You may have detected a quiet moment on the blog… in which I finished holidays, returned to work and ran out of pre-drafted posts. Before that, though, I had some moments of achievement. I momentarily forgot my commitment to local fibres and invested in some lovely but imported sock yarn. My daughter scored these socks.
It did make me think about spinning up colour changing sockyarn, but this Noro Silk Garden is a single.. and I can’t believe I could spin a singles that would be up to the challenge of becoming a sock. Love those colours! I have some handspun sock yarn in my stash. I was so committed to spinning it finely I have ended up with something on the light side of 4 ply (sock weight) and I am a bit intimidated by the knitting of it. Being three ply, the colours in the original fibre have been very much blended in the spinning process. This, in contrast was a fun, fast knit.
There was some quiet stitching… more on that later.
I finished another scogger for my farmer friend.
And from a different angle…
We went to visit her and saw some of her beloved rescue donkeys. She will be out feeding them come winter and that is where the scoggers will come in. They are knit with sock yarn and shirring elastic for firmness and fit. I have made several earlier versions and this is what works best.
How lucky these donkeys are to be cared for by someone so devoted in their old age!
We also saw the orchard and the fabulous chickens.
Look at these modern game bantams!
While I am showing pictures of critters, here is a spectacular caterpillar we found in a friend’s front garden (on a pink gum).
But of course, it wasn’t all knitting. There was also spinning! And lazing around sleeping, and reading and, because it is summer here, there was beach walking and swimming. On the way to the beach, a fabulous woven basket-fence.
Wonderful limestone cliffs…
And then the beach. My greetings to all of you now in midwinter. I thought you might like to be reminded of summer.
We are so lucky to live in this beautiful place.
Local & Bespoke 
oh, absolutely gorgeous! what a wonderful holiday that looks to have been. and you found Noro – I have some of their silk mix, and have got halfway through making a cardigan, 2 years ago, but no further. oh dear!
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Maybe it’s time to return to the cardigan? I bet it’s lovely…. and yes! It was a wonderful holiday. Thanks, Jane.
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maybe it’s time to pull out what I’ve done of the cardigan and start a more interesting one, LOL! I can only bend my mind to these things with a rush of enthusiasm for the new when it’s for myself and not for the wider world.
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It’s a shame the way things for ourselves tend to slide to the end of the list. This can’t always be the right place for them to be!
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port willy. love it.
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Me too. It was just sensational to spend 10 days there and walk on that beach every day rather than come for a day trip.
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the socks are gorgeous! Lovely color run. But I have to ask: why/what’s a scogger for? Like a leg-warmer but for the arm?
Sucking up the beach atmosphere while expecting a “polar vortex” on Sunday, dropping temps to a -6C HIGH for the day.
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Wow. That is COLD. I hope you will be snug. I wrote a big post all about scoggers here. I didn’t want to labour the point by doing it again–but of course you’re right, a tube worn on arm or leg that doesn’t have a hand or foot (like a glove or sock would). This one has a knit in ‘elbow’, much like a sock would have a heel to turn the corner. I love the sock colours too. Way to make something simple and plain rather glorious!
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I’ve a brain like a sieve, obviously. Now I remember reading that – I’d even “liked” it.
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Well… I have a brain like a sieve too. I realise it isn’t personal 🙂
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Came here after looking at your latest post – thanks for them – and saw the photo of the spitfire (caterpillar). I hope you didn’t get too close, they do ‘spit’ ‘fire’. Spectacular creatures.
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I didn’t get too close after all those childhood experiences where other kids provoked them! But yes, aren’t they spectacular?
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