Sidney and Eugene KAL round-up

I really don't know what's slower - my knitting, or my writing up a post about a long-finished KAL.

The January and February KAL in the Coop Knits Ravelry group was Sidney and Eugene, both from Coop Knits  Socks Vol. 2. Serial sockists Mandy and Gail both maintained their reputations for being prolific as they managed pairs in both patterns.

Eugene: writergirl3 (Gail)

Eugene: writergirl3 (Gail)

Sidney: mandyscragg (Mandy)

Sidney: mandyscragg (Mandy)

Random pattern prizes went to Sarah and Penny for their Eugenes and Sidneys respectively.

Eugene: sarahpurpleflower (Sarah)

Eugene: sarahpurpleflower (Sarah)

Sidney: pennybro (Penny)

Sidney: pennybro (Penny)

There isn't a KAL running currently, but keep looking here or on the Ravelry group for notice of the next one.

 

VT  

Wilbert and Orville KAL round-up

The last KAL of 2015 was two patterns from Coop Knits Socks Volume 2: Orville and Wilbert. What you can see from the pictures of the finished socks is how much the yarn used changes the look of the same pattern. 

These pairs of Orvilles were made by, from top to bottom, cvd-aviatrix, MissFrances and writergirl3. You can see how the middle pair were knit with a far less fluffy yarn than the other two, giving a much sharper stitch definition. It could be the differing light conditions in which the photos were taken except.....

These Wilberts, made by, from top to bottom, mandyscragg, writergirl3, have far less variation.

I guess that's one of the fascinating things about knitting: that you're never going to know exactly how things will turn out until you've made a good start.

The randomly selected winners from the KAL are MissFrances, mandyscragg and writergirl3, and yarn winners are agita and cvd-aviatrix. There are other KALs running currently in the CoopKnits Ravelry group. Have a look and join in!

Decca and Delbert KAL Round-up

The first autumn KAL came to a close a little over a week ago. The two patterns were Decca and Delbert from Coop Knits Socks Volume 2. Here's a selection of the finished socks posted to the Ravelry thread.

First are the Delberts. From left to right, the projects of agita, Rubywool and pookiebb.

Then the Deccas of aiko1122, writergirl3 and gillianrp.

As ever with knitalongs, there is a random prize draw, with two yarn prizes and three pattern download prizes.

Using a random number generator, the randomly selected yarn winners are MissFrances and jillrlambert, and the pattern winners are mandyscragg, aiko1122 and writergirl3. Congratulations to you all!

The next sock KAL has started already (Wilbert and Orville) and you can post your progress on the Ravelry thread.  Happy sock knitting!

 

Summer of Socks 2015 Roundup

I'm coming to terms with the fact that summer truly is over and that this isn't just a blip and next week won't be gloriously hot. Also long over is the Summer of Socks 2015. The challenge to knit socks in Coop Knits pattern for the chance of winning a prize sent many into a frenzy of sock knitting. Amazingly, some enthusiastic knitters completed five and even six pairs over the three months. The gallery below shows a small selection from some of the more prolific knitters. To see the rest of the dazzling array of socks, flick through the Ravelry thread. If you fancy knitting any of these for yourself, clicking on the photo will take you to the Ravelry pattern page. 

The yarn prize winners, picked at random, were anjalovesknits, aiko1122 and dancingsaint. The digital pattern winners, again picked at random, were saralu, gaievans, mrkernan, debbie135, gillianrtp, writergirl3, papisbaby, mazknitter and zebraeule. 

If you're having sock withdrawal, there's a KAL for the Delbert and Decca patterns running through what remains of September and October in the Coop Knits group on Ravelry.

SUMMER of Socks 2015!

Where does the time fly to? I can't believe that it's the SUMMER of Socks again already! I'm nearly ready to cast on a new pair. I just have a mystery shawl pattern to complete first...

If you haven't taken part before, just dive in! It's really easy, all you need to do is to finish knitting a pair of socks designed by Rachel at some point between now and 31st August 2015. Post a photo of the finished socks in the thread on Ravelry: SUMMER of Socks 2015 and you will be entered for prizes! You can complete a WIP that's been on the needles for a while, or start a new pair, the choice is yours!

We are only a few weeks in to this year's knit along, and already there are some lovely finished pairs. How about these for some pattern inspiration?

Hautecontre (aka Diane) knitted this beautiful pair of Sapient Pearwood socks using some wool, cotton, nylon blend sock yarn - perfect for summer!  You can favourite any of the pairs of socks here by heading over to the relevant Ravelry project pages: Hautecontre's Sapient Pearwood socks.

