Socks, Sun and Shawls

Hello everyone, I hope you're enjoying this lovely spell of warm weather we are having here in the UK.  Makes a nice change.

I've been enjoying knitting up my socks for May.  I used West Yorkshire Spinners Yarn in the Goldfinch colourway and they just flew off the needles.

I just love the colours.  These could be my favourite socks of all time.

I had planned that this month I would try knitting my socks two at a time (I like to try something new each month).  I knit these socks toe up - this is now firmly established as my favourite way to knit socks.  I got as far as part way up the foot, knitting two at a time, before I lost patience and gave up.

I found it was taking me longer to do a round for two at a time than it did for me to knit a round individually on both socks.  I tend to knit my socks simultaneously, so I don't have a problem with second sock syndrome, which seems to be the only reason to knit two at a time.  So at least I gave it a try, in the end, it's all about finding the right sock recipe for me.

You can see full details of this sock project on my Ravelry page, HERE.

As the weather has been so nice, we had an afternoon watching a cricket match.  We watched the last day of the three day match between Lancashire 2nd XI and Derbyshire 2nd XI at Northern Cricket Ground (a lovely small ground with about twenty spectators!)

It's very relaxing, sitting in the Sun and getting on with some knitting!  I worked on my navy cardigan, just to try and make some progress.

It may be sunny but I'm not taking my cardigan off yet!

I'm aiming to have this finished this month, but...

...there's always a but , and it usually means a distraction.  So this week's distraction is a lovely shawl pattern by Helen Stewart called Spindrift.

I received a gorgeous ball of gradient yarn from Grace for Christmas, and I've been agonising ever since over which pattern to use for this special yarn.

So this week I finally decided to go for the Spindrift pattern.  The main reason I chose this one was that I wanted to be able to use the whole ball of yarn.  With some patterns I wasn't sure if I would end up with yarn leftover or actually run out.  With the Spindrift pattern, percentages are given throughout as to how much yarn you have used.  So far I have knit 20% of the pattern and this ties in exactly with the amount of yarn I have used, so I feel very happy.

I can't wait to see how the colour changes progress.  At the moment it's essentially stocking stitch.  Here's how much I did on the first evening of working on it.

It's very addictive.  At 50% the pattern changes to eyelets.

I hope to have this finished over the weekend - but if this lovely weather continues, we might have some days out, which might slow me down a bit.

Then, hopefully it will be back to the cardigan and the other neglected shawl.  With that, I'll say bye for now, and get back to my lovely Spindrift shawl.  Happy days everyone.

Enjoying the Slow Pace

The sun wasn't shining, it wasn't particularly warm, it was rather breezy, nevertheless, we had a lovely day, yesterday, watching a game of cricket at the local cricket ground.

Lancashire 2nd XI were playing Durham 2nd XI in a three day match (this was the second day).

It's so pleasant just to sit and watch the slow pace of cricket.  Very relaxing.

Obviously I had my knitting with me.

And it all goes down very smoothly with a nice pint of bitter.

The match was a high scoring one, so very likely will end in a draw, especially as, today, it's raining (again).  A typical English summer!  I hope wherever you are the sun may be shining.

Far Too Busy

I've no time for housework, the cleaning will have to wait.  Washing and ironing activities have been suspended.  I may just about have time to whip up a quick meal later.

I've no time for any of these things, because I'm far too busy.  Today the second test match between England and Australia started.  Also today, the Open Golf Tourament from St Andrews is underway.  And on top of that, we're only half way through the Tour de France.  I can't possibly fit everything in, but I'll do the best I can.  Heaven only knows how I'll manage at the weekend when the Darts World Matchplay Championship starts.

One thing is for certain, I will be watching one sport or another on the television non-stop for the next few days.  And we all know what that means - plenty of knitting time!

I'm continuing with my stash busting KAL for the duration of the Tour de France.  Here are the latest projects completed, this little lot made with the leftovers from my Wood pigeon Socks.  

First up are these snug mittens.

I made another of my Handy Dandy Sock Yarn Bags, they're so useful.

And with the tiny amount of yarn left (I can't bear to throw any away) I made a mini sweater.

Next up, a warm hat with some tweedy Aran that's been kicking around for a while.  Despite the fact that I've suspended work on all my other projects, I'm really enjoying this stash busting KAL.  I should do this on a regular basis.  Anyway, I need to go now and concentrate on the golf, or should I switch back to the golf or cycling!!!  I don't want to miss any of it.

Knitting and Cricket

What a pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon - watching Lancashire 2nd XI play a cricket match against Nottinghamshire 2nd XI at Northern Cricket Club.

Sitting in the sun and knitting.

Not a care in the world.  What bliss!

Oxford

Monday morning and it's pouring down with rain - is it really July?

The weather is so unpredictable at the moment.  Last week, my husband and I went down to Oxford for two days.  The weather was wonderful, hot and sunny - dare I say it, too hot!

We love Oxford, it's such a beautiful city.  There's so much to see and do.

Our trip there coincided with the university open days which meant we could wonder around all the colleges for free and we even managed to get some guided tours from some very enthusiastic students.  

One of the highlights for me was a trip to the Natural History Museum.  It's such a beautiful building and so interesting.

I've condensed the pictures of the fossils and the rocks as no one else in the family seemed as excited about them as me - I do love geology!!!!

Don't you just love his smile?

Lovely fossils

Lovely rocks and minerals

We also went to the Botanical Gardens.

Walked along the canal.

And watched a cricket match.

A wonderful time - we have plans to go back and do it all again in a year or two.

London, Cricket and Progress with the Vest

We had our annual day trip to London the other weekend. Our plan of action was to blitz the Victoria and Albert Museum and take in Hyde Park.

I was prepared this year for the train journey and took a travel-sickness tablet in advance. The journey was slightly better than last year but still not wonderful (why do I even bother to travel?)

I managed to get quite a bit of knitting done. I took the argyle vest I’m making for Grace to work on. It has a plain stocking stitch back and is quite a tight tension so straightforward boring knitting – perfect for the train journey.

The V&A was very impressive – loads to see – but we had to be selective because of time constraints. Obviously we found time for a cup of tea and a cake!

Afterwards we went for a walk around Hyde Park. I have always wanted to see the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, so that’s where we went. I’m glad we made the effort – it’s a lovely statue – more detailed than I expected.

A great day out – but it’s hard work going all that way and trying to fit in as much as possible in a few hours. It’ll probably be a while before we go to London again.

Further progress was made on the argyle vest last week as we went to watch the cricket at Northern cricket Club – Lancashire 2nd XI v. Yorkshire 2nd XI. It’s how cricket should be – very civilised and genteel. There were about 20 spectators politely applauding.

I’m now working on the front of the argyle vest. This involves 13 small balls of yarn – for each of the diamonds (thankfully the crossed lines are Swiss darned on later).

As you can imagine, I have to spend quite a lot of time untangling the balls every few rows. But I’m making progress and it will definitely be finished by Grace’s birthday.