Golly, another month has passed

So it's a month to the day since my last post which wasn't intentional.  I've been pootling along, getting back into my knitting, working some days, not doing much useful on the others and absolutely longing to go on our holiday in another month and a bit.

I don't think I have EVER been as excited about a holiday before - even as a child - and it's not as if we are going anywhere amazingly exotic, but our week spent in a cottage by the beach on a remote Scottish island promises to be fabulous - I just hope I won't get over-excited, like I did as a child, and end up disappointed by the reality.

I've been going through phases of thinking about it about 15 times a day for a week, and then letting it subside so it's not the main thing on my mind - which is a good ploy when I'm at work obviously!

I've even been searching for the perfect socks to knit while we're away and because I am a sad individual I want the patterns to have some relevance to where we are going so I have searched on Ravelry for Scottish socks, island socks, seaside socks, beach socks, wave socks etc and have even enlisted friends from knit group in the search too.

I've finally come up with 2 possible candidates - these resized to fit me in this gorgeous skein of wool (dyed by Barbara at Ring-a-Rosie)

and these to be knit in some maybe-being-dyed-at-this-very-moment-heather-colour-sock-yarn (again by Barbara)  if I can find out how to buy the pattern (the webpages aren't working and the company haven't replied to my email)

One of the reasons I'm so excited about this holiday is because I am planning a holiday from my diet too.  I've lost 1 1/2 stones in the last 13 weeks but it has been hard work and I am missing eating naughty things.  I'm unreasonably excited about the fact that I plan to eat bread and homemade jam (see above) for breakfast and bread and cheese for lunch - it makes me feel quite giddy!

I think I'll be making a potato-hedgehog-calendar with the children to help count down the days once they have broken up from school - I need to get them as hyped up as me!

But here are some calming knitting pictures to show you what I have been doing

A PAIR of No-purl Monkeys

and my current love, 

Candlepower socks - a totally gorgeous pattern (that could have been a contender for my holiday knit as I plan to have plenty of candle-lit evenings in our little cottage - although I'm not sure I could knit this pattern by candle-light)

And Dot kindly unravelled my nearly finished Cherry Swirl sock this afternoon,  so I can knit the partner to this Tadpole in Quinn's lovely hand-dyed wool.

But now I must dash as we are going to deliver Granny Biscuit's birthday presents - a necklace made by me, cheese scones made by Daisy, a strawberry and cream filled Victoria sponge made by Dot, marmalade just made this afternoon (from a cheat tin of Mamade), and cards by the children.  Then Dot and I are going to go and see Harry Potter - woohooo!

Being quiet

Sorry I've been so quiet for so long - I just don't seem to have my blogging voice at the moment and I feel like I haven't really done anything blog-worthy lately.

I even stopped knitting for a while but I do have a few photos of some finishes and half finishes to show you like this dragonfly sock that I finished this afternoon

this no-purl monkey that I finished ages ago but haven't got round to photographing

my finished PAIR of tadpoles - that I've even worn - and they're lovely!

(I make a point about the fact that I've worn them as they are the only pair of socks that I have finished this year that have actually made it anywhere near a pair of feet - I think I just enjoy the knitting process and don't actually need to wear any of my finished items - bizarre)

and a Hitchhiker scarf that was going so well until I realised I was going to get some really long rows to knit.........

I cast on another mystery sock with this lovely hand-dye and gorgeous beads

but unlike Mrs Moogs, I got totally sick of it part way through the second clue and frogged it with glee!  Lesley's finished socks are lovely but mine were never going to work out.


I've also bought some more, specially dyed for me, Ring-a-Rosie handpainted sock yarn in a lovely turquoise that I'm planning on keeping until our holiday in Scotland.

We've had two little Lockets' birthdays in the last couple of weeks which have been fun

Daisy is now 11 and Fred 9 - they are growing up fast and Daisy can't wait to go up to senior school in September - she's even decided to go to summer school there for 4 days at the beginning of the holiday although her initial reaction was "why would I want to go to school in the holidays???"


And my other main focus of attention over the last couple of months has been good old Slimming World so I am now food obsessed but successfully so as I have lost 1 stone 3lbs in 9 weeks - shame there's another 4 stone to go ;o)

Now the reason for this post is to ask your opinion

Should I frog this sock???

I absolutely love the hand-dyed yarn that Quinn sent me, and I like the look of the sock, and I've nearly finished the first one, but I hate the actual knitting of the pattern - it just doesn't work for me at all and I really want to put Quinn's beautiful yarn to the best possible use.