For a more recent design, how about these lovely Woodcutter's Socks? Knitted here by Debbie135 using some Knitting Goddess sock yarn. Check out how quickly Debbie knitted these up! Debbie135's Woodcutter's Socks.

Deb (Tinkhickman on Ravelry) hasn't finished her socks yet, but her photo was so beautiful I couldn't resist sharing it here! She's working on Renesmee from Rachel's Twighlight-inspired eBook, When Vampires Knit Socks and she's using some Hazel Knits yarn in a gorgeous shade! We can't wait to see how they turn out! Tinkhickman's Renesmee Socks.

This is such a fantastic shade of blue from the Sunrise Fiber Co. that Writergirl3 (aka Gail) has chosen for her Ernestine Socks. Ernestine is one of the patterns from Rachel's latest book of fab sock designs, Coop Knits Socks volume 2. Gail knitted them two at a time, and again, she was SO speedy: Writergirl3's Ernestine Socks

These are Octarine, one of the patterns that Rachel designed for the When Granny Weatherwax Knits Socks Club, first published back in January 2012. This pair has been knitted by crossroadsdemon, and you can find out more over on her Ravelry project page here: Crossroadsdemon's Octarine Socks.

If you have some coordinating sock yarn leftovers, then how about copying cmflame (aka Charissa) and using them in a pattern like Bockleton (or Mixalot or Otis). Charissa has made this splendid pair using Cascade Yarns Heritage Sock for the main yarn, with leftovers for the colour work sections. Cmflame's Bockleton Socks.

One of my favourite thing about Rachel's sock knitalongs is seeing all the patterns knitted up in different yarns - I always choose some new favourites and mess around with my pattern queue after browsing that thread! I do hope that you have found some inspiration here. Let us know which design you will be casting on, then join us in the Summer of Socks thread to knit along.

Happy knitting!

Summer of Socks Eye Candy

Wow! It sounds like you had a brilliant time at both Unwind and Fibre East. What treats!

I'm knitting along on my Betula socks, but I have to admit that they aren't growing that fast. There's just been so much going on for the last few weeks that knitting time has been a scarce commodity. Anyway, I thought I would while away a bit of quiet time seeing what everyone else has been up to in the Summer of Socks thread. What a feast of inspiring patterns! Have you been looking at them?

I love how seeing a pattern in different yarns can show you a whole new side to a design. Take these two pairs of Pavilion socks, for example...

CelticCastOn's Pavilion Socks knitted in Wandering Cat Yarns Alley Cat BFL.

These Pavilion Socks knitted by CelticCastOn look cool, calm and inviting.

HotCheese's Pavilions are in my favourite go-to shade of green and give the design a more zingy feel.

And then HotCheese has used this amazing shade of green for her Pavilion socks, which makes them look completely different!

I can almost feel myself falling down a rabbit hole of yarn enablement as a browse the projects! Rachel, we'd best neither of us look at that Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet in Lounge Lizard that HotCheese has used! Stunning!

There are some great finished socks from your books as well. Having modelled Saxifrage in Coop Knits Socks, I loved seeing this beautiful pair by WriterGirl3.

Gloriously raspberry Saxifrage socks from WriterGirl3.

And from A Knitted Sock Society, I'm inspired by Nina90's Jesse socks...

Jesse from A Knitted Sock Society, knitted by Nina90 using Rowan Fine Art Sock and Colinette Jitterbug.

I've never knitted any colourwork socks, and these are stunning. They've persuaded me to give it a go! I don't know why, but I've always been a bit scared of colourwork socks. Something to do with getting the right tension I think. Do you have any top tips?

These Fred and George socks knitted by mma are brilliant too… Too many choices!!

Mma knitted these Fred and George socks using String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Bluestocking. They look ace!

I'm always on the lookout for great patterns for variegated yarns. I tend to play it safe and just knit plain socks if my yarn is a bit loud, but these Solar Flair socks knitted by Roobeedoo look fantastic in Hazel Knits Artisan Sock. The textured stitch pattern works brilliantly with the zingy yarn. 

Roobeedoo's Solar Flair Socks.

Last year's Knitting Goddess sock club patterns had a Kevin Bacon theme, and JillRLambert finished off her Watzisname socks a few weeks ago, thus enabling her to enter them for Summer of Socks. I absolutely love your twisted stitch patterns - you have such a great eye for them!

JillRLambert's Watzisname socks knitted with Knitted Goddess 4ply Merino Nylon Sock yarn

And last, but by no means least, John Huston, the Tarnished Hero has leapt up my queue thanks to this lovely pair knitted by NicoleS. 

