Norwegian Star Hat...

While browsing the patterns for fairisle hats on Ravelry.com I came across this set of hats, knitted in stranded knitting with multicolour Kauni effect yarn.  The pattern is designed by Ruth Sorensen and this pattern is from the Knit a Hat ebooklet.   I would definitely recommend this pattern.

I do have a couple of balls of Kauni yarn in my stash but there wasn't enough contrast between the colours for them to work well together so I chose to use one of my Noro Silk Garden sock yarns in shades of plum, mauve and olive green for the Norwegian stars contrasted with a dark plum/purple Trekking sock yarn for the dark main colour.

The pattern asked for 3mm and 3.25mm needles but I used 3.75mm needles instead as I have a tendency of knitting quite tightly when doing stranded colourwork in the round.  

Next time I think I would knit a narrower ribbed edging probably using the tubular cast on method for a neat edge.  I loved knitting this pattern and found the shaping for the crown to be rather cleverly worked within the stars.  But I find when I am wearing the hat that the crown goes to a slightly too "pixie" pointy finish for me.  I prefer my hats to be slightly more rounded at the crown.    I have only worn the hat a couple of times so far.  But DH thinks it looks nice on me.

I have some of this lovely yarn combination left over and I am trying to decide whether to design a cowl or fingerless mittens that would look lovely with the hat.  I think I will probaby opt for the mittens.

Flower Power Socks...

Flower Power is a beautiful 4 ply sock wool that I bought from The Knitting Goddess recently.

Hand dyed in colourway Flower Power.  Beautiful rich colours of pinks, magenta, greens, turquoise and mauve.  Gorgeous colours.

The 4 ply sock yarn is very soft and silky to the touch.  50% superwash merino and 50% tencel yarn (100g/333m).  I haven't knit with tencel before but my sister says it is very comfortable for socks.

The skein looked beautiful when it arrived

The yarn knits with a spiral pattern emerging so I decided that I would knit these with an afterthought heel.  I am deciding which to use at the moment.

I know that I will use the round toe for these socks as I like wearing them so much.  I did read about a round toe for the heel but I don't think it would be comfortable if the last 8 stitches were gathered but I think it would be more comfortable to kitchener stitch the last stitches.  Thinking about this at the moment.

The royal blue line is the waste wool that I have put in to show where the afterthought heel will be worked.

I finished these socks a few months ago and never actually photographed them at that time.  So I thought I'd photograph them now.  They have been worn and washed many times.  The yarn has, I think stood up well to general wear.  The after thought heels are comfortable although I do prefer wearing socks with a traditional heel flap.  But these socks were quick and easy to knit.

As I would have expected, the colour has faded a little, over time with washing.  But I think, if anything, they are even prettier than they were when they were first made.  I rather like the colours as they have softened.

Heather Socks...

This gorgeous sock yarn is hand dyed in the Heather colourway by The Knitting Goddess...  I really like the shades of purple and the mint and sage green.  These colours work well together.

It is very soft to the touch.  a 4ply sock yarn in 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon.  (100g/425m).

I bought this from a lady who was selling part of her personal sock wool collection on Ravelry.  

I knit this pair of socks at the same time on two sets of dpn's.  It is my favourite sock pattern.  I find all the elements very comfortable to wear.  A basic ribbed cuff, followed by 40 rounds of stocking stitch, then turning the heel, working the gusset and...

Finishing with a round toe.  I find that this style of toe with even decreases every third round is very comfortable to wear.

I am really looking forward to wearing these socks as they feel so very soft to the touch.  I opted for the plain pattern because the yarn has such a rich colour palette and fine stripes I felt that patterning would be lost.

I love using bamboo dpn's.  I used to get severe pain in my wrists and thumb joints when I was doing a lot of knitting and I find that using the bamboo needles really helps to stop this happening.

I finished knitting these socks surprisingly quickly.  Decided I just couldn't wait to start wearing them, then of course, I bought a great pair of Birkenstock sandals for the summer weather (yep, the first day I wore them, the rain pelted down on me and I really wished I was wearing shoes and cosy hand knit socks).  

But I do think that it will be nice to have a few new pairs of socks for the autumn.