Lots of Updates

Hi

So its been a very long time since I updated the blog!  Things have been happening (or to be completely honest not happening) at a rate which meant I have been a bit discombobulated!! I have been looking for a full time job for 18 months now due to the fact that in order to be able to come home at some point we need to do a lot (and I mean a lot) of refurbishment to our house before we sell it - and repairs don't come cheap!! Despite having a ton of experience in HR I don't seem to be able to land something which is anything like the level I want to be - or I interview, it goes really well and then companies just don't bother to get back to me and disappear into thin air!  I think to be honest this is definitely a UAE thing - I'm fairly sure its not the same in the UK!  Anyway I am doing a little bit of consulting work which is good but so precarious since lots of things get cancelled at the very last minute and when you think you have 8 days work in a month it suddenly shrinks to half a day - or approximately 2 metres of 4x2 to fix one of the many windows!!

However of course there is always a silver lining in every cloud and that means that my creating is in full swing!  I have days when I get really frustrated and you know the best thing for that......pick up the needles or the hook!!

So without further ado or discombobulation..... this is what I have been up to.......

Firstly I decided to make a really bright and cheerful baby blanket!  This is the Blackberry Baby Blanket which is a free pattern on Ravelry which I made in very bright cotton yarn which I bought locally! As you probably know we had very little choice of yarn locally when I first arrived in the UAE (9 years ago - can you believe!) but now we have a pretty decent selection (although I guess thats all relative - nothing at all like a LYS in UK or US ha ha!).  The pattern was deceptively simple and I am so pleased with the result.  Shame that I don't yet have a recipient!!!!

Then I decided it was time for more socks!  I made a really funky pair out of some gifted yarn with an afterthought heel (not even sure of what the name of the yarn was as the ball label was missing!) and these were for Flo because lets face it the weather in Bath is pretty cold compared to here!

Then a pair from 2 skeins of Drops Designs sock yarn which was a lovely present from an Instagram friend in the UK.  I designed these myself in more a a traditional construction and I absolutely love them - although yes of course I need to keep them until a winter trip to the UK!

Fast forward onto February and the Ravellenic Games!  I decided to enter a sweater - now not just any sweater but a fine fingering sweater - what was I thinking!!  I went for the Tegna Sweater by Boyland Knitworks which I had been wanting to knit for a long time - in fact I started it twice before and can you believe both times I twisted it in the round......face:palm!!

I wanted to do it in the Mabel and Ivy Coast yarn from stash and I had an Ombre set in Ocean blues.  I knew I did not have enough to do the whole sweater in the main yarn so I did the first lace section in the ombre colours and I am so pleased I did, because I am really happy with how that turned out.

Finished the evening before the games closed and I was awarded my 'Sweater Skeleton' badge - Yay!!

What can I say about the Tegna - its a lovely pattern, really well written and although yes its a LOT of stocking stitch the construction is easy and I liked picking up the stitches for the sleeves because that meant I could make the sleeves in a larger size to the body - I have hideous 'washer woman' arms where they are definitely disproportionally big to the rest of my body and I really struggle to get sleeves to fit or not be too tight! But these I was able to make longer and wider and I was really happy with how they turned out!  The yarn is perfect for the UAE weather and I have already worn it quite a bit! Definite winner!

So I have a couple more items on the needles which I will share with you soon - but I really wanted to tell you about the Rags to Riches initiative in the UAE.  This is a lovely idea where knitted and sewed garments are donated to needy children in places such as Syria, Uganda, Bangladesh etc  They make many garments out of donated materials such as fleece blankets etc - check them out - Rags to Riches. Anyway they are currently running a Knit a Thon to try and get enough squares to make blankets to auction off or donate to the kids - however that has sort of morphed into a challenge to break the world record for a blanket made of knitted squares!  I have of course made a start as you can see!!!!

If you would like to know more or want to get involved then do get in touch with me or check out their Facebook page here  Knitted squares 15cmx15cm are needed for the world record attempt but for other blankets crochet squares of the same size are also in demand!

Anyway thats it for knitting news...........in other news I HAVE BEEN SEWING!!!!  Up next I will tell you all about it!

