Sock in a Week?

 Not quite, just a bit longer.  These have been finished today.

I used the Winwick Mum Sockalong Basic Sock pattern.  The Sockalong had recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.  I had aimed to make a pair of socks in a week, but in the end it took 9 days, which is still not bad.  I also chose to take photos to record the making.

I started on 4 May. I find 2.5 mm needles as recommended too loose for me so I used 2.25mm needles and 64 stitch count. The main needle used is a short circular needle, which took a bit of getting used to after always using magic loop with a longer circular. Along with the short circular I also had some double pointed needles to take the extra stitches around the heel and instep. I used a long tail, thumb cast on method and as per instructions I knitted the first 2, 2x2 rib straight before joining in the round.  I found that worked really well with no twisted stitches. 

The yarn is some blue yarn that I purchased at Yarndale a few years ago and used this previously for a jumper and I was going for different blues to make a jumper with a ‘fade’ but I didn’t like it.  I didn’t wash the yarn after unraveling, which is why it looks crinkly.

After 16 rows of rib is was onto the stocking stitch leg. Below shows my progress the next day.

The day after I did the heel flap and turn and at that point I picked up stitches to do the gusset for the instep,

By Thursday 8th I had a finished sock! And the second sock on the needle.

Most of the leg on the second one was done by Friday

Saturday saw the sock getting to the gusset stage.  I didn’t take any photos on Sunday or Monday but this morning I took a photo about halfway along the foot and as you can see below the socks were finished this evening.

I enjoyed making these socks and it was useful to know how long it takes to knit basic socks. 

Professor Fungi

 Last month I took part in a Gnome mystery knit along but I couldn’t show until 9 May. So here is the gnome, Professor Fungi, complete with basket for collecting mushrooms.

Above is the header for the mystery gnome

And here is Professor Fungi

And here’s the Professor with the others in my small gnome family.  These were from previous mysteries. I enjoy learning new techniques to knit these characters.

The pattern is by Sarah Schira of Imagined Landscapes.  She has also released a book, so the gnome family may be getting bigger. I ordered the book yesterday from World of Books, with will arrive later this week.  

May

I chose a photo from Kingston Lacy’s Japanese Garden and the new bright green leaves of an acer against the bright blue sky.

 The first weekend of May is a bank Holiday weekend and some of this weekend has been spent sewing and another quilt had been finished. The quilt top has been made from squares made by my Mum.  From some of the fabrics that I have in my stash I was able to make the larger green blocks.  The dark green fabric was enough not only to make the border and also the binding. This quilt is 37” square.

I had enough of a multicoloured fabric to back the quilt

Last week I’d quilted a cushion top and today I went of to make the cushion back and attach to the cushion front, so that will go back to Bourne Quilters. The cushion cover was an appliqué project from before the pandemic but never made into anything and as cushion covers they will go to the housing association where the group meets.

I’ve started a new sock, this time on short circular needles.  I’ve had this yarn, which I bought at Yarndale about 4 years ago, had used in a jumper that frogged earlier this year.  It doesn’t have a name but it’s blue with pops of darker blue, yellow and purple and it looks pretty and delicate.

This is the state on Bank Holiday Monday evening (5 May) with the heel flap and turn done.

That day also saw another quilt top layered, quilted and with binding sewn on (though not slip stitched down).

I had just enough of the fishy backing fabric and I added a couple of fish themed appliqué pieces onto the top right and bottom left of the quilt.  This will be another quilt to go to Project Linus and another quilt soon to be completed.  

But it’s not all about the sewing and knitting.  It was a somewhat chilly Bank Holiday Monday morning that I went out to Poole Park and a little beyond for a walk (my bad knee suffered after, though) and spotted this lovely mermaid tail, which is a sculpture trail through places in Poole and Bournemouth. It’s not the first one I’ve seen and I may share on here any photos that I take in a future post.

I hope you had a good first weekend of May.