Wildflower Winkie

One of my Grandmothers recently celebrated her birthday, and since she was the first lady to introduce me (many many moons ago!) to knitting I knew she would appreciate a hand made gift.

I've been working on my crochet skills a little and felt confident in making a gift-worthy item - albeit a simple one!



My Gran cooks wonderful delicious things, particularly baked goods, so a large Winkie Square Pot Holder would be just the ticket for her dining table! The colours of this yarn, fabulous koigu KPPPM, are just the wildflower hues that my Gran loves - it was the perfect match!



The shot above gives a size comparison with the fork. Basically I started in the centre crocheting a standard Granny Square pattern and just kept going and going and going until I felt it was a suitable size!

Nice Thick Manly Woolly Socks

My shweetie is a big fan of socks. Socks may even be his favourite item of clothing - ever! He refuses to put used socks back on even for a moment, and likes a nice, thick, woolly sock. When I first knit socks for him, I knit them out of fingering weight yarn so, while he appreciated the design and knitting skill, they were just too thin for him. So for his birthday this year I had a Plan!



I have a huge stash of heirloom 5ply yarn and decided to use it held together and knit him Nice Thick Manly Woolly Socks - but in secret!

I used a magic cast on for the toe - my favourite - and basically knit the socks on the fly, making the design as I went. I had pinched one of my Shweetie's socks from the dirty clothes basket and used that to match the dimensions of his foot! So a 3x1 rib on instep, was just the ticket to give a nice snug fit, and normal stockinette sole. I increased for the heel with M1 at each end of the heel every second round and knit a short row heel in keeping with the 3x1 rib. I then continued up the leg in stockinette but keeping two of the rib bands going all the way up for a little interest. And finally at the very top of the leg section I added a 3x1 rib :)


(excuse the awful blurry shot!)

I knit these ones right up to the line - when I finished the first sock I only had a day and a half (work days at that) left!! But I did manage to have them finished in time and gifted to my shweetie on his birthday - phew! They were VERY well received , being declared the best I have knit so far!!



I'm super happy with how they turned out, plus there's the extra warm fuzzy of knitting for true love - and nothing says 'True Love' like Nice Thick Manly Woolly hand knit birthday socks!