Top Tips for Newbie Lace Shawl Knitters

1. Don’t panic! If you can conquer a knit and a purl stitch then you already know how to do lace!
   
   
2. Lace does not necessarily need to be done on tiny needles with fine laceweight yarn - for a beginner it’s a good idea to think about using 4ply or even sport or DK. Whilst Laceweight can look beautiful and drape like clouds, a bright 4ply sock yarn with 4mm needles can look just as stunning. You do need circular needles though - don’t try and knit a shawl on straight needles - trust me! Ideally you want at least a 100cm cord (which should come with an interchangeable set or if you prefer fixed circulars, make sure you have some 4mm in your collection - they are really useful)
   
   
3. For a first lace pattern, my recommendation would be to chose something which has its lace pattern on one side only eg lace pattern on one side and a purl row on the second. Are you more comfortable with a chart? For a beginner I would suggest a pattern which has charts and corresponding written instructions as I have done on the Lantern Shawl - you may find you prefer a chart or you may prefer to stick to written instructions - there is no right or wrong here!
   
   
4. Chose your shape - for a beginner I would suggest a triangular or half moon shape with a simple border.
   
   
5. Think carefully about your yarn - some yarn is better suited to lace than others and certainly I would not suggest you use a fine kidsilk mohair for your first lace project - it can look beautiful, but for a first timer may cause you some problems.  HOWEVER I recommend finding a skein of yarn that you absolutely love. Something a little luxe, which you are going to adore on every stitch. Find your favorite colour or a something which is really going to complement your wardrobe.
   
   
6. Swatch……. You can practice your lace stitches over a swatch - just make it big enough for 3 or 4 repeats of the lace pattern plus a couple of edging stitches - for instance the Diamond Lace pattern on my Lantern Shawl is worked over 10 stitches and a 10 row repeat - so cast on 44 stitches and knit two stitches at each end, and 4 repeats of the pattern and knit for 20 rows.  This will give you an idea of the fabric you will create.  You might be happy with the drape, or you might wish to wash and block it - but whichever way it’s a great way to practice.
   
   
7. Stitch markers - if you feel comfortable with stitch markers these can be a great way of identifying pattern repeats and centre stitches.  My first lace shawl was Ishbel by Ysolda Teague and I can tell you I had so many stitch markers my knitting positively jangled!  I tend not to use them so much now, but they can be a lifesaver for beginners or at least in the first few rows until you get comfortable with the pattern.
   
   
8. Speaking of lifesavers…...Lifelines!  Yes these are a good idea - too many times I have had to tink back 4 rows of over 200 stitches and kicked myself hard for not having a lifeline!  The idea is to get to a point to which you can rip back to confidently and re-start from there, so at the beginning of a section for instance. There are a number of ways to put in a lifeline, but my favorite is to use the little holes where my interchangeable needles are fixed and slip through some dental floss and just knit along and the lifeline will go in behind you .  You can use cotton or other yarn, but I find the floss is easier to work with and also smells nice!  If you don’t have interchangeable needles with a hole then you can easily wait until the end of a row and thread through with a darning needle.
   
   
   

   

   
   

   
   
9. To block is to bloom…… there have been a few occasions where I have finished knitting a laceweight shawl and to be frank it’s looked like an old rag!  Soak your shawl, roll in a towel to get out the excess water and pin out very carefully, making sure to pin out points if you have or like them.  I have recently bought some blocking wires and they have been great for getting a really even edge.  Blocking is not a quick job - get a cup of tea - your favorite playlist on Spotify and then take your time - it really is worth it in the end!
   
   
   

   

   My Swallowtail shawl looked pretty awful in the knitting!

   
   

   

   But look how it bloomed!

   
   
   
10. Show Off!  There is nothing better to show off to your non knitting friends and family than a lace shawl - they cannot help but be impressed! Then cast on the next one, because my friend you are now a shawl knitter and it’s addictive!

Weekend Work......

I had a quiet weekend this week!  I went to a new Renal doctor on Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi Cleveland Clinic.  Firstly the hospital is like a gallery - just beautiful and tranquil!  Secondly the Doctor was fantastic and for once knew what he was talking about and I did not have to remind him what tests I needed, and we had a good talk about the life of my kidney, new drug treatments and most importantly how he can keep me alive for as long as possible!  Yes I know that might be a bit moribund - but most transplant recipients do not die as a result of their transplanted organ failing - they die because other illnesses such as cancer, are much more easy to develop (and I am a point in case there!).  So for me its now all about how I can keep myself as healthy as possible and how I can balance out the drugs that I have to take with the side effects that have potentially fatal outcomes for me, e.g. one of the anti rejection drugs I currently take has now been shown to give you an increased risk of getting cancer. Anyway although it may not sound like it, my visit was really positive!

