The Socks of Happiness

I finished my Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks tonight and I am thrilled  with them! They are just so much fun that I actually squealed with delight when I put them on and saw how they looked as a complete pair. The heel looks so neat and was very easy to knit. I highly recommend the pattern to anyone wanting to try a new heel. 

I used the magic knot technique to join my yarn to create the stripes and although it has worked out fine I probably wouldn't choose to do this again as it really was a hassle. I will also think about knitting a longer cuff for my following socks, so far they seem to stay up fine though. I used twisted 1x1 rib and really like the way it looks on the colour change. 

Self striping socks are definitely next on my list to knit but do I go plain vanilla or patterned? If patterned, what patterns work well with self striping? I would love to hear your suggestions. 

In other news I have cast on another attempt at the Vertex Cardigan by Carol Feller as I received a 500g cone of yarn earlier this week. My swatch came out at the exact stitch gauge so fingers crossed it will work up OK! I am knitting it out of King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply in the kingfisher colourway. The colour is beautiful and I've been wanting to add more colour to my wardrobe for a while. Wish my luck! It will be my first adult sized garment. 

As I said last week I cheated on my socks with a lacy shawl. I've not knit much more than 2 repeats of the first chart though. There are only 8 rows in each repeat and I have less than 60 stitches on my needle so very little progress has been made on it!! It's the pattern Sacha by Vanessa Smith which I've knit before. The lace is quite a challenge in that there isn't really an obvious pattern so you need to concentrate on it and that doesn't happen for me during the school week. I'm using Fyberspates Rural Charm in the plum colourway. This will eventually be a gift for a very good friend. As I've mentioned on the blog before, the yarn is amazing to knit with and definitely worth checking out.  

That's it for this week. Remember to check out the giveaway if you haven't already!