There’s nothing like a trip to the beach on the first official day of Winter! I’m in the middle of a very quiet week after last weeks hectic hustle and bustle, so KB and I decided to go for a drive out to Titahi Bay for a bit of beach energy….
We also had very important business to attend to… the photographing of my latest pair of socks! A few posts ago, I showed you the socks I had made with Knitsch Yarn which were soooooo fun and fabulous, definitely my favourite socks ever! I have to say, I’ve been wearing them regularly and they get better with every wash and wear. I loved those socks so much, I needed to start another pair immediately, so chose the Priscilla colourway I had waiting patiently in my wardrobe stash and got to work!
I love these even more than the last socks, they are amazing. I’ve named them the “different but the same” socks, and you’ll see why! I’m not sure what happened with my tension, but the result is kind of fun and only a small part of me (the anal retentive part) wishes they were the same, the rest of me loves them just as they are.
How AWESOME are these colours!!!???
Different, but the same!
So… as usual, the sock-stats:
Yarn: Knitsch 100% supertwist merino, colourway Priscilla
Pattern: Yarn Harlot’s easy sock pattern from Knitting Rules! (again!)
Sock Satisfaction Rating: 9/10… I would give them 10, but that little control freak inside me needs to deduct a point for the lack of matchingness… otherwise they would be 11′s for sure.
So there we have it, my new favourite pair of socks! I have one colourway left in my wardrobe stash so need to top up my Knitsch stockpile stat!
The cowl is coming along nicely, and I’m looking forward to showing you all the progress and discussing the intricacies of knitting lace! But that’s a story for another day….
Wishing you much love today,
and I hope the sun is shining wherever you are… thank you for popping in to enable and encourage my obsessions! it is much appreciated!
Lots and lots of love, from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Absoultely beautiful socks! They are gorgeous as is everything that you do.
Sherry in Tx.
I think you have too may socks! Send some to England
Happy winter day! – I guess this will be our first summer day?
Regards,
Such a gorgeous day here too for the first day of winter. I managed to get out in the garden but looking at your photos I am wishing I went to the beach instead. How great are your socks?! I would love to have some hand made socks but knitting isn’t my thing. I would have to crochet them instead.
I love your new socks! I have finally finished my rainbow socks, they are blocking right now
I love the last photograph, the beach looks beautiful.
I love the colors!!!!!!!!!! The look amazing and comfortable! I hope you enjoyed the beach!
One of my favourite local beaches and those socks are in two of my very favourite colours. Enjoy a quieter week.:-) Lynley
Lovely to see the beach at winter time, you are so lucky to be living close to the sea. I live in Johannesburg and probably get to the beach about once a year. Haven’t been doing too much blogging as I am very busy getting tea cosies crocheted for a nice little coffee shop that will be selling them for me. Lovely photos as always, the socks look wonderfully warm. Enjoy your day too!
Hey Alice, it may not be your tension, maybe it’s just be the yarn…especially if it’s hand-dyed? In either case, I wouldn’t worry, they’re amazing.
A couple years ago I made Noro socks and I heard online that it was hard to make them exactly the same. I didn’t want a pair of slightly different socks so to counteract my OCD, I made them strikingly different. They’re my matching/mismatching socks and I love them.
By the way, I love your blog and it always makes me happy to see a new entry. Have a great day!
Surely that’s not Winter Alice, looks like a summer’s day here!:0) Loving the socks, loving that they are a little different, I ‘m not a perfectionist as I live with 2 and that creates a bit of harmony in this household!! (hee hee). Enjoy your more relaxing days and that gorgeous cowl, looks like a stunner xox Penelope xxx
The beach………..how I need a trip to the beach! We were supposed to go last weekend but there weather was poo so we had to cancel. New Zealand is so beautiful I really want to visit as does Mr TB. One day we will!
Oh yummy socks. They are Gurt Lush as they say round these parts.
Looking forward to seeing the cowl.
Love
Tickety-boo
xxxx
More gorgeous socks and stunning pictures – what a beautiful part of the world! Winter in the UK really doesn’t look like that!!!!
Have fun! Sarah x
OH MY GOODNESS, That first shot of the beach and the one of the heart in the sand are just works of art,
what a lovely end to a lovely if not busy but exciting day!! Alice/KB, you sure know how to perk up our lives,
those photos deserve enlarging and framing!!
