Summery Sock KAL 2013

Many thanks to all the lovely knitters on Instagram and Ravelry who took part in the first Summery Sock KAL (Knit-Along) this year. With the success of the event, I'm planning on organising it for the 1st June 2014 also.

So with the beautiful array of socks knitted by participants of the event, I thought that I would bombard you all with a feast for the eyes in this KAL write-up.

This years pattern was the fabulous Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder.

After a false start (!) I decided to make it easier on myself and omit the contrasting toe, heel & cuff. I also decided to do them one-at-a-time/top-down.

At the end of the month I'd allocated to the KAL, I'd only managed to finish one of the socks, but have cast on my second so that I have a WIP rather than a potential second sock syndrome issue.

I was also delighted that two of the KAL participants used yarn dyed by my own fair hands in my own little workshop at home.

Here are @amberweinberg's beautiful socks from my first batch 'Epiphany' self-striping sock yarn.

And here are @scarffaces' finished socks from my 'Afternoon Tea' sock yarn.

So the following pic is a lovely montage of some of the early days of the KAL, showing the exciting start of things to come.

And now on to some more progress pics of peoples' beautiful knitting.

As you may or may not know, purple is one of my favourite colours, and I particularly enjoyed looking at the high percentage of people who chose this wonderful colour to make their socks with.

And here are some TA-DAH moments from some of the KAL participants who achieved an FO!

I was so excited to be given the opportunity to offer prizes to KAL participants. Ramona Burke (IG name @ramonarose) got in touch to say that I could award two lucky KAL-ers with one of her gorgeous and practical Sock Sack patterns.

I decided I would give one of the prizes to my 'favourite' pair of socks, and one to a random participant. On the 30th June, I made my selections.

The favourite prize went to @rijelviolent who knit her socks with 'Across The Universe' by Lynai Yarns, which is just a beautiful array of some of my favourite shades.

However, this honest young lady got in touch to say that she was very grateful for the prize, but that because she already owned the Sock Sack pattern, that she would rather offer her prize to someone else.

So, I chose another favourite ... by @stripeymonkey.

The film geek in me loves these socks because they are totally in theme for the Harry Potter inspired Hermione pattern because they are in Gryffindor colours. And the eccentric side in me loves the fact that there is an odd green contrast toe that the creator of the socks calls her 'lucky green toe', which I think is fabulous!

And then on to the winner chosen using a random number generator was @milliemull, but very deservedly so with her stunning earthy green socks.

If you would like to go onto Instagram and look at more photos of the event, please do a search under hashtag #summerysockkal13.

So let's add to that ever-growing pile of hand-knitted socks ... See you all again next year :)

My Hand-Dyed and Hand-Knit Great Divide Shawl FO

I took part in a fun KAL recently, and just have to share the results.

The pattern was the Great Divide Shawl by 'kisskisskiddo' on Ravelry, and I must say that it's my favourite shawl knit to date. It was fun, easy to memorize and quickly knit up with DK weight yarn.

Loving the creative freedom of dyeing my own yarn, I decided to take on a self-made challenge and dye with a specific project in mind for the first time.

As a relative dyeing noob, I'm still messing about with Kool Aid, but am constantly amazed by the richness and contrast of colours that can be achieved from what is essentially a powdered drink for children!

So, with my undyed 100% merino yarn, I set to work in the kitchen with the kettle dye method. I started with two contrasting colours, and here is what I came up with:

I called the one on the left 'Bluebell' as it features the beautiful range of purples, lilacs and blues found in the flowers of the same name. The one on the right is 'Earth Mother' as it reminds me of the earthy colours found so frequently on our planet; oranges, browns, rusts and greens.

I couldn't wait for this yarn to dry so I could cast on.

I just love the cast on for shawls, when the rows are short and you make fast progress.

With this pattern, I was excited to be able to use my contrasting colour very soon after starting the project. It is always a thrill to see how the colours you have chosen work together in the flesh, rather than in the imagination.

Being a sucker for texture as well as colour, I was in seventh heaven with this pattern ... as you can see, the stitches form a gorgeous repeating striping pattern with a great tactile design.

Being DK weight with a frequent set of increases, the main bulk of the shawl was knit up in no time, and I began to think on what I wanted to do about the bottom border. Initially, I was just going to knit the bottom edge with the remainder of the Bluebell coloured yarn, but as the shawl progressed, I started to visualise a third colour, so I set to work with the dye pots again.

I wanted a nice Spring-fresh green that would complement the other seasonal colours, and was really pleased with the results of my third skein of yarn.

Green is my favourite colour, and I usually like a slightly earthier shade, but I was really happy with the tonality I achieved in the bright limey-yellowy green pictured above, and it was exactly what I wanted to ofset the other bright colours featured in my shawl.

I am really happy with the three colours I chose, and even more so that I dyed them myself.

The finished shawl is my quintessential Spring and Summer Shawl for chilly British weather ... so bright and cheerful.

I am one very happy dyer / knitter indeed.

If you are on Instagram, please use hashtag #greatdividekal to see all the other wonderful knitters who took part in the KAL.

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Taking part in Tami's Amis and Other Creations FO Friday. Please go along and see all the other wonderful FOs :)

Happa Handspun and Handknit Hat FO

My trip to Unravel Fiber Festival earlier this year was very fruitful ... I came away from it with lots of goodies ... Well, it would have been rude not to!

One of these purchases was 100g of merino fiber from Skeins in the Pale Jungle colourway.

I was itching to spin it up and so this happened >>>

This was such an enjoyable spin, as these are some of my very favourite colours, plus of course being 100% merino ... Yum!

It all fit onto one bobbin, so I wound the singles on to a yarn winder to create a center-pull-ball.

And after the plying, I had a lovely squashy 2-ply yarn ready and waiting to be used.

I began looking through Ravelry or a suitable pattern for the correct yarn weight and meterage. I kept on thinking that I wanted to make a cowl, but then I asked for the advice of my Instagram friends, who instantly suggested that a hat would work well.

And so the 1 of 6 Hat KAL was born.

With very short notice, as this was all so spur of the moment, I simply couldn't wait any longer and cast on the Happa Hat within days of organising the KAL. There was no urgency or rush for others to follow suit, and they participated when they had the yarn and tools to hand.

And there it is ... the beginnings of my hat. I had learnt a new stitch too (I love an educational knit) ... the twisted 1x1 rib stitch, which I couldn't quite work out at first because I thought that my hat looked way too small for an adult head, but once I was further into the pattern I discovered (with great relief) that this rib stitch is uber-stretchy.

And on to the lace pattern, which is always so thrilling to see as it starts to take form. I just love the leaves effect of this design.

Being worsted weight yarn, it knitted up nice and quickly. In between a busy lifestyle it took a few evenings over the course of about two weeks to complete.

There's nothing quite like knitting with your very own handspun yarn. Truly satisfying to the MAX.

And here it is ... with some daytime FO photos :)

And a cheeky selfie of one happy spinner/knitter ...