Turning Over A New Leaf

Leaf - page, page - book, book - bookmark!  Geddit?  Geddit?

:: sigh ::

Philistines.  I'm working with philistines.  But because I love you all, philistines or not, I would like to introduce you to my latest free pattern:

The Bookmarker Sock!

My little sister is secretary extraordinaire to the director of a large university library in Scotland.  On being asked, after spotting some lovely winey-coloured DK in a shop at home, to make her some socks for Christmas, I immediately thought of this charming herringbone-like pattern: a pattern which reminds me of the bookmarks I used to have when I was little!  That, plus a Dutch heel (because I’m in Holland) and a star toe (because she’s a star sister) completes my book-inspired, secretary-dedicated sock!

So, here, for your delectation, is a DK-using, cuff-down,

Dutch-heeled,

star-toed

little cutie, which works with solid, semi-solids, colour-change and self-striping yarns. With colour-change and self-striping yarn, you'll also discover the zig-zag counter pattern. (You see a hint of it in the petroleum-coloured socks.) We all love a good chevron!  For the burgundy socks I used Cygnet Double Knitting in 'Mulberry Mix', and the wonderful oily colours came from King Cole Riot in 'Dude'. 

As I've said already, this is a free pattern which you can find if you click HERE. Said click will whiz you off to the Ravelry page (which is accessible to non-Rav members, too) where you will find a link to the pdf download.

Simple as pie. Leaf pie. Om nom nom?

Weather Fronts

Outlook: gloomy, dull, with bands of soul-drenching rain.

Instead of 2011 being a kinder, healthier, more giving year than 2010, it has already taken me down a dark alley of US urban legend and roughed me up, with the promise, implied by two fingers pointing to its eyes, then mine, then its own again, of more.

Outlook: Stormy, with chance of being struck by lightning, or maimed  by metaphoric hail the size of golf-balls.

Not content with private pummellings, 2011 has also given me a public drubbing and strapped me in the stocks, in readiness for further trouncing, no doubt.

Outlook: Low pressure to the North will bring with it bands of meh.

Meh.

Outlook: A little brighter, with the chance of some rays of sunshine.

Ding-dong.  Well, actually, the doorbell to my flat doesn't do that cheerful 'Avon-calling' malarchy.  Hell it's not even a bell.  It's a buzzer that when set off, sounds like someone using a pneumatic drill.  Just to the left of your ear-drum. I'd give you some onomatopoeia here, but words, even made-up ones, just cannot do it justice.  So we'll say drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and give you a tiny, and not really close, sample of the real thing.

Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Hello?  (Thank heavens for intercoms. Even the ear-drum-tearing kind.)  Ja, hallo! Pakketje voor U.  (A small package? Oh - probably for the girl who lives downstairs.) Ik kom... (Followed by some careful negotiations of 2 flights of Dutch stairs, the steepness and general craggy-mountain-reaches-where-only-ropes-and-God-will-help-you of which have to be seen to be believed.)  Handtekening hier, alstublieft.  Ooh.  It's for me.  And has an enormous printed out address label with pretty things and a lovely font, and a return-to address which indicates said gorgeous-looking package is from my DS.

The time to scribble my signature on the receipt form and race up the stairs to open said pakketje has only been bested once.  That instance involved no signature, just a very full bladder, so least said...

Chocolate. Wool. Beaded wire-work hearts. Scented candles.  Niknaks. (Nom!) Make-up. More chocolate. Hair thingies.  A little hug-on-a-card. My favourite body butter. Apple and cinnamon tea-bags.  Still more chocolate.  And a metal sign that informs visitors that singing, dancing and swearing are not allowed in this respectable house.  (Oh, how I laughed.  And continued to do so whilst placing it at the bottom of the stairs by the front door to make sure that it's the first thing that people see.  And ensuring that they will laugh, too. People who know me, I can guarantee, will see that sign and, at the very least, give a hearty snort.)  Thank you, sister-mine.  Just when the clouds were settling overhead, you sent me a box of sun beams.

Forecast as promised: Rays of sunshine.

Happy New Ye... oh.

Oops. Where did January go?  I swear it just arrived yesterday, but I see the bags are packed to go and February is waiting at the door to take over the room. Then again, January is never a particularly pleasant house-guest, chasing away work and sneaking in unsavoury friends for long nights of playing the blues.

