Back to school week

Hello hello, how are you doing?  Another week has flown past, hasn’t it?

Thank you for taking the time to comment on last week’s post on avoiding colour pooling and flashing both here and on social media – I do love to know what you think and that someone other than me is reading my posts! 🙂

Not so small daughter was back at school this week, much to her disgust as she really likes hanging about in her pyjamas, and it’s meant that the dog and I are back to our regular morning walk routine.  Hooray!  I find it much easier to get up and out for a walk when there’s a reason to leave the house rather than try to schedule a dog walk in some time during the day (OK, you’ve got me, I quite like hanging about in my pyjamas too! 🙂 ).  It’s also been unseasonably warm over the last few days – the Indian Summer that everyone wishes for at this time of year – and it’s been just too hot for him to be out later in the day so we’ve been getting our walkies in before the sun rises too high in the sky.

This week, we’ve been back to the Nine Arches in Earlestown, part of the Sankey Valley.

This is the same place in July (taken just a bit further over from the other path)

The photos will have been taken around the same time of day but look at the difference in the light!  The sun was much lower in today’s photo and although the air hasn’t quite got that Autumn smell about it yet (I expect that will come in the next few days), it was quite obvious when we were out that the Summer is coming to an end.

We followed the path towards the canal and I got such a surprise when we saw the water!

Can you see it?  There’s a rainbow across the surface of the water.  I’ve never seen anything like that before!

There was a fisherman a bit further along the path so naturally I wanted to interrogate ask him what was going on with the water.  I’ve seen it covered in green duckweed before, but the surface was completely clear apart from the rainbow sheen.  In fact, I only saw one duck, a young coot, which was making its way across to the other bank, squeaking loudly as it was going.

“It’s some kind of oil in the water,” said the fisherman.  “I think it’s always there but you don’t usually see it.”

I peered into the water and sure enough, there was a film of oil just underneath the surface.

We talked some more about where the oil might have come from but couldn’t think of an answer so the dog and I walked on.  The rainbow was in the next section of water too.  Very strange, eh?  Have you ever seen anything like this?

Back home, the dog has spent the afternoon sunning himself after needing a bath – he didn’t go into the rainbow water but did go into the brook on the other side of the path and he was a bit stinky!

I’ve been making the most of the sunshine by taking myself outdoors with a new cast on.  Ooh, before I tell you about that, let me show you the Scheepjes socks that I was making which are finished now and in my sock drawer.

Aren’t those stripes lovely?  I’m really pleased with the way the socks have turned out and have forgiven the yarn for being a bit splitty.  If you love super-soft socks, this merino/nylon blend might be a yarn for you to try out – the stripes are Scheepjes Downtown in shade South Hill and the pink is Scheepjes Metropolis in shade Jaipur.  I’m looking forward to wearing them now, and I’ll keep you posted on how they wear.  I’ve used heel stitch on the heel flap as usual, plus the heel turn and the toes as I know that’s where I’m likely to wear the socks through.  If this isn’t something that you’ve tried before, there’s a tutorial for reinforcing heels, soles and toes here on the blog.

I didn’t really need to cast on yet another sock.  I’ve got more than a few WIPs that need finishing off (in fact, I’ve just remember another pair that I have finished but I’ll show you those another time).  What set me off, though, is the fact that I’ve got some new patterns to show you and I just wanted to cast one on for myself!

This pattern is Carousel Socks, and it was first published in Knit Now magazine way back in 2019.  You might have seen it since on Yarn Lane TV and Craftworld but I decided it was high time that it should go on my patterns page too!  It’s not going to be a free pattern as it’s already been published for sale and I don’t think it’s fair to give it away when someone has already paid for it.

The yarn is a hand-dyed skein that I bought recently from The Fibre Fox.  It’s another merino/nylon blend and the shade is Clematis.  It’s so pretty, lots of different shades of pink, and I thought it would be perfect for the Carousel pattern which has a lace panel at the top and decrease stitches all the way down the foot that look like the columns of those fairground carousels with painted horses that you still see from time to time.  I don’t usually get the chance to go back and re-knit my patterns (with the exception of the Basic 4ply Socks) so I’m looking forward to it very much!

I’ll tell you more about the pattern and the others that will be going on sale with it – there will be five patterns in total – next Friday (17 September 2021) but the reason I wanted to mention it now (apart from showing you my pretty skein) is because I’ll have a special 15% discount code for blog subscribers so if you’re not on the list and you’d like to be, you can sign up here!  You’ll get an email whenever I have a new blog post out and occasional extra emails like this discount code which I’ll send to you on Friday when the patterns are available but that’s it – definitely no spam!  If you do sign up, you’ll need to confirm your email (oh, the joys of GDPR!) so do check your spam folder for that email – and of course if you’re a new subscriber you’ll get the Kitchener Stitch guide too.  If you signed up previously and don’t think you ever got the confirmation email, please check your spam folder or drop me an email and I can check your address and re-send it to you.

Ooh, as much as I’m missing having not so small daughter around (I’m not missing falling over her as she sprawls across the kitchen floor which seems to be her favourite place to watch Tik Tok videos on her phone), I am enjoying getting myself back into a routine again.  I do love not having to put the alarm on at night to wake up at some unearthly hour, but I am much more productive in my day if I get myself out and about from early on.

I’ve got quite a lot to catch up on with the blog – I’ve realised that I took lots of photos of the garden over the Summer but didn’t post them – so I’m going to try to do that too.  I’ve come to appreciate being able to look back over the posts very much!

Before I go, I’ve just got one more thing to show you.  Victoria from D19EcoFriendlyLife, who created my Winwick Mum sock blockers asked me if I would like to try out one of her knitting organiser boxes.  I’d seen these on Instagram and thought they were a great idea so I jumped at the offer!  Thanks, Victoria!

It’s a pretty nifty knitting box, isn’t it?  I can be quite an untidy knitter with balls of yarn and accessories all over the place, but this box is a good size to fit everything in.  It stands 20.5cm high and the internal box is 21x21cm.  It’s made of sturdy plywood (it was delivered in one piece so it must be!) and is already put together so you can start using it straight away.  There are two sections on the sides, one with two slots and the other with three slots, ideal for needles, scissors, pens and pencils … whatever you need in your kit!

Cut into the front of the box are holes to help you organise your yarn for colourwork and also just to keep your yarn safe in the box whilst you knit.  There’s a lid to cover everything up when you’re done (perfect for those of us who are not so tidy with our knitting!) and you can have your name on the box too!

If you’d like a box of your own, the code WINWICK10 will get you 10% off and you can have a look at Victoria’s boxes, sock blockers and more through her Instagram account and her Etsy shop.

 

Right, I think that’s me for today!  I hope you have a lovely weekend and that the weather is just right for whatever it is you are doing.  I’ll see you next week! xx