Knitting Socks

Time to finally knit up the yarn (wool) I dyed last year. Only took a year to get to this stage...LOL
This is what it looked like after the first session...then I decided I wanted more blue and definitely darker, so I dyed it again. I used food colouring and basically used all the blue I had and was much happier with the result.

I used Sock-Ease by Lion Brand. Colour way 'Marshmallow' which is near white.

Doing my version of TAAT (TwoAtATime)- two sets of needles, two balls of yarn. Works for me...

Also I divided the fresh skein of yarn into two, by weighing it, and then dyed the yarn side by side by dipping the strings together. So although the 2 balls are similar, they are not the same and that is exactly what I was going for. It is interesting to see how it is striping and how different it looks.

After about 1.5" of k2p2 ribbing I did about 3.5" of double moss stitch. I wanted a texture, without a pattern and I am very happy with the way it is looking.

Turning the heels

I like the look of the gusset and the reinforced heel area. It also makes a bit of a cushion under the heel.

Unfortunately my camera panics at the sight of all this blue...

I am very pleased with how these turned out and how the fit so well. I think I'll keep to the same formula for the next pair, maybe just changing up the pattern stitch area.

This last picture is also pretty close to accurate on the colour.

I knitted along with Jana from Purl Together, following her on YouTube.

Puzzle Challenge - Scherenschnitt

I was so excited when I pulled this one out of the gift packaging it was carefully wrapped in. It had travelled far, was a complete surprise and so much appreciated.

Then I got to looking at it closely and thought ' Oh my!' I knew this would not be the easiest of jigsaws to assemble. And I was right, BUT I did underestimate how much I would enjoy doing this!
Which is of course a very pleasant discovery and I'm glad to say this is going into the collection to stay. It's a keeper for sure.

I did get help from my son who loves to find out 'where does this one go?'

He doesn't usually join me doing puzzles, but he cannot resist helping out with a request like that! I made ample use of his assistance with this one.

Towards the end I was faced with a pile of pieces with squiggly lines going nowhere in particular, at which point I decided to sort the pieces by shapes and that helped me to wrap it up much quicker than expected.

All done and very satisfying.

I particularly liked these musicians

These critters....

...and of course these chickens!

I found the puzzle quality to be good, the box is sturdy and the pieces smooth with a matt finish.

Thank you again my Friend...you know who you are...

Puzzling - The Four Seasons

Just before Christmas I was hunting for a gift for a family member, when I, very fortunately, came across this beautiful puzzle :  The Four Seasons, by Cobble Hill.  I had put it on my wish list for the future and was so thrilled to find it in a local store, and at a special price to boot. Bought myself a Christmas treat there and then!

I did sort out the edge pieces first, but soon realized there are too few that show details from the image itself and too little difference between the shades of pale tan. It seemed unnecessarily complicated to insist on completing it first.

Instead I launched straight into starting with items I could identify the pieces of. That was easier said than done too, as there's a lot of red and loads of green. Because I don't sort pieces, but dig through the box, it made getting going with this 2000 piece puzzle a lot slower. However I loved the look of the pieces! They look like little gems! So digging through them and looking closely at each one was rather a pleasure!

Of course I started with things I particularly like. Like snowmen, crabs and Christmas goodies, followed closely by flowers....and that covers almost everything in this image!

Coming along nicely now...

And all done! Absolutely love this image!

And some close-ups - This bowl of lovely Christmassy goodies

The beautiful colours of this crab, that to me yells 'summer'!

And of course the snowman. This one has birds too. Doubling the cute factor for me!

I enjoyed this puzzle from start to finish. As always the Cobble Hill quality is outstanding. The linen finish of the pieces feel so luxurious. The colours are deep, saturated, rich.
The box is beautiful and sturdy and they stack in a way that you can always easily spot a particular puzzle regardless of how the boxes are stacked. Each puzzle is identified by a clear image, full or partial, on the each side of the box.

I already look forward to doing this one again. It was such a pleasure and the final result so beautiful!
Thank you Cobble Hill for another first class puzzling experience!