Green Socks & Bead Peek

My latest footwear creations. How green are these?

The socks are knitted in a fab handpainted yarn called Manyana from Wild Fire Fibres. It's 50% Merino and 50% Tencel and it has the most wonderful sheen to it. The shade is 'Kelp'. I totally recommend Vikki's yarns. She's a lovely lady and her customer service really is second-to-none.

The pattern, which reminds me of Godzilla, is one that I adapted from a book called Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski. I took the 'Staccato' pattern and gave it a short row heel and instead of knitting the cuff of the sock in rib I knitted it with garter stitch which gives a subtle wavy top. The photo below is a detail of the pattern.

I thoroughly enjoyed knitting these socks. In fact, I completed them in only three evenings. Okay, they were late nights but I love getting 'lost' in knitting. It's very calming.

Now for a sneak peek at the beads that will be for sale tomorrow evening.

You may be thinking 'Laura, they're a bit simple and boring!' and yes, I know, they're simple beads to make - make bead, roll in frit, melt in and anneal. Job done. But what I was trying to achieve was cheap-to-buy-but-pretty-to-look-at beads for these 'Credit Crunch' (so bored of that phrase) times. You get a dozen of these babies for £12.00 including postage. They're fab for earrings, excellent for dainty bracelets, ideal for wiring into chain links and great as accent beads and spacers. What more could you want? What I'm not looking forward to is cleaning the buggers. There's flippin' loads of them!

If you'd like to get your hands on some of these they will be for sale on my website at 8.30pm on Monday evening.

I'm off to do the housework and get lunch ready. My Grandparents and Uncle are coming over today. You should see the pudding I've made! If I can get it out of the tin nicely I may well post a picture later .....

Enjoy your Sunday!