Ginx Woolly Linx Party February

Firstly can I thank everyone who joined up to my new link party in January. I was a bit anxious, will anyone join in? (Perhaps this is why I don't hold many real parties.) But you came and I really enjoyed looking at ALL your projects. I am hoping that my link party will grow organically, but stay small enough that you have time to visit and comment on each other's projects.

Picking my features for last month was been tricky. I had to rope in my daughter with the picking, and helping me put these photos together. So many beautiful projects. Congratulations if you were picked, and please display the "I was featured" button on your blog. (I found making the buttons and codes really quite difficult, so do let me know if you have any problems with this.)

Sandra of Wild Daffodil has made mandalas that are little works of art.

Lalka Crocheta has cleverly made a motorcycle keychain. I have a bit of a thing about vehicles made from wool.

Julie of Sum of their Stories has adapted a mitten pattern to make a colourful Twinkle Star Glasses Case. 

Handmade by Amalia has made a trio of beautiful baskets with handles from T-shirt yarn. Such beautiful colours, I just love this sort of useful storage - you can never have too many baskets.

You will probably notice that I have slightly changed the name to "Ginx Woolly Linx", as the previous name seemed a bit too close to another party. Projects don't have to be made of wool, but should be knitting or crochet, or other crafts that involve wool/yarn. Show me what you have been creating this month. You can link at any time in the month, so remember to call back to see who has joined the party.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Ginx Craft

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Ginx Craft

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Direwolf Socks (learning by my mistakes)

There is only one member of my family now that I have not knitted socks for - my son. So I decided to give this a go, as part of my Christmas car knitting. I like to have some knitting to do on our travels at this time of year. 

He really likes "Game of Thrones", and it would be nice to knit him something related to that. There is a pattern on ravelry for a Game of Thrones blanket, and although I have thought about making that for him, it would probably mean I would have to devote a year to it and nothing else...

But I found a really nice pattern for some Direwolf Mittens by Carly Hill, but he is not really a mitten-type of person. (He is a bit like his Dad, who seems to think that real men don't need gloves, however cold!) So I thought I would use the direwolf motif from this pattern, but on a fairly standard sock pattern.  I used Favourite Socks by Voolenvine.

Mistake Number One. I pretty soon worked out that I could not just knit the direwolf motif, as I was knitting in the round. But that was a problem I could overcome, and so I decided I would have to also include the background pattern to get the wool to go the whole way round. (The only other way I suppose would be to find a sock pattern that is knitted flat, with a seam. Does such a thing exist?) I decided to have a patterned section, and knit the rest of the sock plain, but with an alternative colour for the ribbing, heel, and toe.

Mistake Number Two - Just don't try knitting from a chart in the car. I tried all sort of techniques: pinning the chart to the dashboard. But the car movement and my eyesight just made it impossible, so I had to be satisfied with just doing the plain sections on the road. I hasten to say that I am a passenger, not driving.

Blocking on my homemade cardboard feet

So all seemed fine. I thought if I knitted the largest size of sock it would all work out. Mistake Number Three. The first sock was nearly done, and I thought I would get my son to do a try on, to make sure it was the right foot length. But my poor son was a bit like an ugly sister trying to get into the glass slipper. Because of my patterned section, it was just too tight to fit him. 

Good news! - They fit me (Miss Cinderella) perfectly. 

Mistake Number Four. The next thing I realised was that although I had planned to have the direwolves facing in different directions, I had placed their faces fairly near the front of the socks. I think it would have been better to have put them slightly further to the sides, but too late for that now ....

I am still determined to make him some Direwolf socks. (He tells me that grey and white would be more House of Stark.) I think perhaps the best way is to incorporate the motif into a seamed sock. A seam on the foot might be uncomfortable though, but I wondered if I could knit the foot section in the round, and the leg bit flat with a seam. I would welcome any advice. Have you knitted any socks with a motif on the leg, or a flat-knitted seamed sock? Does anyone know of any patterns with the foot in-the-round and the leg seamed?

There are still plenty of days left in January to join my new monthly Ginx Yarn Linx party and share your woolly projects. There is a link to it in at the top of the righthand column.

Cooper's Dad's Cooper

I love making personalised versions of my mini cooper pattern. This one was very special, as this man loves his mini cooper so much that he named his son Cooper. So Cooper decided to buy his dad a knitted version of his car. 

Isn't this picture great. The pristine mini cooper, and also the beautifully organised garage, and Cooper's dad, who used to race mini coopers. (Think on husband - although my husband only has a shed, not a garage, it does not look as tidy as this.)

I was lucky as I already had the perfect colour blue wool, and personalised it by making it just a bit longer than my normal mini, with the black roof, and some of the stickers in the back windows, and the numberplate WUTZAT. 

Unfortunately mini cooper no 1 was mailed, but did not arrive.  So below is Cooper's second cooper. I can just about tell the difference. It has been sent, this time tracked, although not quite in time for Christmas.
 

UPDATE Oh postal services! Cooper No 1 has now arrived. It took 3 weeks. We have decided to blame Trump. So Cooper's dad will get two coopers I guess, so that will make 3! 

Just a reminder that if you are looking for somewhere new to share your projects I am running a new monthly woolly party. There is a link to it in at the top of the righthand column