I like big socks and I cannot lie

You can thank me later for having Sir Mix A Lot stuck in your head for the rest of today.

I'm back with my first completed project of 2019: a pair of long, slightly ridiculous, knitted socks. 

The yarn I used is Stylecraft Batik Swirl in the colourway "Meadow" and was a Christmas present from my lovely Mum. She knows I love a good "making" present!

The socks are, more or less, 109-32 socks with diamond pattern by Drops Design, a free pattern on Ravelry. I'm not sure why it's called diamond pattern as I would have thought it's basket stitch? Either way, it's blocks of knit stitches and purl stitches stacked alternately which makes a pleasing, squishy texture.

I knitted the socks fairly long (10" from the cuff down to the heel flap) to make the most of all the colours, although sadly I didn't quite reach the yellow. I'm aware the wool would have likely looked more effective spread out in a larger project, such as a shawl or blanket, rather than socks as the colours came out quite blocky. However I just couldn't shake off the idea of bright, long, textured socks. They're a bit weird, but I love them.

They very nearly became epic leg warmers for ballet class, but I think my macaron dance shorts are probably jazzy enough for people to contend with!

What is everyone else knitting at the moment? I have another pair of socks on the go (shocker) but fancy having something a bit more exciting on my needles, although I'm not sure what that might be yet.

mum's knitting needle roll

Happy New Year! For my first post this year I'm sharing the last project I completed in 2018: a knitting needle case I made for my Mum's Christmas. I debated lumping it in with all the other makes in my last round-up post but felt it deserved a post of its own as it turned out so nicely.

At the moment Mum and I share knitting supplies as I still live at home. However, as I am moving out this year and taking my share of knitting supplies with me, I felt it was only right to set Mum up with her own kit. Using left over fabric from the apron I made her a couple of years ago I made this rolled up case following a tutorial by Lauren on the Guthrie and Ghani blog. It was easy to follow and produced a lovely, practical case.

It took a while to decide on the pocket sizes, making sure the front ones were wide enough to store dpn needle cases and the back pockets wide enough for different sized long needles. I highly recommed picking a striped or gingham fabric as it offers handy, straight lines to follow; no need for measuring. Although I didn't pick my fabric for that reason I was very thankful for it when it came to marking everything out, especially since I had left it till Christmas Eve to make this present.

I only have two small criticisms with the tutorial, the first being that a seam allowance wasn't specified at the beginning. I assumed it was 5/8" but it's nice to have these things confirmed, especially for beginners. The only area where I changed the seam allowance (other than the pocket edges which were specified) was where the top flap joined the backing fabric. I sewed a 1/2" seam along that edge as the needles looked a bit squashed against the flap.

My other criticism is that the recommended measurement of 1 metre of ribbon felt too short to comfortably tie in a bow around the case, certainly with the 5/8" wide ribbon I used (yes I'm swapping between inches and centimetres, I'm one of those people.) Luckily I had 1.5m spare ribbon so I could cut them again. It's better to have extra ribbon and cut it to size afterwards than risk having too little. It's also worth pointing out that when you attach the ribbon to the backing fabric, fold the ribbon right sides together if the pattern is one sided. Ask me how I know..... (doh!)

How adorable is this ribbon though? I bought it in Edinburgh just over a year ago with no real purpose (I just had to have it, because BUNNIES!) so I was delighted to discover it matched the fabric perfectly. I love it when supplies come together like that.

I definitely need to make a knitting needle case for myself now. It's so pretty and well organised and makes my postal tube and random empty box storage system look crap and inferior.

I should also mention that my mum was thoroughly delighted with her present. She knew I was making something but had no idea what it could be, so it was a complete surprise to her. I think she loved how thoughtful it was, as well as being very pretty and practical. Now she can neatly wrap up her supplies to take round to my house so we can continue with our knit nights! 😄