I think I have pretty much decided to rip it out - partly because I have already cast on a Tadpole with the other half of the yarn!  Now that's a much nicer pattern to knit.

I could always have odd socks though, couldn't I, matching wool but different patterns?

Owls, tadpoles, dragonflies and Pebbles

It has become a tradition that I make Dottie a new school bag when it's her birthday so 8 months later here's a photo of part of last year's bag with its rather confused owl - inspired by Walter Pigeon (the owl heatpad/cushion I made her a year ago).  The last three bags I made for her can be seen here, here and here.

I haven't photographed all of the bag because I always find it difficult to get decent photographs - basically it is a very large messenger bag with the owl on the front flap.  It is lined in a selection of the fabrics used on the owl and has several zipped and poppered pockets.

I think I was more pleased with the folder that I made her out of a couple of Paperchase tea towels.

It's my own design and I keep finding new ways to improve it - like the in-built pencil case which isn't actually as wonky as it looks in this photo!

Dot uses it every day and it has taken some pretty hard wear and tear as it is usually stuffed with notebooks, planners, reading books, papers, pens and pencils and a million other things - so I'm relieved it's still in one piece.  I just wish there was a better way of photographing it to show you.

In knitting news I have been busy with my Tadpoles ..............

.........and I'm now on to the foot of the second sock but I have also cast on some Dragonflies in this gorgeous wool specially dyed brightest of bright oranges by Barbara at Ring-a-Rosie.

She named the colour Juicy Lucy!

But my most interesting piece of news is that yesterday the Lockets had another fabulous day out at the seaside with the Pebbles - the only thing missing was the sun!  In fact it was absolutely freezing with thick fog and we could barely see the sea! But another brilliant sandcastle complex was built and we all had a lovely time - unfortunately there are no photos because I remembered the camera..........but forgot the memory card!

Hopefully NEXT time we meet up the sun will be shining and the camera will be in action!

Missing in knitting action

Sorry I've been gone so long.........I've been busy knitting socks and haunting Ravelry forums and my blog has been neglected.  I haven't been reading blogs either so I'm sorry I'm so far behind on commenting.  I think I'm going to have to start afresh from today rather than trying to catch up.

Because I've only been  knitting socks I didn't think it would make for a very interesting blog read but I'm going to show you what I've been doing anyway:

First of all, how's this for a PAIR of lovely socks?

Knit as part of Sock Knitters Anonymous' March Mystery sock Knit Along and designed by Stephanie of VeryBusyMonkey. (Moogsmum managed to knit TWO pairs before I had even finished my first sock!)

I really enjoyed knitting these and waiting for each clue to be published - I even knit both socks at the same time - something I've never done before! And I love the colour - it was christened "Primrose" but I have renamed it Sherbert Lemon.

And I found a better pattern for the lovely wool from Quinn

It's called Cherry Swirls and is a really easy knit - but it's not a "flowing" knit - by which  I mean it doesn't flow easily from the needles like some patterns -  so it has been stuck at this stage for quite a while because I have been distracted by other more interesting patterns. But the wool is lovely and the colour is gorgeous.  (Moogsmum managed to cast on and knit a pair of these in about 5 seconds flat so it's probably just me that has a problem with the pattern! We've come to the conclusion that she is a Knitting-Robot so I no longer need to worry about not being able to keep up!!)

Yesterday I cast on a new sock with some lovely handpainted yarn by Barbara at Ring-a-Rosie - my lovely local wool shop (I've spent a lot of time there lately too!).

I did the ribbing yesterday evening and then spent a lovely afternoon today knitting 5 repeats of the pattern - I'm nearly onto the heel already.  The pattern is called Tadpoles which is nicely-Springly-appropriate - even if I don't have any tadpoles or frogspawn in my allotment pond (I've been spending time up there too!)

And in the evenings I have joined the hoards crocheting an Attic24 Granny Stripe blanket with a gazillion different colours

So I have been immersing myself in woolly goodness and spending more time smiling and a lot less time crying.  All good.

Lucy xxx

Casting off..............casting on..............

Last Saturday really was quite an amazing day.............

...........because not only did I finish Mr Locket's Gorgeous DK socks............

.........AND my beautiful pink Spring Forward socks..............

.........but I also finished my Monkeys that have been hanging around on the needles for ages!

Three pairs of socks finished in one day.

Yup three PAIRS of MATCHING socks.

