Although there hasn’t been much slow stitching taking place during our Lockdown, I have been slowly knitting away. I’m not a fast knitter by any means, more of the “slow and steady” type. My first finish was – wait for it – my very first pair of socks! They turned out a little large, but I’m not undoing them and starting over. They will be fine keeping my toes warm at home worn with my slippers, after all, winter is just around the corner here in my part of the world. Just so you don’t think I’m Wonder Woman, these socks were about half done so I just kept going till the end! I’ve got some more of this wool, and will be knitting another pair, but I’ve gone down a needle size to see if that makes a difference.
My first socks
I’ve also made two little children's hats, using some fancy yarn given to me ages ago. I finished knitting the dark blue several weeks ago and remembered putting it away “somewhere safe”. It took me ages and I had to look in all sorts of places until I finally found that hat! The pink one is knitted in Eyelash wool, I think it was called, and remember knitting scarves for my grand daughters out of this type of yarn. These will be going into my donation box for the children in Foster Care.
Two little wooly hats
And lastly, I've been working away on my jersey (sweater) – this is such pretty wool threaded with ribbon, blue - my favourite colour, since it is for me. You really don't want to know how long I've had this wool tucked away. Made in New Zealand, and called Blue Topaz, it is 14 ply made up of 53% mohair, 35% rayon ribbon, 10% wool and 2% nylon. Just a simple pattern in stocking stitch on biggish needles, I’ve knitted both sleeves. And look who came to see what it was all about!
Gemma inspecting my knitting
This wool came in hanks and I needed to wind some more balls. Robin helped out, and we both remembered being called in to help our mothers back in the day when they wanted to wind their wool. It was a hard job sitting there with your arms stretched out when you were a young child!
Robin called into service
We are out of Lockdown now, and New Zealand has now dropped restrictions to Level 2 meaning most shops can now open, as long as they adhere to the physical distancing, sanitising, and customer record requirements. I’m not in too much of a rush to venture out into the big wide world, so will take things slowly. Like most of the country, I need to get to the hairdressers sometime, and I’ve long finished my library books. Guess what I’m really hankering for is a nice cup of coffee, but am I ready to go into a café just yet, not too sure.
11 comments:
I think there are many of us like you not ready to go out still - we moved into our first stage of getting back to business but there are still too many new cases of the virus popping up I think and we will continue to stay home. Your knitting looks great to me I am very slow at it and still making my first sweater one day I hope it will be finished.
Some shops are opening here in the UK too, with strict rules. I went for a coffee this week - it took 25 minutes to order, wait and collect it, but it was worth it when I was sat on a bench on the cliff top looking out over the sea!
I love your socks. I've always wanted to have a go at them, but I can only crochet, not knit and I haven't yet found an easy crochet pattern!
I was going to learn to knit while we were on lockdown, and I have a video to watch too. Have I done it? Not yet! I can do a knit and purl, but I wanted to learn more. I need to do that this week!
Beautiful socks and hats! Happy knitting!
We braved the great outdoors yesterday and went to a Mitre 10 cafe. sign in, do your hands, keep your distance, but that first REAL coffee for all these weeks, delicious. One other BIG store was sadly lacking in safety protocol, I had to search for the hand sanitiser, then it was a skimpy little pump spray bottle, barely put any on your hands, Trolley handles were not wiped, and people were SO close... However I had to go there and pick up an electric blanket I had phoned in to order.No Click and collect, the place was full.Socks, they were never my favourite to knit, my Nanny knitted so many during the WW2, guess for the soldiers? and then did my singlets, and all I remember is a little knitted holder on a knitted string to hold a camphor block to keep away any colds.
Slow and steady works not only for knitting, but also for venturing back out in public. I plan to stick pretty close to home for the next month and only going out when absolutely necessary. Of course, there will be knitting in the sunshine and lots of other hobbies. Going down a needle size should help reduce the size of the socks. They turned out great for your first pair!
Oh lovely cosy knitting Jenny - those socks look very snuggly and wearable. As do the beanies. The yarn for your own jersey sounds lovely too. You know what they say, slow and steady wins the race!
I am happy enough to go to the shop and have even enjoyed a takeaway coffee at the beach with a friend keeping the right amount of distance but I'm not ready to venture too far from home.... hubby is!
The socks look very warm and the beanies will be loved by a couple of little ones..
Ah! Gemma is testing how cosy your new jumper will be...
Great photo of Robin and I see Gemma enjoying playing with the yarn too.
Those socks look so warm. Well done. It is great to have some knitting on the go in the colder months. When we visited NZ many lifetimes ago I came home with a lot of lovely wool.
Great job on your first pair of socks... they look cosy & warm.
And the beanies look great too. Well done...xox
I remember sitting with the hank of yarn over my arms too. And now Tony is my holder, but he cheats, he reclines his seat and sticks his feet out to hold the yarn!!
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