finished monkey business

These monkey socks have been quietly festering on the needles for some time. They got harshly deprioritised in the run up to Christmas, and now I'm finally able to work on stuff to keep myself warm again. Hooray!

I enjoyed these very much as a nice portable background type project. Once the mild trauma of the tubular cast-on was over, they were fun to make, if not terribly original (3602 other people on ravelry making these at the moment - yikes). I very much like this yarn as well. It's Stroud SuperSock in Semisolid Chestnut. Semisolid sock yarns are quite possibly the new variegated yarns, for me. Oh yes. Good for lacy patterns anyway.

Nice and muted too. Having made lots of headache-inducing bright socks in the past, I wanted a pair that were a bit more wearable in the winter months. These can safely protrude from under a pair of trousers without confusing hibernating animals in the vicinity into thinking it's spring already. Don't do it yet bees / dormice / tortoises / hedgehogs - there's snow on the way! Stay warm in that pile of leaves for a bit longer! And my feet can also continue to hibernate happily in these socks. Under a nice warm blanket on the sofa. Everyone's a winner.

Here's a super-duper-close-up if you are one of the remaining 3 knitters on the planet who hasn't already seen the stitch pattern for monkey socks.


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slightly belated christmas present round-up

I made a load of Christmas presents for people last year. It has taken me some time to get off the sofa and post them, because a) it is freezing in the computer room and b) Santa brought me a cornucopia of Nintendo games which have been taking up much of my time. However I do need to stop playing elite beat agents now as every time I blink I see a dizzying succession of decreasing concentric circles, and if I can make these go away before bedtime I feel it would be a bonus.

So here is a quick parade of the stuff I made in December 2K7:

Snowflake hat 1

Made out of King Cole Merino blend DK, with some contrasting scraps of white from the bottom of the cupboard. I just did a plain beanie with a stranded snowflake pattern.

Snowflake hat 2

Yes, I am snowflake obsessed. This is another plain beanie that I embroidered a small snowflake motif onto. I got a bit carried away and put beads on the embroidered bit at strategic points. First time I've really attempted this and I did a pretty rubbish job. It probably took me as long to embroider the motif as it did to make the whole hat. Made out of lovely undyed Wensleydale longwool (from a black sheep, obv). The wool was left over from making:

Boring ribbed hat

For my brother so I toned down the motif-related tomfoolery and went for a more sober item of headgear. It's lovely and soft and warm though. This one is from a pattern - cashmere ribbed hat (or, not cashmere if you're a cheapskate like me).
And finally...

Crocodile mitts

I was quite pleased with these. I made them up completely - started them a while ago. Redid the fingertip bit from the original post to give them a more rounded end for a less sharp-fingered wearer. They are lovely and warm, made of Twilley's Freedom Spirit 100% wool in , er, crocodile colour. I did write down the details after the first mitt, to make the second one the same, so if anyone has a burning desire to make their own crocodiles I could probably attempt to put up some kind of pattern.


Snowflake close up..


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