Christmas Socks 2018

When I first started knitting over 40 years ago, I made  a few sweaters. I put the needles down for many years to pursue my teaching career and raise my 3 children.   Just recently I returned to knitting. It was a whole new world!

Aside from the new needles and independent yarn dyers that have blossomed, a plethora of knitting activities had emerged along with acronyms - KAL, WIP, UFL, BFL, etc.  What the heck!!  Now maybe some of you are familiar with these terms, but I had never heard of them before.  I needed to do some research just to work my way through them.  

Another interesting occurrence is that shawls had sprung into the limelight.  It seems there are many designers creating new shawl patterns and plenty of people knitting them as well.  And the yarns, don't get me started.  They combine such a variety of wool from sheep, yaks, goats, alpacas and more, that they put the yarns of yore to shame. 

All I can say is it's a wonderful and exciting new world for knitters.  

And this brings me to something else I discovered - knitted Christmas socks.  Yes, that's right.  People knit socks for the Christmas season and some knit more than one pair - many more.  I didn't really know such a thing existed, but after viewing various knitting podcast - and there are numerous ones out there -  and discovering this knitted Christmas sock phenomenon, I was hooked.   I found the perfect self-striping yarn at a LYS (local yarn store) .   It's made in England by West Yorkshire Spinners.  The color is Fairy Lights and it's so cute.  I paired it with their Cayenne Pepper for the contrast toes, heels, and cuffs. The yarn is a combination of BFL (Bluefaced Leicester) wool and nylon.  Really nice to knit. Also, bought their Chocolate Lime yarn for next year's pair.  I'm hooked.  I can see this becoming a tradition. 😊

Project Bags

Don't know what it is, but I love sewing these project bags.   When fabric catches my eye, I feel the need to make a bag out of it :) I'm calling this one Hudson Red because that's the name of the multicolor fabric.  Reminiscent of Hudson Bay's colours.  The red bottom is Kona Rich Red.  I'll be making more of these in other colors.

Hudson Red

  If I need a bigger project bag, I make adjustments to the pattern.  Sometimes I'll make a drawstring bag, instead of the zipper.  But, I generally prefer zippered ones.

Spring Drawstring

Zigzag

I quilt the exterior of most bags.

Woolly Red

Scrappy Correspondence

Sometimes I make a scrappy exterior with leftover fabric from my stash.



 All in all, a fun and useful sewing activity.