Hello

Gosh this time of year is busy. I've got two children starting new schools in September so they'll be having taster days, meetings etc. There are school trips, swimming lessons, music recitals, sports days and leavers assemblies... They really do cram a lot in to the last half term of the year. Good job it's nearly the Summer holidays so I can have a rest lol.

With the extra brain power required for all these things I've got to remember something had to give and that has been my knitting. I've barely knitted anything this past week, hence the lack of posts! I have managed to turn the heels on my two sock WIP's but that's about all I've got to show you. Hopefully I'll be able to get one of them finished this week and then I can cast on something new. I'm not sure what I'm in the mood to knit at the moment. I'd quite like to do a lace shawl but that depends on brain power. Tricky.


Anyways, I'd better put the chooks back in their run and get on with some chores. I've spent the past hour or so outside watching them, watering the plants and enjoying the garden :-) Have a good week everyone.

Two Heels

I've been working on my sock WIP's at the moment. I'm ready to start the heel on the purple ones and the multicoloured ones are a few rows off


 
 

I'm really enjoying the way the slipped stitch pattern on this sock highlights the colours in the yarn. The pattern is Whiz Bang for anyone interested. I'm planning on using the "Bootylicious heel" from the pattern. Not one I've tried before but looks interesting.



The purple ones are using the Express Lane pattern which is a free one. I'm just using the stitch pattern as a guide as my gauge is a bit different. I'm going to do the Fish Lips Kiss heel for these as it's my favourite.


Do you like trying out different heels? Any particular favourites? I've tried slipped stitch, heel flap, sweet tomato, fish lips kiss, Wendy Johnson's Gusset heel, afterthought heel...

Linking up with Keep Calm Craft On

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all the Dad's out there. Mr Soaring Sheep is enjoying his Father's day socks :-)







New shirt too :-)



I bought these stocks yesterday. Shame I've got a cold and can't smell them properly!

E. x

(FO post for socks can be found here. Ravelry page here

Whiz Bang!

I've cast on yet another pair of socks. I hope you're not getting too bored with them! I saw this pattern linked to on Sarah's blog and as I was in the mood to start something new and had this yarn already wound into a ball I thought I'd give them a try :-)

The pattern is called Whiz Bang and is made using slipped stitches. It's also got some interesting toe shaping (I'm making the right foot) and a different heel to try as well. It's a very easy stitch pattern to remember too so they're just whizzing along (sorry I couldn't resist!).


In other news I've got a second poppy flower. After the first one was manhandled by my 4 year old and lost it's petals by the afternoon of the day it opened I've decided to keep her well away from this one and also to take a photo just in case. I do like poppies, especially those really big ones. Their petals are so thin and delicate :-)


Have a good weekend everyone. Linking up with Creative Friday

Custom Raglan Adventures Part 2 and FO Rainbow Socks

I thought today I'd give you an update on the sweater I'm making for Mr Soaring Sheep. This is my first time designing a sweater from scratch and I blogged a little bit about that process here. It seems to be progressing well although I've not tried it on him in a little while so it could be a complete disaster!



As you can see I'm working my way down the body but still have quite a long way to go. I'm enjoying the cabling. I found this free chart which looks wonderfully complicated but is very straight forward to knit providing you keep track of which row you're on. Hence the safety pin you can see which marks row 1 of the repeat.



The other project I want to show you today is my latest FO, a pair of rainbow socks



I knitted these socks from a double stranded sockblank that I bought from Mothy and the Squid on etsy. It was my first successful experience of knitting two socks at a time. I had tried before using two seperate balls of yarn and got in a bit of a tangle. I'm more experienced with sock knitting now though so I had a bit more success lol.



I literally knitted until the end of the yarn, I barely had enough left to sew in my ends. I think they're absolutely wonderful, I can't wait until I can wear them when the weather is cold.



I need to get on with some chores now. My eldest daughter is away on a school residential trip tomorrow so I need to get her bags sorted and packed ready to drop off with her at school first thing in the morning. She's very excited, I'm sure they won't get much sleep and will be utterly shattered when they get home but they'll have had a lot of fun too.

Linking up with Keep Calm Craft On and Yarn Along

Right Now

Inspired by Amy's post a couple of weeks ago, right now I am...

Enjoying: my colourful garden. We planted some bedding plants this weekend as well as moving a couple of plants into better positions and tidying things up a little



Thinking: I'd really like a quiet month with nothing to worry about.



Watching: Restless, my parents gave us the dvd months ago but we've only just watched it. Very enjoyable, if a little gory in places!

Looking: at the chickens scratching around their run. They're always so busy



Feeling: Tired, low on energy, out of spoons.
Drinking: home made elderflower cordial, absolutely delicious.



Glad: that Mr Soaring Sheep is around today.

Reading: nothing, just finished The Skull Throne by Peter V Brett. Bought the first book in the series ages ago but finally read it on holiday and have gone on to read the next 3 in rapid succession. Unfortunately the last book isn't out until 2017 :-(



Planning: a new knitting project, not sure if it will be a shawl or another pair of socks
Doing: avoiding the housework




Making: Mr Soaring Sheep's sweater
Happy: that the sun is shining but it's not uncomfortably hot either



Hoping: things calm down soon
Wondering: when the mother of our future puppy will come into season. Should hopefully be in the next month or so :-)



Gathering: flowers from the garden to put into little vases
Wearing: Summer skirts and new shoes with bows on the front.



Question: What things are you enjoying at the moment?

My Garden - June 2015

I've finally got round to taking some photos of how my garden is growing this month. Everything is shooting up and there's lots more colour appearing.



We took the unhappy acer out of the big pot in the middle and replaced it with a pink rhododendron from the front garden. The acer is now in a pot on our patio out of the bright sun and there is a purple rhododendron in the pot at the front which will work better with the pink azalea.

I've got a pink and purple variagated cordyline I need to plant up at the weekend. Just working my way through the pots which had Spring bulbs in so need to get those out, change the compost and add some Summer bedding plants :-)



The snapdragons are full of colour, really enjoying them :-) That part of the garden smells beautiful with lots of stocks and pinks.

On the other side of the garden this beautiful rose is full of scent too. I keep meaning to cut one of the flowers to have in a vase inside but I can't bring myself to do it. I'll just have to keep going outside to smell them lol

We've got lots of foxgloves flowering too in shades of pink and cream. I think I've got a yellow one starting soon but it's not opened yet so can't tell for sure



Some of the lupins are starting to go to seed, I guess I should probably deadhead them now as I'm not wanting to grow them from seed. They're really pretty though with their fluffy casings. You can see another flower already starting to form :-)





This lily continues to grow, it's about as tall as my petite 9 year old now! There's lots of buds growing ready to flower



I'm pleased with how my hanging basket has turned out too. Not too bad for a first attempt although should probably have put something more upright in the centre of the compost. Love the fuschias especially :-)



The chickens decided to put themselves down for a nap at lunchtime, they weren't too impressed at me disturbing them.







I'm looking forward to when they are big enough to roam around the garden rather than being confined to their run all the time. They have a big run though so it's not too bad as they're only babies still :-)


My other monthly garden posts are linked below:

March
April
May