Eggs, socks and other stuff :) :)

Ooooh, I'm feeling all 'Eastery' and full of spring cheer!  You can tell I'm ready to take my Easter break and really looking forward to it :) :)  Our lovely hens are laying full out - here's a pic of an extra large egg one of them laid at the weekend, beside a normal sized egg - ouch!

. . . . and yes, it was a double yolked egg - three for the price of two, hehe :)

My youngest made a nice omelette for himself with these eggs - I'm pleased he's cooking with our own free range eggs, it feels nice to be able to do that.

In my last blog post I think I showed the start of a lacey sock - they're both finished now and I loved making them.  Lacey socks are something I've been keen to do and although I've made ONE lacey sock, I didn't finish the pair - ooops!  Here's the finished sock (pattern from Liz Lovicks's book The Magic of Shetland Lace Knitting) . . .

Sorry, not a very clear picture!

I loved making them so much though, that I decided to try another pair of lace socks to extend my skills a bit and tried a fab pattern from Ann Budd's Sock Knitting book . . .

In between knitting socks my Other Half asked if I had any need for some plywood they were throwing out at his place of work - well, I thought I could make some sock blockers??  Really I thought this might work for photographing or displaying my socks, rather than stretching/blocking them.

This is what I did to make custom sock blockers to fit my foot leg size . . .

I drew around a pair of socks I'd made a year or two ago which were a perfect fit, so a good template.   I just cut around the sock on paper, then . . .

drew two sock shapes onto the plywood.  Other Half cut them out for me and voila, I had two sock blockers custom made for my foot size.

Here's the first sock on the sock blocker - it's a perfect fit for the sock width/length but a little too narrow at the top so not stretching the lace as much as it could (yes, my calves are wider than that, hehe!).  Anyway it was a fun exercise to try and I'm sure I'll use the blockers in time :)

Here's the second lacey sock again - I've still to start the second one but that's for AFTER the Easter break.  I've put all my needles and yarn aside for now in readiness for a lovely Easter break.  My eldest is at home from Univeristy to study for final exams, so lots of cups of tea, home baking and yummy meals for him I think (and for us!).

I won't be doing any crafting for the next week and a half, while I'm at home with the family, but will probably be leafing through some of my craft books.  I bought Free Form Embroidery (bottom left in pic) earlier in the month when I realised I was planning to take it out of the library for the second time.   It's written by Judith Baker Montano and gives great stitching guides for using in landscape textiles - I'm really looking forward to trying out some of the stitches and ideas in this book.

I've left my Etsy shop up and online while on my break as everything in it is ready-to-ship, so no problem with shipping any orders I may have.  Hopefully I'll be ready to add some new items when I get back, feeling rejuvinated and super creative!!

Bye for now :)
Alison x