Andrea Mowrey had a KAL challenge to knit her Spark sock between 25th and 30th November. I didn't think I would be able to knit one sock, let alone 2 in such a short timeframe, but I did it.
These were knit cuff down with an afterthought heel. Instead of my usual 64 stitcheson 2.25mm needles, her stitch pattern was 60 stitches on 2.5mm needles and they worked out just fine. They are my first colourwork socks. I started them on Magic loop, but found changing colours too tiresome when constantly flicking the needles over, so changed to my usual 9" circular needles.
Another pair of socks that I finished were an ordinary pair knit with self patterning yarn. On the second sock I switched to flexi DPN's using VeryPink Knits pattern for flexi dpns. The pattern called for a gusset and heel. I made the gusset and heel and continued knitting up the leg to the cuff. I then tried it on and didn't like the look and feel of the heel. I much prefer the afterthought heel. So I pulled it all back and knit as usual to get the afterthought heel.
I had some more haul. I lost one of the pegs from my ChiaoGoo swift. Kiwiyarna had a set of replacement pegs for just $5. Well it would be mean to place such a small order, especially when it was coming all the way from Christchurch, even more so as I love her yarn. So I bought some more yarn, a sweater stone for depilling and stitchmarkers.
This is an OOAK.
This is called Burnt Gold. I thought both of these would go nicely for the Alaska hat. The OOAK will hopefully look like a sunset.
This arrived really quickly. I ordered it at 8.30am on Friday and it arrived 12.30pm on Saturday.
Not so quick to arrive was my Advent yarn from Squishy Mcdoo. She advised on Facebook on Thursday 26 November that it had all been sent by courier. On Friday I was concerned as others on Facebook were saying theirs had arrived, however I hadn't received any confirmation email with tracking details and on her website my order still showed as pending and boxes for Courier and Tracking were blank. When I messaged her she assured that was normal and the courier hadn't been able to fit them all in his van. In other words, they hadn't all been sent as per her Facebook post.
So the point of an advent calendar is that you can start opening on 1st December. Mine didn't arrive until the 3rd. Frustrating. Especially given how quickly my order from another island arrived a week later, and a week closer to Xmas so even busier for couriers.
However what I have received so far I am happy with. All the 25 days were wrapped and inside a project bag that had other loose treats in it. I'll probably forget some, but here goes. A tupperware container for storing notions, 3 wooden buttons with sheep on them, a tape measure, a silk scarf, pen and pencils, couple of Xmas tree ornaments, row counter and of course a pattern to knit the advent with.
And the yarn colours are beautiful.
The green received on day 2 and 4 appear to be the exact same colour. Again a bit disappointing as I expected them all to be different, however it is a pretty green so I will use them both.
Now I just need to decide what to do with them. I think I'll wait until they've all been opened and then match the best ones with my existing sock yarn for heels and toes. I'll use about half in a Habitation throw and use the leftovers for scrappy socks, mittens and hats. Some of these may end up being Xmas presents in the next year or two.
So this year I have finished the following:
Not bad to have 9 items finished for someone who just picked up her needles again in March and really got passionate about it in September.
I'll do separate posts shortly on my sewing and cross stitching .
So looking ahead to 2021 knitting plans. These are what I would like to do as a knit 9
Left to right.
Rainbow connections mittens. On my needles
Andrea Mowrey Spark cardigan
Alaska Hat
Hakea Hat
Sparky Jumper. Or any jumper with a yoke pattern
So Faded Jumper
Socks. On my needles
Stephen west mkal
Rievaulx top. On my needles.