On the less positive side though he insisted that I get an immediate Flu and Pneumonia vaccine.  Yes, ok that was fine, go ahead I said.  Hmmm..... mild side effects it said on the paperwork!  Nope -I have had the most rotten cold for the entire weekend and a dry cough which is driving me insane - these vaccines better be pretty darn good!

So I sat on the sofa most of the weekend with a box of tissues, lemsip, cough medicine, iPhone and knitting!  I had one mishap when I went to answer the door to the gardeners (finally getting rid of the sand for some fake grass) and when I came back Roscoe had kindly unwound my sock yarn for me - he was in big trouble - but look at the face.......

Sorry Mum!

Anyway I have cast on 2 at a time socks and I am following the pattern from the lovely Mina Phillip - who is one of our Knitting Amiras and also hosts the Knitting Expat Podcast - which is very popular on You Tube!  I tried 2 at a time once before and it was a disaster - but Mina's method of doing the cuffs separately really seems to work! Yarn is Knit Picks Felici - which was gifted to me by my good friend Claire (whom I introduced to knitting a couple of years ago!).  Anyway so far so good and with some mindless Netflix watching (Peaky Blinders......) I have made some good progress - which is more than I can say for the shawl I am designing - had to tink back 6 rows of that - which did not really go with a head full of cotton wool!!  So have a go at two at a time and tell me what you think!!

Note the re-wound skein on the right!!!!

PS don't forget to come over and find me on Anchor!

New Beginnings and Finishing the Past

Hi everyone and a very belated New Year greetings - yes we are well into February and I am still thinking of this as the New Year!

Well many many things have happened since my last post on the 6th December - won't go into it all here but the major thing is that we moved house and my oh my it was traumatic!  I have moved about 15 times in my life, so I should be used to the upheaval now, but I think probably I get more frustrated each time because I am such a control freak that if I can't be settled within the first week I get frustrated!

We have moved to a brand new development, and although its nice to be in a brand new house, as one of the first half a dozen residents in a 'village' of 200 houses we unfortunately seemed to experience all the 'teething problems' - Gas supply, leaking pipes, wrong wiring in the internet and TV boxes,  having to change and re-wire nearly every single light fitting, cupboard doors falling off the first time we used them etc etc!!

Anyway here we are at the 9th February and I think we are pretty much settled aside from one internet point and only a sandpit for a garden!

One of the things that I am most happy about is that I have space for a craft room!  Pretty much every villa or apartment here in the UAE has a 'maids' room.  Plenty of people do have live in help (as I did when Fred was small and I was working full time) - its very cheap here and options for full time child care are limited outside of the home - nurseries often shut at 1.30 or 2.00pm and thats fairly useless if you have a full time job!

Often these rooms are fairly small - but in this house its a really good size (which is a step in the right direction, some maids rooms I have seen are bordering on 'Cupboard Under the Stairs') so seemed a perfect solution and meant that the 3rd bedroom can really be the guest room and ready for Flo when she comes home from Uni.

I have managed to use all current furniture and amalgamating things from Flos old room and the old 'office' in our previous place.  So over a couple of days I managed to sort it out and put away my precious stash and find a home for my new sewing machine.  I even have a spare dog bed so Roscoe can sit in with me - oh and of course the cat!!!

I was going to use the basket for WIPs but the cat seems to have other ideas!

Very happy with how the room has turned out - my 'special' display skeins - rest of my stash is pretty much all in the baskets!

So now I am spending a lot of time in here, especially since I also have a TV with my Apple TV attaches so I can listen to my podcasts whilst I am working and watch Netflix in peace!!

Now speaking of Podcasts, I have had to catch up with a lot which I missed whilst we were moving and one of those was the fabulous Knit British podcast.  Louise had a lovely section on WIPS of Doom - and I have one of those!!!!!!  So I decided to finish it and here is the story........

Way back in 2006 I was lucky enough for two things to happen 1. My daughter was accepted to become an Urdang Associate - a weekend place at a very prestigious stage school in London - based in Islington. 2. Loop opened its first store in Islington!  So most weekends I was up in Islington taking Flo to classes and although I did not have the spare cash to spend every weekend in Loop - I was a fairly frequent visitor!

