Wednesday

Helloo!  How are you doing?  Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post – I’ve not been so good at replying to them all over the holidays but I will catch up soon!

I’ve been busy trying to dodge the rain showers this week.  The dog and I were out for walk yesterday morning in glorious sunshine and I read that the weather was going to be good for the rest of the week.  “I’ll cut the grass tomorrow,” I thought … and woke to torrential rain this morning.  Ah well.  The UK summer is back! 🙂

Whilst the dog and I were out in the fields, I spotted this flower that I’d never seen before …

There were a whole row of these plants, with their pretty orange flowers standing on tall stalks.  I recognise a lot of the wildflowers that we see regularly on our walks, but this one is a new one on me.  I asked about it on Instagram and it appears that it’s known as Orange Hawkbit, Fox and Cubs or Devil’s Paintbrush depending on where you live (I’m having trouble pinning down the exact Latin name but it looks like you’ll find it as Hieracium brunneocroceum or Pilosella aurantiaca if you want to take a look) and it’s really invasive so I won’t be adding this to our garden borders, although if you search the name on the internet, most of the sites that come up are offering the plant for sale.  It’s a European alpine, apparently, and you’ll find it in lots of places across Europe and also available in Warrington.

Still, it’s nice to discover something new and they are very pretty flowers so I will look forward to seeing them again on another walk.

Another new thing is another yarn to review.  It must be that time of year!  This are the new shades of the John Arbon Harvest Hues 4ply yarn which are being launched on 20 September (just in time for Yarndale, yay!) and they are all very harvesty-countryside-y colours.  My two samples are Woad and Bramble and I’ve been doing lots of yarn-stroking since I got them as they’re lovely and soft.  Not sock yarn, sadly, unless you were to promise never to wear them outside of the house and definitely not for hiking up mountains as the yarn content of 65% Merino and 35% Zwartbles isn’t designed for that, but for anything else, I think this yarn would be a treat.  I’ll let you know more when I’ve knitted up my sample!

Uh oh, it’s looking like rain is heading our way again and I really do need to cut the grass today so I’ll just tell you quickly about this …

Ta-dah!  What do you think?

I am so in love with this book cover (yes, I am biased but I’m allowed to be) and I am so thrilled that there are now two Super Socks books!  This one is all about building on the skills that were taught in Super Socks and moving on from knitting a basic sock to incorporating patterns.



I’ll tell you more about it later but basically, this book is in two sections.  The first is the technique section and includes the tutorials for cables, lace, intarsia and (coming soon!) colourwork that have been on the blog in the form of the Easy Cable, Easy Lace, Patchwork and forthcoming Easy Colourwork Socks, and the second section is four brand new patterns that are only going to be available in the book.  Although Super Socks was never intended to be any more than the book version of the online tutorials, lots of people asked why there weren’t any more patterns in it so this time I’ve made sure that there are.  People also told me that it was really useful to have the Sockalong tutorials all in one place in the book, which is why More Super Socks contains the technique tutorials with all the photos and the video links so that you can go back and check something if you get stuck, and the new patterns are written as mini-tutorials to help people make the transition from in-depth tutorial to written pattern more easily.  Super Socks was the springboard to knitting socks, and More Super Socks is the bridge from basic to beyond.

The launch date for the book is Saturday 29 September, the first day of the Yarndale festival.  I had planned to just take copies of both books to Yarndale with me, but after conversations in the Winwick Mum Facebook groups and being a bit overwhelmed by the response (thank you, it’s been lovely to see people so excited by it all!), I’ve revised that plan a bit.  I’m going to open pre-orders on the blog for collection at Yarndale so that nobody has to worry that they won’t get a copy if they want one (or feel that they have to rush if there are pressing yarn purchases to be made!), as well as having the book available to buy at the weekend as sometimes it’s nice to see something before you decide.  I’ll have it available to buy through the blog over that same weekend if you need to have it delivered, it’ll be up on Amazon and I’m going to do my best to get the Kindle version ready for the same time.  I have Super Socks for sale on Nook and Kobo as well as Amazon as I know that not everyone likes to buy from them, so I’ll try to get it uploaded there in time too.  That’s the plan, anyway!  Phew – I’d better get a move on! 🙂

First though, it’s time to get that grass cut before the rain starts – more coming soon!

