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socks

Vanilla toe-up socks – the beginning of my sock journey!

christinahopgood
I did it! I made a pair of socks I like!
Vanilla Toe-Up Socks
Fish Lips Kiss Heel
Bendigo Woollen Mills Sock Yarn
My project notes on Ravelry

This is my second ever pair of socks (incidentally with the same yarn).  The first pair were baggy and unfortunate.  So I was determined to make these ones good!  I decided to go with a very simple toe-up sock pattern so that I would be sure to not run out of yarn.
I learned a lot of new methods here – firstly a figure 8 cast on which was super fiddly the first couple of times!  But now I love it for toe-up socks!
I also incorporated the Fish-Lips-Kiss heel, which everyone has been talking about recently.  I’m converted!  What a great heel.  The pattern is extremely chatty and it’s a bit hard to get to the actual pattern, but it’s very straightforward, and only $1!
My only complaint is that the toe shape is a bit weird for my foot.  My big toe is much longer than the rest of my toes so my foot is basically straight on the inside but sloped on the outside (does that make sense?).  The trapezoidal shape of the sock makes bagging over my little toes.  So I’m developing my own anatomically correct sock toes which I’ll post about next time!
Apart from that I’m very happy with my socks!  They’re beautifully warm and just rad!
design, knitting, shawl

Rose Garden Shawl pattern – now available!

christinahopgood
I’m finally releasing my shawl pattern!  I’ve been working on this for over a month now, knitting and editing and thinking.
You can buy the pattern from my Ravelry store here!  
Rose Garden Shawl.
For this month only, the pattern is available for $5 instead of the usual $6.  If you add it to your cart on Ravelry, the discount will automatically be added.  
My pattern includes charts and written-out instructions, so you can follow it any way you like.  The lace is fairly simple and can be memorised in no time!
As you can see, it has little flower patterns making a little rose garden!
I love this shawl, it’s just the right size to tuck into a coat.
Rose Garden Shawl
 Thank you for your support!

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Christina’s Craft Knitting Catchup – The reboot!

christinahopgood

I’ve finally done another vlog!  I talk about my knitting, some things I like, some new stuff, and a new design of my own!

Shownotes
Fallow Sweater
My Fallow Sweater
Ginny’s Cardigan
My Ginny’s Cardigan
Vanilla Sock pattern
Black Trillium Fibres Lilt Sock gradient yarn
Wind Song Wares on etsy (currently on holiday, coming back soon)
Rose Garden Shawl (my new design)
Addi Click Lace Interchangeable Needles

I recorded this episode at the coast, where my husband’s family has a lovely little house.  I love going there to recharge and relax!  My new shawl design will be released really soon, I hope you enjoy it!

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Completed – Cardigan for my mum

christinahopgood

Finally, another non-selfish knitting project!
This is kind of an old knit now, but I made my mum a cardigan for Mother’s Day.
I love the cables up the fronts and the back!
It fits mum but probably could be a little bigger.  But it was because I ran out of yarn!  I don’t know why I didn’t buy enough.  I ran out before I got to the button bands.  So I had to do some creative shortening of the sleeves (which turned out ok because they were too long anyway), and undid my swatches, and ALSO had to cut off all my long tails and use them too!  The button bands are not quite as wide as I’d like but they do the job.
That was a very stressful evening.  But done phew!  I ended up having to seam it with some different yarn, which was not quite the same colour.  Oh well you can’t tell!
I do love Amy Herzog’s pattern!  It was a fun interesting knit 🙂
One reason why this took so long to write is that Blogger was being weird!
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Completed – Canopy shawl

christinahopgood
I made another lovely shawl!  This one is for keeping my neck and shoulders snuggly and warm.
Pattern: Canopy
Yarn: The Fibre Company, Road to China Light
My Ravelry Notes Here
This shawl has three repeating sections: A and B, which look the same except are mirror image, and a stocking stitch section.  These three sections are repeated three times, with four stitches increased on each right-side row.  This makes the triangular shape!
By the end, your rows are over 200 stitches long!  
This yarn, Road To China Light, is made of 65% baby alpaca, 15% silk, 10% camel and 10% cashmere.  It is so snuggly and warm and incredibly soft!  Unfortunately, as it is hand dyed, there is quite a bit of variation in each skein and you can clearly see in the photo below where I changed skeins. It’s not a huge deal, but the middle skein I used had much more orangey tones.
I know you’re supposed to knit a few rows of each skein to avoid this stuff, but I don’t like doing that as I worry it will come undone.
Ugg boots for the win.
The border was the trickiest bit, being knit at right-angles to the shawl.  I imagine it’s a bit like entrelac? Anyway this was a lovely shawl to work on and to wear.  Do recommend!