Squeezebox socks

I'm pleased to be able to tell you that my Squeezebox socks pattern is now available to buy from Ravelry. It appeared in Simply Knitting magazine issue 194 in January this year and so I haven't been able to release the pattern myself for the last six months. It's a lovely, comfortable sock; perfect for lazing around in your pjs on having a chilled out day at home. I used a Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury sock yarn for these, but the pattern would work well with any gradient yarn, or a speckled or tonal too. Rounds of knit and purl stitches create a lovely squishy texture. The pattern is in three sizes, knit top down in the round. It's a simple pattern to memorise so it's great for new sock knitters or those who want some easy TV knitting. You can buy the pattern from my Ravelry page here and I am donating £1 from each pattern sold to Myositis UK. If you are having difficulty accessing Ravelry, then please get in touch with me and I will do my best to help you. I'll leave you with a few more photos of the socks. Looking at them is making me look forward to the cooler autumn days! xxx

Fibre4Fibres news

I'm delighted to be able to tell you that my weekly fundraising raffles in aid of Myositis UK will be starting again next month. As you know, I've been shielding now for 17 weeks, but shielding is due to stop at the end of July. While I won't be in a hurry to go out and about to busy places, I'm fortunate that we have a mobile post office van which visits the village each week, so I won't have to brave the shops quite yet. I've really missed putting these raffles together and can't wait to start sharing all the lovely yarny things I've got to give away. I've kept donating money from my pattern sales and my Just Giving page is nearly at £3000. My target is £10,000 and as I'm not going to hit that before the end of 2020, I will keep the weekly raffles going until I have! I'll be sharing the first prize the week before the raffles start so keep checking in! xxx

Nine challenges for June - an update

I realised that I had forgotten to update you with how I'd got on with the 9 challenges I set myself for June in an attempt to keep focused. I've found it very hard to keep track of what day it is. Staying at home, the days all merge into one. Hard to believe that this is week 16 of lockdown for me and I've only left my home once to go for a blood test! Shielding is due to be paused at the end of July, although my consultant has already told me that I will still need to observe stringent social distancing. At least being able to go out and have a change of scenery will be something! Anyhow, I digress! Back to the 9 challenges I set myself for June.

*** Challenge 1 ***

Crocheted temperature blanket

I've managed to keep this up to date, and it's now halfway to being finished. There were a few hot days in June which introduced a new colour into the high squares. I'm already wondering about what kind of border to do on the blanket. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

*** Challenge 2 ***

Over the Rainbow socks

When I was at the Suffolk Socks knitting retreat earlier this year, I bought a sock set from Ellie. I'm a sucker for any kind of rainbow yarn and this one appealed to me because it was a pastel one. Ellie sells her yarn and lots of other lovely things on her website Craft House Magic, so pop over and take a look. I'm getting quite a collection of new socks to wear once it starts to get cooler.

*** Challenge 3 ***

Bunting

My friend Philippa has just got a summer house in her garden so I offered to make some bunting to decorate it. She wanted grey/white/silver colours and it looks very sophisticated. I want to make some to brighten up my back garden now.

*** Challenge 4 ***

Love Note sweater

I'm not quite sure why it has taken me such a long time to get round to knitting one of these gorgeous sweaters. The pattern is from Tin Can Knits and it's been around a while now. I used yarn from Truly Hooked and knit the body longer than the pattern suggested. It's so soft and light, I absolutely love it and am already planning my second and third! I want one in All The Colours!

*** Challenge 5 ***

Crochet Now article

The Stylecraft Blogstars take it in turn to write an article for Crochet Now. Mine has been submitted and will be in issue 59, which goes on sale on August 20th!

*** Challenge 6 ***

Design submission

I've submitted a design to be considered for publication in a knitting magazine later this year. I've not heard anything yet, so don't know if I've been successful or not. As it's all secret, I'd better not share anything with you, even the yarn! Shhhhh!

*** Challenge 7 ***

Give and Take sock pattern

My Give and Take sock pattern has been published and there's a knitalong going on right now in the Stylecraft Make Along group on Facebook. It only started on Thursday so you've got plenty of time to join in. You can buy the pattern from my Ravelry designer page here. If you're having difficulties accessing Ravelry since the changes that have been made to the website, then please email me and I'll do my best to help you. (josiekitten123atgmaildotcom)

*** Challenge 8 ***

Baby knits

A friend of mine recently became a grandma to premature twin boys so I offered to make a couple of little tops for them. Another friend also asked me to knit a gift for a new baby, so I used the same pattern. It's called Lil Kimonos (Ravelry link) and it is a very sweet pattern. I used Stylecraft Bambino and Bambino Prints yarn and it was perfect for the baby knits.

*** Challenge 9 ***

Poppy Treffry embroidery club

I still haven't got round to doing any work on these unfortunately. Hopefully I will make a start in July. I've told myself that I'm not allowed to join the Christmas embroidery club if I haven't made the summer projects yet, so hopefully that will spur me on. I'm not quite sure why I'm procrastinating so much, as I love free motion stitching.

Despite not finishing all of June's challenges, it won't come as a surprise to know that I managed to reward myself with a yarn purchase or two!  A new discovery for me is Ring a Rosie and Barbara dyes the most beautiful speckled yarns. Take a look and see if you can resist! I'm having a month off from specific challenges in July, but still hope to get a few old projects cast off as well as cast on a new one or two! I'll be back tomorrow with some exciting news so stay tuned! xxx

Give and Take socks take 2!

