What I've Been Up To This Week! (Week ending Oct 22nd 2017)

What I've Been Up To This Week!!

It has been one busy crafty week for me! I decided last weekend after seeing a pattern for West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas socks on Instagram that I needed to learn to knit socks, I've been a knitter for as long as I can remember but I have never attempted a pair of socks so I had no idea where to begin which meant a trip to my local yarn store! The owner is fantastic and she helped me choose some KnitPro Symfonie fixed circular needles, some Pony DPN's and I grabbed a ball of Stylecraft Head Over Heels sock yarn in the Etna colour way too. Armed with my new purchases I found my way to The Winwick Mum blog and started following her Sockalong posts, which are fantastic for sock knitting newbies, but I would definitely read them all the way through before trying to follow them because some of the instructions follow on or have extra tips further down the page. ! I got past the heel turn and gusset and was working on the foot section then tried my sock on again and came to the decision that I'm far too fussy with my socks to wear anything that is even slightly baggy on my feet, so I got some smaller needles and started again and the difference .75mm makes is crazy, my sock doesn't just feel better it looks so much better to, as you can see below.

First sock attempt using 3.25mm needles

Second sock attempt using 2.5mm needles

I then made another trip to the yarn store later on in the week because the new West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas sock yarn and pattern was due in, I didn't find out until I got down there that the pattern I saw on Instagram was for last years sock not this years and I was more than a little bit pleased when I saw the new colours because they are SO me, I just love how bright and happy they are and the first thing I think of when I look at them is definitely candy canes! The pattern is designed by Christine from The Winwick Mum blog, and you get it for free when you buy the candy cane yarn. I'm so excited to use this gorgeous yarn but I want to have one completed pair of socks done before I use it, it's all good because I've got time before Christmas comes around, I also grabbed some Kuszty Rose Quartz stitch markers which are so cute and a Stylecraft Special DK Shade Card because you can never go wrong with shade cards or yarn pegs!

WYS Christmas sock yarn!! Left to right Cayenne Pepper, Candy Cane and Chocolate Lime.

My amazing sister was talking to me one night and I told her about the Tunisian Crochet that I had been trying as part of the Super Simple Tunisian Crochet Along that Claudia from the Crochet Luna vlogcast and Hannah from The Cozy Cottage Crochet podcast are hosting. I told her about a particular bomber jacker pattern that I really wanted to do as a result of the CAL and that I'd need to buy slightly different hooks than what I had because of the stitch count and she bought me a set of KnitPro Symfonie Interchangeable Tunisian Hooks that I had been eyeing up for Christmas, AND gave them to me early just in case I managed to start my jacket before Christmas. I REALLY love the chevron detailing and the colours on the KnitPro Symfonie range but these are something else, the neon colour coded cables are awesome and I can't wait to use my new hooks there is just something so satisfying when you're tools are just as pretty as the items you are making.

KnitPro Symfonie Interchangeable Tunisian Crochet Hooks

Look at those colours!!

If you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen the yarn for this WIP I have also been working on, it's an infinity scarf/cowl that I found on Ravelry called Kaitlyn by Cheryl Chow. It's going to be a Christmas present for a friend of mine, I'm using the Hufflepuff hand dyed 4ply yarn from Vicki Brown Designs because she is a total Potterhead and Pottermore sorted her into Hufflepuff so it had to happen. I'm about halfway through now and I am really loving the stitch pattern and the way the colours play out from the yarn. The friend who it's for chose the pattern and yarn but the final product will be a surprise so I'm not posting any pictures until she's actually got it so you'll be waiting a few months to see that, sorry, alternatively you could also pop over to my Ravelry and have a look at the project page for it :).

Hufflepuff Yarn from Vicki Brown Designs

I have been trying to work on my Scheepjes Garden Room Tablecloth kit but that isn't quite going to plan at the moment because my hands get quite dry in the winter and are prone to splitting open due to eczema, the Maxi Sweet Treat/Maxi Bonbon/Maxi Sugar Rush are lace weight yarns which can slice my skin open in this weather. So that WIP has gone away until the weather and my skin gets a bit better.

I don't like having too many WIPs on the go so that's all I've really got to talk about this week, I have been planning some other Christmas gifts that I'm hoping to start real soon!