I love my garden!

And on:

Friday, July 3rd from around 2 p.m.

you are more than welcome to come sit in it and knit :)

There will be tea, coffee, cake and fruit.

If you plan to show up, please send me an email (guinstuff AT hotmail DOT com), or send me a PM on ravelry :)

I'll be looking forward to seeing you all!

Rowan Summer Tweed Ms. Marigold

I frogged the project that I was originally working on with the lovely Summer Tweed from Rowan. Mainly because I stumble across a pattern called Ms. Marigold, which I really liked. I paid the usual $6 for the pattern and knit the whole thing within 3-4 days.
I had four skeins of creamy white yarn and bought an extra two skeins of sand to finish the edges. So another 200 g out of the good ol' stash.




I'm not completely 'over the moon' here - I wanted a tighter fit, but once I wash it and such things might look better. Not that I don't like the end result - I do - and I'll wear this little sucker when it cools down a bit. Though the yarn is 70% silk and 30% cotton it's still too warm for this very nice weather the gods have granted us these days :)

Another year went by

I had such a perfect birthday. The weather was brilliant!
I spent the day with Moe, my parents and my neighbor. We had coffee and cake in the garden under our apple tree, and later on tuna steaks followed by ice cream on the sunny terrace. I received overwhelmingly many texts on my mobile, and Moe and I ended the day at a friend's place; we had a handful of drinks washed down with 80's and 90's club hits (God, I hated those songs!). All in all, everything I wanted for my birthday :)


I got this gift certificate from Moe - nice! :)


And this is the birthday present from me to me! Thank you, me :)
I bought it a couple of days ago. The setting was perfect: my birthday was just around the corner AND I was feeling a bit sorry for myself - I my world that means yarny stuff is coming my way.

Knitting a Reinforced Heel

When knitting socks for my dad I always feel the need to make them just a wee bit sturdier than usual. Perhaps because my dad isn't exactly the most gentle and careful person I know ;) You should see him write - he almost pushes the pen through the table underneath the paper!

The reinforced heel might not be necessary, but better safe than sorry.

This is how I do it - you may know other and easier ways to go about this matter, and if that's the case do tell! :)
Anyway, instead of joining another string of yarn, I knit each row twice, so to speak. When I'm pleased with the length of the leg, I make the heel flap as follows:

RS row: *k1, sl1*.
WS row: *p1, sl1*

These two rows are repeated until the heel flap measures a couple of inches.
The slipped stitches are knitted or purled on the following row, thus making it seem each row is worked twice.



The heel loses some of its elasticity but I see this as a bit of a bonus; it gives the socks a better overall fit.

A good, solid heel flap that will last forever and ever.

Something easy...

... and a bit boring. Just what I need.

Ever since I gave my dad a pair of Regia Silk socks for Christmas he has been going on and on about how wonderful they are. At first he just explained to me that he already had socks (yes, dad, I realize that, however....!) Then he discovered the greatness of wool and silk. And now he wants more.

Plain socks made with perfect sock yarn.

Shibui Spring Forward - frogged!

I've had half a Spring Forward sock lying around for the better part of six months. Or longer. Things went just fine until I reached the heel part. I had done the heel flap a all of a sudden things went wrong. More than once have I heard other knitters tell me how easy this is to knit, and I would agree had it not been for the fact that this yarn-pattern alliance has been cursed from the very beginning!
After doing the heel flap it seem impossible to get back on track on the lace part of the sock. I tried over and over and over again. Smoke, but no cigar! And finally when all fun had been sucked out of this project I decided to frog the bastard! There! Have it your way, stupid curse!

Poor Shibui Sock. I don't think it likes being a ball. I'll have to find another pattern sooner rather than later.
It's sad; I didn't even managed to take a proper picture of it - the colours are completely off. Poor Shibui Sock....

Baby Socks for a Boy

This pair of socks is the result of a sudden urge to knit socks. I have many unfinished projects so I didn't want this extra project to take up too much time. Like the girly ones I finished a couple of days ago these too were made with Ingelise Strømpegarn. I have a lot of that in my stash, you see. The socks are size 22/23 - I hope they will fit my colleague's 1-year-old. She mentioned that she had been advised to dress him in wool, especially his feet, since he has been ill on and off since he was borne. The boy is okay now, but the mum is getting pretty tired of having a sick kid. Another 23 g have left the stash ;)

Nancy Bush' infant socks

I finished the baby socks for my cousin's newborn baby. I know summer is almost here but I thought these socks were so cute I had to make them. Summer or not.



Made with a sock yarn called Ingelise Strømpegarn on needles 2.5 mm. They weigh a discreet 23 g - one ball of yarn = two pairs of socks = perfect last minute gift made with stash yarn :)