Knitting that's not socks ( well not socks for Canada anyway)

 I have managed to knit some things other than socks for Son No 1 this year but as always I have fallen sadly behind in chronicling them here. So a quick round up seems in order. 

Fingerless mitts in DK. It was lovely to be using DK again after a very long time of knitting almost exclusively with 4-ply. These are gorgeous and I wear them a lot. Yarn from Helen at Giddy Yarn, from the Christmas Eve cast on box for 2020. (No I'm not getting one for 2021. Possibly because I have ordered her yarn advent and it's sitting on a chair in my study, waiting for the 1st December. 

Yes I know these are socks but they weren't for Canada, they were for the OH. I cast these on while watching the men's final from Roland Garros. I'm not going to say where the wool came from because although it is very pretty the OH has worn out the heel completely which I can only think is down to the yarn. Although it was marketed as sock yarn. If I had not already given up buying from this person, for a different but equally irritating reason)  I would have done it after seeing what happened to these socks. 

This is part of a scarf I made from some wool sent to me several years ago by a friend in New Zealand. Vintage Purls is the dyer and she's very good. I have another shawlette thing that I made with Vintage Purls yarn, the first thing I made when I got back into knitting a few years ago, and it is also lovely. 

A pair of fingerless mittens made for a friend from some scrumptious yarn which included silk and alpaca. They were very cosy. I'd had this in my stash for so long that the company who produced it has gone out of business. 

This I have to say was a bit of a disappointment. The colours are lovely but it was a lesson in perhaps not revisiting patterns. I'd made this before and it was bigger; this came out a tad on the small side. Giddy Yarns again, one of this year's Fairy Tale club yarns. 

More stash busting. I knitted this very quickly in response to Orkney Library and Archive's 'A Hat for George' appeal, which was to mark the centenary of the birth of George MacKay Brown. You can read more about the project here and it also shows all the hats. I was quite pleased that I managed to use up not only yarn (the origins of which are lost in the mists of time) but also some beads. Also that my hat sold on the night as it were. A few lingered, but they were all sold in the end and my latest information is that something like £2500 was raised. 

I bought this yarn last year in Pittenweem; it's by Iolaire Yarns and called Gigha. Lots of silk content. I made these for an advent swap project and I hope the recipient loves them. I have enough to make another pair and I might make some for myself later on. Or I may not. I was very tempted by one of their shawl kits at the Glasgow yarn show but resisted. See, sometimes I can say No! 

This was a bit of an experiment. The yarn is form Claire at Cookston Crafts and is called cupra, sometimes referred too as 'vegan silk'. It's made from side products of  cotton processing. It's light and has a nice drape and sheen, but I wasn't over struck. I'm glad I've tried it, won't bother again.

And finally yes, socks but these ones were for me and another stashbuster. I would be sooooo proud of all the wool I've used up this year, if I didn't still have quite so much left. 

I have four pairs of socks to finish before we go away in December, but I'm also in the process of knitting up a hat kit that I bought at Glasgow and I'm also looking forward to the new year when I can look at my wool and think - which bit of this would I like to play with next? And not knit socks with!