Tavistock Socks (and Giveaway Winners)

I made a conscious decision at the start of this year to be a bit more selective about what I blog about, but at the moment I just seem not to be knitting very much.

Anyway, I thought I would show you these socks I have just made for hubby. I am calling them Tavistock Socks, as I bought the ball of wool for them in Tavistock market when we were on holiday in the summer. It is King Cole Zig Zag 4ply 1866 Epic. Perhaps I should have called this post "Epic Socks", although at school the children are not encouraged to use "epic" as an adjective.

The pattern I used is called Storm by Diane Mulholland, and is a free download on ravelry. I really like the textured look, but it was quite easy to do from memory once you have done a few rows. I couldn't quite get to grips with doing the toe as set out in the pattern, so just did my normal technique. (Wow, I have a normal sock technique!) They are toe-up, which also seems to be my favourite way. They also had a different bind-off at the top to what I have previously used.  But what made me most pleased was getting the colours to match. Having never knitted socks from variegated wool before, I just wasn't confident it was going to work, but as you can see it did.

Please also feel free to admire my husband's creative project for the summer, which is our lovely new decking. It makes a great backdrop for photos.

Blocking socks on the washing line

And finally I would like to announce the winners of my Red Admiral Butterfly Giveaway. The answer to my question "What were the two mistakes I made on the knitted butterflies?" were: that the spots were embroidered in white, and they should have been black, and was that I sewed the bottom wings on the wrong way round. This is really hard to spot, but they have some light blue stitches, which should be near the centre near the body, and not the outside. 

The two winners that I have picked at random from all the entries are Stacey from The Golden Hours and The Patchwork Fairy. I have already contacted them, but if you would like to leave your mailing address in my comments box, I will get the butterflies off to you and promise not publish your addresses.

Vintage Tractor Pattern

I can finally announce the winner of my "guess the next pattern" giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered. I loved all of your guesses, and even if you were not right, perhaps you have given me some new ideas for other vehicles. I particularly like the idea of a snow plough, so you never know, maybe that will be what I work on next.

So we put the names of everyone who said tractor (and there were quite a lot of you) into a hat and the winner is Janet of Yellow Pink and Sparkly. I have sent you a message, so if you let me have your address (I won't publish it) through my comments box your Christmas Heart Decorations will be on their way to you.

Tractor before the mud guards are attached.

I think the tread pattern on the tyres were a bit of a clue. You might also have seen this post about my visit to the North Devon Show, where looking at the Vintage Tractors first gave me the idea.

This has been quite a tricky pattern to write. There has been unravelling, and a bit of frustration. Sometimes it is just like that, and for other patterns everything seems to just fall into place first attempt. The tyres took a lot of work, and I have had to devise my own codes for the cabling. It is a bit complicated, but I did feel that the cable on the tyres to give a deep tread was a really important part of the design. The other bits that caused me a bit of grief were the mud guards. They had to be big enough to curve over the back tyres, but also not so big as to be floppy. 

I also dithered over whether to add the chimney or not. This was partly because I thought it would need to have wire to keep it standing straight. But by making it not too big there is no wire, just wool, so this would still be safe for a child, and I think it does add something.

My two prototypes are for sale in my Etsy shop. My hope is that someone will buy them for a retired farmer, who wants to remember his many happy years on a tractor. 

The pattern is already available on ravelry and Etsy.