Now I can't exactly remember when I went in and saw the sample fluffy bolero hanging up in pale blue fluffy clouds but I did - and I had a dress which would go beautifully with a fluffy BLACK version! Yes what on earth was I thinking!!!

Anyway the pattern came with the GGH yarn and it was from a copy of Rebecca Knitting Magazine. I was very happy with my purchase and new straight Rosewood needles for the job! I very rarely knit on straights these days.....

Anyway I think I cast on in early 2007 when I had a few weeks in-between jobs.  I remember taking the project out and about with me because it was a light and portable project - although had to be done in good light and was almost impossible to tink back - so needed a fair amount of concentration!

The main parts of the bolero were finished reasonbly quickly as I recall - but as there were 7 separate pieces, it was going to take some sewing up and I thought I had pretty much run out of yarn and on a trip back to Loop, there was no more......!!!

So this is probably about a year or so later and my knitting took a back seat as we started to make plans to emigrate to the Middle East.  However the WIP of Doom got packed along with all my other treasured knitting and stash (although I have to say I did not have too much stash back then!!).

After joining Ravelry I also managed to upload it as a WIP!

But there it sat, and sat and sat...........  I thought I did not have enough yarn and also the thought of sewing black mohair together in the heat of Abu Dhabi always put me off!

So here we are 10 years later and I am listening to Louise in my new craft room and I think YES! I am going to finish this!!!

It took a whole afternoon to sew these pieces together and pick up and knit the collar.....but its finished!!! Very very little yarn left and I had to make the collar 1cm shorter than required.  I sewed it all together with black cotton yarn to not only save on yarn - but who wants to sew anything together with mohair yarn!!!

So now just two things - firstly I need to start a campaign to bring the Bolero back in fashion - it was big 10 years ago - but not so much now!!!!

Secondly a few things have happened since 2006:

- I have had a new Niece and a new Nephew!
- 3 Family Weddings
- Moved to Abu Dhabi
- My baby daughter starts University
- Barack Obama becomes American President
- We lose some great people like, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Terry Wogan and my lovely Mum.....

All these things went through my head whilst I sewed and knitted every last stitch, so yes it was a chore, but it was the best memory maker!

So my heartfelt thanks to Louise for spurring me on to finish!

Handmade Christmas

Hi everyone - hope you are all getting into the festive spirit!

Well I have had an interesting few weeks to say the least.........

Firstly I lost my job........... although I can honestly say this was not really unexpected or necessarily unwelcome - although I had hoped to hang on to my job until February what with Christmas expenses and all, plus the fact we are moving house again and there are many costs associated with that!

However, having worked full-time  for around 25+ years, I have to say, that although I was looking forward to being at home, the reality of not having a set routine and not having my 'own' money is coming a bit hard.

But having said all that, its time for me to look for new adventures and try and find out what I can do that I truly love.  I am going to try and do some freelance HR work to buffer up the coffers a bit whilst I decide what to do.

Now OF COURSE I would like this to involve Knitting and crafting in some way, shape or form..... I have dabbled into pattern design of course and I love this, but its not the easy option, Designers work incredibly hard and I think I would have to approach this by thinking about it as just doing what I love rather than thinking that it will bring me any cash in!

Another option would be to look at becoming an online yarn shop serving the Middle East - as we do not have anything local and the cost of shipping to the UAE is expensive whether you use Shop and Ship or direct shipping.  Of course for this I would probably need to get a UAE National Sponsor, or set myself up in one of the Free Zones in the UAE, but it something worth thinking about.

Bearing this in mind of course is that at some point we will come back to the UK!! Given the problems we are having with getting the UK to treat Flo as a citizen and not a foreign student, it might be within the next couple of years so that Fred can have 3 years 'proper' residence before he starts University.

Anyway - putting those conundrums aside for a moment, and with a reduced budget, I am looking at doing some more Handmade gifts for Christmas! Although at the moment, I seem to have managed to  make one gift and one 'gift to self'!!  However inspired by Kirsty Allsops #HandmadeChristmas I am getting ready to give gifts which come from the heart rather than the Mall!

So for Florence I have made Christmas Socks in the Straycat Socks Joyeux Noel Self Striping colour way.  Wow this Straycat Socks yarn is great!  I was enabled with this by @sunnydayzdxb (who is really Claire) and I also bought the 'Candy Cane Twist' and 'Are We There Yet' colour ways - destined to fill my sock drawer at a later date.  You can see these great colours below......

