Summer things

Small daughter came back from a week at an international Scout and Guide camp on Saturday, and I seem to have been washing and ironing ever since.  She only took one rucksack but I think we must have managed to stuff enough clothes into it for a six month backpacking trip!

I’ve been a bit worried that this week would seem boring after her camp full of pirate-themed activities including scuba diving, quad biking, crafting, socialising and full-on festival-ing, but to be honest, I think she’s been glad of the rest.  What we have noticed is that the house is noisier, messier, the fridge is constantly empty and that the WiFi access in the house has slowed right down again, but we’re still very glad to have her back 🙂

Popping out the greenhouse to “check” on the tomatoes has been a favourite activity …

I’m glad I took this photo a few days ago because there are no artfully arranged dishes of home-grown tomato photographs to show you.  They’re not even making it into the house!  The variety is “Sweet Million” and they’re cherry tomatoes; some are the size of sprouts and others are the size of marbles but they all taste amazing and we’re eating them by the handful as soon as they’re ripe.  For me, this is the best bit about growing your own – I love being able to eat tomatoes warm from the greenhouse, or peas straight from the pod, although I lost my peas this year, sadly.  I much prefer to eat whatever I’ve grown in the garden where it grows, although I’m not about to advocate raw potatoes!

In between the washing and ironing, I’ve managed a bit of knitting.  I’ve cast on for my husband’s Mind the Gap socks – I’ve been itching to start these but have made myself wait until I knew I would have time to appreciate the yarn.

I’m so glad I did, because I’m loving these stripes.  I’ve never knitted with this yarn before so the colours are a mystery to me – I only know there’s a new colour coming up every few rounds and I can’t wait to see what it is!  No wonder self-striping socks are so addictive!

The yarn is a Blue-faced Leicester/nylon mix and is lovely to knit with.  It’s not cheap, and you have to pre-order as I assume the lady who dyes it waits until she has a big enough order to justify the time it must take to get all those stripes perfect, but as I only knit socks for my husband and he never wants jumpers or hats or anything else and he will wear his socks until they fall apart, then I don’t mind spending a bit more on sock yarn for him.  I haven’t managed to lose the black yarn completely but at least these socks are black contrasts with lovely bright stripes in between rather than the usual black socks!

The only downside with these socks that I can see is that I will want to knit them to the exclusion of all else – it’s like getting caught up in a good book and wanting to see how it finishes – and then you feel bereft when it’s over.  I’m rationing myself … waiting for the next train, you might say 😉

You probably won’t be surprised to know that I’m distracting myself with another pair of socks.

Oh, these are also a joy to knit!  The yarn is another new-to-me yarn: it’s Autumn 4ply from Freehold Yarn Co in Lancaster – yes, another yarn shop in Lancaster that produces it’s own yarn!  There must be something about Lancaster that inspires new yarns as that’s where Northern Yarn is based and you might remember that I used Kate’s Poll Dorset 4ply to knit my Easy Cable Socks.  Amy who runs Freehold Yarn Co has used Blue-faced Leicester and Gotland to produce this yarn which I think will make perfect socks.

No prizes for spotting that there are two colours involved in these socks – or for guessing that there might be a tutorial coming along shortly.  Oh, the train links keep coming!  Mind the Gap 🙂

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11 Responses

  1. Jill Bruce says:

    Lovely chat in the Linear Park yesterday Christine 🙂

  2. daydream in colour says:

    I understand about the washing, when we go away it feels like it takes me a week to catch up on the whole household's laundry! The colour of the Autumn 4ply is lovely and I'm looking forward to seeing the end result. xx Susan

  3. Caroline says:

    I love that life in your house sounds so normal! Big son here is in America at the moment so my washing machine will be churning soon too. At least in the lovely weather everything dries in an instant.
    Mind the Gap yarn is so colourful. What fun! And I am looking forward to a colourwork tutorial. I learnt how to twist the yarns with Aniken Allis last year but I haven't had the courage to try it in a sock for fear that it puts the tension out.
    Enjoy your day Christine. It's the first day of cooler weather here in the south so I'm off to boil up and jar the bramble jelly.

  4. Tiffany says:

    I really like the Freehold Yarn Co. yarn – it looks gorgeous! Great colour depth and really lovely stitch definition. I'll have to put that one on my wish list… 🙂

  5. Unknown says:

    Where did the multi stripe yarn come from?

  6. Charlotte says:

    A colourwork sock tutorial? Great! I always get more confidence to try new NHS when you produce a tutorial 🙂
    The underground Yarn is lovely.

  7. Christina says:

    Love "Mind the Gap", I have used it before for socks. It likes to be treated gently for washing… mine shrunk to about half the size after an accidental wash with a normal load! Have a good weekend. x

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Oh that's worth knowing, thank you! Most of our socks go through the washing machine so I'll remember to be careful with them! Xx

  8. Unknown says:

    Mind the Gap socks look very original, love them.

  9. Carrie says:

    you've inspired me to get on my West Yorkshire Spinners Yarns socks! I knitted socks in the past but the patterns were not well written, and I gave up on socks for year. When I discovered you (through Lucy,as I suspect a few of us have!) I started all over again, and love it! thank you for your blog.

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