NicoleS's lovely John Huston, the Tarnished Hero socks.

I've had my eye on these for ages. They'd be a great pair to make for Jim for Christmas, and I have the perfect yarn in my stash… I'd better get knitting! I hope you're having a good summer, filled with lots of lovely socks.

Jen x

P.S. All photos are copyright of the knitters featured and are used with their kind permission. Thank you!

Consoling myself...

La la, la la, laaaaa!

I have my fingers in my ears, as there's so much chatter about how brilliant Unwind was, and I'm still sulking that I couldn't go. Boo! I'm grudgingly glad to see from Twitter that you had a great time though.

Instead I've been consoling myself by planning lots more knitting projects to take away on holiday next month. I finished off my Italia World Cup socks - thank you so much for the lovely yarn! My brother-in-law will be the lucky recipient. And I'm now just over halfway down the leg of my first Betula sock.

Betula Socks for the Summer of Socks 2014

I'm hoping that I can get these finished before the end of August, as a Summer of Socks pair (not that I'd enter for a prize, but it's nice to take part!). I'm definitely not giving these away. They are going to be mine, all mine! One of my friends has knitted this pattern a few times now, and every time it's on her needles, I remember how much I want to knit a pair. Finally I'm catching up with my never-ending queue!

I'm sure that one pair of socks isn't enough knitting for a week in Weymouth, so I've been perusing your other new patterns… This Summer of Socks thing has filled my head with crazy ideas about how many pairs I could complete over the next 6 weeks. I'm certainly deluding myself, but isn't that part of the fun of knitting? The anticipation of the endless possibilities contained within your stash? P.S. Have you seen that there are cool prizes up for grabs? Sock yarn and patterns! Just post your finished photo in the Summer of Socks 2014 Finished thread.

Your latest eBook, Pretty Feet Four has me in a tizzy of what to cast on first… All 3 designs are just so tempting!

Anis and Danae both use a skein of Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply, and Ianthe uses a skein of Knitting Goddess 4ply Merino Nylon Sock, and I'm pretty sure I have some of each squirrelled away around here somewhere… Which makes it even harder to decide where to start! If you click on the image above, you should be able to see all three designs (I'm still working out how this Gallery thing works…).

If anyone else fancies joining me in a mad dash to see if I can get two (or maybe even three???) pairs of socks knitted in the next 6 weeks, do leave me a comment! I'm averaging 2-3 weeks for plain socks, but 4-6 weeks for patterned designs at the moment, so it's a bit of a push, but I challenge worth striving for, I'd say! If you want to buy Pretty Feet Four (and why wouldn't you?), you can download it from Ravelry for £7.00 (Ravelry will give you a rough conversion to your local currency if you've given your location in your profile). The three earlier Pretty Feet collections are also well worth a look - the Betula socks I have on my needles at the moment are from Pretty Feet One.

While I was over on your design page on Ravelry I noticed that you have a couple of designs in the next Twist Collective… Eeep! How exciting! I can't wait to see what they will be like. Argh, for a bit more quiet knitting time. :)

On which note, I'm off to knit on Betula for a bit.

Go on then, do tell me a bit about Unwind.. But try not to make me too jealous!

Mwah! Jen x

Summer of Socks 2014

Hi Rachel!

How on EARTH did I not know about the Coop Knit Summer of Socks?? I've knitted 2 pairs of your patterned socks this year, as well as a plain pair of Blue Tit socks that you totally enabled, and yet I had totally missed this!

For those of you who were in the dark too, here's the low-down:

Summer of Socks

All you need to do is finish a pair of socks to one of Rachel's designs (you can see them all here: Rachel Coopey's sock patterns) between now and 31st August 2014. It can be a pair that are already on your needles. They just need to be finished between now and then.

There will be prizes and new patterns (new patterns - eep! Not more temptation!). And the Summer of Socks kicked off with the Pavilion Mystery Sock KAL. All 3 clues of the MKAL have now been released, but there's still plenty of summer to catch up.

As if that wasn't enough fun...

If you are going anywhere lovely during the Summer of Socks, and take a funny/beautiful/picturesque/extreme photo of your Coop Knits WIP, apparently there will be prizes for the best and a draw for everyone who enters. I wish I was going somewhere more exciting than Weymouth now… Maybe I can get the kids to work on an extreme sock knitting photo for me?

I hope now that I'm going to be over here talking to you on your blog, you will keep me up to date with all these exciting events. I'm still shaking my head about how I missed this. As soon as my Italia socks (#WorldCupSocks) are done then I'm going to nail those Conina's.

Catch you later tater!

Jen x