Friday, October 13, 2006

Dead and in heaven

Oooo.. Look at my sockwar socks (forgive my hairy legs):

Gorgeous socks knitted by Karen at www.frogknits.com in beautiful artyarns.com yarn. They are soft and my feet are toasty warm. Thanks Karen, I am absolutely overjoyed!

And, if the socks weren't enough, look at my bonus gift:

The leftover yarn and some body lotions/sprays. There is a black sheep which I think is supposed to "baaa" but is rather silent right now. Could I be anymore spoilt? What a great day. I will be participating in future knitting exchanges - they make such lovely friendship rings. Feeling a little guilty I didnt send more treats to my sockwar target. The socks were for a 9yo girl so I sent some caramello Koalas and some aussie coins - a few special edition 20c, 50c & $1 coins. Just for something different.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Sockwars - nearly dead!

I have made my sockwar socks and they will be in the mail tomorrow. I've set my own personal record for sock knitting - 5 days. The wool only arrived on Friday and they were ready and packed my lunch time today.

Sadly I am unlikely to have survived this round. My assassin posted her socks last week so they are due to arrive any day now. I am not too upset as it frees me up to knit my satchel after I finish the socks for my husband Matt. The socks I knitted for my US target Kathi are in Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply Classic in "Raspberry". I was going to knit them in Bolero, but they are for Kathi's 9yo daughter and I thought pink was more her thing. The photo shows them much redder than they acutally are. Such simple socks to knit up!

In other news I finished the socks I was knitting a few weeks ago for my friend about to undergo her first IVF cycle. I didn't finish them both in time for her embryo transfer - so she could only wear the one. The amazing thing is she is now pregnant (lucky bitch) and of course is solely from the strength of the sock. I finished the other before starting the sockwar socks and will be borrowing them back in the new year when I head back to IVF for Rowan's sibling.

The bubble pattern is from Vogue Knitting Stitchonary Vol 1 and is an 16 row repeat:

Row 1-3: *K3, Sl3* repeat from *to*

Row 4-6: Knit all stiches

Row 7: *K4, C1, K5*repeat from *to*. C1 = Using left needle, pick up strands from the three slipped stiches in rows 1-3 and place on end of needle, Knit the next stitch behind the sl stiches (by digging under slipped stitch strands) and pull yarn out under the sl stitch strands. The effect is to pucker on the right side and create this diamond pattern on the wrong side. You'll see!

Row 8: Knit

Row 9-11: *Sl3, K3* repeat from *to*

Row 12-14: Knit

Row 15: *K1, C1, K5* repeat from *to*.

Row 16: Knit