Firestarter giveaway

Well, a week has passed already - that was quick! - and the first giveaway prize has finished. And the winner of the tootiefruitie sock yarn kindly picked at random by John at the Textile Blog, is..... Tom! I know you said in your comment you are on a yarn diet:-) but I hope you can squeeze a little tootiefruitie sock yarn into your stash! Please send me an e-mail Tom with some contact details so I can send this off to you soon.

I really enjoyed reading all your comments about your knitting achievements and although there could only be one winner last week, this week I've got a slightly different giveaway for you. There are two prizes for two separate winners, so when you comment please state which one, or both, you would like to be entered for - if you don't specify I'll enter you for both:-)

So, what is up for grabs today? Well, firstly we have have a pair of Firestarter Socks for you (pattern by Yarnissima). This pattern has lovely cabling detail running up the side of the sock and makes a feature of the ribbing on the heel and the upper part of the sock. These are knitted in my own hand dyed 'Orange Mango' which give you lovely graded bands of colour.

Yarnissima's pattern knits up in only one size - womens medium - which is stated at US 7-8 and European 37-38. Now I'm a 38/UK 5 and these once knitted up are slightly looser on the foot length than I would normally knit for my size. And because of the natural elasticity of the rib knitting on the heel, I think these would stretch to accomodate a good few sizes larger. They are also very generous on the calves - I know this is an area where some socks pinch as we are all so differently shaped;-) but I think this will fit most calf sizes too.

But if you prefer to knit your own socks or know you won't fit the firestarter socks, or if you are a bloke:-), I have here for you our second prize, a skein of stripey emerald green sock yarn just waiting to be turned into socks, or scarves, or gloves...... It knits up in small stripey bands exactly like the orange firestarter socks and is looking for a new home. This sock yarn base I'm using is very generous on the yardage. I knitted extra cable repeats on firestarter and still didn't use all the 50gms for one sock. I think I had about 10gms extra left. Maybe not quite enough for knee highs though!

So to enter this weeks competition, please leave me a comment answering this question - Within your own discipline, knitting, quilting, sewing etc, what materials or tools couldn't you live without? Are your addi needles the one thing you would rush back into a burning building for? :-) (Okay, your family and everything else is already safe!) Or would you be trying to cram all your yarn stash into bags as you are dragged out trying to find your precious Koigu?!

Please remember to say which prize, or both, you would like to be entered for. Again, this giveaway closes this sunday evening (16th) and the winner will be drawn next monday, 17th August. Good luck everyone and I look forward to hearing your answers:-)

Poseidon and Firestarter

Got a killer of a headache today so not much knitting is being done that requires any concentration - or maths! But I can show you the progress I've made knitting my new sock yarn as well as my newly dyed fleece and yarn from yesterday's dyeing sesssion. The fleece hasn't taken the dye as intensely as I would have liked but I'll try a different way of dyeing next time to see if I can do better. If anyone knows a surefire way of getting rich colours, I'd be pleased to hear:-)

I dyed two more skeins of sock yarn, aiming for more semi-solids than stripes this time as I started knitting the emerald green yarn but it is too stripey for more detailed patterns and just fights it as you can see.

The stripes on their own are very nice but the lace is just lost. This sock pattern is called 'poseidon' and I even watched the new version of the poseidon adventure while knitting it. Ah, well, all ripped back now.

So this aquamarine semi-solid is made especially to handle lace or cabling patterns on socks. I was aiming for these greeny/blue midtones but I think it would be really nice in deeper more peacock or petroly blues as well - yum. Note to self:-)

This one is called pink orchid, lots of subtle tones of pinky reds and plummy purples. Hopefully this will be subtle enough not to be too stripey! No plans for this yarn as yet but I have just got Cookie A's sock book at the weekend so it may be destined for a complex pair of cookie socks:-) Here's a good review if you are thinking about buying it. I was recommended it - which is the best review of all!

The orange mango stripey yarn is also being knitted up as we speak - well, when the headache decides to shift:-) On the sock needles at the mo is Firestarter designed by Yarnissima. It uses a self striping or plain yarn and adds cable detailing up the sides of the sock - lovely. It remains to be seen whether my yarn is bordering on too stripey!!

I've just started the side cabling but there isn't much to see as yet. It may well have to be ripped back but I'll knit a little more first before I decide. Still loving the stripes though:-)

All we need now are some sunny days without rain so I can sit outside and get in some quality knitting time! Enough rain already!