Work in Progress - March 2022

Two ta-dah moments this month. A pair of socks that took 9 months to make and a sock that took 5 days! 

Recently I’ve been working on all the second socks that I haven't knitted. 

This is a pair I started back in May 2021 and is a perfect example of why I don’t handknit shop samples in Opal 4ply sock yarn. 

Opal sock yarn are all limited editions (except the Hundertwassers which is a permanent shade range) and once they're gone they're gone. So by the time I’ve knitted a sock the yarn is nearly finished. The sock above is from the Joy range and there’s only one shade left… and it’s not this one.

We do have lots of other Opal 4ply sock yarn though. In fact there's two new collections arriving this week.

Long term readers will know I'm a big fan of My Favorite Vanilla Sock pattern (available for free on Ravelry). It's a top down heel flap sock and the heel is so neat.

For these socks I tried to match them. (I don’t always do this but it feels like magic when it works). I do this by just taking note of where on the colour sequence I cast on. Usually I start my long tail cast on* just at the colour change. This gives a two colour effect at the cast on edge and ensures I start each sock at the same point.

Other things can go astray though. On the 2nd sock I missed one row of the leg before I worked on the heel and then… I did a different heel stitch. This is perhaps because I knitted the first sock and then started the second sock within a month... then took another 7 months before picking it up again. Anyway, the pattern effect went back into synch on the foot... goodness knows what I did to achieve that. 😆

*If you're unfamiliar with the long-tail cast on you can find an excellent tutorial here. It's a good stretchy cast on. A stretchy cast on is important in a top down sock so that you can get the sock over your heel and it doesn't dig into your ankles.

The other sock is a single trainer sock - hence why it only took 5 days.😆

This is a Willow Socklet (free on Ravelry) knitted in Opal 4ply Vincent Van Gogh shade 5437.

These socks have a simple lace pattern (a 4 row repeat) and with no leg it knits up quite quickly.

Normally I wouldn't use a self patterning sock yarn and a lace pattern as the colour effect of the yarn can obscure the lace pattern. But the Van Gogh range has quite a muted colour effect and I think it works really well.

Another new cast on, one that will take a lot longer than 5 days to knit, is a Mohair Scarf in Rowan's new Kidsilk Haze Colour. 

Rowan Kidsilk Colour is a colour effect version of their iconic Kidsilk Haze.

Colour has a watercolour effect as it moves between deep and lighter shades. It doesn't look like much on the ball and really needs a shop sample to show it off.

There is a pattern book for a large wrap which takes 3 balls. But in true Woolly Brew tradition I'm going for a one ball wonder.

The scarf pattern I am using is our free Colour Block Scarf pattern. An asymmetrical scarf written for DK yarn and knitted on 4mm needles. I'm not sure how far I will get with one ball of the Kidsilk Haze Colour but it is over 400m of yarn so it should be a good size.

I was tempted to do a new version of another of our free patterns - Mohair Cowl  - but that pattern only needs 25g and Kidsilk Haze Colour is a BIG 50g ball. It's not really a one ball wonder if I only use half a ball!

I've also put together a bundle of patterns on Ravelry that use 25 - 75g of Mohair Silk laceweight. Most are airy wraps.

 There's also been some progress in my other projects...

 Sami from Life in Colour by Chloe Birch.

Sami now has a back, front and a sleeve. I'll maybe get it done within a year of starting. 😆 Although I haven't cast on the second sleeve yet...

The original pattern uses two solid colours of WYS Colourlab DK - one pink, one grey. But I'm using ColourLab shade 914 (a stripe of yellow, orange, red and lilac) and shade 137 a light grey.

Melting Marl Shawl by Stephen West using 2 strands of 4ply

And Melting Marl is progressing too.

Really enjoying this, love blending the colours. I'm continuing with the pink and green colour scheme and I'm now using some of our Love Your Wallpaper which has lots of pink and purple. 

The i-cord edge is incredibly neat. I first came across it in Stephen West's Garter Squish Blanket and I used it in our own Simple Blanket pattern. I know lots of customers are now using it in the own blanket and scarf projects.

And not knitting related - my Embroidery Journal for February.

The background - inspired by Sophie at Stir Crazy Crafter I decided to make an embroidery journal in 2022. 

The goal is to stitch one image that reflects your day. Sophie provides lots of tips on her website and I'm pretty much following her guidance.

I'm using a 10" hoop and some linen, possibly 32 count. I've decided to go for a bright colour scheme and black thread.

To give me some incentive (and accountability) I'm sharing each month on this blog.

Really struggled to fit everything in this month... and it was only 28 days!