Friday roundup

Despite the fact that we are approaching the middle of May it’s still very much woolly socks weather here. The sudden downpours and thunderstorms mean that I’m not ready to ditch the socks and boots just yet - and I can’t say that I’m sad about it. Stripy socks always make me feel more cheerful, even on the wettest of days.

I haven’t knit any new socks for myself for ages though, so I’m definitely eyeing up my sock yarn stash with a view to casting something on for me this weekend. No firm plans as yet, but I’m sure that stripes will be involved somewhere. I recently came across this old Knitty article that I had squirreled away - the Hat Heel by Kathleen Sperling - and I really want to try it out to see how it looks.

It’s easy to fall into my usual tried and tested patterns for socks, especially when I’m just in the mood for something with low fuss and minimal stress so I thought it would be good for me to step outside my comfort zone a little.

As the Comfort Blanket KAL continues it’s second week I’ve been really enjoying chatting to KAL participants both new and returning, and the issue of mitered square sizes cropped up - specifically how much yarn is needed for squares of different sizes.

As I had some spare DK yarn to hand and was in the mood for knitting tiny squares I did a little bit of experimenting to see how much each square weighed.

You can see the results on my Instagram page, with how many stitches each square was and how much yarn it used. I’m just doing the same process with 4ply yarn and then I’ll write it up as a proper blog post. Not least for my own benefit - I always jot down notes like this in a safe place so that I can refer to them again. And then of course I promptly lose the note.

Making me smile this week:

• I’m really enjoying the fact that the Letters from a Hopeful Creative (with Jen Carrington & Sara Tasker) is back. They have an extensive back catalogue as well and are well worth a listen if you are in the mood for some gentle, creative business and online advice.

• A new swing-style cardigan design by Carol Feller. Strombus an A line open fronted cardigan that would be perfect for warmer months.

• This article by Astrid Bracke on the issue of time scarcity. It didn’t exactly make me smile but I found myself nodding along in agreement with everything she has written. I have been aware now for a while of the concept of scarcity/abundance in relation to my mindset and physical ‘things’ but I had never really thought of it in relation to time and time management before. The journaling prompts at the end have been transfered into my journal, ready to do a little more mulling over this weekend.

Whatever your plans for the weekend I hope you manage to find a little time for yourself. If you are in the mood for a new cast on you can find my designs on my website, or if it’s chat you are looking for why not come as say hi in the Everyday Knitter Facebook group?