And then there were socks!

Evening all! I got back home from Devon earlier today after a busy weekend of knitting, cake munching and tea drinking! The sock knitting went very well. We started off with a mini sock so that everyone could work through all the stages of knitting a sock. None of the girls had used double pointed needles before, so that in itself was a challenge to overcome! Add to that some revision on casting on and how to purl and it took longer than I had expected to complete the socks. However, the sense of triumph and delight when the final toe was grafted was tangible! Here are our mini socks for you to admire.

We made a start on the 'proper' socks using patterns from the Violet Green sock pattern generator. I like the fact that you can customise the pattern for both foot length and width and have always found it fits well. Flora managed to get the ribbing done before she had to leave.

After a hiccup with her casting on, Kay decided to work on her sock at home that evening, so Diane and I spent the evening knitting away together with the cats keeping us company. (Shhhhhh, don't tell Flo!!)

Kay popped back for a couple of hours yesterday morning and got her ribbing established and was so happy to have learnt a new skill. Diane was determined to finish her first sock and make a start on its partner. Just before lunch today, we had a grand 'ta dah' moment when we were both able to show off our finished socks.

Perhaps even more exciting, a new knitter was 'born' this weekend! Diane's 14 year old son was watching us fascinated, and wanted to have a go himself. Needles and yarn were found, stitches cast on and some progress was made on a skinny scarf! I cannot wait to follow the scarf's progress!

The girls are planning to get together this week to continue knitting their socks, and Diane is already planning her second pair!! Success! xxx

Devon, I'm in Devon!!

Or at least I probably will be by the time you read this! I'm off to spend the weekend with a friend from University. I taught her how to crochet last summer and she wants to learn how to knit socks, having been on the receiving end of several pairs from me in the past! She's invited a couple of other friends to come along too, so I have been busy putting together sock kits!

The tote bags were a surprise extra from Shiela at p2tog.com. I ordered three sets of double pointed needles from her and when she found out that I was making kits up for friends, she very kindly threw in the bags for them to carry all their sock paraphernalia around in. We are going to start off by knitting a mini sock to learn all the different stages of sock knitting, before starting on an actual pair. Just look at this little sock, so cute!

I am hoping for a clotted cream tea at some point over the weekend as well as plenty of knitting and chatting. I'll report back on how everyone gets on next week. See you then! xxx

Twinkle toes!

Evening all! I am celebrating the completion of my sparkly socks. I started them on the way to London last weekend and grafted the toe of the second sock this afternoon. The yarn was one of the skeins that caught my eye at Fibre East last summer, and I am trying to knit up my purchases from last year before buying souvenir skeins this summer. The pattern is Gabriola by Kim Swingle and knits up nice and fast.

As a reward for finishing my school reports, I went to the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC in Birmingham yesterday. Mr JK stayed at home and I went by bus, so had plenty of knitting time! The show had a lot of things I was not interested in such as card making and scrapbooking,  but I did manage to bring home a few bits and bobs; four fat quarters, some tiny wooden buttons,  a kit for making a scarf, a dress pattern and a sewing magazine. The scarf looks like it will be fun to make, and I have been inspired by the British Sewing Bee programme on TV to have a go at sewing something for myself. Talking of the Sewing Bee, I was browsing at some fabric when I happened to look up and standing next to me was Ryan from the show. He was a lovely lad, very friendly and happy to chat.

This afternoon we made the most of the spring sunshine and went for a walk around the gardens at Blickling Hall. We are so lucky to have so many beautiful places right on our doorstep. Back soon, I am counting down the days until the Easter holidays. xxx

Time Lapse no.2

We spent the weekend in London as Mr JK was running the Vitality North London Half Marathon today and I took the opportunity of some uninterrupted car knitting to make a start on my Fibre East sock project. Here's how the weekend panned out.

Friday 15:01 Norwich

19:42 Chigwell - a delicious dinner at the Ghandi restaurant.

Saturday 08:54 Woodford Tube station, heading into London for the day.

09:38 Victoria Embankment, looking towards the London Eye and Westminster; perfect strolling weather.

13:56 lunchtime carbs loading for Mr JK (and me!!) after browsing around Borough Market.

Sunday 09:48 Allianz stadium, North London, after waving Mr JK off on his half marathon, some al fresco, rather chilly knitting!

14:35 Woodford. A tasty snack in Costa Coffee before the drive back to Norfolk; finisher's medal worn with pride by Mr JK who finished the race in under 2 hours, beating his previous best by almost 15 minutes! Yay for Mr JK!!

18:08 Norwich. Back home and ready to chill out. xxx

This weekend....

........  I have enjoyed the spring sunshine sat drinking tea in the garden. Bliss!!

........ finished spinning the first half of my braid of pink fibre.............

.............. and knitted the third of my blocks for my Love Squared blanket.

This weekend, Florence has enjoyed the sunshine outside.......

.........assisted me with some spinning.......

.........  and kept a beady eye on the progress of 'her' blanket!

See you very soon! xxx

Slow and Steady

I had to share this beautiful vase of tulips with you - they were a gift from friends who came to lunch last week and they are still looking stunning. I love the way the sun was shining on them this morning. Also making the most of the sunshine was Flo. She seeks out any sunny spot in the lounge, emerging bleary eyed from her igloo if there's a cat-sized patch within flopping distance.

I have made steady progress (oops, sounds like I am writing a school report) on my jumper over the past week. I am almost at the point of separating the body from the arms, so hopefully then things will speed up a bit. There is already one finished sweater in the KAL, I am a long way off that at the moment! I'm looking forward to getting to the striped in the body. Then I'll really feel like I'm getting somewhere! More next week!

My Roger That blanket has grown a little, I'm aiming for one pattern repeat a week. I can imagine that it's going to become quite heavy when it gets near to completion.

I haven't done a great deal on my Love Squared blanket - I cast on the third block last weekend, but it hasn't grown very much. I took this silly photo for a competition on Ravelry! Perhaps if I leave the needles with the gnomes, they'll finish it off for me! Some hope!

There's a KAL in the Fibre East group on Ravelry just started too, to help knit up stash from last year before this year's event. I have wound a colourful, sparkly skein ready for action. I just need to decide on a sock pattern to show off all the beautiful colours! Any suggestions? See you soon. xxx