Loose Ends

No, no, this post isn't going to be about my unhappy relationship with yarn ends and weaving-in...  This post is going to be about the few little projects I've finished but have yet to post about. 

That they may have one or two ends not woven-in is pure co-inkydink. As they say. Anyway, I...  I don't wanna talk about it... Ooh, look over there... shiny!

Talking of ooh-shiny... hey, come back.  Yes, more ooh - shiny here...

'come dancing' by laurie lee
frog hair fibres superwash merino sock in denim

I've finally finished these lovely socks and sent them off to Scotland, where my sister's feet will benefit from the yarny gorgeousness.  (It's a RAK, so I had to wait to post this until she got them!  We won't discuss the paltry effort by Border Security of 'sellotaping' the parcel together again after they inspected it...  I'm just glad they arrived at all!)

The pattern, Come Dancing, by Laurie Lee, is lovely and simple. Apart from teh studip picot cuff. Bleh. Each of my socks has a twisted cuff where some lovely picot edging should be. My own fault, of course, as the fold-over and pick-up-behind malarkey just seems to be outwith my technical grasp, and has nothing to do with the pretty pattern itself.

one side parfait, one side abominable

But the yarn.  THE YARN!  Soft. So very, very soft. And bloody strong, too. I almost had to use scissors to cut the ends, instead of relying on a few chomps from my choppers. (Don't hate - if you knew how many pairs of scissors I own yet have no inkling of their whereabouts, you'd be snipping with your incisors, too!)

  

Annoyingly, a moth or two must have found at least one small pair of scissors at some point, as there was a hole almost all the way through the ball when I came to knitting the second sock (obviously had good taste), but in the end it didn't detract from what truly is some lovely yarn.

I don't think I told you about the Berry Necklet I made for DS's Christmas, either...  Eet's vairy naice!  

berry necklet
katia azteca in reds

Based on the Berry Gauntlets I made aeons ago, this is a bejewelled necklet version, but do you think my camera could take a decent photo of the reds, raspberries, and burgundies? Nah, not really.  Nearly every shot turned out looking like it was red and pink-striped. I hasten to tell you all that in real life, this is really a wonderful colour-change yarn.

This smooshiness plus some cables and beads, and voilà, one cosy necklet!

Coming up soon: NEW SOCKS PATTERNS and other exciting developments!  :)

Don't touch that dial, now...

Good Queen Bess

...was a merry old, soul, was a merr... oh wait a minute...

gloriana socks by yours truly
sanguine gryphon 'skinny bugga' in hologram moth*

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court, please be upstanding for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the First of that name, Good Queen Bess, The Faerie Queene, Gloriana.

Introducing the first sock in a new theme of costume through the ages. 'Gloriana' is a cabled, quilted, ruff-cuffed sock knit from the top down, with a heel-flap and imbued with regal gorgeousness, inspired by Queen Elizabeth I and a love of all things Tudor. And, it has to be said, a surprisingly quick knit!

The cuff is my sock version of the starched ruff collars that were popular through the Tudor age and beyond, although here you'll find it softened into a more cobwebby likeness - the structure suggested by openwork ribs instead of a rigid folded form. 

Leave it unfolded and standing erect for the full regal effect, or fold it over for a slightly more informal approach - the effects are quite strikingly different from each other!

The leg part of the sock represents the top part of the woman's costume, with the a 'jewelled' bodice alluded to by the eyelet and swirl patterns (the swirl also reminds me of the terracotta brick-work you find on Tudor chimneys), and the slashed sleeves - so popular at the time to show off how rich even your under-linings were - are suggested by the cable on the sides.

The bodice arrives at a pointed stomacher (the bottom part of the garment, but can I take a decent photo of it?  no), which in turn leads on to a diamond pin-tuck-effect kirtle, or over-skirt.

To complete the sock construction, at the back of the stomacher, the heel-flap continues the twist theme, which frames a sl1, k1tbl pattern, both of which echo the lines of pattern found on the  bodice.

Adding all these components together again, we come back to a rather luxurious-looking sock, fit for royalty.

I used a Tudor green colour, but for another type of royalty, try a bright red Lady Gaga-esque sock, or... the possibilities are endless!

You don't need to pay a king's Queen's ransom to own the pattern to create such august foot adornments, though. For the commoner's price of only $4 (or £2.50*, or €2.85, or ¥330 going by current exchange rates) and a simple click on the buy button below, you too can have the means to make your own feet royally resplendent! You can also click HERE to go to the Gloriana Ravelry pattern page.

* this yarn, THIS YARN! Oh boy. Deliciously dyed, and a joy to work with. I can get lost for a very long time staring at the different greens that run through this 'hologram moth' colourway. Now I understand the gasps of awe when someone says they own a skein. Sanguine Gryphon ROCKS! 

**ee gads - the poor pound