socks in the Loire Valley

Joigny, River Yonne France.
I've knitted these Kaffe Fassett socks all through bus trips in the Loire Valley and finished them off while on a canal boat.
They have created great interest with one lady pleading with me to knit her a pair - but I've given them to the tour leader.

deepsea socks go Melbourne

I finished Stephen's deepsea socks in time for our trip to Melbourne. We spent the night in his apartment at Freshwater: here he is modelling the socks on his 31st floor balcony overlooking the Yarra River and Melbourne CBD:

The wool is 30% silk 70% merino (sorry—hand-wash only Stephen) hand-dyed by dye4fun, an etsy.com seller in the USA. Dye4fun says: "this yarn is hand dyed in shades of blue, navy blue, and violet. This Deep Sea colorway has different intensities of color ranging from underwater shadows to light reflecting on the water. The color is randomly dyed, meaning that the yarn will not stripe or pool as you knit or crochet with it."

We went with Stephen and Julia on a progressive dinner along Southbank to 3 different restaurants, Pure South for entrée, Kouzina for main course and The Deck for dessert. Wonderful company and food and a great idea.

kaffe fassett socks

I received some new sock wool yesterday from England and couldn't wait to get started - have already knitted the cuff plus. It's Kaffe Fassett's Landscape series by Regia, this colourway is Fire; 75% wool and 25% polyamide so machine washable, can be dried and ironed. Why would anyone want to iron socks? That's what feet are for.
The wool took 7 days to get here from Kangaroo Yarns in England (woolly jumpers - geddit?)
and postage costs are very reasonable.
Go to http://www.kangaroo.uk.com/

happy socks

These are for Elizabeth when she comes home from her stay in Adelaide.

They're knitted in Wendy's Happy which is 100% bamboo the label says (though the website says 75% bamboo and 25% nylon...)
It seems an incongruous gift for a farmer but I will tell her she must see what the opposition is doing - and maybe she'll plant bamboos instead of running sheep.

It's a soft, silky yarn and knits up beautifully - as long as you don't drop a stitch or split the yarn. Any dropped stitch slithers away and is diabolical to pick up again and the yarn splits into 5 little filaments, each of which waves in its own direction.

I'm going to stick to wool in future: I have ordered wool for the next 3 pairs of socks, though there are 2 balls of Maizey awaiting their turn and that's made from corn.

socks and scarves

I've finished off the socks for Richard, so now he can have warm feet in Perth.
This is the Italian-made Grignasco Strong Print yarn - 75% wool and 25% polyamide so it will wash well and wear well - I hope.



They'll go nicely with jeans and perhaps a maroon jumper.




This is one of the spaghetti scarves I've been churning out for everyone who wants one: school colours of navyblue white and grey eyelash wool for Hannah and Daisy and a Redbacks hockey one for Alison.
Now Daisy is making her own - and excitedly texting whenever she completes another row of colour.
My friend Jan supplied the idea and lots of different yarns from her stash. Jan has CUPBOARDS of stash.
I spent another 3 hours last night on Mulberry Mess and produced a tiny little ball the size of a golf-ball.