Sock Knittng

If you spend any time looking at the current knitting scene around the world you will no doubt know that knitting socks is all the rage. I bought my first sock yarn about two hundred years ago (okay, so you all know how I'm prone to a bit of exaggeration so that really means about 10 years) but found it to be not worth the effort. I knit too slowly, the yarn, needles and therefore stitches were way too small and it all just took too long, dammit!

But...

I recently tried again and am finding it altogether wonderful! I have taught myself continental knitting so I am so much faster than I used to be and the choice of yarns now available for socks is just staggering. I have even started venturing into dyeing my own sock yarn but that's a post for another day.

One knitter/indie dyeing podcaster started a KAL (knit-along) where participants knit 12 pairs of socks throughout the year and if you google images for 'boxosoxkal' you can get a peek at the deliciousness that is sock knitting. How could any knitter resist?

Not me.

I found out about the KAL too late in the year to finish 12 pairs but I did end up knitting three pairs in 2016, which I was seriously chuffed about. I've now finished another 5 pairs this year and have 2 more pairs in the works. Because why have just one pair on the needles, right?

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Bluesand Cardigan

Earlier in the year I received my first knitting commission (squeeee!) and it was for a long cardigan. After much consultation with the client (how posh does that sound? Makes it sound like I actually knew what I was doing!) we eventually decided on the Bluesand Cardigan by La Maison Rililie. I don't have any good photos of it as I was so excited to give it to her the second it was finished! But here is the crappy photo anyway:



I definitely want to make another one of these, this time for myself, but that's a project for another day.

Details ravelled here.

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My first market stall

Good grief, where has the year gone?

After a great start I quickly reverted to my usual slack bloggy self but can you believe it's been nearly six months since I last posted????!!!!

Not much has happened since February though, but I did have my first market stall which was pretty exciting. And as it turned out, pretty disappointing.

The market I chose was specifically for kids and babies so I thought it would be a great spot to dip my toes in. After paying a premium price to have a stall the number of people attending the market was extremely disappointing. Still I managed to make a small profit (that we blew on lunch on the way home, that's how small it was) which was more than some of the stall holders made. The stall across from me had some lovely handmade items and only sold a couple of hair ties for about $2. Poor bugger!

Needless to say I didn't attend the next market a couple of weeks ago, I need to find a better fit if I ever decide to have a stall again. But I did get some good feedback and some ideas of where to extend my product lines so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

But it was close.

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