Knock, knock, anyone there?

Oh my, it's been 13 days since my last post. That's shocking. I do have a good excuse though!
I was working every day for the last 2 weeks, and haven't had a minute. Plus we have builders in for the last 3 weeks and the house is an absolute shambles. I won't be sorry when they're gone, the mess is unreal. For me to notice it and be upset about it, you know it has to be bad.

I have been knitting though!

Pattern: Spiral Boot Socks from Interweave Knits, Summer 2007
Yarn: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool, 2.75 skeins
Needles: 2.75mm dpns
Mods: I wanted to make these socks larger for my chunky monkey legs, so I altered some of the stitch counts - 60 sts for foot & ankle, 70 for leg chart and 80 for calf chart. I also made them toe up so I could try on as I go.
Regular readers will know toe up isn't my favourite, but I will admit that it has its uses in cases like this. I wanted to be sure they fit right. Overall, I'm very happy with them. The yarn is really great to knit with, soft and springy and good stitch definition. The socks are a little bit tight at the top, but I suppose that's better than too loose and falling down!

I had a bit of a crisis of knitting once I'd finished these, I didn't know what to make. Fortunately the day was saved with the arrival of Knit. Sock. Love. by CookieA in the post. Gorgeous doesn't begin to describe the patterns and photography. I tweeted about maybe starting Pointelle, and Cookie herself responded to my tweet to tell me about a KAL on Ravelry for that very sock! With prizes! Once I'd gotten over the shock, I had to join. So, a week later I've finished the first one:



Slow progress to be sure, but like I said, I've been in work every day and come home to the filth pile of a house every night. Not bad going considering. I'm using Berrocco Ultra Alpaca Fine for these socks. It's 50% Wool, 20% Alpaca and 30% Nylon. I went stash diving to see if I could get inspiration for what to knit and this is what I pulled out. I initially thought lace, but I think the Nylon count is too high to be able to block it properly, so socks it is! It's lovely soft yarn, if a little splitty. But I don't mind splitty as much as some other people seem to do, once you take your time it's not an issue. (for me, anyway).

These two socks are part of a Dublin Knit Collective Sock Club for 2011, check out details of it here and here (Ravlink).

I cast on for the second Pointelle sock last night, but I've only done one round. Too much fun was had on Twitter last night playing a game called #PatternWars where we posted pictures of the fugliest patterns we had and generally tried to out-do each other. It was brilliant. I must say I found a few doozies myself! I put them up on Twitpic, but I must see if I can get them onto Flickr later.

This afternoon I'm taking a much needed break and heading to The Constant Knitter's place for a yarn party. This is usually good fun with tea, cake and of course, yarn. Although I keep telling myself I'm not buying any more. But, I have an idea forming in my head for a top for me, knit in lightweight yarn, top down, with an empire waistline & flared body. It won't go away. Still, I can hope she won't have suitable yarn (I'd love linen but costs too much) and I will leave empty handed.

Good knitting and I promise to post again soon!