Thursday 21 January 2021

A Spooktacular Finished Item!

 I have finished a pair of socks! These were cast on for Halloween last year, but I didn't get very far with them. At least I'll be well prepared for this year! The yarn is from Stripey Cat Yarns and the colourway is called 'Spooky Speckle'. It came as a sock set with 100g of the self striping yarn and 20g each of the contrasts, so I will have plenty to knit another pair. I knit a sock tube and then added the afterthought heel. I like this way of knitting with self striping yarn because the stripe width stays the same on the whole sock. If you use the heel flap method, then the stripes will be thinner because of the extra stitches created with the heel flap, and will gradually get wider again as you work all the gusset decreases.




I've started to make sourdough bread. I'm not really supposed to be eating bread at all because of my swallowing problems, but bread is my go-to comfort food and I miss it. I'm very late hopping onto the sourdough bread wagon, I know, but I bought myself a dried starter kit from Kat Goldin and woke it up this week. Apparently her name is Mildred! Here she is asleep...




and now she's woken up! You can just see in the background a glimpse of some cheese scones that I made with the first discard. They are delicious with soup!




I made my first loaf, taking it all very seriously. I even found myself googling different scoring patterns and watching YouTube videos! I was really pleased with how my first loaf looked on the outside, but inside it was a different story! It was very dense and underproved, perfect as a door stop or a missile! So I'm having another go and hopefully this one will be more edible. I'll let you know.




I had some happy mail today. I belong to a book group on Instagram and the girl who runs it works in the NHS. She has done lots of fundraising to support the wellbeing of her colleagues, and recently was running some raffles. I was lucky enough to win one of the raffles and I am delighted with my prize: two new books to read, some chocolate and sweets and a hair mask. My hair desperately needs a bit of love as I've not had it cut for almost a year now! 




In other happy news, I'm going for my first Covid jab tomorrow at my local surgery. It feels like there is a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel at last. Stay safe and well. xxx

4 comments:

sewjourner said...

I am so glad you are getting the vaccine! You are right, it is a light moving toward the tunnel opening!!

Jennyff said...

Hurray for the vaccine. Boo for the hair. I didn’t get mine cut here for 5 months mainly because I hated the experience whilst masked. But the state of my hair was getting me down so I went a few weeks ago and feel so much better. However I draw the line at wearing full make up to stay at home as I see some bloggers do. I’ll be thinking of you tomorrow, hope it goes well and lifts your spirits.

Jane Winter said...

The socks are lovely Helen. I am a great fan of an afterthought heel too; having said that I like turning heels too; it always feels a bit magical.

Great news about your vaccine; as you say some light at the end of a very long tunnel at last.

It's a shame that your sourdough doesn't taste as good as it looks because it looks amazing. I've made ordinary wholemeal bread but never sourdough so I am very impressed. I hope that you next one turns out better.

Best wishes

Jane

VeggieMummy said...

Your Hallowe'en socks are fabulous - I know what you mean about the stripes getting thinner with self-striping yarn, but I do love a heel flap and gusset! Your loaf certainly looks the business. I tried making some last year but as supplies of flour dwindled, so did my starter! Hurray for your Covid vaccination; that glimmer of light is long overdue! xx