At last - some knitting!

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. My bodyclock has just about adjusted to the 3 hour time change (coming back from Greece and putting the clocks back an hour on the same day played havoc with my sleeping!) and my fingers haven't been idle over the last couple of weeks either!

I decided to have some easy knitting for the plane, so took some Regia stripy yarn to knit Mr JK a pair of socks for Christmas. I bought this yarn when we were in Cologne this summer - the colours are supposed to mimic the German flag! So far I've knit one whole sock and am working my way down the foot of the second, so they should be finished by next weekend. The other sock I took required a little more concentration - the Fishbone Gansey sock from Knitspot. I'm using the skein of Woolen Rabbit Kashmir yarn that I received from Kim in the first Clubhouse swap. It feels absolutely gorgeous, and my toes (or perhaps Mr JK's!) are going to be utterly pampered in them.

I finished knitting up the October yarn from the Fall in Full Color club. I had decided not to knit the shawlette that had been designed especially; instead I took inspiration from Snoopydog's Miss Doolittle scarf (another Knitspot pattern) and knit myself another scarf!! I managed to get 20 repeats on each half of the scarf, and was careful when I grafted the two halves together not to pull the stitches too tight. I am really, really happy with how it turned out. The colourway is definitely growing on me!

Talking of happy, I finished knitting the last pair of socks for my University friends - the yarn I used was Wendy Happy, a 100% bamboo yarn. It feels very silky, but I'm not sure how well the socks are going to hold their shape.

Last weekend was our annual meet up, so I was able to hand over all the pairs of socks. They were very well received, and I have been asked to knit some more for next year! Always nice when your knitted gifts are appreciated! Here we all are modelling our socks!

I have been a very lucky josiekitten recently. Just before we went to Greece I received a parcel from Kat. We have become good friends through the FIFC clubhouse, and in the autumn I sent her a Knit Nation bag (Kat is a TOTAL bag addict!!) and a skein of Natural Dye Studio yarn. I was thrilled to unwrap not only a skein of Socks that Rock yarn, but also a project bag sewn by Michele over at ThreeBagsFull.  The eagle eyed amongst you may already have spotted this bag in use when I was knitting on the beach in Greece! Thank you dear Kat, it was a lovely and generous gift!

I did a skein swap with my friend Julia, in Germany, and ended up with a skein of sparkly Zauberweise yarn. It is gorgeous and the silvery thread really does twinkle. I think I may knit a shawl or a scarf to show it off, it's too pretty to stay hidden in my shoes!

I also received a parcel from Kim. We have become great friends since we first 'met' in the FIFC clubhouse, and this was our third swap. I sent Kim a selection of yarns that I'd bought at Knit Nation along with her very favourite Granny Wobbly fudge (it is just the yumiest, crumbliest, most delicious fudge I have ever tasted, and I have discovered that it's possible to buy it over the Internet - bad news for my waistline!!) Kim chose my yarns during her annual Rhinebeck visit. I had three gorgeous, squishy skeins of yarn - from top to bottom, a monster skein of Miss Babs merino yarn in shades of plum, a deep purple shade of Eidos from The Sanguine Gryphon and very pretty merino and silk laceweight yarn from Fiber Optic Yarns.

Kim also bought me some delicious fibre from Spirit Trail - it's 50% merino and 50% silk and is truly beautiful. Its shimmery lustrousness is so difficult to capture in a photo, you'll just have to take my word for it!

I received a little thank you card from Innocent Smoothies this week too. The little hat on top of the bottle is just amazing. It makes all those that I knit seem very boring!! It's nice that they bother to thank all the knitters individually - and the cards are hand written and peronalised too. A nice touch, I think.

Florence went on a Very Big Adventure today - it was her first time outside, as she'd been microchipped at the vets this week. She thought that it was a very big world outside for pussycats .....

..... and she didn't go far at all. In fact, she decided that it all looked a lot better from inside the door!

I'm sure she'll be a bit braver next time! Have a good week, and I'll see you soon! xxx