Something new

I haven't abandoned the blog again, promise. There has sadly been little crafting since last I posted. I did, however, finish a pair of ankle socks today:
I like having ankle socks to wear in sneakers for the summer. I also like them as a way of using up the leftovers of a skein of sock yarn. I have found with some of my other pairs that the cuff does not properly cover the back of my heel. This time I used a few short rows after the ribbing and before the heel. This should make them more comfortable and keep my shoes from rubbing. I will have to remember this modification for future pairs.

Speaking of modifications, I made some to my last full sized pair of socks. I've been finding that my hand made socks are wearing out on the bottom of the heel and the top of the toe. The toe holes are easy to sew up and can be largely prevented by making the socks a few rows longer than usual. The bottom of the heels require quite a bit of darning, which is why I have a number of pairs of socks sitting waiting to be repaired.

I wanted to do something to make the heels a bit better wearing. For this pair I decided to try using the eye of partridge stitch on the bottom as well as the back of the heel. I don't notice a difference in how they feel but I'm really hoping that there will be a difference in how they wear. I'd rather be knitting than darning.
I'm going to try to maintain this sock momentum I seem to have built up. I'll be sure to share when I cast on for my next pair since I also hope to build up some blogging momentum. Until then.

Renewal

After meaning to get back to the blog for what turns out to be more than a year, here I am finally posting again. I realize that I really do like have the record of my handiwork that this blog provides. I've also recently bought a loom so I have a whole new craft to show off and try to keep track of.

I could kick off the second coming of the blog with pictures of my new loom, but instead I thought I'd share a project that I planned to start back when this blog was new and only recently picked up and finished:
Another Tangled Yoke with much the same modifications that I made on the first one except this time I decided to keep the bobbles. I bought the yarn for this way back with the intention of knitting this sweater. I was still pretty new to knitting so I chose to use the yarn recommended in the pattern. I ordered the Rowan Felted Tweed online in a colour I thought would suit me. Sadly it turned out that Clover was less peach than I thought and didn't suit my complexion as well as I had hoped.

So the yarn sat unloved in my stash waiting to be redyed or sold or traded. Meanwhile I found another yarn that was closer to the colour I was looking for so I knit the sweater up from that. Years passed.

Finally I decided that I needed a dark coloured sweater and that I'd love another Tangled Yoke. So I took my chances turned the balls of yarn into skeins of yarn and dumped the whole bunch into a big pot on my stove with some black acid dye. I couldn't be happier with the results. I was worried that I'd loose the nice tweedy look of the yarn but it totally survived the dye bath.

Once I had yarn in a colour I liked it was only a matter of a couple of weeks before I'd finished knitting myself a new sweater. I love it and am so glad that I was finally brave enough to risk the dye pot.