Once bitten, twice shy

After talking to my beautiful daughter, I decided to weigh the other ball my old employer gave me (they only gave me 2 samples).

98 grams.

Grrrr ...

Don't assume anything

Surprise surprise it's another pair of socks!

This time with a non-labelled, sample ball of yarn given to me by my old employer. You can see what's going to happen here, can't you ...

I started knitting these ones the same length of leg I normally do (approx 60 rounds), but when I hit the toe shaping ... the remaining ball of yarn looked suspiciously small. Too small for my liking. I weighed the offending ball on my dyeing scales & was horrified by what I saw. A measley 30 grams. I weighed the sock (allowing extra for my needles). 45 grams. Clearly, this was not going to work.

I gritted my teeth, frogged the entire sock (after using a few choice swear words) & began again with fewer stitches and a much shorter leg.

The finished socks come in at 70 grams with a tiny amount over. So much for "assuming" this unlabelled ball was the full 100 grams I expected!

Slow & steady ...

My knitting has slowed right down of late, but I keep plodding along (even when the pattern tries to throw me). This lovely pair is called "Twisted" from Knitty (hope that link works), and the yarn is Opal, but not your usual self-patterning one.
I needed to start decreasing for the toe before I'd finished shaping the instep. Otherwise they'd be long enough for clown shoes! I don't think you can tell though.

Now onto the next "travelling socks". I'm thinking another pair of Jaywalkers in a yummy Noro sock yarn that's in the stash ...

Finished gift

I've finally finished the little gift nurse doll I've been working on for the past little while. It's a pressie for the lovely nurses who looked after me in hospital a month or so ago.

I've also been working on a pair of socks (always have a "travelling sock" on the go), a cardi for mum & a little acrylic jumper for my market bag.

My spinning wheel has been looking at me from the middle of the lounge room where it's been collecting dust. I've been neglecting it a bit, but I think it's just that I'm not enjoying what I'm currently spinning at the moment - it's a rather nice white merino top with coloured neps, but it does tend to coat whatever I'm wearing. It's spinning up beatifully but it's rather obviously not going to spin itself (no matter how much I want the spinning fairies to do it for me). I think I need to dedicate some time to it, so I can actually finish it & move on to something less flyaway.

The case of the missing colour strikes again!

It's happened again! Another missing colour in a Spotlight sock yarn - this time it was the brown stripe you can see in the sock on the left (thanks to friend D for taking this picture for me). I started with the left sock, and was feeling quite pleased with it's Jaywalkering-ness,when I turned the heel and was marching happily down the foot when a brown stripe in the pattern repeat revealed itself.
This pair is a birthday pressie for my lovely friend D, who says she doesn't care about the missing brown (isn't she sweet?), but I'm a bit miffed about the fact that I've had another colour go missing on me. (Hmmm ... yellow, then brown ... is there a hawthorn sock yarn being created somewhere?)

More FOs

Another pair of socks - this one's an Opal yarn which is designed to represent a painting that's printed on the ball band. Unfortunately I don't read (or speak) german so I can't tell you the artist's name. Very long pattern repeats which makes for two destinctly different socks.

Then I got the urge to knit up some fingerless gloves - don't know why, but why not?! These ones worked up so quickly, even if they are in 4ply. (I'm wearing them now whilst I type - comfy & warm.) Made from some leftover Spotlight sock yarn.


The knitting mojo is definatley back - thank goodness. I don't know what I'd do without it! Now all I have to do is figure out what I want to make next. I may even be feeling in the mood for some spinning, although I need to sort out the next travelling sock project ...

The return of the knitting mojo

I was a bit worried there for a bit - I thought that I'd lost my knitting mojo, but I'm happy to say that it's back!

Over the last day or so I've not only finished an entire pair of socks (okay, they're in 8ply so it's probably not that impressive) but also a hat to match.

Nice and cosy & bright, but currently ownerless. I'm thinking of putting them in my "market bag". Not that I do markets very often (I haven't done one for at least 2 years), but I'm just pleased to have made something.