For Flo's socks I did the afterthough heels, although I did them toe up.  She has quite small dinky feet so they did not take too much time and I think she's going to be very happy with those whilst she is here over Christmas and also once she gets back to Bath.

Then of course the West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas special sock yarn - Holly Berry - has been all over Instagram and Twitter - so I just had to have some of course! (along with Ethel the Brit Yarn bag OF COURSE!) and as ever the lovely Isla from Brit Yarn provided fantastic service and sent my goodies to Flo who brought them over with her when she came for the F1!

These socks just flew off the needles (and at the moment my favourite needles are the Knit Pro Zings 2.75mm with 100cm fixed cable for magic looping.....)

Again I did the afterthought heel, but this time I did them cuff down because I wanted them a little bit longer and actually the ball of yarn is so generous that I could have almost made them over the knee!
I adore them and will be wearing them on Christmas morning - even if it means having to turn the air conditioning on...........


Finally I have had a nasty reminder that my kidney function is very poor and perhaps I sometimes I take the  fact that I am so lucky to have a kidney transplant for granted!  I had a 'sore' foot which got worse and worse until I was literally crawling round on my hands and knees, because to even put my foot on the floor gave me excrutiating pain.  Now I have a high pain threshold, but for even me, the pain was so dreadful that it brought me to tears!  A trip to A&E told me it was Gout and my uric acid was twice the amount it should be....... So I spent our trip to the Abu Dhabi F1, on crutches, wincing in pain, unable to drive my visitors around and feeling generally miserable.  To add insult to injury, the anti inflammatory drugs gave me terrible stomach cramps!  So I have turned to alternative methods and have found the cherries are a natural remedy to dissolve the crystals which form in you joints - who knew!!!  With that and the fact that I now need to follow a 90% vegetarian diet with very little (or no) meat and alcohol, you could say that the last few weeks have definitely been a catalyst for change for me!

The Summertide Shawl

Hi everyone and I hope you have had a productive few weeks!

I thought I would share my finished Summertide Shawl with you today.

This shawl is a design by the lovely Helen Stewart of A Curious Handmade, which she designed as a mystery knit along.  I do like mystery knit alongs, although a couple of times in the past I have been disappointed because people who have the time and knit very fast, have posted their finished objects when I am half way through! However this group of lovely Knitter's took heed of Helen's plea to keep social media sharing to a minimum so as to not give the game away and I managed to finish it without having seen a photo to spoil the fun!

Helen announced the winners of the KAL prizes last week on Periscope and so I feel safe enough now to write about it!!

I wanted to knit from stash and the requirement was for two colours.  I really agonised about the choice because actually I don't have too much sock yarn in my stash!! (Or at least I didn't until my recent trip to A Yarn Story!!).  So I decided to chose a Dubai Knits skein from the lovely Jocelyn which I had fallen in love with a few years ago - a beautiful pale mint colourway in a silk blend and something very different in a skein from Ripplescrafts which I bought last year on our trip to Scotland (see my previous blog post HERE) which is a deep blue with the most gorgeous tweedy 'nups'!

I was not 100% sure that they would complement each other, but nothing ventured, nothing gained right?

I waited patiently for the first clue, and I duly cast on in the evening of 17th September!

The first clue section of the of the shawl was garter stitch and I decided to start with the Dubai Knits yarn and was not disappointed! Not only is the colour gorgeous but the silk blend made the garter fabric super soft with a gorgeous drape. Jocelyn has not dyed this colourway since mine and I have already told her she needs to do more of this - it's just lovely for shawls!

The second clue arrived and this was still to be in the first colour.  However we moved into lace and this clue took some concentration! I took the shawl with me to the UK on my trip to Bath and managed to finish this lace section in the hotel on the night before my early morning flight back to the desert. By this time I was a little behind schedule but decided there was no way that working full time and travelling to the UK in the middle of the KAL would make me an early finisher so I took that pressure off myself!

When I got back to the UK I started to work on the next clue and changed to the Ripplescrafts yarn.  This was a complete contrast to the first yarn, but in a really good way! Stitch definition was great and I soon realised that the contrast in the yarn did in fact work very well! Again the lace needed some concentration but I began to motor through and really enjoyed knitting right to the end!

