FO Friday AKA Let the sock fest begin: Patonyle Colour-block Socks (2015 FO #7)

A few weeks ago, I blogged about a cowl I had made out of leftover 50g balls of Patonlye. I don't know if it came through but I was incredibly pleased with myself. Not only had I used up all the balls that were each too small to make one pair of socks, I had a great, very wearable scarf that is soft and comfortable and warm. Winning! But then, I looked at the leftovers of leftovers (please imagine this stage as I did not take photos because I am a terrible blogger who still does not understand how blogs work) and the balls seemed just a little bit too big to throw away. I pulled out my trusty digital drug dealer scales, and yep...

[picture 10 teeny balls of wool on a digital scale with a display that says "55g"]

..almost enough for a pair of socks. Clearly I couldn't throw away enough wool to make an entire pair of socks! So I grabbed the 7g of Needfood merino sock yarn I had leftover from my Tennis Scarf and started knitting.

Et voila! A pair of socks.

I knitted these toe up, two at a time so I could use up all of the (damn) wool.

I ran into a slight problem when I got to the heel because I couldn't find my copy of Favorite Socks (I use the heel from Priscilla's dream socks)...

..so I just bought another. I know, consumerism, consumption, excess, etc., but still! I'm usually really good about this stuff. I save up my veggie scraps to make stock with, I use an environmental toothbrush (which, btw, I think everyone should use. Not only are they better for the environment than a regular toothbrush, they're cheap and the packaging has pictures of pandas all over it! Pandas are great) - I think on balance, I'm doing okay (I did not realise how guilty I felt about buying a second copy until I started writing this paragraph! The things you learn.)

There were a ton of ends to weave in but it was worth it to get my free, soft, comfy and waste-reducing socks.

As the title of the blog indicates, I've been finishing a lot of socks lately. There are many more sock FO Fridays to come!

FO Friday: Endless Rainbow (2015 FO #3)

Guys, I have had a mental week. I've easily worked 65 hours in my quest to meet five deadlines (Five! That's freaking ridiculous). I am completely exhausted and really basically dribbling words from my melty, melting brain. But I couldn't not share with you my latest favouritest FO: my Endless Rainbow Scarf.

It took my a few goes to get my head around the triangles but once I did, they were easy and the scarf travelled with me all over the place.

Boobs! (and belly...I've got to get of my arse and do some more exercise...) 

The yarn is a super special skein of Needlefood merino sock that I've been saving that I finally used as part of the Summer of the Single Skein KAL on Ravelry. I paired it with some beige/neutral Patonyle and they blend really well both with each other and most of my wardrobe.

I'm happy that I've used up a lovely bit of stash on a lovely pattern that resulted in a lovely scarf. Now, even though its 9.50pm on a Friday night, I'm going to go to bed! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

PS: How nice is my beach?

It was much colder than it looked though.

WIP Wednesday: Endless Rainbow Scarf

I recently joined the The Summer of the Single Skein KAL. I'm not usually a big KAL person but it really was the incentive I needed to use up the special skeins I've been hoarding for years. I pulled out some Needlefood Merino I've been saving forever and paired it with some neutral Patonyle that's been around for at least six years, thus also contributing to my goal of using up all of 

Through no fault of the pattern, my first attempt looked very not right.

The second one was better...

..and by the end of the night I had a decent amount of the shawl done.

It took a trip to the Korea Rep vs Uzbekistan Asian Cup quarterfinal, where it attracted zero attention from anyone because every single spectator was  completely fixated on the game.

The excitement when a goal was kicked was amazing. Soccer fans are very clearly crazy but it it very fun to be a part of the crowd, especially after a goal was kicked.

I am very tempted to visit a local cricket final this weekend so the scarf has a true representative experience of Australian sport. I think I may be the crazy one for visiting a sport just to take a photo of my knitting! We'll see...

In with a whimper not a bang (2015 FOs #1 and #2: Swirl hat and booties)

Can you believe it's the third week of January already? For me, the year so far has felt full but remarkably, notably uneventful. 

For example, with my Christmas money I bought a huge cast-iron Dutch oven:

It's great! I used it to make seven litres of veggie stock (pictured in the saucepan) which I am using in the risotto that I also made it in. It's wonderful and I love it but really, not newsworthy (although, look how healthy and delicious my dinner is? I love eating in summer.)

I got beautiful flowers and breakfast in bed for my birthday:

I made a cute little hat and bootie set on the request of my favourite Dutch grandma (not mine but I wish she was!)

Rav links - Swirl booties and Swirl hat

My favourite thing of the entire year so far is a gift I received for Christmas:

 a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Lucy absolutely hates it. She does not understand why we are paying so much attention to it rather than to her.

She tried to join in one evening...

but her method of attempting to beat the puzzle into submission proved somewhat ineffective.

See - all very nice, remarkedly uninteresting! I'll see if I can rustle up some actual events for my next post...

WIP Wednesday: a sock and a blankie

One day I am going to stop talking about it and actually do a photography course, because until I came inside and uploaded the photos I had absolutely no idea that the light was shining behind me in such a way that it washed out all of my photos.

Despite the massive overexposure, you can see that the blanket is very satisfactorily heading towards its eventual conclusion. I work so much with 4-ply wool that I forget how fast thicker wool knits up and how enjoyable it is to see such measurable progress every day. I think I will have the knitting (if not necessarily the border) finished by next week.  As soon as I do, I'm starting my next TV garter stitch baby blanket - an Op Art in Bendy Luxury.

