I’ve said it before

and I’ll no doubt say it again, and it can never be said enough:

I bloody love ravelry

I’ve been swapping again, and received the most amazing box of lurv from my swap partner, including yummy sock yarns cute stitch markers, a squidy bag and a gorgeous hansigurumi octopus.

I love cephalopoda so much, must get around to knitting up the hansigurumi squid pattern I have.

My partner in the same swap has now received her goodies from me and loved them too, and now I can share a couple of small makes I did for the swap.

pattern: Deep Sea Flower Dice Bag by Nina Hyland
yarn: oddment of Noro Kureyon

made for swap and various other cats of my acquaintance
pattern: Easy Peasy Catnip Mouse by Meelai
yarn: random oddments

In between the sewing, I have managed to get in some knitting time too, enough to finish son’s bee socks:

pattern: basic sock, 54 st, leg in k7p1 garter rib
yarn: Opal Rainforest shade 1613 Bee
needles: 2.5 mm dpns

turn the heel on my second bamboo sock and cast on a new pair of socks for DrM. And I am desperate to cast on a pair of Owlings, after meeting Lucyvanp’s cashmere pair at knit night. I have a single ball of alpaca from a swap, and some matching beads.  When my bamboo socks are finished my Owlings are starting.

copy-cat

or more accurately, copy-cthulhu.  I signed up for a Ravelry Rubberneckers Swap, and my swap victim aliseknits likes dice.  Oooh, I know someone who made a geek-tastic glow-in-the-dark dice bag recently, that’s so a good idea.  So I made one too.

pattern: Chthulu Dice Bag by A. A. Leavitt-Reynolds (mods: knit the base smaller and the body over 50 st instead of 70)
yarn: King Cole Fashion Aran in black, Bernat Glow in the Dark in Green Glow (the glow is much more impressive than the picture shows, but it turns out to be really difficult to photograph)
needles: 4 mm

And I received an amazing swap package from CodeCrafter, stuffed full of yarny chocolatey gorgeous goodness, including LittleFreak yarn, a brilliant knitting mag and the cutest project bag that she made herself.

In other news, my calorimetry love goes on. Friend liked her Christmas one in Kureyon very much and asked if I would do her a more conservatively coloured one for work, which gave me a good way to use up the bit of BfL aran left over from dad’s scarf

pattern: Calorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf (96 st, 4.5 mm needles)
yarn: Violet Green Hand-Dyed Bluefaced Leicester Aran in chocolate

And then I realised I want one too, and I haz a ball of Kureyon in the same shades as Vladi’s one, so am knitting that now ….

joy of knitting #1

I recently took part in my first swap on ravelry, the ‘Sock Yarn from your Stash‘ swap.  My package from my up-stream partner Sandykins arrived from Sweden yesterday.  As if getting a parcel from overseas with sock yarn in it wasn’t exciting enough, she squeezed so much more loveliness into the box

The yarn is D-i-C smooshy in ‘Into the mystic’ which will be perfect for monkeys or a boteh.  And a heap of knitting things and treats: bath confetti (yay I love baths), strawberry & rhubarb scented candles (mmm), chocolate hearts (yum), Swedish fruit tea (my Swedish friend will be jealous), Christmas decorations (cute), Addi sock needles (yay), knitters’ thimble (ideal for colour work which I am into right now), little tape measure (fits perfectly into my out-and-about knit-kit), needle holders (perfect to help me keep all my w-i-ps tidy) and a card with a cute sheep magnet on.  Thank you, Sandy xx