What I made, by Sharon

My Buachaille order arrived, for Leon’s winter set and the Carraig Fhada vest for me. Look how pretty it is:   Now, what I like to do when getting large packets of yarn is to do a stash count update, just to check I’m heading in the right direction (which is less yarn, by the way)   Prior to the addition of the Buchaille, I have 14322 meters of yarn. At the end of last year I had 15807 metres, so its holding pretty steady.    The main gains - or rather losses -  I have made so far this year are actually in yarn that wasn’t counted in the stash. The left over sock yarn which, in December 2016 weigh  one and a half kilograms, has been reduced to a much more reasonable 870   grams – yes, it’s now measurable in grams!   After adding this latest purchase my current number is 16412 . Now I’m off to cast some of this lovely Buchaille on for Leon’s Winter Set. The beginning of April is quite late to be starting this. Luckily,...

Last week Ginny announced that, after 6 years, she was finishing the yarnalong .  . I’ve been participating since  December 2013  ; o ver three years. It’s bittersweet – doing the Yarnalong has given me a good structure to my blogging and I’ve loved reading about what Ginny, and all the other members of the yarnalong get up to every week. But this is a time of change for me – some very exciting things have happened, which I can’t share here quite yet. It’s a time for letting go, and for new beginnings. So I leave you with one last photo of my kindle and my knitting, and I say “thank you” to Ginny, and everyone else who have brightened my Wednesdays for the last 6 years.

unusually enough, its been three pairs of socks in a row! I found Rachel Coopey's Mixalot socks, and thought they would make perfect sneaker liners. They are basically designed for left over sock yarn, and we all know I'm trying to use that up! I'm waiting for a delivery of Buchaille for Leon's winter set. Since it is rather late in the season to start knitting that, I want to be able to get it on my needles as soon as the yarn arrives, so I wanted to knit something quick. Because last week was busy, and some other reasons, it took me a week to knit these little beauties. Now I'm just finishing things off, and hoping that package comes in the post tomorrow.

Those  of you who have been following along for a while know that I left some yarn at a friends place in January, and hadn't managed to get it back from her. We only live 4 kilometers apart. Yesterday I emailed her and suggested she leave it in her letterbox, and today I have it! I am very, very excited about it. I haven't started knitting it with it yet. I'm half way through a pair of sneaker liners. I bought Rachael Coopey's Mixalot sock pattern, and I intend to knit it in variations, endlessly for the next year, using up those sock yarn leftovers. I'm reading Gail Jones' Sixty Lights . It's quite good, but not compelling. It's got short chapters, which is useful during this busy time in my life. And that's what I've been knitting and reading this week. What have you been doing? Pop of to Ginny's blog to see what she, and the rest of the yarnalong were up to this week.

So the other day, I was at my parents place, going through her stash box. I know she has a lot of eight ply scraps and were hoping for some pink ones to use in Rachey’s socks    . It turned out she didn’t, but she had this magnificent ball of pink Opal sock wool. I asked why she had it, since she doesn’t knit socks, or really knit much at all right now. She  said that I had probably given it to her – she has a theory that I dumped a whole lot of wool on her that I didn’t want. My memory of the situation is that when I was destashing I asked her if she wanted some of the yarn and she said yes. So I took it. It’s so pretty, and I’ll probably make a pair of socks for her out of it anyway.

I was hanging out with Rachey the other night (Rachey is Elise's sister in law, and one of our favourite people). She has been poorly for a while and asked for some house socks. Sure, 8 ply socks, quick and easy. She want them longish, but because she's not eating enough, I don't need to do any calf shaping. I pulled out my 8 ply scraps, and off I went. Because I couldn't be bothered weighing the yarn, I knit these socks two at a time on two sets of circulars. It worked quite well as a process, and I'd consider doing it like that again. This are my shapely legs, not Rachey's The socks themselves weigh 93 grams, and are just a simple 2x2 rib with a fish lips kiss heel.   Very quick, very fun, although there were rather a lot of ends to weave in! I hope these socks give Rachey as much joy the wear as they did me to knit. 

I finished the Lady Tryamour socks, and they are perfect for what I wanted them for : They fit neatly and pretty close to invisibly inside my latest boots, they are comfortable and I used up some of my oldest stash. I made the medium and, with the benefit of hindsight, could have made the small. But this give my feet plenty of room to move, which is the principle behind "barefoot" shoes. I'll leave you with a bonus, which reminds me of my school days and gets stuck in my head all the time: The Black Sock song: Black socks, they never get dirty, The longer you wear them the blacker they get! Sometimes, I think about laundry But something inside me s ays don't do it yet!