Thursday Sock-a-long: A Finished Pair, Shire Socks, and WHALES!

It’s Thursday, so let’s talk socks, shall we?

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Thursday Sock-a-long: Afterthought Heels

Hi friends, and happy Thursday from Kapiti Coast! My Marigoldjen Socks are just a smidge (and by smidge, I mean one row of kitchener stitch) away from being done.  Over the weekend, I put afterthought heels in them and took some pictures of the process, which I thought I’d share with you.  This is by no mean a full tutorial, but it’ll give you some sense of how easy they are to work if you’re thinking about trying them out!

The last few pairs of socks I’ve knit, I’ve done afterthought heels.  I started doing them because I wanted to knit socks two at a time, and I thought it’d be easier to not have to worry about how to work two heels at the same time.  I think they’re great for a couple of reasons:

  • Versatility: you work them the same way regardless of whether your sock has been knit toe-up or top-down.
  • Portability: afterthought heels are great if you’re knitting your socks on the go, because you just knit a tube with a toe, and insert the heel after the fact!
  • Ease: there’s no picking up gusset stitches! (or turning of heels, or short rows, or, did I mention you don’t have to pick up gusset stitches!)  You just decrease stitches in the exact same way you do for the toe of a top-down sock.
  • Aesthetics: If you’re working in a self-striping or other self-patterning yarn, your heel won’t interrupt the yarn sequencing on the front of foot.
  • Wear: if you tend to wear holes in your heels, afterthought heels are suuuuper easy to replace.

Continue reading “Thursday Sock-a-long: Afterthought Heels”

Flora!

Even though it’s winter here in the Southern Hemipshere, things on our bit of coast are incredibly green.  In addition to all the gorgeous driftwood the beach furnishes, there’s a lovely array of plant life on, or near, the beach.

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Mr. N enjoys “winter” with the dogs.  

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WIP Wednesday: Islay and Marigoldjen Socks

We got moved out of our house last week and came down to stay with my family for almost a week — it’s been a lovely time, except it’s gone by way too quickly!  My mom and I have both been working on Islay as a distance KAL, and it’s been so nice to get to knit on it together this past week.  We’ve been squeezing in as much porch knitting time as we can!

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Cake, cocktails, and other long weekend adventures

We’ve had a friend over from the UK for the last two weeks, and it’s been such a fun time!  It’s so nice to have longer visits with faraway friends.  It’s also given us a chance to cook, bake and mix some extra yummy things and do some sight seeing that we might have otherwise missed. Continue reading “Cake, cocktails, and other long weekend adventures”