Personal Sock Club 2010

I decided that 2010 is the year I'm going to give my sock yarn stash a good work out. So to give myself some added pleasure I have set up my own sock yarn club. I've matched 12 skeins of sock yarn to 12 patterns. Not all patterns are socks because I felt that some of the yarn was just too pretty to live on my feet. So I've included a few lace projects as well. I've bagged them all up and here they are:



Since taking the photo all the bags have been put on the top shelf of my cupboard and on the first of every month I will randomly select a bag. I have already forgotten which patterns I've chosen so I'm quite excited about selecting the first project.

Of course this doesn't mean that that is all I will be knitting in the coming year! I have plans to knit a lot of lace but I suspect that the projects in my mental knitting queue will be reshuffled often as the year progresses and I find new distractions along the way.

Here's to a New Year full of knitterly goodness! I wish you all a wonderful 2010 and may your pointy sticks stay pointy and active!

Summer Lace: Silvester

I have managed to finish my Silvester in time for Christmas. If you need a really quick and easy project then I highly recommend this one.



The stole measures 155 cm x 51 cm (61"x 20"). The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills 2 ply lace and the needle size is 4.5mm.



This was the first time that I knitted a stole on the bias and I must say I do like the effect. An additional bonus was not having to pick up stitches or having to knit on a border or edge. You simply cast on and knit from corner to corner. You can knit as many pattern repeats as you like. I knitted 5 repeats for this stole.





I tried photographing the stole in all kinds of light in order to capture the colour of the yarn and this final photo finally gives a truer reflection of the colour.



And now on to a bit of fun. Denise from Knitting in the wild is having a lace yarn competition. She has signed up for 10Shawls2010 and is looking for pattern suggestions. Why don't you hop on over and give her a few suggestions? Oh and while you are there be sure to check out her lovely completed lace projects.

I hope you all have a lovely time over the Christmas holidays.

The generosity of knitters

When I first started to knit I was still at primary school and the only other knitters I knew were my mother and grandmother. As the years passed I continued to knit and still only knew very few other knitters. Knitting was an isolating pastime. Most of my friends found it a very unintellectual pastime and thought it all very uncool.

And then some years ago I discovered knitting on the internet and gradually found my way into the virtual knitting community. I have now made knitting friends all over the world.

As I get to know more knitters through blogging and Ravelry I am constantly struck by what a generous bunch of people knitters are. This year I have personally been on the receiving end of that generosity. It has manifested itself in many ways ranging from the many supportive and comforting comments I received last February during that horror summer, the lovely gifts I received participating in the swaps on the Australian Swappers group on Ravelry, through to the unexpected gifts and generous offers from my blogging buddies.

Yesterday I was again on the receiving end. This time knitter extraordinaire, Mary, sent me these beautiful sock blockers.



Look at the beautiful wood and gorgeous butterfly.



Thank you Mary you sure put a lift in my day. I can't wait to get my first pair of socks on them.

Socks and lace

I have finished the Kai-Mei socks. Unfortunately they are not for me. The yarn is Tofutsies and I have to say its a lovely yarn to work with. It also feels good on the feet. I've made a couple of pairs of socks out of this yarn and I find they are ideal for those slightly cool days.



Its rather difficult to bring out the lovely sweeping design without a pair of feet in them!



I've succumbed to my KAL addiction yet again. This time it is another KAL from Knit & Knag designs called Silvester.



I've already completed 2 pattern repeats and I started on the third repeat last night. Talk about instant gratification - this is a really fast knit. The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills 2 ply lace. No idea of the colourway because I found this yarn in the magical backroom at the Mill itself. I suspect it is one of their colour experiments. Its a marled yarn made up of a deep red and a gorgeous blue.

Summer Lace: Dark Star

Finally my Dark Star stole is complete. This is one of the many lovely designs from BadCatDesigns.



My stole measures 173 cm by 102 cm (68"x40"). The yarn is Ripples Crafts Hand Dyed Yarn in Steely Blue. This is a luscious Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere lace weight yarn. A real pleasure to work with. Oh and the needle size, 3.0 mm circulars.



Its really hard to get the full impact of this stole without a willing model!





Now I need to spend some time on my Summer Squares blanket.