since the last time I gave you all a photo of it, so here it is.This is a close up of the edge of the wing of the fairy. I’ve also been doing some of the large areas of stitching (but that involves blending filament so I’m sort of avoiding doing that…), so I’m more than half way down the right side now!!!

Quick question, looking at this. Would it be better if I rotate the pictures so they’re the ‘correct’ way around for you? I’m used to seeing them this way as I’m working sideways accross the design due to the size of my scroll bars?

I’m really looking forward to seeing the cat go (although he is an adorable cat, I think he’s put me off getting a cat when I’m older), so I can go back to work on this.

Then I have three WIPs in the sitting room… the blanket is officially on hold. I just can’t really be bothered to move it. Occasionally I’ll pick it up(in the evening, when it’s nice and cool) and do a few rows, it’s just too hot to work on most of the time. It’s my official completely mindless project! No pic because it’s impossible to photograph well and always just looks that same!

The cardigan is kinda-not really stalling. I’ve done the left front, but rather than use that momentum to see if these buttons will work, I’ve moved back to doing the sleeves. I had paused one sleeve to do the main body (easy way to gauge swatch, anyone?), so I’ve now nearly finished the sleeve cap ready to do the second sleeve. No photograph of this because I am upstairs and it is downstairs and I can’t stand the thought of having to go down and up the stairs again after my bike ride this morning (so unfit! Must do more cycling!). I had previously said that this appears to be knitting itself. I’m less convinced about that now, because all my energy is on the socks, so naturally they’re the ones knitting themselves now!

I did the heel turn!!! It really reminded me why I dislike knitting socks cuff down (I despise picking up the stitches along the heel flap, but there we go. Knitting and purling two together is so much easier than the wrap and turns used when knitting toe up, so swings and roundabouts I guess (where does that saying even come from???). This appears to be knitting itself since I’ve spent quite a few afternoons knitting while watching tennis. Very exciting sport for us Brits!

And finally, the WIP in my bedroom- Stained Glass. I finished a page on it!!!

This is page 6 out of 16, so I’m more than half way accross the second row now. I also started page 7, but I’m really thinking that I don’t want to keep working on it. When I started it, I had this grand plan to ‘colour’ the areas in different colours, but I’m not sure that I’d ever get around to it, and it’s really not ‘me’. Far too monochromatic. So I think I’m going to stick it back away for a while to see if I change my mind, and if not, just toss it. Life is too short to waste on things you don’t want to make and then dont want to use after it’s made!

Ok, I didn’t actually think I was going to type that all out, but then it happened! So I guess that’s going away again then, and I’ll find something else to start doing up in my bedroom. Hmm. Or maybe not, and if I’m up in my bedroom at a loose end I’ll start playing my computer games, which I have missed quite a bit!

And finally, the bonus finished object!It’s my mum’s birthday soon, so rather than trawl through card shops looking for something suitable, I decided to make my own card! Much less hassle, cheaper (if you take the cost of the card by itself, rather than the 10-pack), and probably didn’t take that much longer than the length of time I’d spend staring at cards hating life. Win all around really!

(Re-)start it Sunday

So, having finished my bedroom desk project, it’s now time to start a new one!

And what better thing to do than un-earth an ancient UFO and give it some more TLC? (By ancient: the last time I showed progress on this cross stitch was April 2015!!! Has anyone here even followed me for that long???)

But here it is: Stained Glass (round of applause please!)

This was originally designed as a SAL, judging from the layout of the pattern I have, but I doubt very much that I ever even attempted to keep up with it! Then we got the last 4 pages all together because the shop was shutting down. I still have a few other patterns from LoveThy Thread to do…*whistles innocently*! Maybe when this one gets done!

There is also a second half to this post, because I promised MrsCraft more stash acquisition photos (and because I rather maughtily started a new project…). When I bought the buttons which will hopefully be used for my cardigan, my mum suggested I pop upstairs to have a look at the sock yarn. How could I say no to such an offer???

So, naturally, I bought some sock yarn. Two zauberballs, and a skein of Head over Heels (Stylecraft).

 

And then, when I got the zauberballs home, one of them jumped stright onto my needles (after glancing through my sock books and settling rather forcibly on a pattern). And really, who am I to say no to such an insistend baby pair of socks??? (These are now being called fish socks for reasons I have yet to figure…)

The head over heels yarn may or may not become the reindeer cowl from twistedyarn…I am as yet completely undecided about that. It’s a very pretty pattern, but I already have one cowl I pretty much wear all the time and I’m not sure that I’d ever use it. We’ll see. At the moment it’s content to sit on my desk and be petted every once in a while!