Sock Quintet

I've been on a bit of a sock knitting frenzy over the past few weeks. They are my go-to  project when I need some mindless knitting and I can't concentrate on anything more complicated. Three of the pairs are for me, and two are gifts. They are all plain vanilla socks where the beautiful yarn is able to show itself off and doesn't need any extra pattern.

*** Pair number 1 ***

These are knit using a skein of yarn from The Yarn Badger and they are quite possibly my favourite pair of socks at the moment! The yarn colourway is called 'Double Rainbow' and it's my first sock in the Rainbow Sock Chronicles 2021, which is being run by Kelly from Lay Family Yarn and Jooles from Sew Sweet Violet. The contrast heel and toe is a mini from Stripey Cat Yarn. 

*** Pair number 2 ***

This pair are knit using a sock set from Stripey Cat Yarns in a colourway called 'To New Beginnings - 2021' but you can still purchase it under its new name 'Nature's Rainbow'. I chose this yarn to knit when I had to go into hospital recently as I thought the good yarn vibes would help! These are also part of my Rainbow Sock Chronicles socks.

*** Pair number 3 ***

Another stripy rainbow pair, this time using a self striping yarn from The Knitting Goddess in the colourway 'Rainbow on Silver'. This yarn felt a little bit thinner than the two previous yarns, and might have knitted up slightly more densely if I'd used 2.25mm needles instead of my usual 2.5mm ones. But I still love them! 

*** Pair number 4 ***

This pair are a gift for my friend's niece as she requested a pair of rainbow striped socks. I bought the yarn from Fab Funky Fibres in their 'Walking on Rainbows' colourway and they are really stunning. I am in awe of the self-striping yarn dyers because it takes hours of work to dye these skeins. 

*** Pair number 5 ***

This pair is for my friend's birthday next week and I've used a ball of Opal 4 ply sock yarn that I had in my stash. You can't fail with Opal yarn as it washes and wears really well, and is nice and cosy too. 

Which pair are your favourites? Leave a comment to let me know! Keep safe and well. xxx

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 50

This week's giveaway marks a milestone in my fundraising as it's my 50th giveway! Kind of like my 'golden' anniversary of giveaways. I'm excited to be able to continue with my weekly raffles and am planning to keep them going until the end of 2021. Thank you so much for all your support in my fundraising. I know that Myositis UK has plans for funding several research projects so your donations really will make a difference.

Today's prize has an Easter theme again. The prize includes a gorgeous Harris Hare who has been crocheted and donated by the incredibly talented Emma Varnam. She designs so many sweet animal toys who are cuddly and huggable and I am thrilled that Emma has given me this one to give away to someone. My lovely Instagram friend Ann (BusyPottering on Instagram) has raided her vintage Laura Ashley fabrics to sew a gorgeous spring project bag - it has exterior pockets for extra storage too! Ann has also donated a set of zingy spring green mini skeins that came to her via Marja (marjamakes on Instagram) and a wooden darning egg (I forgot to put it in the first photo!) Fran from Burrow & Soar has donated a pretty sock set in the Crocus colourway and Sarah from Scruffy Dog Eco has donated a naturally dyed skein of yarn in the Creme Egg colourway. I feel chocolate pangs just looking at it! To go with the yarn, there's a box of Cadbury's Creme Eggs and a sachet of Creme Egg tea! Last but not least, there's a very cute bunny stitch marker from Eva Faith. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated a prize.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 28th March, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Can we get to £15,000 this week? It feels kind of appropriate to mark my 50th prize. Don't forget that the clocks go forward an hour on Sunday, so you've got an hour less to get your virtual raffle tickets! Thank you and stay safe! xxx

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 49

As Easter is just around the corner, I thought it might me fun to have a couple of weeks full of Easter-ish (is that a word?!) prizes. And yes, that does include a bit of Easter chocolate! These prizes have actually been planned for a whole year now, as they were meant to be used last Easter. Due to the first lockdown, when raffles were paused, they have sat nice and quietly waiting their turn. (The chocolate didn't wait so patiently, so more has been purchased!)

This week's prize includes an absolutely stunning bag which has been stitched and donated by an Instagram friend, Tracy. I make no apologies for the number of photos of the bag because each side is amazing! I've tried foundation paper piecing in the past and know just how fiddly it is and how precise you need to be, so I am in total awe of Tracy's skill. The bag has a fun carrot print lining and Tracy has also made five carrots to decorate your home. To go with this, there is a super-pretty skein of self-striping sock yarn which has been dyed and donated by Dye for Ewe in Canada. When I saw Ally post a photo of the yarn on her Instagram grid last year, I very cheekily asked if she would donate a skein and she said yes! It reminds me so much of mini eggs! My friend Ann, who is BusyPottering on Instagram, has donated a skein of the softest merino nylon mix and a wooden darning egg. If darning your socks isn't on your agenda, you could perhaps use it instead to decorate, after looking at the book Egg Art, which has been donated by Search Press! To complete the prize, there are three spring-like mini skeins from Blue Fern Yarns, a sweet bunny stitch marker from Eva Faith and a bag of Cadbury's mini eggs. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated a prize.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 21st March, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. The next milestone to pass is £15,000. Thank you and stay safe! xxx

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 48

I've got a prize packed full of pure gorgeousness for you this week my lovelies! I really do enjoy curating each week's goodies and try to have a theme or colour to work with, and have great fun putting together both things that have been donated to me along with skeins from my stash and other things that I've bought.

