Boot weather is the perfect reminder of the joy of hand knit socks

It’s that time of year when we, northern hemisphere sock knitters, can smugly and joyously rejoice and luxuriate in our hand knit socks, if we have prepared that is. Hopefully, by the end of this post if you haven’t knit socks before you may be convinced to give them a try. Previously, when living in the north of England, I spent most of the year with my feet booted. There would be a few days (and … More Boot weather is the perfect reminder of the joy of hand knit socks

Nobody can see your feet: Christmas Knitting Pt 4

As nieces and nephews get older I keep getting reminded that they may not be so keen on knitted gifts from their aunt. Now, whilst I firmly believe they have fabulous taste and that my knits would meet any style criteria they may have, I thought perhaps I’d be on safer ground with socks for my teenage nieces. They live in an apartment with tile and wooden floors, so socks are at least useful. So we have … More Nobody can see your feet: Christmas Knitting Pt 4

Afterthought Heels from Yesteryear: Another ‘Nothing New Under the Sun’ realisation

I’ve written before about how easy it is to overlook how innovative and creative previous generations of knitters were. Putting it like that I’m sure many of us would say, ‘oh no, not at all’, but then we come across something that reveals, in our surprise, exactly that. Today I want to share a pattern from a book that sparked my interest for exactly this reason. This is an American pattern book by Clarks O.N.T … More Afterthought Heels from Yesteryear: Another ‘Nothing New Under the Sun’ realisation

Socking it to Christmas : Gift knitting Pt 1

Last year’s gift knitting experience was a chastening one. The final knit gifted was completed on the 8th January. Whilst the fact that my nephew received it wrapped up with the sleeve stitches on waste yarn does not appear to have dampened his enthusiasm for his sweater, it dampened my enthusiasm for last minute gift knitting. This was reinforced by the fact that my niece never received the sweater I was knitting for her until … More Socking it to Christmas : Gift knitting Pt 1

Socks for Christmas: Christmas knits 5 and 6

It used to be a bit of joke in our family that if you couldn’t think of a present for my Dad, then socks were always useful. Each year my Dad would get a selection of socks, some serious, some jokey and there were certain relatives who could be depended on year after year to replenish his sock drawer. Well this year I became that relative. I did at least knit the socks and we … More Socks for Christmas: Christmas knits 5 and 6