BOB Sock - The Toe

With huge apologies for the delay. This 4th and final installment of the BOB Sock KAL should have been up here yesterday but my blog site and my phone have decided to stop talking to each other. I have had to bring in my laptop big guns and given them dire warnings to sort out their communication difficulties.

So, without further ado - may I present the instructions for completing your BOB Socks - by working a rounded toe.

*K6, k2tog, rep from * to end

K6 rnds

*K5, k2tog, rep from * to end

K5 rnds

*K4, k2tog, rep from * to end

K4 rnds

*K3, k2tog, rep from * to end

K3 rnds

*K2, k2tog, rep from * to end

K2 rnds

*K1, k2tog, rep from * to end

K1 rnd

K2tog to end

Break yarn and thread back through rem 8st using a tapestry needle. Pull tight and weave in end.

I would normally at this point say that your socks should be gently blocked but I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to pull them on triumphantly parade about in them.

Or maybe it is just me....

Miracles take a little longer...

There used to be a sign over an office desk where I worked a temporary job. "The impossible we can do right away, miracles take a little longer".

I was reminded of this yesterday as I surveyed my Attic24 Granny Stripe blanket which has been in hibernation (aka under the bed) for an embarrassingly long time. In my head I was merrily thinking that this blanket could be finished this summer and would happily boost my stash dash total and help me on my way to my 10k goal.

The only problem seems to be that my blanket has shrunk while it was in storage. I was quite sure that I had done more than this. But the cold hard reality is that I have maybe done 8 or 9 inches on what is a double bed sized Afghan. Never one to give in without a fight I entertained the thought of doing a stripe per day and getting it done that way. Conveniently ignoring the fact that stash dash ends in mid August and we have a foreign holiday booked between then and now.

Out of interest I timed myself - and found one colour stripe (2 rows) takes an hour. 

At this point it is pretty obvious that this blanket might be fine in time for stash dash - but it will be in 2018!

If anyone wants me I will be drinking coffee and quietly evaluating whether to scale back my 10k goal to something slightly more achievable.

Sock knitting and stash diving

This month, the Everyday Knitter Facebook group is all about stash diving. Even those of us with slightly more modest stashes than my own yarn mountain have a few precious skeins. You know the ones. The ones we keep squirreled away in case of dire knitting emergencies. The ones that we bring out to pet every now and again, to sniff, to ruminate over it's endless possibilities -  and then we tuck it back neatly away out of sight.

So, this month we are celebrating the joy of untapped potential hidden in our stash. Pick a glorious skein of yarn and show it off. Pair it with a beautiful pattern and you're all set. For extra brownie points this should be an item for yourself. I refuse to use the term selfish knitting when discussing knitting for oneself. Instead I prefer to use the word indulgent. Our crafting time is precious and it's only right that we should enjoy it. What could be better than working on something you love, in yarn you love and knowing that you'll get great pleasure in wearing or using the finished object as well.

Sounds like a win, win to me.

Not just pretty nails

To the casual observer this is just a pretty shot of some yarn and a frivolous and fun manicure, but to me it's so much more. To me it represents everything I love about our wonderful and warm online community.

The Jamberry nails were bought from an online friend - Natasha (@coxabey on IG) who I've never met (yet) in real life but we share a love of yarn, fibre and funky nails. The bag was bought from another friend - Gem of Little Grey Girl - who I got to know online and then in real life and who now is a partner in crime when it comes to yarn shopping and hanging out in hipster bars.

Vykky of West Green Loft Yarns - is a newly discovered indie dyer for me and I've yet to meet her in person but as with so many people in the knitting community I just know that we would get on like the proverbial house on fire. 

We all have a shared love of fibre and crafts and in these peculiar and rather stressful times there is something rather lovely about being able to seek refuge in my little woolly corner of the internet. The online knitting community is a warm and wonderful place and just occasionally I wonder at how my life has changed since I first picked up knitting needles and discovered online knitting forums, and then of course Ravelry when it first started. It's certainly a lot more colourful and a lot more fun and every day I'm grateful for it and the yarny friends I've met there.

BOB Sock - The Foot

Hello and welcome to the 3rd installment of the BOB Sock KAL.

You will be pleased to hear that it's a nice, easy one this week. All the hard work of the heel is behind us now and it's plain sailing towards the toe.

So, on needle 1 you are just continuing in the pattern as you were before, whether that's the panel of twisted rib stitches at either side of the foot or the garter stitch panels. The stitches on needle 2 are just knit plain.

Keep knitting until the length of the sock (from the back of the heel) is 2.5" short of your total foot length. Or, if you want to try it on and measure it that way, the slight stretched sock should just reach to the base of your big toe.

Next week we will work the rounded toe and finish with a triumphal non-Kitchener stitch ending!

Whoosh

There are times when the fates align as if by magic. You have the time and space to work on a project. You have a simple project lined up and you have perfect yarn that is fun to work with. And I'm pleased to report that this is one such project. Churning out a shawl in 4 days isn't my usual modus operandi but everything about this project was perfect and exactly summed up the name of the pattern - Knit Me.

Now the eagle eyed among you will note that the Knit Me shawl is knit in stocking stitch with a garter border. Me being me I can't leave things alone so I opted to knit the whole thing in garter stitch. Which of course makes it into the sister version of this shawl - Knit Night. Still that's how I set it up in Ravelry and that's how I'll leave it.

My stash dash goal of 10K has been looking a little bit distant given my recent lack of progress on the WIP front but churning out almost 400m in 4 days has given me renewed optimism. Obviously the secret is to knit nothing else but garter stitch shawls from now until August! Three guesses what folks in my family will be getting for Christmas this year?