A very small Knit Along

My friend Sally told me about these socks she was knitting so I went to have a look and decided it would be fun to make some too. So we decided to do a little KAL. Sally is still knitting hers but she has been incredibly busy lately and I don't know how she even manages to drop a stitch let alone knit one! They are called The Crazy Monkeys and are knitted two at once, toe up and were good fun and not too tricky.
The yarn I used is very special to me, it is the very first sock yarn I ever purchased. Koigu no less! I never thought I would actually use it as I couldn't find a pattern to do it justice. I bought it from the Ally Pally Knit and Stitch show in 2007. Unbeknown to me, I had a chat with Alice, the owner of Socktopus. I have since had lots of dealing with Alice and have been a member of her amazing sock clubs since she started them.

Forgive me if I am boring you but I am so proud of this gorgeous yarn. It is some heavy laceweight singles spun from merino and angora fibre. This is the colourway from one of the months of the Socktopus Fibre club. Sadly this club won't be running next year. My friend Jo, dyed the fibre and not all the recipients were enjoying the colours so I manged to buy 2 more of the 75g skeins and have spun up enough yarn to knit a Featherweight cardigan (Ravelry link). What's not to like?

See how prettily it is knitting up! I am delighted with it so far and amazed at how the stripes are forming, It pleases me no end. The cardigan is knitted from the top down which is suiting this yarn so beautifully. I have now divided for the sleeves and am continuing to knit the body section. I am using skein 2 of the yarn and it appears to be slightly different form the the other two skeins but I don't think it will detract from the gorgeousness of the cardi. So very soft and fluffy and knitted in a heavy laceweight on 4mm needles, it is growing quickly and the pattern is a delight.

~*~

I have big plans for Christmas but will they come to fruition? I hope so! Yesterday, although it is rather late, I got all the ingredients to make my Christmas Cake and Pudding and some homemade mincemeat. I am using Nigella's recipes for the pudding and mincemeat and a very old recipe from a Marks and Spencer cookbook for the cake. I tasted a piece of that cake at a friends house last year and asked her which recipe it was as it was so tasty and moist. I realised that I used to have the book in my other life but sadly, not any more (might ask Maisie if she can find it for me...) so she copied it down for me. It's all very well having these lovely ingredients but somehow I have to turn them into the actual goodies. Hope Barry is up for helping me!

My darling Mum is coming to stay with us for Christmas, it is a good feeling! A couple of weekends before we are travelling down to Devon to have an early Christmas with my Ali and her family,can't wait for that time either!

Right, enough of this blogging lark, I have jobs to do, catch you later xx