Feeling pleased

with myself because I have finished a couple of things quite quickly. Also disappointed because a bag I was making for my website went disastrously wrong at the felting stage. I don't really know what the problem was as the wool was 100% wool, knitted quite loosely and really bashed about with boiling water and a couple of trips in the washer and dryer but it just wouldn't felt! I seriously mistreated this bag but it has ended up as a floppy, droopy, sad old thing (a bit like me, then!) with no shape and no substance - exactly the opposite of what I was trying to achieve. Still, I know the construction works so I will try again with different yarn that I know will felt - watch this space.

Any way, let's not dwell on what might have been, instead - the successes.
I recently bought some DK cotton variegated yarn at a real knock-down price so I decided to make a shapely tee so I could practise short-row shaping around the bust. Well, I did it but I think I may have made the wrong size - the shaping does not really make any difference to the way it fits as it is quite loose all over and has a tendency to fall off my shoulders. I may try again, making a smaller size but with more bust shaping, modified a bit now I have an idea about the principles. I will wear the top even though it isn't exactly what I had in mind, but it served its purpose as a learning tool and the directions made me realise that when writing patterns you really can't assume any knowledge on the part of the reader. It is very difficult, when you understand a process thoroughly, to know how much detail and explanation will be needed by someone who has no prior knowledge, and how much they will be able to discover for themselves - I guess that's why I'm not a teacher.
No photos of the finished article because honestly, I couldn't be bothered.

The other success, which I am really happy with, is these:


I'm not really much of a sock-knitter - I don't mind knitting them but I'm certainly not addicted to them and would never, ever, join a "sock-a-month" knit-a-long or a sock yarn club. I still have a pair of Jaywalkers languishing around in a semi-finished state because I totally lost interest in them, but I am really, really pleased with these. The yarn is Trekking XXL, colour 110 and the pattern is my own variation on a toe-up, short-row heel thingy. I love the colours, the yarn has great yardage (only used about 53g out of 100g) and I managed the short-row heel without getting loads of gaps!


Stitch detail
These socks will be going to live with a friend at work who has suddenly found that her feet do not stay warm on their own. As long as I have known her, she has wandered about with bare feet even in the depths of winter but has recently found that her internal heating system is not as efficient as it once was and confessed that she now finds it necessary to wear socks - well, what would you do? An opportunity not to be missed. The pattern is available here on the shop page