Knitting - Hubby's giant yellow scarf

Pattern: Made up as I went
Yarn: Home Farm Wensleydales "Big Wool" in Amber
Needle: 9mm
Size: About 8" wide and 6+ feet

What I did:
Hubby requested a chunky scarf to go with his navy overcoat for winter, and said he was open to having an interesting colour. I found the Home Farm Wensleydales stand at the British Wool show in York, and they had the perfect chunky yarn in the perfect yellow.



We browsed for a pattern which he liked, but most of the patterns he chose were for lighter weight yarns, so I took those as inspiration and charted a 6-strand cable. After I knitted the first repeat I got hubby's feedback, and he was concerned it was too wide. So, I started again with a narrower cable, a bit more garter stitch, and a nice fast knit!

I realised quite early on that the three balls of yarn wouldn't be enough for the length of scarf that I wanted, so I got in touch with the owner of HFW who confirmed that they had some of the same dyelot left, and that she'd be happy to send me some. Resisting the temptation to buy lots more of their yarn (it's seriously scrumptious!) I ordered just one more ball.



Verdict: I love it. He loves it. It's going to be super warm!

If you like this pattern, it's available in my Ravelry Store.

Knitting - Basket Weave Socks

Pattern: Basket Weave Socks (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Pagewood Farm Yukon, Vineyard Blues
Needle: 2.5mm

I measured a pair of my husband's hand-knit socks to get the right size. Originally these were going to be a birthday gift for him, but they're more than 2 months late! Fortunately he's very forgiving about hand-knit socks! Instead of writing down a bunch of measurements, knowing how tape-measures like to go walkabout, I simply drew marks on my piece of paper for the length of the cuff, leg, and foot. I also made a note of the pattern so that I wouldn't have to refer to the electronic version. (my laptop and my printer don't talk to one another).

Modifications and Adjustments: I did a twisted rib cuff. I didn't do the heel as written, I did a sort-of-afterthought heel. My husband tells me that the afterthought heel fits him nicely, so once I had knitted to where the heel should be I left a row of contrasting yarn. When I had finished the toes I went back and picked up the stitches around the contrasting yarn and then knitted a toe/heel. After trying on, he'd have preferred a longer cuff. I don't know what's gone wrong there, but I might have included the cuff in the leg length when measuring during knitting, but not when I made the marks. 

Verdict: The pattern is pretty easy to work, once I'd got going. The yarn is lovely. If it were any other colour I'd probably be making something for myself from it!