Socks and the other warm garment

There is something utmost annoying about cycling in Manchester on Friday night from work. And so after yesterday’s experience which made my heartbeat triple I have decided to write about something completely different (or I will not be polite towards the motorised segment of traffic). There is obvious choice for me as we finally had time to shoot some pictures of the knitted garments I did for Adam.

As you can see the spring is almost here – snowdrops are in full bloom and crocuses with daffodils in tow are starting to emerge all around the city. Also, last few weeks we had days of freezing but sunny weather which is so unbelievable after so many months of downpour (one would almost start believing that this is a nice city to live in after all). Thanks to this lovely weather conditions we could take some pictures (not that we had not tried before, but it was way too cold).

The pattern of these socks is called “Seaweed” and it was pretty easy to follow until I got as far as the heel. It could be because I have been knitting with different number of stitches but I think there was some mistake in the calculation. Anyway, I figured it out in the end and Adam is now wearing them happily. If you want to learn knitting socks from toe up, this is a good choice as the pattern is easily memorable. I did amend the patter repetition a bit and let it go infinitely rather than starting each repeat from the first stitch. I have used yarn that my mum gave me years ago to crochet a beret and thus I have no idea what it is but it seems like acrylic – I have always knitted from two separate colours mixtures light blue/red and dark blue/green.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

These socks are my first ever. So I am not surprised that I had to repair the cuff already. Anyway, if you are thinking about learning to knit socks I would advice to start with smaller feet than Adam’s. I do not think it makes any difference in terms of difficulty but, as always, smaller things knit faster and offer more instant joy. But in the end I am happy that I have chosen to knit these for Adam as they made nice birthday present and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing him wearing what I have made.

Another gift I made for him this year is this beanie. I guess I do not have to go into details as everyone will surely recognise the famous R2D2 even if you are not a fan of Star Wars (something like Adam & me). The pattern instructs you to knit stripy beanie and then duplicate the stitches over. However, you can also try to colour work it. I did that but it took some effort – at least now I truly know how to knit with yarn in each hand. I have not blocked R2D2 yet so the background yarn is visible but I hope this will disappear and hopefully the crown will also blend into the texture more too. Anyway if you want, have a look on the links I have included and you find some more knitting details there.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There is one last knitting related thing I have to tell you. This Christmas Adam gave me book of patterns by Kate Davies, British designer whose knitwear I really like (probably also because she is inspired by Scotland and lives in Edinburgh). Since Christmas I keep thinking of knitting this hoody. The thing is that she knits from the very finest Shetland wool which I could not find in my local stores only online and I am still not so confident as to shop for yarns this way. On Friday Adam met me in the city and we went to the yarn shop I always go to. And to my absolute delight they now stock the Jamieson and Smith wool. Look at that! The colours of the Scottish hills. And soon there will be little something from it (not the hoody though, that will have to wait).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.