Next is a pair of socks I started a few weeks ago out of some divine Mountain Colors Barefoot from the stash in Copper. The pattern is the Go With The Flow socks...kinda. I have modified them to knit toe-up instead of toe down so used my favourite toe-up toe. I also kept knitting in stocking stitch after the toe increases were done until to where my physical toes finished (about 2cm) before starting the lace pattern. These socks are my third pair from Favorite Socks, which has to be honestly one of the best value knitting books I have ever bought.

I've had a pretty good week knitting-wise, footy-wise, weather-wise and work-wise. I almost don't want to tell anyone that unless I jinx it! Here's to hoping my current run of loveliness continues...

I heart Saturdays (2013 FO #13 and #14)

I love Saturday morning. I love that there's one day a week that I don't have to set an alarm and that I can choose to do whatever I want all day long. Admittedly I'm self-employed and I work from home so I set my own activities daily but the activities I have the option of are limited to a fairly specific set: work, read for work, study, write, read for study, cook dinner and play with Lucy. On the weekend, I can choose from all the activities!

Today's choice was to go out for a long, lazy breakfast and then take some of my finished knitting out into the almost-spring sunshine and take some long overdue photographs.

The hat is the Grantham hat which is easy, cute and free. The yarn is some Schoeller and Stahl Geisha that I bought at least eight years ago (!!!). If you are going to knit the hat, pick up more stitches for the earflaps than the patter recommends - you can see that the flaps don't sit quite flat in the photograph because they are slightly pouchy.

The mittens were a pattern I made up. It turns out that mittens are basically just the same as socks but with thumbs instead of heels!  (How weird does my big toe look in this shot? Freaky.) I'm sure everyone already knew this except but it is new information to me and I am ridiculously pleased with these handwarmers.

This set is super warm and comfy and will be heading off to KOGO tomorrow. I only wish I'd finished it earlier in the winter but, as my mother says, better late than never. I am very happy to be done with old stash yarn and happy to be doing good at the same time.

I love Saturdays!

Mitten Epiphany (2013 FO #12)

Happy Monday morning, everyone! While that is a particularly cheery greeting for a Monday morning, I am particularly cheery right now because today marks the point at which there is less winter to come than there has winter been. We are more than halfway through the coldest, wettest, dreariest season of the year and I am incredibly excited!

Yes, I do complain about the cold all the time and yes, what kind of moron complains about the cold in Melbourne year-in-year-out (it's hardly a surprise when it gets cold, really. Not only does it happen every year, there's a whole season that exists to warn you that winter's coming). That said, I believe in providing solutions rather than just complaining about problems because there is literally nothing more boring than listening to someone complain and complain and complain and complain without doing anything about it (except watching golf. That's really fucking boring). After the disaster of the Endpaper mitts I was making for my sister, I was a bit disheartened about knitting in general and mine in particular. It was cold, I was feeling bleurgh and motivation was in really short supply, so weeks passed without me doing anything to get the mitts done. However, last week in a desperate search for some Vicks Vaporub (it's not winter without a chest infection - fortunately, not mine) I stumbled across a drawer I had forgotten about that is filled solely with bits of yarn left over from other projects. There was 30g of Mountain Colors Barefoot left over from my mum's dream socks, I knew a pattern that made supercomfortable mitts from small amounts of yarn - I had a pattern plus yarn epiphany!

The finished project is fantastic! The yarn is warm and soft and the pattern fits (hehe) like a glove! I lengthened the cuff and finger ribbing to use all of the yarn I had and omitted the cables because I hate them.

Thumbs up to fingers being kept warm and a job eventually being done!

More baby hats! (2013 FOs #10 & #11)

Today I returned books to my local library that were two weeks overdue. This might not seem like a big deal but it is totally out of character for me. I am the kind of person who checks online records daily and puts reminders in her phone so she doesn't forget due dates. In part, it's because I'd much rather use the money for wool or wine than late fees but mainly it's because of my inner drill sergeant - you know, the one lives in my psyche and is  always yelling at me, telling me to get up, be on time, leave ten minutes early to allow for traffic and parking delays - you know, that voice.

Lately, however, there has been a softer, more seductive voice whispering in my ear. Don't go swimming, this voice purrs, it's much too cold. You've sneezed twice today - you'd better work from home in your yoga pants while drinking tea and sitting very close to the heater. This voice tempts me with warmth and comfort and doesn't care about deadlines or staying healthy. It wants me to be warm and comfortable all the time and I have been powerless to resist its temptation. Hence, no new knitting projects, no blog posts and the requirement to switch from buttoned to elastic-waisted pants...

But I'm back! I am not going to give in to my inner winter sloth and emerge blinking into the springtime sunlight five kilos heavier and totally unused to human contact. I will resist!!  As much as I can, anyway - if humans were meant to go outside in the cold, we would have been covered in fur like cats.

Seriously.

In other news

I finished these a while ago but never got around to taking photos. Inspired by my Sisyphian spiralling baby hat, I went through my stash and found some other leftover hanks of 4-ply wool that were too small to make anything other than these adorable baby hats.

First up was this one made with less than 20g of Patonyle - 84 stitches on 3.75mm needles. It's really nice and soft and I think will work well as a hat but the fabric, while super-comfortable for baby-wearing, was too loose for the brim to roll properly, which was a bit disappointing. 

But this one was a massive success!

I used a 20g Waratah Fibres hand dyed pure wool 4-ply sample I got from a Ewe Beaut fibre sample box (It looks like they're not active anymore. That's sad - the box was heaps of fun and a great opportunity to find new vendors, new yarns and new dyers.) The label doesn't say what the colourway is but it didn't look very appealing in the skein. However, the finished hat is totally adorable! The pink and yellow and blue work really well together in a way I did not expect, resulting in a completely squee-worthy hat.

I think these woolly hats warm will result in some warm and stylishly attired babies :)