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17 Responses

  1. Josephine says:

    I WANT those socks on the cover, but that's way, way past my skill level. Maybe someday. I'm definitely ordering as soon as the book is up online. Unfortunately a trip to Yarndale to pick it up is not in the offing. I have my Yarndale tote that I ordered last year, so I can sit here in the central US and dream of a trip to England. Another "maybe someday."

    Congratulations on the new book!

    Josephine

    • Winwick Mum says:

      You might be surprised, you know, they're really not that hard to knit – and I do talk you through it in the book! Thanks for your lovely words, and here's hoping that you make it to the UK one day! 🙂 xx

  2. Lenore says:

    Thrilled that we can preorder your new fabulous book and pick up at Yarndale. Xxx

  3. Deborah's Blog says:

    Great news about a second book………How long before it will be available in tree book on Amazon?

  4. Julie says:

    I agree, a lovely bright and cheery cover to the new book.
    The Harvest Hues do look a nice mix of colours.

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Thank you! The Harvest Hues yarn is lovely, I've only got as far as winding it into a ball but I will be casting on soon! 🙂 xx

  5. luluknitts says:

    The book looks fantastic Christine, well done and good luck with it. May see you at Yarndale. xxx

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Thank you! Yes, it'll be great to see you if you're coming, I'll be in the Knit n Natter Lounge with Lucy again 🙂 xx

  6. Gina says:

    My first Yarndale this year so I will definitely be up for a pre order!

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Ooh, you'll love it! If you can look at the exhibitor list before you come then you'll probably find it helpful – every year I think I've seen everything as I'm moving about the Auction Mart helping to set up or going to find people, and every year I see photos of exhibitors that I completely missed! 🙂 xx

  7. Maria Luis says:

    Hi Christine,
    First of all, can't wait to buy your book on Amazon as it's not available in bookshops on Madeira Island where I'm living at the moment. Secondly, I know that flower as the Orange Hawkweed and I saw it once on a regular route that I walked for years when living in England, then never saw it again. I was quite surprised to see it as I'd never seen one before that and, as you, I was quite impressed by it's colour only to find that it's an invasive species! I didn't want to believe it at first as it was too pretty to be despised as an invasive species. It's related to the aster and the dandelion – a group of plants called Asteracea, also of which burdock, lettuce and artichokes belong to. Last but not least, love the John Arbon harvest colours.

    Best regards
    Maria

    • Winwick Mum says:

      You can absolutely see that the Orange Hawkweed is part of the Aster family, can't you? I haven't been back on that walk since I took the photo but I'm sure it'll still be flowering so I'll look forward to seeing it again. Yes, the book will be on Amazon – it's not everybody's favourite company but it does make getting of books and "stuff" easy! – and that'll be at the end of September. Hope all's well with your family xx

  8. creativemummybear says:

    I purchased a little pot of the Orange Hawkweed about ten years ago from a charity plant fair, and it was the most invasive thing I have ever planted! Having painstakingly removed every bit (or so I thought) AND having extensively re-landscaped the garden, it still pops up from time to time and grows like mad!

    I'm so excited about your new book – we were discussing it last week at Cooper's – and I was being encouraged by Lucy to have a go at the coloruwork socks. I always think that is beyond my knitting level (having only ever done colourwork on one of those old-fashioned tea cosies!) but Lucy assured me by following your super clear instructions I would have no problems, so that's my plan! I can't wait to try! Donna xx

    • Winwick Mum says:

      And you're the one who has adapted the pattern for long socks! I really don't think you'd have any trouble at all with colourwork – and I'll look forward to seeing your socks at Coopers! 😉 xx

    • creativemummybear says:

      Thank you so much for your vote of confidence in me! I’m ordering your new book and getting the yarn lined up in readiness! Xx

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