Bit rusty at this blogging business, I have to say. I’ve wondered what would be enough to help me overcome my blogger’s block, but it turns out a new cast on, a long term project and a holiday together might just be enough. Plus, discussions need to be had around colourwork underpants.
We’re just back from Hungary, having spent a few days sampling the Hungarian coffee shops while wandering the city. Funnily enough, I was able to get a lot of knitting done, in between the gawking at beautiful architecture, and the falling snow was an excellent reminder to knit quicker.
I’m at a loss as to accounting for the passage of time this summer. It’s been a summer of snapshots of beautiful moments, surrounded by stress, leading to one definitive end. Through it all, knitting projects have started and finished, telling a story in meterage and photos that I somehow can’t pull together coherently in memory.
(life update plus hand-dyed self-striping socks and a new cardigan)
Around a year ago, my partner and I decided to make a move. I’d just finished my final exams and both of us were searching for some change. It’s taken far longer than we thought, but we’ve left Edinburgh.
Alright, that sounds more dramatic than it is – we only moved down the coast. On evening walks, I can take photos of Edinburgh in the evening light. Suddenly, there’s more rocky coves and green fields in my life but a lot less artisanal coffee shops. After eight years of easy access to the wonders of Edinburgh, it’s been a shift.
Edinburgh skyline with Arthur’s Seat
I’ve put off speaking about it. It’s personal rather than crafty, even as it effected every element of my crafting life making it very hard to write anything at all. My jumper obsession has taken a back burner to projects which are easy to pick up and put down between the never-ending admin moving generates.
There’s a few recent projects I want to share. The first has been my absolute joy over the past month – rainbow self-striping socks using my own hand-dyed yarn! The intensity of the colours comes through more in the photo of the yarn being dyed rather than my hasty photo of the finished socks. It’s a riot of intensely cheerful colours.
Imperfect Rainbow Socks
I worked a short row heel with a gusset to minimise the stripe disruption which worked out well. The sock has some negative ease at the heel diagonal but nothing I mind. Surprisingly, it was the orange stripe which I feel could use being more intense – the yellow felt a shade more intense than the orange.
I was able to finish these socks in record time (under a week!) because of how fun it was to see them work up. The lack of a red definitely changes the vibes from a primary school rainbow to something more tropical but all that means is that I have an excuse to dye up another.
Adelphi Cardigan
My other pride and joy at the moment is my Adelphi Cardigan – a simple navy raglan cardigan with a cable down the back. It’s ridiculously straightforward – knit with overdyed Drops Karisma yarn which was on sale for £15 for whole jumper quantity. It’s practically the definition of comfort knitting.
I plan to add pockets to the cardigan, when I get down that far which which is going to add some excitement as I figure out a good way to get the finish I want with the minimum faff. The aim here is a cardigan which is comfy over jeans and a t-shirt later in the year.
There’s more to chat about but I’m going to ease back into posting on here. I hope everyone has a lovely rest of the weekend.
February was a good month for finishing off some quick and much needed cold weather accessories. It’s been a mild winter overall, but when it has been cold it’s felt icy. But, as is typical for me, it’s been the sweaters that have stolen most of my time. With my blue contiguous set in sleeve jumper nearly complete, I cast on for the pink platform set in sleeve jumper in soft and fluffy silk mohair blend held double with a sock yarn.
I suspect that if I lived in Victorian times, I might believe that there was dark magic in portrait photography. The disconnect between the ‘me in the photo’ and the ‘me that’s here’ still startles me.
I suspect that it’s something about the stillness; I don’t tend to be still for very long at all. I’m a person who tends to be in motion, at least with my hands. Give me something to write, to type or to knit. But when the knitting is done, a final step is to photograph the knit.
Like many, I’m currently very full of cheese. My Mum, in her infinite wisdom, thought we might run short (ha!) and sent a us whole hamper for Christmas. Consequently, we’ve been very busy working our way through, with minor breaks for things like Christmas dinner.
Thankfully, this glut of lactose has not slowed down my knitting by too much. I’ve loved having the days free to knit to my heart’s content. I’ve got too many jumpers blocking around the house to do a final round up post quite yet, but I thought I’d think a little about knitting goals for 2022.
Edinburgh has been looking rather pretty, if austere, the past few weeks. We’ve been treated to steel grey skies with occasional bouts of snow, which if we’re less kind was more like sleet. It made Christmas shopping more memorable especially when hurrying past the Castle trying not to freeze.
On a similar theme, there’s a pair of socks I’m excited to talk about. A few months back, I dyed up some self-striping Christmas yarn for myself. Not casting on right away was quite hard, I’ll admit. The first Advent Sunday was rather more tense than usual as I knit the first stripping repeat but isn’t Advent all about anticipation?
I’ve got a rare week off and, typically, have come down with a cold almost immediately. It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise, being a wonderful excuse for remaining close to home with blankets, knitting and hot drinks. It’s been a bright November so far, with remarkably clear days but a certain bite to the air means I’m quite happy to enjoy it from inside while telling you about my newest knitting projects.
I’m coming to you from my favourite chair, curled up with a blanket and a hot water bottle. It’s getting late here and we’ve closed the shutters against the chill. It’s the perfect blanket knitting weather or perhaps a thick cabled jumper and I’ve got both to pick between.
Last weekend, we took advantage of being able to travel and wandered back around Linlithgow Loch. With the historic Palace in our eyeline, we sat and enjoyed some loch-side knitting.
September is turning out to be in line with my predictions. There have been surprises – the sudden appearance of an additional two days of blue sky, warm sunny days for a start. But the mists and the steel grey skies and the yellowing leaves show the changing of the seasons.
The seasonal shift is one of many changes happening and a little knitting escape-ism seems in order. The prompt is ‘wand’, the project is the Spark socks and the conversation topic is toe up versus top down socks.
Knits and Rambles 