I must admit that January has been productive is some ways... apart from the all-night woe-fests, and there are some patterns coming together, including a very exciting project which is reaching fruition...

<--- ...using this, which is in a very special colourway!

More of which I shall leave for a later date, but I can say this one thing: OM NOM NOM NOM.  And I'll add a squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for good measure.  Because I can, and because, basically, it is TOTALLY called-for.  Oh YES!  January Blues can't keep a good squeeeeee down, that's for sure.

Oh, and this lovely yarn knits-up prettily, too, with just the right balance of softness and stitch definition!  

You are welcome to have a guess at the name of the new sock - it's another sock using the theme of alcoholic drinks, so I'll be intrigued to hear what you come up with!  (If you know already, keep mum!) If you have any ideas, let the comment box know! ;-)

In other news, I got an amazing gift from a very dear friend for Christmas: 10 balls of Rowan Kidsilk and a pattern book especially for said Rowan Kidsilk, called 'Little Luxury Knits' by Alison Crowther-Smith!  SO WONDERFUL! (And bonus points go to my friend, as she knows the author personally.  Even more bonus points added, because said dear friend is a muggle!)

rowan kidsilk haze in 'ghost'

rowan kidsilk haze in 'putty'

rowan kidsilk aura in 'vintage'

rowan kidsilk aura in 'logan berry'

rowan kidsilk haze in 'hurricane'

and not a shawl in sight - bliss!

Sweet!  =D

An Arbitrary Après-Après-Summer Sale

NEW IMPROVED SNOWLESS EDIT:

SALE FINISHES 31ST DECEMBER 2010

23:59 CET

There's nothing more depressing than seeing a children's playground, yesterday a source of deep, snowy, giggly fun, turned today, thanks to Mother Nature's need to put on some flannel underwear and warm things up a little, into a slushy, grey and soggy snowman's  graveyard.   

So to add a little cheer to an otherwise mucky, grey and generally dispiriting day, I've decided to have a wee sale of my patterns...  So from, oh, round about now, until sometime just after Christmas...  let's say the 28th for arbitrary's sake, [ed: now until the 31st of December]you can buy one pattern out of the Honey Socktails, Pom Stars, Strawberry Mojitos and Irish Ales and get a different pattern half price!

ONLY $5.25 $7.00 for TWO WHOLE PATTERNS!

All you need to do is click on this LINK and it'll take you through to my Ravelry designer's page with further links to each pattern.  Then you simply choose 2 different patterns to put in the basket and Ravelry, in its infinite hand-basket wisdom, will automatically award you with this marvellous deal!

There are, of course these other patterns which are already available for FREE, too.  (You lucky people!!!)  Gin and Tonics, Twist of Citrus and the Traffic Islands...

You'd better take advantage soon, before this Scots lass remembers that her race is allegedly not endowed with arms long enough for their pockets...  ;-)

A Verdant Triptych

An integral part of my knitting addiction two years ago was the repeated making-up of this lovely Cabled Glovelets pattern by Meg White in as many different yarns as my budget would allow.  A pretty simple fingerless mitt pattern, it gives enough lee-way to add your own special touches.  For this version, mine was adding the pearly beads to the inside of the cable crosses - nice and elegant against the marvellously chunky green Iceland Madil Yarns.

verdant cosy smooshiness

Having fallen rather hard for said deliciously soft yarn, I was thankful that there was still enough left to make something else with it...  But what?  There wasn't, sadly, enough for a nice, long scarf, or I'd have made it up in a heart-beat, but there was enough for a complementing hat.  And thus the Verdant Cap was born.  Well, really it was more cobbled together from a couple of disparate patterns that would, I assured myself, fit my circumferencely-well-endowed noggin.  So really, it was brought to life, Frankenstein-wise, from bits of other hats.  A Franken-Hat, if you will.  With pearls.  And scars.  It was, after all, my first ever attempt at a hat.

verdant cranium cosiness with added mwah ahahahaaaaaah

And so, like all good stories, there was a happy ending.  Until 2 years later, when a fair maiden (no guffawing at the back, thank you) stumbled across the remnants of greeny goodness after emptying her sock wool stash all over the floor.  Yes, I know: sock wool doesn't count as stash, so really it's an oxymoron. And no, I don't know why a ball of 10-ply thick goodness was in with the 4-ply sock skeiny loveliness, either.  Yet there it was, looking for all intents and purposes like it was there just waiting to be discovered and made into something WONDERFUL.  