In the Locket household!

Matching socks.

Now there's a rare thing indeed!

So to balance things out I clearly needed to cast on three more pairs of socks.........

......especially as the lovely Quinn had sent me the most unexpected parcel of goodies including this gorgeous hand-dyed sock wool

I didn't get chance to photograph it in the skein because I leapt so quickly at Dottie's suggestion that she help me wind it.  I wasn't going to turn down an offer like that in a hurry.

So I cast on a pair of No Purl Monkeys in some Regia Sock Monster wool that I bought at Barbara's the other week (this is the wool that I liked but didn't LOVE as much as the gorgeous dk wool I simply HAD to buy)

Then I cast on a Summer Lovin sock with Quinn's gorgeous wool............

and I actually knitted two repeats of the pattern until today....... 

............when I decided that it really was too loose and baggy and didn't do the gorgeous wool justice.  

So, very rarely for me, I frogged it and have been busily searching Ravelry for a new pattern to show off this lovely wool - any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

I've also cast on another pair of mindless-telly-watching-dk-socks - but I haven't photographed them yet.

So I must go, there's knitting to be done...........

New wool, new dishes, new techniques and a new friend

More wool accidentally jumped into my hands the other day when I was at Ring-a-Rosie's.  In my defence, I was minding my own business, buying totally different wool, when I spotted Barbara's latest sock knitting lying there in full view on the counter!  What was I supposed to do?  Ignore it?  Or fall head over heels in love with a ball of wool. Yup, that's what I did.  Totally irrational - but it is lovely.  I just wish I had a decent photograph of it but here goes - this is my Regia World College Color sock that I started this morning -

it's dk so it knits up super fast.

And look! I've got sock blockers! I'm SOOOOOOOOOO excited about these (maybe I need to talk to the doctor about my medicine levels?!?!)

I've blocked my first Spring Forward sock so you have to endure two new photos of it in all its glory

 The distance shot......................and the close up

and to prove that I haven't been completely lead astray by my new sock wool here is Spring Forward #2

As you can see, the way the wool works means that it is going to be an upside down version of the first sock, but that's fine.

Another new purchase was a beautiful set of blue pressed glass Sundae dishes from the local auction rooms which have been put to use for sweeties and jelly and ice cream.  

In fact I seem to have a camera full of photos the children have taken of their latest jelly creations - I even have videos of them turning the jelly out of the mould but I'll spare you those. ;o)

Daisy made me laugh the other day when she came through to the kitchen like this...........

her Heath Robinson-esque solution to the need to finger-knit on-the-go!  (her ball of wool is carefully stored inside the basket)

And finally, my new friend...............

.................likes to hang out in front of the computer checking out his antipodean cousins

Here's Baxter's cousin Spike.  Not an original name I know, but it's what Dottie was called when I was pregnant so it seemed a good name to choose.

He looks like he's striding out purposefully here!

Another fantastic pattern Jodie - and I might be able to squeeze a second hedgehoggy friend out of the fabrics you sent.  Once I've properly finished poor Spike -  who doesn't have his arms and legs sewn on tightly!  Only blog-finished, the poor chap.

Right, I'm off to knit some more of my sock..............

Poor photos but lovely presents

Once again I need to apologise for the state of my photos - my camera doesn't seem to have a flash (it's second hand so I can't really complain) so all my photos at the moment have a horrible soupy yellow quality.

But I have had some lovely things to photograph including some fabby presents from very kind bloggy friends.

The first from Jodie who sent me the very arduous task of pattern testing the lovely Baxter (woohoo! can't wait to get started!) along with this gorgeous make-your-own-bunting panel

(I can see all the printed instructions being included like selvedge in my spiderweb quilt and quilt as you go panels once the bunting is made)

and this adorable tape measure and badge - I'm definitely happy with a world where craft is the new black!

Then this week I received a parcel from the lovely Michelle who had made me this beautiful sewing kit to cheer me up

all I can say is that it worked a treat!  I love it! 

And I also loved the chocolate and sweeties that came with it!

Thank you both very much xxx

I made a concious effort last week to knit instead of crying and by the end of the week I had a very beautiful sock instead of a manky pile of soggy tissues.

I can't claim that it worked ALL the time but knitting certainly helped and I have now cast on the second sock (don't faint!) and have also cast on this cowl so I have plenty of distraction therapy to hand.  So why didn't I knit today instead of feeling sorry for myself?  Stupid girl!  Off to find that knitting bag............

Lucy x