Ginx Woolly Linx Party March

Well somehow the end of February has snuck up on me rather unexpectantly. So I have spent most of this afternoon looking through your posts, which have all been very inspiring.  Thank you to everyone who joined in the party for February.

My featured projects for the month are: 

Eli of Ovillo de Eli has made this cute little lamb for a baby shower. Check out the whole post, as there is also a lovely baby bunting, and it is all set off with rosebuds.

Elizabeth of The Craft Lizard shared this lovely Winter Bosque Hat pattern. This Fair Isle knitting does not look easy, but I have already downloaded the pattern and am going to give it a try.

And the next project is also mixed colours and knitting. Isn't this traditional Nordic style sweater, made by Gema of Hebra de Lana, timeless and beautiful? 

And finally Lalka Crochet has made a Yoga Doll, which had her own yoga mat and can do the yoga poses.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Remember if you were picked as a feature you can put the "I was featured" button on your blog. 

Red Ted

I wrote a post, which I now see was back in November called My Work Basket. How can the months have slipped by so quickly. A few people did spot that I was making a teddy bear, and was using my own pattern. This teddy is jointed, which might put a few people off, but the joints are quite easy to buy on-line (and probably in shops), and I think give a more authentic bear that hopefully will be fun to play with.

Teddy has been finished for a while, but I was waiting to see if my niece had a boy or girl before I made the scarf. I used to a combination of bright red and sock wool for the scarf to give a slightly random stripe. So this teddy is now on his way to Ireland, to meet my new great nephew.

The pattern is called Teddy Bear on ravelry. This teddy also has a small hump, which I now realise I haven't photographed. (Debating whether to unwrap him for another photo-shoot.) Have you ever found yourself saying (in your head) "work it teddy", while getting a woolly bear to pose in the back garden?

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for February. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

My International Socks

I am calling these sock "My International Socks", and will explain why. 

The pattern that I used is called Hiking Socks by Blicknits on ravelry, who is from Germany. I really like to knit toe-up socks like these, because I decided I could use one ball of wool per sock, and just kept knitting until I ran out of wool. (No tricky trying to guess how much is needed for the foot length.) 

But in a few ways I veered off the pattern track. I did not use the cast-on technique for the toe, but decided to follow Arne and Carlos (knitters from Norway), who give advice on toes, and in particular sewing up toes, which you can see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euf3Q-4xt2I  I am sure fellow knitters will have heard of them, but if not check them out. I love watching their videos, which are not just on knitting, with glimpses of beautiful clean Norwegian lakes and mountains.

When I got to the heel though, I somehow got in a pickle. I think that I just was getting muddled with the stitch counting, so after a few attempts I decided to use a different heel, called "The German Heel" which I found on Youtube by New Leaf Podcast, who I think is Dutch, although she sounds American.

Heel done, I continued on the pattern, which finishes with the Russian-bind-off.

Looking at the wool I used, which was Drops Fabel, I see it is also from Norway.

So you can see that the only English thing about these socks are the legs that are wearing them! How hard is it to photograph socks naturally. The minute you say I'm about to click toes start to flex and curl.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for February. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.