New pattern: Busy Buzzy Bumble Bee

Last autumn my friend had a baby. I have been friends with her since I was two, so it was only right that I knitted something really special for her newborn. I had already knitted a large blanket (my Nature's Way blanket) for her first child, and decided that I wanted to knit a smaller blanket that had something in common with the first, so went for a bright bumble bee knitted on a bright green background.

Busy Buzzy Bumble Bee

I loved knitting this pattern. The chunky weight yarn means it knits up quickly, and the intarsia is straightforward, which large blocks of colour. I stitched the trail on at the end using duplicate stitch, which is a great technique for very small blocks of colour, or lines of single stitches, and saves a few ends!

Running on a theme: Nature's Way was given to the new baby's older brother when he was born

The pattern (Busy Buzzy Bumble Bee) is available now in my Ravelry store, and is included in my storewide sale - all patterns have 30% off until the end of June. Happy knitting!

Summer Socks KAL 2016: Getting ready

Whatever other knitting is happening, there are always some socks on the needles. Having learnt to knit socks last year, they are my go to portable project. I have knitted socks for my siblings, my mum, my husband and my children, as well as several friends. So I was very excited to hear about the Summer Socks KAL, being organised by Rae (@psychoknitter on Instagram), where the aim is to spend the summer having a lovely time knitting socks and sharing the experience with fellow sock knitters around the world. The official cast on date is tomorrow (June 15th), and the Ravelry group* is becoming increasingly chatty.

One pre-KAL activity was a yarn swap. I was paired with Mel (@dubaimel on Instagram), who sent me this huge and wonderful parcel of goodies. There was a sock blank and some Crazy Zauberball in the parcel, so I have decided to knit up the sock blank as part of the KAL. The parcel only arrived this morning, yet I have already unravelled the blank, skeined it and given it a good soak to get the worst of the kinks out. I'm not sure it'll be ready to cast on tomorrow morning, but maybe by the end of the day I'll be lucky.

Beautiful yarn swap parcel

I have two other pairs of socks lined up for the KAL (as well as finishing a couple of pairs that are already in progress): simple striped socks with my first ever Fish Lips Kiss heel in self-striping yarn from Unbelievawool; and bright green Eidothea socks using Artesano Definition Sock Yarn in Mushy Peas.

Yarn all set for the KAL

Stripy sock blank

Fancy socks

Stripes ready for learning a new heel

If you fancy joining in with the KAL, use the hashtag #summersockskal on Instagram, or head over the Ravelry group. Happy sock knitting!

*You must be logged into Ravelry for this link to work.

Hello!

Hello! I am back!

I haven't blogged in ages as I have been working hard on my PhD thesis, but it is now done and submitted. Woo hoo!

To celebrate I am offering 30% off ALL the patterns in my Ravelry store until the end of June.* No code needed.

Right, I am off to enjoy the sunshine, but I will be back soon, promise.

*I'll be having a pricing resturcture at the start of July, so get a bargain before any price increases.