I didn't know how lost I was

As I'm sure you know, that last was a bit of a gap between blog posts. This time, with good reason; I've been thwarted in my knitting. It just keeps going wrong. There was a point last week when every time I picked up a project, it needed fixing, tinking or ripping back (or at least it felt like that). I was going to tell you all about it, started composing a post, and then decided that nobody wanted to read my whinging. And more to the point, I didn't want to write it.

Of course, time has passed and things have improved, and I although could happily soliloquize as to whether this is luck, hard work or merely reversion to mean, I won't; I don't want to make you suffer, and I have good news. This week, I have finished two socks, hoorah! Although not a pair.

As I've said before, these are a slow-burning project. To get to this point, I have survived a lot of cabling and mostly enjoyed it; it has one of those pattern repeats that is short enough to be memorable and long enough to mean you've made significant progress after each one, that I find highly addictive. These socks are top down, but the heel construction is new and interesting to me, and gives a really lovely fit without having to pick up stitches.

Pattern: Mince Pie Mayhem from Socktopus
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Adonis Blue, bought at Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show

As I had a slow-burning project, I needed something quicker and easier for the long train ride north (and for some finishing stuff vibes, which I was in dire need of last week!). So I cast a little something on....

Though apologies for the slightly odd lighting in that photo, there is no colour grading ankle to toe - though the yarn is beautifully semisolid, in a way that seems impossible to capture on camera! The pattern is also an ideal-length pattern repeat, but with much less cabling so I can knit them for hours and hours with few ill effects.

Pattern: Shur'tugal, also from Socktopus
Yarn: Sparkleduck Socka in Double Trouble, also from Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show

These projects so seem to share a lot - yarn bought on the same day, patterns from the same book. Though to me, their major common feature is that they've seen me through the wilderness and back on the right track with my knitting.

Who knows? Maybe I will even tackle one of the jumpers on haitus before this week is out ;)