The knitters that I know tend to fall into two discrete camps -  those, like me who are addicted to knitting socks and can’t resist new sock yarn (even though they’ve got a large stash at home) and those who aren’t. This latter group say things like ‘oh, I couldn’t be bothered to knit socks / they’re far too fiddly /I don’t know anyone who’d wear them’.

knitted in zauberball 1536

As sock knitting obviously isn’t everyone’s cup of tea  why do I love knitting socks so much? For me they just tick all the boxes. Firstly, I often knit on the move and they are the perfect portable project – small needles and only one ball of yarn make it easy to knit on the train, bus or even in the car (as long as I’m not driving, obviously).

knitted in Flying Saucers

Socks are also great for knitting in front of the TV (particularly Miss Marple or Poirot for some strange reason!) as, apart from a bit of shaping the knitting is all very straightforward. As I’ve mentioned before I also knit at folk club although many of the venues are very dimly lit – I’m not the only knitter and we have to race to grab the seats closest to the wall-lights! Still, socks can be knitted quite discretely and don’t stop me giving my full attention to other performers.

knitted in admiral 1664

The best reason of all though is the incredible variety of yarn available. This means that simple plain knitting can result in some stunning results. The socks pictured here are all knitted to the same basic sock pattern – in each case it is the clever yarn that has done all the hard work , whether stripes, patterns or faux fair-isle.

knitted in superba mexico 07

The other plus point is that they are so useful. Hand-knitted socks are incredibly warm and comfy and they fit well too – so many times in the past I’ve laboured long and hard over a sweater or cardigan just to find that it doesn’t fit me (or, even worse, someone else) and so just gets stuffed in a drawer. I find that these socks make great gifts too – the fact that they’re hand-knitted shows the recipient that you care and every pair is different. Sometimes I make the socks as an identical pair by matching the starting point on each sock and other times I just continue from where I left off so that the socks match but look different.

knitted in jawoll magic

So there you have it – I love knitting socks because they’re portable, simple, quick to knit and look amazing. These all follow the same basic pattern but socks don’t have to be simple – there are lots of complicated patterns out there to challenge the most experienced knitters but that’s another story for another day……..

Happy sock knitting!

The novel features Dena Nordstrom, a popular newscaster in 1970s America, who falls ill and returns to her home town of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, to be looked after by Aunt Elmer. Wonderful characters populate the book, particularly Neighbor Dorothy, who hosts a daily radio programme from her home (that’s her house on the cover with the radio mast behind). I love the way Flagg brings small-town America to life and, for me, this was one of those books that I was really sorry to finish.

The kit has nothing to do with small-town America or daily radio broadcasts but I just liked the idea of a small, handmade gift to welcome a new person into the world. The hat and sockees (I couldn’t decide between socks and bootees so combined the two!) only require one 50g ball of yarn and are quick to knit – the self-patterning yarn does all the hard work. Knitcol is a lovely, soft merino wool – and it’s machine washable.

So welcome to the world, baby girls – and boys of course!

 I have to say that the sweater is so warm I couldn’t stand in front of the fire for long!

It was a pleasure to knit and grew much quicker than I thought it would. I used a shorter circular needle than recommended on the pattern (60 cm nstead of 80cm) and found that much easier to manipulate.

Best of all, there was only a tiny bit of sewing up at the end – just a few stitches under each armhole and some sewing-in of ends. As I know all knitters love to know what the wrong side looks like, here’s a photo of the wrong side of mine:

I may have finished this one but the Killing doesn’t stop here…..

I’ve just discovered that the pattern for the red sweater featured in series 2 is now available on the Radio Times website (www.radiotimes.com) so no surprises for guessing my next project. The wool and pattern for the Series 1 sweater are already available on the Knit ‘n’ Caboodle website (www.knitncaboodle.co.uk) and the yarn for the red sweater will be available very soon. Happy knitting!

on to the last section now

This has been my first large project for a while as knitting socks and mittens has taken over my life in recent months. I have to say that I’m relishing the challenge and the speed at which it is growing is quite gratifying. I particularly enjoyed knitting the sleeves on four needles – previously I’ve always knitted them on two but I think the shaping looks much neater here and there’s no dreaded seams to sew up.

It will be tomorrow now before I can progress with the yoke. We’re off to join in the folk night at Easton on the Hill tonight and, whilst I can slip in a bit of sock knitting while others are performing, I think that taking a full blown sweater might cause a few raised eyebrows. Whilst on that theme – if anyone can recommend some knitting- related songs I’d be very grateful.

