A Year of Projects Update - week 8

We have had another entertaining week this week, we went to a zoo and to a 'safari' park.  Both were great but I think the highlight was getting this close to a giraffe!!  Port Lympne is a fantastic park in Kent that is set in loads of countryside, so although the animals are housed to look after them, they have access to miles of outside space.

In knitting I have made progress and have an FO!
FO's

I finished my blueberry waffle socks.  I love this pattern - I used 64 stitches with a 2.5 mm needle, a fish lips kiss heel and a rounded toe.  The yarn is by The Knitting Goddess.
WIP's

As a result of finishing those and Daniel's the week before, I needed to cast on more!  I cast on Susan B Anderson's smooth operator socks with a West Yorkshire spinners yarn in the cocktails colourway - Tequila Sunrise.

I also cast on my sock blank.  These I will have to knit one at a time, I am using the blueberry waffle pattern again and fish lips kiss heel, but this time I am knitting them toe up so that I can use all of the yarn.
Both of these projects are making me so happy - the colours just make me smile!
I have deliberately not cast on a sweater (another project I like to always have on my needles) so that I can try to finish my Christmas jumper.

I have, however, wound the yarn so that I can start our winter hats - this is a Malabrigo worsted and I will be doing a plain ribbed hat by Purl Soho.
Acquisitions
Several people asked last week about the bogway spinner that I have recently purchased.  There are a couple of videos on You tube, but I have ordered some more fibre, so when I get back from holiday I will see if I can get a short video of the spinner in action.
Please click the link to the right to see more from the yoppers.

A Year of Projects Update - week 7

And yet another week flies by in a blur.  A nice blur I may add, we did lots of trips out with mum and dad this last week, which included getting dad into the sea, and had a great time, which is nice for mum since she doesn't get to see the boys very often.

I also got a few knitting things done.
FO's
I finished Buchanan by Kate Davies and I love it.  It is unblocked in the pictures so the colourwork is a little scrunchy, but it will block flat.  I did make a couple of mods, but only because I thought I was going to run out of yarn - as it was I ran out of the white colour, used all the yellow and had a tiny bit of jade and grey.

I also got a picture of the Scooby socks that I finished last week.  Modeled with pj's1

WIP's
So now I am working on finishing my blueberry waffle socks in the mathematical camel spit colourway.  And then will cast on some smooth operator socks in the West Yorkshire spinners cocktails yarn.

Acquisitions
I said last week that I had purchased a Bogway spinner and here it is!!  Together with my first attempt - it is wonderful, lovely and easy and very relaxing.  Yes, at the moment it is a bit thick and thin but I'm sure that will even out.  Obviously I would love a spinning wheel, but I have neither time, money or space to keep one.  A drop spindle looks lovely , but I hear needs coordination (something my rowing attempts this week will testify that I do not have!)  And so this is a fabulous and cheap alternative. I say cheap, but, of course, I have now invested in some fibre that is undyed that I can spin and then dye!!

I think that is it for this week.  This week my husband has time off so we will do lots of things together and then next week we have a week in Cornwall - yay!
Click the sidebar to see what the others are up to, there are lots of exciting projects in the group.

A Year of Projects Update - week 6

I can't believe it is week 6 already.  I have a little progress this week.

FO's
I have finished Daniels Scooby socks but didn't photograph them before I travelled to my mums so have no pic yet.

WIP's
I have made lots of progress on Buchanan although you can't really see it here.  It is in my new project bag whipped up by myself!  I am hoping to finish this this week - I have joined the sleeves and am about to start the yoke colourwork. 

I have also made progress on my socks - again I hope to finish these this weekend then I will cast on a pair with my sock blank.

Acquisitions

I received these lovelies from Owl about yarn this week and my new Pompom magazine.  The sock yarn is my first sparkle yarn I can't wait to use.  The little notions pouch is in the new project bag above. I did also become enamoured with something I saw on the knitting expat podcast, and that is a Bogway hand spinner.  It should be arriving here this week so I will tell you how that goes.
Hope everyone has a great week, I will hopefully, have more photos next week!

A Dolly Mixture of a Post

We have been away camping for a few days and now have a couple of days to ourselves before we head off again.  So I thought I would do a round up post of what I have been up to.

On Wednesday we drove to a campsite on the East coast near a place called Cromer.  It is famous for its crab and so in the box is a salad of Cromer crab.  It was an absolutely gorgeous place and we hope to return. 

 We then moved onto the Norfolk racetrack - Snetterton for a weekend of racing for the boys.  We had a brilliant time with great racing and lovely hospitality.  I didn't get much time for crafting (namely knitting my socks), but I intend to make up for that now before we head to the other side of the country to see Grandma on Saturday.

 On the note of socks - here are the two I have on the needles at the moment.  The ones above are for me.  Both are knit in The Knitting Goddess british wool and nylon, the above is Mathematical Camel spit, and the bits that look grey on the monitor are really green.  Below are the socks I am knitting for Daniel and these are in Scooby Doo.  Both pairs are blueberry waffle, I have completed fish lips kiss heels on all four and will do a rounded toe on them all, which is all my favorite recipe!

I am hoping to finish both by the end of the week.

Next up is my Buchanan.  I have finished all the bust increases and now am ready to join the sleeves.  I didn't take that with me camping but I think I might save it for mum's, as the colourwork is about to start - hurrah!

That's pretty much it for the knitting.  Hopefully I will be able to get to some sewing this week.  I ordered three pieces of fabric (sorry the pic is upside down!), some superhero fabric to make the boys PE bags and two pieces to make myself bags.  The bottom piece is of flower fairies which I used to love reading about when I was little.

I have also cut out the fabric to make myself a Mimi top by Tilly and the Buttons.  My intention is to make this and then use a pattern I have for a button through skirt and join the two patterns together to make myself a dress!

Finally, me and Thomas whipped up a batch of these this morning and very nice they were too!
I will link up with everyone altogether today and try to do separate posts next week.
Linking with A Year of Projects on Ravelry, Nicole, Tammy and Ginny.