day 5: dk baby sock

Another day, another sock, this time a baby sock sized for a 3-6 month old.

Made in matchmaker dk, with the highlight in debbie bliss cashmerino, it feels really soft and scrummy.

day 4: jaywalker

Spent all day knitting this, finally finished the toe and crashed out.

I've had some real problems with the fitting of this sock. While the leg is fine, the foot seems designed for someone with feet as wide as they are long. I'll finish the pair eventually, but it's not my favourite pattern.

knit in opal rainforest. I do love that colour

day 3: 2 purple socks

Well, here is proof there is now a pair of purple socks. I'd photo the lass modelling them, but she's asleep in my bed atm. A visit to the hospital this morning and then to the park seems to have tired her out.

I've also started on a jaywalker. Think that will take more than a day to complete, but i'll see how i go. those tiny socks don't take more than an hour, so I think it will all average out if i knit for about 3/4 hours a day like normal.

Saw that Iknit are opening their new shop tomorrow. I need some new sock needles and maybe an addi lace for the cap shawl I plan to knit when i get too big to move. Seems like a good chance to have a bit of a day out . Himself is off, so the only sprog i will have to worry about is the one that incessantly kicks my bladder.

day 2: sock for she demon

This is the second day of sockage, some leftover green yarn, I think a wool blend but I'm not sure, as a highlight on a purple sock. Again, looser than a normal sock, 4 ply wool on 3mm needles.

She is bugging me for it to be finished, so I may complete the pair tomorrow

basic toe up sock, cast on 24, up to foot/leg width of 48.

day 1: first baby sock

I had a thought, I want to knit more socks and kid's socks don't really take that long. So lets see how long I can keep up knitting a sock every day for without going mad, running out of yarn (I'm on a yarn diet, swaps only) or deciding i never want to see a sock, ever again.

This is some vintage 3 ply knitting up into a basic top down sock, 2.5mm needles, 32 stitch cast on. I'm sure you can work out the rest.

Iit's not as tight a fabric as I would want on an adult sock, but it's for someone that won't be walking, foot is about 3 and a half inches long. Without the high level of wear, socks don't need to be knitted so tightly. Therefore i see no need to strain my hands and my eyes and use even smaller needles that I'm scared of snapping.

pattern: heather legwarmers

With 3 balls of single colour sock yarn and a belief that knitting plain coloured socks were seriously boring, I decided to make up a pattern that would be interesting enough to knit, but something i could knit on a LONG tube journey to a friend's house. With my daughter complaining that her legs were cold, the idea of stripy leg warmers as born. Although I knit these to fit her, it would be easy to adapt the width and length to any kid.


Yarn: Cygnet wool rich 4ply.

205 yards per 50g ball
75% wool
25% polyamide
machine washable
lilac, denim mix and pine mix

cost: £2.60 per ball, although less than 20% of each ball is used in thsi pattern as written

time: 10 hours

knitability level: advanced beginner, it's a good first dpn project.

needles: 2.5mm (US 1.5)

gauge: 30 stitches and 36 rows per 10cm

Cast on 60 stitches onto one needle, spread these stitches equally over 3 needles, 20 stitches per needle and join work into a round, taking care not to twist the cast on. Knit in 1x1 rib ( k1, p1, repeat until end of round) for 3 inches. After a few rounds you may wish to place a marker to indicate the end of a round. All colour changes should take place at the end of a round.

Then switch to stocking stitch. keep knitting in the round following the stripe pattern of your preference. Make up your own, use a random stripe generator or follow my stripe pattern that I will put at the end of the pattern. You can carry the yarn up the inside of the tube or cut and sew in ends after every row. For a child's pattern, yarns will need to be twisted with the working yarn on every row so it isn't caught by small toes when it's put on.

After every 4cm of knitting, M1 stitch at the start of every needle. Knit until stocking stitch measures 17 cm, this will give you an even number of stitches for the end rib. (an even number of increace rows is needed if you choose to adapt length)

Complete the end rib of 3cm and cast off loosely.

Sew in ends.

Repeat to give a pair of leg warmers and present to the small child of your choice.

To adapt the size, change the number of stitches for the cast on, (keeping an even number of stitches for the rib) and the length knit, keeping an even number of increase rows so there is an even number of stitches for the end rib.

The leg width is adapted by measuring the diameter of the child's leg just above the ankle and adding 2cm. Multiply the number of cm by 3 to give your cast on number, adding a stitch if necessary to get an even number.

To alter length, measure the length of the leg from just below the ankle bone to the crease at the back of the knee. This is the length of the stocking stitch part of the leg warmer. This leaves a 6cm growth allowance before the legwarmer no longer covers the whole calf.


green: 3cm rib plus one stocking stitch row
lilac: 12 rows
green: 4 rows
blue: 12 rows
lilac: 3 rows
blue: 7 rows
green: 12 rows
lilac: 10 rows
blue: 7 rows
lilac: 1 stocking stitch row plus 3cm rib

Feb challenge update

Well, I'm doing all right on some of those, not so good on others.

I have not knit anywhere near enough to keep up to my knit a mile, because I took 10 days knitting my pomotamus socks. They do look scrummy though.

I have bought no new crafty stuff, what I've received has been through swaps.

I have finished 4 of my long term WIP's.

I'll sort the charity stuff out later today.

I've given up entirely on the spin every day challenge.

I will look for some stash hand spun and a pattern that it will work with and make that my next cast on.


So, some good, some bad.

Gotland wool

My friend Cledry Yarner sent me a bag of gotland this morning. It's a lovely range of creams and greys. I now need to work out what I'm going to do with it. Something that will show off the colours.



Gorgeous, isn't it.

My february challenge

In February I challenge myself to:

1. knit at least another mile of yarn

2. buy no new yarn or materials for other crafts.

3. finish a quarter of my WIP's, that is about 8, although some need no more than sewing up.

4. finish last and this month's charity knit items and take them to the hospital.

5. knit more socks. adult, child or baby, doesn't matter. I'm over a week behind on my pair a week self challenge

6. spin for at least 5 minutes every day.

7. write out at least one improvised WIP into a pattern

8. knit one item out of handspun

9. organise my personal pdf and saved website library

homemade bacon

Well, 3 days in a cure for the pig belly and this is what I got. I'm going to estimate that this was about 15% of the meat by weight and I've got 7-8lbs of bacon.

Having the confidence to leave meat out of the fridge, even in salt took some doing. having the confidence to believe the recipe that said it only took 3 days to cure took even more. But it's definitely bacon, hard, dry cure bacon, more suitable for cooking with thna for frying up with egg and saus on a Sunday morning, but this will add flavour to sauces and soups for months. I already tried a bit in a leek and potato soup and it was LOVELY.

As a first experiment in home curing meat, I've got to pronounce this a great success. We're already looking forward to the hams and I'm looking into the possibility of dry cure ham and home cured salt beef.