Archie The Wonder Dog

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something This month I finally finished the socks I started in March, but not before the downside of scrappy socks reared its head again: I don’t actually mind darning in the ends once I’ve done the first few  (I always start at the toe and get the hardest ones done first: I think they’re the hardest because your non-darning hand is inside the sock and so if the needle comes unthreaded or anything, its not   immediately , well, handy.)   That’s another set of socks-to-be out of The Cupboard Of Possibilities and into the sock drawer. It’s also another tick off my Fettling List , hooray!  Yarn is ‘Out With A BANG!’ by  Birdstreet Yarn  (a leftover from these socks   which has hung around for a comparatively short time), an indie pink, an Opal pink and an indie purple - all leftovers.  I’ve started the next pair, using yarn given to me by a friend (the same one who gave me the indie pink and...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something You’ll never guess what: I’ve finished the socks I started in April! Here they are: Yarn is ‘Healing Hugs’ by  Pixie Yarn I’m thrilled to say that they fit perfectly, which is always a relief when you’re making for feet you haven’t seen in person and which can’t try on the first sock before you start on the second.  Not only have I finished the April socks, I’ve started another pair. I haven’t got very far yet: Mini Archie has decreed that it’s tuna shirt and yellow shorts season: Yes, I does look spiffing among the feverfew flowers, fanks for noticing *modest face* Linking up to the June Furtle  If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and s...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! Well I finished the socks I started in February:  Yarn is  West Yorkshire Spinners ‘Wood Pigeon’ (864) And then I knitted a hat! It was in a Christmas Eve box from  Lucy Locket Land  which a friend passed to me so I knitted the hat and sent it back to her as a surprise. I knitted it as per the pattern (for a medium head) but when I tried it on to check, it was like a pea on a drum and wasn’t convinced it would fit a teen let alone an adult so I pulled back the crown decreases and did another three pattern repeats. Fortunately, it fits my friend even though she has a smaller head than me. I have 45g of yarn left so there’s probably another hat like this but without the fold up brim in my future, which is nice because it was a lovely yarn and pattern to knit. Pattern is Taconite by Virginia Sattler-Reimer Design  and the yarn was Locket’s (hand dyed) merino dk yarn  ‘Berries, Bo...

  Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! March has been a very sparse month for progress. In fact, I haven’t even finished the pair of socks I started last month, so sparse has it been! This is how they look now: Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Wood Pigeon (864) And after the dye wouldn’t stop leaking from the turquoise dot fabric I initially chose, I did what I was determined not to do and bought fabric for a tiny nine patch quilt  because, just like the turquoise dot was supposed to be, making from just two fabrics requires much less energy than making from scraps. Here’s what I chose: Fabric is Ruby Star Society ‘Sugar’ in navy and rose from Olive + Flo Handcraft I can’t wait to get started! They’ve been washed (without issue) and I just need to iron them/cut off a bit from each and iron those bits and I can get stamping and piecing.  Mini Archie is keeping a close eye on events: I finks these white flowers goes nicely wif mine wh...

I recently realised that I was approaching my one hundredth pair of socks and Mr Random Number Generator thrilled me by choosing a ‘kit’ from my Sock Lucky Dip album which consisted entirely of yarn from  Made By Penguins . I started with these: And after not very much knitting at all (we all know that stripes go faster), I had these: Usually, I make socks which match but for these I fancied stripy and co-ordinated but not matching, just for something different. I started by choosing two cuff colours and decided that they would swap over for the toes. I also decided that I’d use one of the six yarns for both heels and that I’d do regular (ten round) stripes. I also decided that I wouldn’t weave in the ends as I knitted as I’m not keen on the uneven stitches I get as a result so I thought I’d see how tedious darning in all the ends afterwards was. I was pleasantly surprised and found it very satisfying, which bodes well for future scrappy socks. I did my usual diagonal path, darning...

Continuing with my unintentional year of the sock, I’ve finished another pair. These are made with the leftovers from two balls of WYS Brightside, one from a pair I knitted and the other from a pair my friend knitted. They’re both the same dye lot so I assumed that it would be as easy as knitting two socks from the same ball and getting the colour changes to match but that was very much not the case. The first sock, which was knitted all from one ball, went smoothly but when I came to knitting the leg of the second sock, from the other ball, I had constant trouble trying to get the changes to match. Fortunately, once I got to the point where I could swap back to the first ball, things went a lot better. A (different) friend said that although they’re the same dye lot, that will be comprised of many hanks and if one has a tighter twist than the other, they won’t knit up exactly the same. Which makes sense when you think about it and made me feel a lot better about my knitting consistenc...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! Gosh, it’s been a warm month (although fortunately not as warm or as warm for as long as some parts of the country) so knitting has been somewhat limited. I’ve finished the pair of socks I started last month which used three different Made By Penguins yarns And they’re now in the sock drawer waiting for autumn.  This is the non-sparkle pink and the purple. And this is the sparkle pink and purple. I’ve started a pair of socks for a friend  Yarn is Peacock from Mothy And The Squid And the first test Luna Lapin jumper is ready for sewing up. This is going to be sent to Miss Lizzie ’s house for some of her chums to try on to check they’re happy with the fit. They’ll then send their order through, apparently. (Needless to say, this has all been arranged by Mini Archie.) And, months ahead of schedule, I’ve finished my Advent trees! I used Drops Alpaca  in Dark Green, Green Grass, and Olive and got the...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something This month, I’ve done a bit of different knitting: dishcloths and tiny faffy things! A friend sent me these balls of cotton yarn as she didn’t need them: And I turned them into dishcloths:  She also sent me this little knitting kit which I thought I’d knit in the round rather than flat: Yarn is Scheepjies Catona For some reason, when I came to start, I followed the instructions and knitted it flat and then had the detested task of sewing it up. This is him with a head, legs and arms and as I said to a (different) friend, unless he’s very very cute, I will not be using the spare yarn to make him a chum. I was even more determined once I’d spent what felt like hours faffing with his ears to get them where they looked nice (and re knitted one of them as the pattern has them made identically but I felt that looked wrong so I pulled one out and knit it in the mirror image of the other one): And then he got his face an...