Ginger Knits UK

Is this where we all go camping? Sorry, BSG reference for those of you who haven't seen it. Here are the finished socks: Modifications: Knit on 2.25mm needles Cast on 68 stitches, by accident but it worked out OK Increased to 70, removing some of the purl stitches from the ribbing to accommodate my skinny feet.  Only knit one pattern repeat on the cuff as I have short legs, ended on row 2 before starting heel.  Adapted the toe pattern to create a V of ribbing when starting the toe. Things I learnt: I don't need to dither so much. I understand sock construction and can make stuff up as I go. I can do tricky cables without a cable needle if I pause for a few minutes and think about where the stitches need to go.  Changing the type of needle I use cuts down on wrist and finger strain. I used a mix of Addi circulars and bamboo DPNs. I find metal a bit slippery for cables so drop my stitches more than I do with wood or bamboo but find metal f...

I finished the frakking socks on the way to my Uncle's funeral, kitchener stitch and everything! The funeral went well and on my way back to London I spied this Phillip Larkin statue in Hull Station. I managed to squeeze out one more photo of me with it as I love Larkin's poetry. I tried to persuade my parents to be in the photo so I could quote his most famous work but they weren't having any of it. I picked up a copy of Caitlin Moran's new book, How to be a Woman , which I started on the train home. It is magnificent and made me guffaw out loud in places, mostly going under the Humber Bridge. You should read it.

Deadline day. I had til midnight to knit another fiddly heel, two feet and two toes. My camera ran out of juice to document progress but I did take a crummy webcam photo on Mr G's laptop. Luckily the weather wasn't enticing us outside so I had an excuse to sit in my parents dining room and knit. I did have to stop for lunch, and to chat to Max the notmycat, but mostly I knit. I work well to deadlines and worked out how to do more complicated cables without a cable needle, making the socks grow much faster, though with slightly gappier cables. I need to work on that, though a bit of tweeking at the end will neaten out the gaps. By 11pm I had finished one sock and had a "Viper V" and the toe to go on another sock. I made it to the toe by midnight but couldn't knit anymore. Plus I had an early start in the morning. So near, and yet so far....

As I was visiting my parents I couldn't spend all weekend knitting, especially on a lovely day out to Durham. I didn't knit when we stopped for a picnic lunch by the River Tees as I was too busy feeding the ducks and taking in the view. If I'd been knitting plain socks I might have been able to knit and walk. But I wasn't, so I didn't knit as I walked along the Tees, taking in the lovely scenery. I also didn't knit when we were trying to spot Durham Cathedral through the trees or when we examined this interesting sculpture or when we visited the Old Fulling Mill , Museum of Archeology which was a bargain at £1 to visit. Inside there was an exhibit of Chinese Funeral stuff and also British History, mostly of the surrounding area. I thought you might like these Bronze age spinning whorls. I didn't knit while over looking the Tees either but did take a photo of sock no. 2. I also didn't knit (yes there is a theme here) when ...

On Thursday evening at 5pm on the dot I eagerly cast on the first of my Viper Pilots socks. I also tried out a Google+ hangout for the first time and could see and chat to knitters in the US also casting on their first socks, which was pretty nifty. Unfortunately we don't have a proper microphone so I have to talk through our skype phone which makes knitting at the same time tricky, so I listened to the other knitters chatting away about cast on techniques and the like. I was storming along, on about my third round of ribbing when I realised I'd cast on 10 stitches less than the pattern. While this wasn't a major disaster, as I usually make my socks narrower as I have thin feet and ankles, it did make me take stock of my occasional cockiness and pay more attention. Much like being back at school. I worked out how to modify the pattern, adding a couple of increases before starting the leg and removing one stitch from the ribbing sections of the pattern making my socks a n...