 This week's prize includes two soft as butter skeins of 100% merino sock singles which have been donated by Tiny Teal Handcrafted. Each label tag has a 'yarn adoption' certificate which is so cute! The colourways are Maple Leaf and Mulled Wine. To go with these is a skein of The Uncommon Thread Tough sock yarn which is a mix of 80% superwash BFL and 20% nylon in the colourway Peony. To contain your current WIP there is a beautiful floral print project bag from Three Bags Full - I love the gorgeous lampwork bead on the zipper pull. There are a selection of goodies from LanaBou including a button print coaster, pin badge and two postcards, and lastly, an inspiring rainbow progress keeper which has been donated by Hannah Daisy Crochet. Thank you for the generous donations.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 14th March, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Thank you and stay safe! xxx

 

Switch & Knit Stitch Directory - a review

I received a copy of the book Switch & Knit Stitch Directory from Search Press a few weeks ago, and have spent quite a bit of time looking through it. The book, written by knitwear designer Tabetha Hedrick, contains 12 basic pattern recipes for: a cowl-neck pullover, simple scarf, sleeveless tunic, cuff-down socks, two-button cardigan, two-stitch stole, basic toque, fingerless mitts, toe-up socks, easy tee, drapey cowl and a crescent shawlette. Sounds amazing doesn't it? The patterns are all written out, with easy to refer to tables, for a variety of gauges from 3 to 8 stitches per inch. So it means that you can use up yarn in your stash, provided that you have knitted a swatch first to check your gauge. As well as this, there are more than 80 different four-stitch multiple patterns to choose from, so you can create your very own unique garments using a combination of the pattern recipe and your favourite stitches. The first chapter takes you through the steps involved. Step One - Pick the Perfect Yarn talks about the way different yarns behave when knitted which might guide your choices for example if you were wanting to knit a garment with lots of drape. Step Two - Above all else, SWATCH is probably the most important step. I'm guilty of not swatching for some things - socks, hats, scarfs and shawls, but have learnt through bitter experience that it really is vital to swatch for things like jumpers and cardigans. I've carried on knitting jumpers that could have doubled as a marquee, despite that little voice telling me that I should stop and reknit in a smaller size. The guidance on swatching is really excellent and definitely worth following. Step Three - Choose a Recipe takes you through the things to consider when picking what pattern to knit. Finally, Step Four - Select a Stitch gives you more than 80 different stitch patterns to choose from including knit and purl patterns, lace stitches, cables and texture. They are written for both knitting flat and in the round which is incredibly helpful. I think that the author has thought about everything!

I think that this is a really fabulous book and would be perfect for any knitter from a confident beginner to someone wanting to dip their toes into designing, but needing the support of a tried and tested pattern recipe. 

Switch & Knit Stitch Dictionary by Tabetha Hedrick is published by Stackpole Books and is available from Search Press now:

ISBN: 978-0-8117-3826-2

RRP: £19.99

 

Daffodils for Marie Curie

 I love daffodils. To me, they are a sure sign that spring is on its way, and the bright splashes of colour in the garden never fail to lift my spirits. It's a delight to get a couple of bunches from the supermarket to bring sunshine into my kitchen too. (Thankfully my friend is doing this for me while I'm shielding.) Just feast your eyes on these beauties - I hope they make you smile.

Each year, the Marie Curie charity runs a huge fundraising appeal - the Great Daffodil Appeal - where people are encouraged to donate to charity and wear a daffodil to show their support. Unfortunately, with Covid, this year's appeal can't go ahead as usual with collectors on the streets of towns and cities and in supermarkets, so they have come up with another idea instead. They are asking knitters and crocheters to make 10 daffodil badges which they can either share with family and friends in exchange for a donation, or to send to Marie Curie so that they can be sold in their shops to raise money.

If you crochet, Stylecraft have created a crocheted daffodil pattern for you. You can download it here for free. 

Photo from Stylecraft and Marie Curie

Photo from Stylecraft and Marie Curie

If you would prefer to knit your daffodils, then Vikki Bird from Vikki Bird Designs has designed a knitted daffodil flower that is just perfect. You can download Vikki's pattern for free from the Marie Curie website here as well as find out more details of where to send any flowers that you make. Thank you Vikki for allowing me to use your photo here. If you are able to use Ravelry, then there is a link to the pattern on Vikki's Ravelry designer page here.

Photo from Vikki Bird Designs and Marie Curie

If you'd like to find out more about this year's Marie Curie Great Daffodil Appeal, you can read about it here. Happy hooking and knitting! xxx

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 47

 Hello! Thank you so much for stopping by to see what is on offer in this week's Fibre4Fibres raffle. Last week, the total passed £14,000 which is 70% of my target. I am so grateful to everyone who donates as every single pound is important. I will continue to hold my raffles each week until the end of 2021, so there are lots more exciting prizes for you to look forward to.

This week's prize is perfect if you're a crochet lover, or if you'd like to learn to crochet. The prize includes a set of 9 Drops crochet hooks in a zipped case, a copy of the book Modern Crochet and two balls of Scheepjes Namaste yarn which have been donated by Penny on Instagram. There are also 4 balls of Stylecraft Life Changes yarn and a Dreamcatcher yarn cake. There's a fun tote bag from Lanabou to keep your latest project in and a cute pin badge donated by Hannah Daisy Crochet. Thank you so mch to everyone who has donated a prize.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 7th March, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your details with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Thank you and stay safe! xxx