I’ve been knitting socks, for me!

As I carefully placed pair no.3 that I had just finished on the ‘to be photographed pile’, my cold tootsies told me to get on with the job of photography so that I could wear a pair.

So without further ado, I did.

The trio together, don’t they look grand. I love that sock yarns come in oh so many materials, colours, densities and thicknesses.. There is so much choice, I don’t think you could Ever become bored of knitting socks. (although the Christmas knitting of nine pairs to a deadline tested that theory to the limit!)

Firstly because of the sock yarns themselves but also, just when you become a little bit bored of going around and around and around, there is a little twist in the pattern that keeps you amused before you carry on to the next stage of the round and around and around. Its marvelous, I find it endlessly entertaining.

The first pair I completed were Lornas laces in Fandango, bought by my lovely friend Diane, who had carefully noted that I needed something extremely soft to soothe me whilst in hospital, she chose most carefully and I can still feel that giddy feeling I felt when the yarn arrived quite out of the blue in the post.

So along with packing my case that day, I spent a very soothing hour winding the yarn into cakes and dreaming dreams of how they might turn out. Whilst knitting them I was quite stunned by the way that the blue travelled all the way through the socks in a spiral leaving little clouds of pink, just hanging in mid air.. It was like looking at the sea at sunset with the night clouds just forming, hanging there, slowly coming together as the sun goes to bed. (and that is quite poetic for a land locked land lubber such as I) But that is what it reminded me off as I knit, memories of us and our at the time very young boys sat on a beach at sunset watching the sun go down, hubby and I pretending we could hear the hiss of the sun as it gently slid into the sea and put itself out, “can you hear the hiss” with the boys whispering back, “oh I can hear it, I can hear it”

This next pair were knit as the yarn already wound some months before caught my eye. I knew I wanted to knit it, but I had become entrenched in other knitting. This is Cherry Tree Hill super sock merino in Fall Foliage. Strangely I’d loved the skein, but once wound into a cake, I lost the love, and I never quite worked out why. I think its because in the skein I had such high hopes for it, but once wound, it lost its glamour. I started to knit , I still wasn’t sure, it took me until I was almost at the heel before I fell back in love with it. But fall in love I did, as might be evident that there are two socks here, not just one!

So, having had such a wonderful suprise and thinking I could make it three pairs of stripey socks, along with the fact that I had already wound this into a cake, I started this next pair. Which was Cherry Tree super sock merino in Country Garden. And if anyone is interested all of these socks are 60 stitches in the round with 2.5 mm needles..

I’d wound this cake before any of the others, it had been sat for quite a while in my stash just looking at me reproachfully, and after I’d had so much fun with its brother bought at the same time, I wondered quite what it would reveal to me. Even before I started to knit, I couldn’t quite fit into my mind how Country Garden was going to fit into such a dark coloured skein.. I think thats why I had hesitated for such a long time.. And some rows on, I still didn’t get it.. But the colours were interesting and I persevered..

And then it hit me, it was dianthus and lavender and the beautiful colour of lupins mixed in with dark greens of the leaves of these plants. It was lovely row after row reminded me of these lovely plants.

And so photography completed, and my poor little tootsies still feeling the cold I had to make a choice out of these three, which to wear..

There was only one thing to do, one potato, two potato, three potato… (well I do love my veg)

and the winner for tonight anyway is..

and they do feel warm.

Happy Easter everyone.