The shawl is a live,y size - medium sized I would say, which is going to make it extremely useful now that the weather in Abu Dhabi is finally cooling down!

Although I have been listening to Helen's podcast for a long while now, I had never knit one of her patterns (shame on me!) but I would thoroughly recommend them! Her instructions are super clear and I love the fact that she writes everything in a table and let's you know how far you have knit with her percentage system. In fact although I usually use a chart to knit lace shawls - this time I used the written instructions!

The whole experience has been a delight and I look forward to he next one Helen!!

Find Helen at Curious Handmade - she appeared you may remember in my Top Ten Podcasts post a while ago!!

Bigger on The Inside!

Last week I finally finished my 'Bigger on the Inside' shawl.

As you might know from previous posts - we are huge Dr Who fans in this household and since the 'new' series began back with the 9th Doctor - the lovely Christopher Ecclestone - we have not missed an episode!

Fred and I have been along to the Dr Who exhibition when it was in London, we have also made the Tardis for a school project on 'Time Machines' and Fred went to school dressed at the 11th Doctor - Matt Smith - for his 'film and TV star day'!!

We even own an inflatable Dalek!!

Fred as Matt Smith, various Dr Who themed Birthday gifts, Inflatable Dalek and home made Tardis for a school project!!

So was it any surprise at all that I wanted to knit the 'Bigger on the Inside Shawl' by Kate Atherley??

The pattern is available on Knitty.com and after looking through the projects on Ravelry I decided to work with the Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in the Winter Night colourway.

I have to admit I had started the shawl once before in lace weight and it was a disaster!  The lace section had completed confounded me and I frogged it!  However this time it was a lot easier in fingering weight yarn and whilst you still needs to have your wits about you whilst doing the lace section, it did make for much easier knitting.

I took it with me on our first trip to the UK this year and spend a lovely few days on the Kent coast in quirky Dungeness and made some good progress!

A gorgeous spot for knitting!

After the lace section however I got hooked up with other projects and finally I picked up the project in September, wanting to finish it for the new series!  However that was not to be!

I finally got it finished last week.  Its a lot of knitting but the little Tardis' (Tardii??) were interesting to knit and the yarn was very easy to knit with so the last part flew along!

Lace section

The shawl is subtle enough to wear without anyone screaming 'Dr Who Weirdo!' at me! I did wear it to the Abu Dhabi Gaming Convention on Friday last week - just before our drama which resulted in Fred having to have his appendix out!! Because of that we did not get any photos sadly - but will try again as soon as Fred is better and can hold the camera up!!

So if you are a Dr Who Nerd like me - give it a go - its very cute!


Read more detail on my Ravelry Project page Geronimo!

Woolly Hat Day 2015

Happy Woolly Hat Day Everyone!!

Wooly Hat Day is part of Wool Week and is supported by the Campaign for Wool.

Its also a time to raise money for charity and the Mission for Seafarers is looking for donations.  Its easy to do in the UK as per the below banner!!

In celebration of the day I have put together a collage of my own woolly hat collection!!

In the centre middle is my own Lordship Lane Hat which can be found here on Ravelry - Lordship Lane Hat and Scarf - its a free pattern but if you would like to donate to the Wooly Hat charities perhaps you could text to Wool 11 as the note above!

Anyway its as usual too hot here in Abu Dhabi to wear a woolly hat so I will be donating without wearing!!

Enjoy your weekend!!

From top left:

Slable
Lordship Lane Hat and Scarf
Liquorice
Rikke
Fenimore
Felicity
Wurm
Goomba
Barley

Top Ten Sock Knitting Patterns for Socktober

If you are a knitter and not been abducted by Aliens then I am sure you will have heard of Socktober!! I am knitting some gorgeous new socks for me as part of the celebrations, but I thought I would give you my top ten picks of patterns available on Ravelry which might tempt you to start a pair of socks or even given we are already a few days into the month - you might want inspiration for a second pair??? (Ever the optimist I know!)

Top Ten Knitting Patterns for Socks

1.  Seed Pods by Louise Tilbrook:

Well of course these are number one!  This is my pattern of choice for my Socktober efforts!  I am finally using my treasured Skein of Buffy Toughie by the sadly lamented and missed Juno Fibre Arts. Loving the pattern so far and very well written - well done Louise!! Available for £2.50 on Ravelry.

