Hello!! Happy weekend, and a Happy Mother’s Day for tomorrow! May you get very appropriately spoiled by your children and spouses!
This week has been a busy one. The boy finally came home from his epic overseas adventure, and the ‘mumcation’ was officially over. Not that it was much of one… I think I worked for most of that time!
This is a rather lengthy post, so I’m going to summarise it here for your convenience:
- I’m introducing the Eriskay gansey sock MKAL and an invitation for you to join
- I’m sharing details of a couple of FOs, and
- I have an annoucement – the winner of the lovely goodies from Rose Marlow.
The Eriskay Gansey MKAL
Not too long ago, one of the lovely moderators of the Aussie Sock Knitters group on Ravelry invited me to join the group. It so happens that they are currently hosting a gansey sock KAL. I have wanted to knit another gansey-style sock for a while, and one of the knitters in the group commented that it would be great to see a gansey sock from me. I did have one sitting in my design book, and having been so nicely asked, I got it out, and had a look, but realised to my horror that quite a few other people had already designed one that looked almost identical. Back to the drawing board!
I was delighted when my subsequent swatchings turned into a sock that I really like, and it looks different to anything else out there. So I thought I would offer it to the group as a MKAL, if they were interested.
A few in the group are keen, and so the MKAL is on! It starts tomorrow, when I release the first clue, and ends on 8 July. If you would like to join, come along and say hi at the Aussie Sock Knitters Group! If you’d just like to knit on your own with the pattern, you will find it here. Update notifications will appear automatically if you add the pattern to your library, which means you won’t miss out on the clues when they appear. The pattern will be free for the duration of the MKAL.
Here’s a bit of the story that I thought about when I was researching this pattern:
Ganseys were knitted, functional sweaters worn by those who needed to be able to move freely in an age when garments were almost without exception heavy, stiff, tailored and restrictive. They originated with the sea folk of the British Isles – fishermen, sailors and the navy, who needed to wear garments that would be warm, wind and waterproof while allowing ease of movement.
Typical patterning featured vertical or horizontal bands of knit and purl patterns and some cabling, inspired by the seascape and tools of their trade. The fancier ganseys were kept for ‘best’, with plainer, workday ganseys knitted with practicality and ease of repair in mind. The gansey from the island of Eriskay was known as the most ornately patterned gansey of the British Isles, and featured elaborate knit and purl patterns, cabling and lace. This pattern is the sock version of a modern take on the Eriskay gansey.
Visit this link to Ravelry for more information about the pattern.
On to the FOs:
I have actually managed to finish a couple of projects!
This one is the Amalfi Poncho. It is made out of The Wool Company‘s variegated yarn. The colourway I used (Autumn) is no longer available, but the colourway I have linked to above (Lava) looks very similar to what I had. As we usually discover with projects that take a while to complete, I don’t know why I didn’t finish it earlier as I just love it! Actually, I do know why it took a while. I dislike garter stitch very much. But it was worth it!! I think it’s going to be a winter staple.
I also finished a pair of scrappy socks. I called them sunset and sunrise. It was fun choosing the colours to work together! My OCDC tendencies don’t allow me to love them entirely though because they don’t “match”.🙂
I blended the colours using slip stitch.
This is the sunrise sock – there were four colourways used in the toe for predawn – grey, a grey variegated sparkle, a multi-colour and the main colour which I used over most of the sock to represent dawn, before the sky turned into day blue.
The motivation for these socks was a mini swap with Hannah of Circus Tonic Handmade – a few of the yarns she sent me can be seen in those socks. Thanks again Hannah!
Rose Marlow giveaway
And now, the thing that a few of you are waiting for! The winner of the gorgeous project bag and goodies from Rose Marlow! I did a random number draw, and it turned out to be comment number 45!
Comment number 45 is Kari, who said “I like bags made with a sturdy fabric with lining. I prefer a flat bottom and a wrist strap. Like others, I like to keep my bag firmly attached to my body so it can’t go walk-about when I’m out knitting with friends. I also want to be able to close it tightly so things don’t fall out. inner pockets are not important to me.”
Kari, I have sent an email to the address you provided in your comment. Can you please get back to me so I can send you the goodies!
Thank you very much to everyone who participated! It was very interesting to read all your comments, and I am sure that Meg got a lot of ideas out of them for future offerings on her etsy site!
and thank you!
Finally, I’d like to say thank you for all the interest shown in the Pirinoa Poncho! It was amazing and awesome. We were quite blown away! Thanks again, very much! I’m so very happy for Mary of Maniototo Wool, who came up with an excellent pattern concept!
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