But this was where the trouble started, you see.  There was only 100 metres or so left of the ball.  After starting with a total of THREE BALLS OF SMOOSHY GORGEOUSNESS (MWAH HAH HAH HAAAAAAAAAAH)  What?  I'm channelling my inner Count...  I had just under a ball left and not a lot of options.  

Uncle Ravelry came to the rescue, with, not so much a pattern, but an idea... Necklets!  Neck-Warmers!  Cowlettes!  Hoodettes!  Neck-Cosies!  

Taking the cable pattern from the Cabled Glovelets; casting-on around 100 sts and knitting in the round; adding a few more k2,p2 ribs here and there to match the hat; and adding a liberal dash of pearly whiteness.

Et voilà!  The Verdant Necklet was born.  

verdant necky warmthness

And boy, is it warm!

Hi Honey...

... I'm home!

honey socktails by yours truly (hot toddy version)

I know, I know - honey isn't the first ingredient that springs to mind when you're mixing cocktails of an evening, but you'd be surprised at its versatility: if you mix vodka, simple honey syrup, cranberry juice, a splash of lemon juice and a cherry garnish, for example, then you've got a Honeybee Cosmo!  Or perhaps some white rum, honey and cream for a Bee's Kiss...  Fancy something non-alcoholic? You can make a Great Grapes by combining grape juice, honey, lemon juice and soda water.  Going back to the booze, we can't forget the quintessential Winter comforter - the Hot Toddy: whisky, hot water, honey and lemon - simple but effective!

But come, young grasshopper, the journey towards Honey Socktail enlightenment begins at the honeybee toe:

toe of honeybee-ness

...through a honeycomb foot:

comb of footiness... wait...

... past a leg-full of honey-making bees:

honey-made leg-fullingness  of... no... 

... to the honey cuff, ready for full apian* appreciation!

cuff of completion

Final understanding is attained via an afterthought heel. And as I don't have any alveolar** appellations left for that, here's where the hosiery badinage ends!

Try not to look so happy.

afterthought heeliness

Or you can just click on this link and buy the pattern for yourselves.  5 steps to Socktual Enlightenment for only $3.50, £2.20, €2.60...***

Seriously!  Click here!



Or click HERE for the Ravelry pattern page

hot toddy socks
gjestal silja sock yarn
hand-dyed with beetroot by
itisalwaysraining

great grapes socks
frog hair fibres
superwash merino
in amethyst

Many thanks to my Intrepid Test-knitters™ dizzybea, dyddgu, zaftigwendy, zuzusunshine, knitaddicted, TeleonicaRobsMom and LtdEdition for their invaluable help with this pattern.


* apian - pertaining to bees
** alveolar - of, or like a honeycomb
*** it's interesting to see how the rates of exchange have fluctuated over the last few pattern posts! 

Let's Twist Again...

...just like we did last Summer...

twist of curaçao and twist of grenadine

Introducing A Twist of Citrus Socks - homage in sock form to the unsung star of the cocktail firmament: – the twist (or slice) of citrus!  You’d like a slice of lemon in your G&T? Or would you prefer a garnish of orange in your Blue Lagoon?  No, I know – you’d really like a twist of lime in your mint Mojito! 

peasant heel ftw

This is an easy-to-memorise, slightly cabled, slightly scalloped sock, knit from the toe up, with a peasant heel and a ribbed cuff.  Or, if you like, a bit of feather and fan with a twist!  And it's FREE! (Here's the link to the Ravelry page, for further info!)

download now

The Twist of Grenadine Socks, on the left, above, was knit using Noro Kureyon Sock in colourway 240, and the Twist of Curaçao Socks used Knit Picks Felici in Marine Life.  The pattern works really well with self-striping yarn, slow colour-change yarn like the Noro, and solid and semi-solid.  Variegated yarn turns out like this:

... which could be worse, I know, (hey, nice toe!) but if I'm going to spend time, even if it's only seconds every 8 rounds, on making a cool cable, then I'd rather like to see the thing!  Still, the King Cole ZigZag in Aqua is rather a nice yarn to work with, so it was interesting to see what happened with it.  Not the happiest of marriage between pattern and yarn, 'tis true, but it's not enough to sue for socktual divorce, either.  And because they're such a quick knit, I have no compunction in finishing the pair and wearing them with pride, anyway!