Helloooo! I've got some more Give and Take socks to share with you today. These were knit using yarn from Pixie Yarn. I love Sophie's dyeing and she's just started up her own website, so go and check it out. It's a feast of colour, perfect for today as it's grey and rainy here in Norfolk.

Here are the Give socks, knit using a sparkly yarn in the Loulabella colourway ...

Here's Take, knit using It's Raining Rainbows. You know how much I love rainbow yarn!

There's a Knit-along starting tomorrow in the Stylecraft Make Along group over on Facebook if you fancy knitting one or both pairs. If you join the group, you can get a discount code for the pattern too. Hope to see you there! xxx

Give and Take socks pattern available to purchase here! 

Stylecraft Make Along group on Facebook here!

Give and Take socks

I'm excited to be able to share my latest sock design with you. The Give and Take socks came about when I was knitting swatches of different stitch patterns. I wondered what the effect would be if I added or took away a round of knit stitches between the rounds of lace stitches. So without further ado, here are the Give socks...

Knit using Stylecraft Yarn's Head over Heels All Stars sock yarn in the Ossie colourway, these socks have a round of knit stitches in between each round of lace stitches to make lacy ribbons climbing the sock. 

The Take socks are a close relative...

Knit using Stylecraft Yarn's Head over Heels All Stars sock yarn in the Woldgate colourway (designed by yours truly!), these socks have had the knit rounds taken from the pattern, to leave only the lace rounds, creating pretty curves of lace.

Both pairs of socks feature a twisted rib cuff and are knit top down with a heel flap and grafted toe.  There's an 8 or 16 row pattern which is easy to memorise. The pattern is one size and has quite a bit of negative ease so will fit a medium-adult sized foot. If you'd like to knit a smaller size, I would suggest going down a needle size. I used between 60 and 65g of each ball to knit each pair. 

The pattern is on sale in my Ravelry store here for £4, and I'm donating £1 from each pattern sale to my Fibre4Fibres fundraising page to raise money for Myositis UK. The Stylecraft Make Along group over on Facebook are going to be having a knitalong throughout July, and if you join the group, you'll be able to get a discount code, valid throughout July, to get 10% off the pattern. You can find the group here. 

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's Give and Take socks in the group. Which do you prefer? I hope you have lots of fun knitting them! xxx

Give socks (right) in Head over Heels All Stars Ossie and Take socks (left) in Head over Heels All Stars Woldgate

Join the Stylecraft Make Along group on Facebook here and get your discount code.

Buy the Give and Take socks pattern on Ravelry here! 

Distractions!

I've just finished knitting a sock. Nothing unusual in that I know. The only thing is, this sock isn't on my Challenge 9 for June, and the yarn I'm using I wasn't meant to buy until I'd finished all 9 challenges! Oops! That's just the way it goes at times. You have to follow your knitting urges, at least that's what I'm telling myself! 

I've joined Ellie's group, Craft House Magic, over on Ravelry. There's a Summer Sockalong going on and I wanted to join in. I couldn't use my Over the Rainbow socks (which are on my Challenge 9 list) because I'd already knitted too much of them before the KAL started. I have been wanting to try my Inverse Striations socks using two more solid colours, so I bought a couple of skeins from Ellie in a purpley-blue colour, Babooshka, and a buttery yellow, Build me up Buttercup. Well, the yarn arrived and it was gorgeous!

Those skeins were just calling out to be wound, it would have been rude not to! And before long I had two lovely plump yarn  cakes sitting there.

You can guess what happened next, can't you? The yarn cakes begged to be cast on! How could I disappoint them? That would have been just plain cruel!

It's a very addictive pattern - you want to keep on knitting one more repeat to see the pattern grow. Before I knew it, the first sock was done!

Its partner will be knit with the colours the other way round, with a yellow cuff, heel and toe. I haven't cast it on yet - but there's still time this evening and it would make the perfect knitting companion for watching the final of the Great British Sewing Bee. If you'd like to knit your own pair of Inverse Striations socks, you can buy the pattern here from my Ravelry store. £1 from each pattern sale is being donated to Myositis UK. Happy Knitting! xxx

Isolated but not alone

I'm just starting week 12 of lockdown. The only person who has been inside my house, albeit very briefly, in full PPE and without touching anything, is one of the nurses from my GP practice when she has come to do blood tests. I've had a couple of socially distanced chats with my postie when he's delivered squishy parcels to me, and my friend Julia when she's dropped off my shopping. 

But although I'm on my own in the house, not forgetting Flo of course, I have found a way to have some company. Prior to lockdown, I hadn't ever really watched any knitting podcasts, but having met Ellie from Craft House Magic on the Suffolk Socks knitting retreat in February, I decided to start watching her weekly podcasts. She is such a lovely, bubbly person with a great sense of fun and I enjoyed looking at her knitting and sewing, as well as hearing her (whispered) confessions! So I decided to start watching her podcasts from her very first one and it's been so nice. Almost like she's been keeping me company sat knitting away on the sofa and drinking endless mugs of tea. 

I will point out that watching podcasts can be very dangerous as you get introduced to all sorts of lovely yarn dyers and makers that you may not have come across before. Since watching Elllie, I've discovered Chapel View Crafts, Ducky Darlings Yarns and Hedgerow Yarns to name but three. Oh dear! 

Before long, I will be running out of Ellie's podcasts so will be looking for some more virtual knitting pals to tune in to. Please leave me any recommendations in a message. Thank you xxx