Our book group choice for April

Luckily I’d got the chance to catch “A Good Read” on radio 4 earlier in the week when one of the featured books was “The Shipping Forecast” by Annie Proulx. Listening to the discussion reminded me how much I’d enjoyed the book  ( it’s now several years since I read it) so this is the one that we will talk about in two months time – next month it’s Room by Emma Donoghue.

Anyway, enough of my excuses – I’ve finished the body of the sweater and have started on the first sleeve.

I’ve decided to keep the sleeves plain as in the pattern shown in issue 46 of Knit magazine, rather than have the snowflake motif round the cuff as in the original pattern:

 The sleeve is growing quite quickly and I’m pleased with how the shaping looks. However, I think that second sleeve syndrome is going to hit harder than second sock! Still, at least I’ve got the challenge of the yoke to look forward to…….

IStill some snow left

I enjoy walking and love the ‘head space’ it gives me – time to reflect and plan. Today’s walk was also the opportunity to test out a new version of the Hugger Hat; this time knitted in Rico Creative Poems:

It’s shown here on a dummy because, although I can take a photo of my feet for socks, I haven’t yet worked out how to take a photo of myself wearing a hat. Anyway, it passed the test and kept me lovely and cosy. The wool is really soft and I love how it has created its own stripes.

I’m feeling virtuous after the walk and can now continue with the ‘Killing’ sweater – here’s a photo of progress so far:

 I’m quite pleased with how quickly it is growing and hope to get to the armholes tonight. Further progress reports tomorrow.

I’m particularly excited about my latest project – I’ve finally managed to get my hands on the wool to knit a jumper like the one worn by Sarah Lund in the Danish detective programme “The Killing”.

The pattern, originally designed by Hjertegarn, has been translated from Danish by Katy at Art Yarn. The yarn is Peruvian wool from Denmark (I know that confused me too initially) so all-in-all it’s a multi-national project.

The jumper is knitted in the round and the pattern suggests you use 80cm circular needles. I must confess that I found these a little long so I am using 60cm now and will save the 80cm for the yoke. That feels like a long way off as, so far, I’ve only completed the rib:

The ribbing is done!

I’m up against a fairly tight deadline as I want this finished in time for the Creative Craft Show at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern from the 1st-3rd March. If you don’t want to wait until then to make your own killing you can also get the kit online at www.knitncaboodle.co.uk

Strolling around the streets of the Old Town was simply delightful. It doesn’t matter how many times I go there, I always find something new – either a restaurant I’ve not noticed before or a street that seems unfamiliar – like this one, for instance.

I also never get tired of browsing around the daily markets – fruit and flowers in the Cours Saleya and a fish market at Place Francois. My favourite shop, though, has to be La Droguerie which stocks a fabulous selection of yarns, buttons, accessories and knitting patterns.

I spent hours here looking through the latest patterns, trying to increase  my knowledge of French knitting terms and taking inspiration from the many designs on display.

As usual in France, the food was a treat. Wafer-thin pizza at La Foccacia on Saturday evening and a splendid Sunday lunch of fish soup, grilled prawns and apple tart at L’Eclat du Cours. Best of all, it was warm enough to eat outside in the sunshine and that was sufficient to wipe away any trace of post-Christmas blues.

Setting up the stand is always a bit of a challenge – how do you fit so much gorgeous yarn into such a small space? This photo shows the stand after about an hour and a half’s preparation - just at the stage when we started to panic that we’d never fit it all in….

But we persevered and this next photo shows one side nearly completed….

 And this is the table on the other side with the Shawl from One Ball samples displayed above…

And finally, the back wall – featuring the Zauberball Shawl which attracted more interest than almost anything else – and which was so simple to knit that it felt like cheating….

The trouble is that this excitement is short-lived and before long I’m looking for my next ‘fix’. Once I’m a few centimetres into my knitting I’m already planning the next project and don’t always have the self-discipline to finish one before moving on to the next. I can always find ways to justify this in my own mind - I tell myself that whatever I’m working on needs a lot of concentration so I’d best start something easier if I’m going to be knitting on a car journey or at the folk night – but deep down I know these are just excuses!!

At the moment I’ve got five projects on the needles – two shawls, a scarf and two different pairs of socks but, already I’m being sorely tempted by the yarns I bought last week at Fibre Flurry. I bought a skein of deep-coloured Twinkle from Easy Knits, a beautiful pink sock yarn from the Knitting Goddess and some deliciously soft boucle from the Old Piggery. All of these are destined to be made into Christmas presents so I do need to get on with them – in fact, I’m surprised that the skeins are still intact one week later. But they’re calling and I know that resistance is futile - I just don’t know where to start. Maybe I should start all three today – what would you do?