Spring is in the air. Today we are being treated to spells of sunshine and showers. The birds seem frisky and full of song. Spring is afoot.
Speaking of feet, I am working on a second pair of socks from this book, using the bamboo sock wool bought in Harrogate.
the book is laid out as a graphic, broken down into steps and stitch numbers to keep you right... also a pic of what the socks should look like completed...
They are more complex than my first pair of socks, and you have to really keep an eye on the ball, as the pattern is worked in a repeated round of 4 rows, with each row different.
I find I like to 'knit' - and 'purl' is just a distraction until I can 'knit' again. It's a strange game I'm playing with myself... 'Purl' just makes the 'knit' times seem better, and there is enough knit and purl exchanges in this to keep it interesting! Does anyone else do this?
There are a few errors where I lost track, and my cast on is a bit annoyingly lacy - but I hope to improve these with experience. These, as they say in Glasgow, will be just 'a wee pair of wearing socks' for N around the house, while improving my sock knitting confidence.
'One Good Market' got in touch to say they were closing down the site, and hence my shop - a shame - it wasn't working out for them.. truth be told it wasn't working out for me either, but I assumed everyone else was doing a roaring business and it was just me.. so I don't feel as big a failure.
- so I am back to keeping my Folksy shop going, but feeling quite relaxed about the whole thing. It's important to have some projects which are creative satisfaction outside of work and 'business', and while it is nice to sell things I also want to find time for enjoyment and gifts, otherwise everything can end up as 'business'.
Keeping things flexible means I can wax and wane the 'selling' side of things to keep in balance with periods of freelancing and grow it when things are quiet. Whatever it seems important to love what you do, or at least have some part of life where this can be your credo. But, hey, you never know what's coming and I do still love reading about those who have given up the dayjob on Etsy!
Great credit to you for taking on such a complex looking challenge Caireen. I remember attending a "Creative Knitting" class years ago. The tutor showed us items knitted with shredded plastic bags and photographs of KNITTED FURNITURE!! - and all I wanted to do was learn how to cast on.....!
Needless to say I was a bit of a knitting knit-wit and left a complete failure!
My favourite stitch is garter stitch. Not only because it is easy to achieve - I genuinely love its look of straightforward simplicity.
Sorry about your shop closure.x
Posted by: Bella Bheag | March 14, 2012 at 12:37 AM