Cause im so Sockalicious baby!

Huh! another drops offer! well ok then.

For the Month of March its 25% off all sock wool from Drops, so Fabel and Delight are the two in store.

Need some socky inspiration, I highly recommend following along with Shinybees and her year of the sock over on Ravelry and on her Podcast.

Of course our sock queen Clare Devine's blog is also a fantastic place to get some inspiration!

Gifts for knitters...that isn't yarn part 3

 Socks, Socks, Socks! Who loves socks? We love socks...well im learning to. If the knitter or crocheter in your life is a sock knitter then these are for you, Fully handmade in Scotland these sock blockers are a thing of beauty.
But what are these for? well once you have finished your socks with beautiful details, cables, a bit of lace...or even a plain vanilla sock, you give them a little soak in some luke warm water, and put them onto these badboys to dry. the blockers help stretch out your stitches and make your socks look amazing.
Ladies size 6-7 in stock however other sizes can be made to order. A mere £26 for these hand crafter beauties

the Queen of socks came to visit

 

So last Saturday the sock Queen that is Clare Devine came through to sunny Dundee to pass on her socky knowledge. I may have gotten a little overly excited when she showed me all her tiny sock samples, Tiny socks! they are the cutest thing. not to mention the tiny sock blockers!  

Much fun was had, lots of tea consumed, plenty cake eaten and  we also learnt how many different types of heels there are and for what purpose you would use them! The favourite seemed to be the Alan Partridge heel. The thing i really enjoyed was (apart from all the teeny socks) was listening to Clare teach, this woman knows her stuff, but she is very approachable if you need to ask questions, and the south african accent! Do you think she would read me bed time stories? Is that creepy? ANYWAY, all of the students left with teeny socks of their own, and even though the heavens had opened they all left with a smile on their faces, and Clare with a clarkies in her belly! 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Epic socks of Epicness!

So socks seem to be the recurring theme on my pinterest boards at the moment ( so many pretty ones with beautiful detail) However if like me you are a bit of a newbie to sock knitting* self patterning yarn is a god send! You can focus on making an awesome pair of socks and let the yarn worry about the funky patterns. This has to be my fave self striping yarn at the moment, because it doesn't just work up in stripes or spots, it does this super cool psychedelic wavy pattern!
The other cool thing about this yarn is that two strands of yarn are hand dyed at the same time so that you get a fairly identical pair of socks. However you do need to follow the instructions when unwinding it from the disc it comes on, because the two strands are together you need to hook it on a door handle or make a small person stand and hold the disc, whilst you wind it into two separate balls. DO NOT do what i did and try and wind off one with my yarn winder and forget about the other, i ended up spending an entire knit night untangling myself (I should always follow instructions). The yarn itself is really nice to work with, no splitting and I had no joins in my disc which is always a plus. I did however have a bit of a freak out with the pattern not working on the foot of my sock (i did mine toe up) but i feel this was down to the heel I did, thinking about it an afterthought heel would have been much better and the pattern would have probably worked up perfectly. Hindsight huh! Before blocking i did have a sneak wear of the socks and they feel so toasty on my feet (I may be converted to hand knit socks!). When i did get round to washing/blocking them, quite a lot of the black dye came out of the sock into the water, however this wasn't noticeable in the black colour so I think some dye crystals were hanging about, and not once did I end up with black fingers or needles! Weird. 

Yarn details

Name -            Schoppel-Wolle Flying Saucer

Rav link -         Here

Weight -            4ply/fingering

yardage-           100g = 420m approx.
Tension-           30sts x 42rows
Needles-           2 - 3mm, UK 11 - 14, US 0 -2

Fibres-              75% new wool, 25% nylon
washable? -      Machine washable at 40 degree

extra-                the pattern works best over 60 to 64 stitches

Price-                £11.90

There are thousands of patterns out there for socks however i have collected a few that would be excellent for using with this yarn. I used the Two at Once, Toe-Up Magic Loop Socks by the knit picks crew (link) excellent if you suffer from second sock syndrome, and FANTASTIC instructions on how to magic loop! Highly recommend. 

Another good vanilla sock pattern by the Knitmore girls (link) a very straightforward cuff down sock knit in the round. 

Lastly how about one for the men in our lives (link) again cuff down in the round! 

Have I managed to convinced you that you need this yarn in your life? Come and smoosh it!! I promise you wont regret it! 

P.s Keep your eyes peeled for some exciting socky news on the 3rd of June!! I cant wait! 

* (this yarn is also very cool if you are not a beginner sock knitter)