Find Seed Pods here on Ravelry

WIP on my Seed Pods in Juno Fibre Arts Buffy Toughie

2.  Rye by Tincanknits

If you are a newbie to socks this HAS to be the pattern to start you.  Its fabulously written - there is no way you can go wrong and its FREE - what's not to like!  I love them, they are quick, simple and there are instructions for all sorts of sizes!  Do a pair for each member of the family!

Find Rye Socks here on Ravelry

My Rye Socks in Plucky Knitter Yarn

Such a lovely easy pattern

3.  Elgin by Clare Devine

In my queue - these just look the most comfy socks that ever lived!!!  AND they look a quick knit too!! A paid for pattern £3.50 on Ravelry.

Find Elgin Socks  here on Ravelry

4.  Monkey by Cookie A

Where would a top 10 list of socks be without Monkeys - again these are on my queue and saved for when I have given up work and have more time to concentrate!!! This pattern is still available for free via Knitty.com but if you want a bigger range of sizes there is a $6.00 version on Ravelry.

Find Monkey socks here on Ravelry

5.  Muddy Daffodils by Clare Devine

Clare makes it into the list again at number 5 - the best pair of yellow socks I have ever seen! The pattern for these yellow beauties is £3.50 on Ravelry.

Find Muddy Daffodils here on Ravelry

6.  Fish Lips Kiss Heel Socks by Sox Therapist

There are many different types of heel around - and I definitely want to try the Fish Lips Kiss Heel - if only for the name!!  The pattern is a steal at $1.00 on Ravelry!

Find Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks here on Ravelry

7.  Afterthought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman

Again another different type of heel I want to try - its pretty popular and similar to the Fish Lips Kiss, perhaps a little more sturdy.  And the great news is that this is a FREE pattern on Ravelry.

Find Afterthought Heel socks here on Ravelry

And then try these at your peril...... well it IS nearly Halloween after all..........



8. Pair-A-Normal Socks by Barry Scates

I'm not too good a colour work and whilst these are only black and white - they look way to complicated to me!!! These are another fabulous free pattern on Knitty.com!

Find Pair A Normal sock on Ravelry here

9.  Elf Shoes by Pamela Wynne

I admit it, I secretly really really want to knit these - and yes they are probably classed as shoes or slippers but they could also be classed as socks..yes??  Even better news is that this is also a FREE pattern on Ravelry.

Find Elf Shoes here on Ravelry

10.  Cowasocky by Leslie Comstock

These somehow just seem so wrong.......but so right......  FREEEEEZIAN (get it??) pattern again on Ravelry!

Find Cowasocky here on Ravelry

Hope you enjoyed that quick romp around my current faves - would love to hear what your favourite Socktober patterns are??

Leaving the Nest to Feather the new one!!

There have been a few articles in the press in the last few weeks about kids leaving home and going off to University both from the 'Freshers Flu' point of view and the 'What are we going to do without the Kids' angle! Of course I still have a relatively small person (aged 11 if that counts as small!) but my eldest has now officially left home for the big wide world! But yes I can relate to the feelings of emptiness and the inevitable change that a child moving away means, and in my case she's thousands of miles away - I'm not sure if that makes it harder or not..................I'm still getting my head around that one!

The first wrench was 3 weeks ago when she left Abu Dhabi for the last time (well the last time as a resident anyway!) and I was surprised at how emotional I felt about that, seeing her off at the airport at 5.30am on another hot and sultry morning in the desert. She could not understand it - 'Mum, you will see me in 2 weeks, what's the fuss?' - well the fuss is that everytime I closed my eyes I saw a toddler with swathes of long dark hair with huge brown eyes, with unbelieveably long lashes, saying 'Can I have a hug Mummy before we watch Teletubbies?' and that was the tough part - my little girl has officially Grown Up!

So the intervening 2 weeks went pretty slowly for me until I sat down on the British Airways 1.45am red eye flight back to Heathrow to move her into Uni! 7 Hours later I picked up the hire car (little white manual VW Polo - which I kept stalling because I am so used to driving an automatic – (yep I am an Expat Brat!) drove to Sevenoaks to pick her up from my sister-in-laws house and we set off for Bath!

