All the snow, the snow shovelling, our wild tobogganing, the walks we took in winter wonderland and finally the problems we had with the snow that made it into our attic, made me completely forget to tell you about a new pattern that was released already two weeks ago: Sonic Interference Socks.

The socks are knitted cuff down in mosaic technique. With this techinque, the pattern is created by slipping stitches. Cuff, heel and toe are worked in main colour only; leg and foot are worked alternating between one round in main colour and one round in contrast colour. Since at all times only one yarn is used, these are a perfect first project using more than colour.

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply and you can find the pattern in the current issue of Knit Now, Issue 125, which you can get here.

Ich war so begeistert von meinen Pippilotta Strümpfen und das Wetter war auch noch sooo kalt, da habe ich doch glatt gleich noch mal ein paar Kniestrümpfe genadelt. Ausserdem guckte der Göttergatte so neidisch, wenn ich meine neue Strümpfe getragen habe, also musste es so sein. Im Grunde sind sie ja auch fix gestrickt, denn man strickt ja hauptsächlich glatt rechts.

Ich musste natürlich so richtig Gas geben und die Nadeln zum Glühen bringen, damit ich fertig wurde, ehe der ganze Schnee verschwunden ist. Aber guckt: es hat geklappt. Natürlich wandern die Strümpfe jetzt erstmal in die Sockenschublade, denn der Wetterbericht verspricht uns für kommendes Wochenende frühlingshafte 16°C. Das nenne ich mal einen rasanten Umschwung.

I was so happy with my Pippilotta stockings and the weather was still so cold, that I started a second pair of knee-highs right away. It's quite funny, because these kind of socks were on my list of 'not my cup of tea' projects. But then, my dear husband was so jealous when I wore mine and they are actually a quick knit, since they are done mainly in Stockinette stitch.

I admit, I had to knit up a storm to get them done before all the snow was gone and ta-dah! Here they are. Ready to go into the sock drawer right away because  the weather forecast promises 16°C this weekend - this is quite a sweeping change.

Remember the socks I started a while ago. I had started them toe up to make sure I use all the colours in the self-striping yarn... and while knitting happily away I realized that these turn into rather long socks. So why not turn them into knee-highs right away? No sooner said than done...

I used some leftover yarn from other project for the heel and the upper part of the leg. I did my best to blend in the yarn at the leg and I am absolutely happy with the result.

I call them my Pippilotta stockings after hte heroine of my childhood: Pippi Longstocking.

Be cheeky, wild and wonderful!

My, this has been some crazy weather we've had all day: Lots of snow in a hefty storm. When you are outside it feels like it is snowing from whichever direction, lol. Well, definitely a day to get the handmades out. :)

... procrastinate and worked on the second pattern of my Woodland Friends ornaments right away this month: Here's my February House Mouse.

Even though these small ornaments are done in no time, I am not really a fan of this fiddly stuff - so to avoid that I just print the patterns and leave them for another day, it is my goal to work on the ornament of the months as soon as it is published. We'll see how this goes...

I think I've told you lots of time that my favourite item to knit are socks. I love that there are so many pattern options, that you can go wild on colours and in my world they are also the perfect gift. However, there are some constructions I am not really keen on - like socks knit from the toe up. 

It's not that I don't manage, but somehow I find it more difficult than knitting cuff down. Maybe the reason is that for my socks I prefer socks with heel flap and gusset and I always find it difficult to figure out when to start the gusset increases?

Well, there are some yarns that just call for a toe-up construction, simply because I don't want to waste any scrap of yarn. This is the case especially with gradient or colour-changing ones, when I want to make sure that all shades or colours get used. It isn't a poblem to make the leg longer in onder to use up all the yarn, is it? And since I don't want to waste anything of this precious stripy rainbow skein by KnitCircus... here we go: toe-up.

So, last week I complained about my lack of motivation for knitting - and just a week later I don't want to stop knitting at all... Last week I had the idea to work on some wee dolls to give away as gifts to my friends as pick-me-up during these difficult times and my, do I enjoy knitting these!

Above is a Flower Girl - I named her Hope and embroidered a clover instead of a flower onto her skirt - and she is a gift for a friend who has tackled the diffcult task to move in the midst of lockdown. Below is a Nurse Mate.and she will go to my niece who works at a hospital. I hope they'll put a smile to their face and they like them just as much as I liked making them. :) The patterns used are by Esther Braithwaite, available on Ravelry.