I absolutely adore Bath - as you may know from previous posts, I am a History Nerd and therefore the city ticks all the boxes there could possibly be for me - I'll be honest I could camp out indefinitely in the The Fashion Museum with a copy of Northanger Abbey to read over and over again - picking out those 'ironic' bits that my English Literature teacher at school was obsessed with! We spent the first couple of days at Ikea and Primark (hate them both because they are 'fast' - but budget requirements meant they were the only option) and we managed to get everything we needed for her (well at least we thought we had everything until our Skype call yesterday.......Toilet Brush!!!!!!!!)

Naturally I had to pack all the hand knits - and yes I wore them all!!!

How could anyone not love this architecture!

Flo had never actually been to the University Campus, having had her interview over Skype so we both had a great shock when we arrived on Saturday to do the final registrations - such a stunning location, helped by gorgeous weather - which I am reliably informed is not always so lovely, I had obviously packed some sun to share. Her Halls are in another part of Bath, a short bus ride away and Sunday was spent moving her in. Bath Spa University - details here.

As you would expect - more gorgeous architecture at Bath Spa University

Traditional parkland planting - probably by one of the Georgian Landscape Designers - definitely need to research!

I love the mix of traditional and modern

I was shocked at the amount of 'Stuff' being packed into quite small rooms by some of the students! Flo and I are both advocates of the 'less is more' school of thought and I introduced her to the Konmarie form of folding t shirts to fit neatly into drawers. Took us a couple of hours and we were pleased with our work and I even managed to put fairy lights up for her whilst the rest of her flatmates were still wading through their cardboard boxes! Then it was time to go - time to leave her with her new friends - time to let go!

BUT........ there is always a silver lining to every cloud and even though the sound of the BA theme as we landed in Abu Dhabi the next day sent me into tears............... I did have a fab time in the UK and there was always the yarn................there IS always the yarn................ 

So, where to start..... I had made an online order at Tangled Yarn because I completely fell for the Wingu Shawl by Claire Devine. This was a very serendipitous moment because I had just posted an old photo of Sperm Whale watching in New Zealand (still one of the greatest moments of my life) and can you believe the colours Claire used for the shawl were an almost exact match to the colours of the photo! So I was straight onto the Tangled Yarns site to order! Well as these things happen (well they happen to me anyway) I then saw the packs for the Pwani Shawl by Claire and I fell for the 'On the Shore' colourway which are browns and creams - so into the basket they went! I hastily called Flo and told her to expect them in the UK and to pack them carefully when they arrived! On our first night in Bath she casually threw the parcel at me, which was a lot lighter than I expected! However I was delighted when I saw the yarn - Light Fingering - a very apt name and with the light and open patterns Claire has created these are going to be ideal for desert wear!

Able and Ivy Kit in the 'On the Shore' Colourway

Coast Colourway for the Wingu shawl

 I have not been into a yarn store since January when I had made a rushed purchase of some Debbie Bliss cotton in Tunbridge Wells so I was really looking forward to going to a 'proper' indie shop! A Yarn Story in Bath was my LYS of choice so we headed up there on Saturday afternoon! The shop was full of lovely ladies learning to drop spin and I happily squished and stroked and 4 skeins of beautiful yarn became mine!!

How beautiful are these!!!

Firstly were these beauties from Townhouse Yarns in Ireland.

This skein is the Grafton 4 ply which is 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon.  It feels like clouds of marshmallow due to the Cashmere!  There are 400m in this 100g skein called Cherry Cola!!

The next skein is Camden Tweed which is 85% Superwash Merino and 15% Donegal Nep.  Again 400m in a 100g Skein.  Colourway is Troi and its a real 'Duck Egg' Blue!

I was super excited to finally purchase some The Uncommon Threadyarn.  So many podcasters (ear burning you A Playful Day!!) have raved about this yarn but I have never seen, let alone bought a skein, so I am super happy with this! Its a Singleton which is 100% Superwash Merino with a whopping 415m!  This may become a shawl because I need more grey shawls in my life!

Last but by no means least is this 'Skein of Awesome'!!!!

Just look at this beauty!!  This is from Life in the Long Grass  another Irish supplier and its 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon and if the Uncommon Thread skein was long - how about 425m!!

The custom colourway is simply stunning with pinks and creams, lilacs and purples!

And the name ...... Confused Hydrangea ... genius!!!



So now if I am able to claim via third party (i.e. Flo), my new LYS is A Yarn Story, 128 Walcot Street , Bath - go get yourself some Confused Hydrangea - you won't be sorry!!!