Hope you had a magical time on the sea~shore, did you spy any mermaids????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????
Love & Hugs To All,
SandraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Love the socks! that top photo is beautiful – I pinned it to my “New Zealand is a beautiful place” board on Pinterest
BTW……you were standing on a stump of petrified forest, aged a mere 96,000 years old today at Titahi Bay…..how about that for an energy source??
http://www.pcc.govt.nz/About-Porirua/Porirua-s-heritage/Porirua-s-suburbs/Titahi-Bay/Historic-site–Fossil-Forest
Lynley:-)
Wow! that’s fascinating – read your link!
I have a pair of socks I started 5 year ago and you are just whipping them out!!! Wish I enjoyed doing the “sock” thing! Yours are gorgeeeeeeous! Maybe I should just toss these and get some yarn I adore and try again! HA!
Ow, those socks look awesome ! And I like the way they look the same though not just exactly, too… way better than the exact-matching-factory-pairs that I got me…
And wow, if that’s the way winter looks like on your side of the world, I guess I should seriously start to consider emigration…
Stunning pictures KB, and obviously Alice I love the fact the socks don’t match perfectly! The colours are just gorgeous and I bet they’re soft and scrummy too! How’s the cowl??? can’t wait!! What yarn do I need to buy now? LOL!!! Have a happy day, with love xxx
They look awesome! I love your AR tendency – can’t help but notice both stripe the same in the leg but change in the foot (yarn dyeing geek alert). Wonderful job Alice, as always! xx
Hi Alice lovely to receive all the info on whatever u do.
Glad u are now having your winter, ours is supposed to be summer but we are in nowhere land and it rains every day and is cold cant imagine where the summer is, I live on the Isle of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland (so now u understand) the weather, it is a fab. place and I love it but the weather is the pits.
Thanks so much for your happy letters it sure makes my day.
Love
Annie
Loving the socks Alice! I like that they’re different, it makes them unique! Thanks for thinking of us when you went to the beach, that heart is lovely hehe
WHO CARES IF YOUR SOCKS AREN’T THE SAME you funny thing xxxxxx
Why aren’t the the same? Have you got any idea? However, who cares! They look awesom.
Alice, gorgeous is all I can say. In love with the color! AND the beach, my love is the beach. We were at the beach this past weekend in Martha’s Vineyard, USA. We are starting summer! Winter oh no, but maybe you are ready!? Have a knitty day, xoRobin❤
Alice, the socks are lovely. The fact that they came out slightly different has nothing to do with your tension. It is called “yarn pooling” — where the colors are not perfect in the dying process. You did a great job and they look wonderful. You live in a beautiful part of the world. I am no where near any body of water. I can only imagine. Thanks for sharing your world with us.
Yet again…wonderful socks…..
Beautiful beach, my daughter and her husband went to NZ for their ‘babymoon’ a year ago, she said it was fantastic and I can see by your photos she was right.
Each day it’s getting hotter here, but I still want to knit socks….
Can’t wait for your thoughts on lace knitting, I love it!
Take care
Jude
I so wish the first day of winter looked that nice up here! I live in Northern British Columbia, Canada, and well, last year, on the first day of winter, we got a foot of snow! I love your socks! Are you thinking of selling them?? I would buy a pair for sure!
Love them! I also love that they DON’T match perfectly. I think that adds to the appeal. Waiting for another lesson. Messed up the heal, so the magic didn’t happen
Enjoy your first few days of winter!
Hi here i am again looking at your lovely socks and lovely work knitingthem but even though i only crochet well learning that is cause i can only do one needle at a time tried too knit failure . thanx again too dream on renee
Oooo and Ahhh on the color of those newest socks! Oooo and Ahhh on your sunshine too. May we borrow some? Please?
Wonderful photos, fab socks.
Carol xx
Alice, the day looks fantastic and the socks do too. I love that they are not exactly the same, that makes them perfect to me.
Glad you had such a beautiful day,
Meredith
Love the socks!
When you talk about 8 ply wool (previous posts) – would that be double knit? (New hooker, educating myself here, but have only seen 4 ply, DK, Aran, chunky – in South Africa. Please help
Yup Christelle. 8ply wool = Double knit. I’m trying to understand what ply fingering, lace and worsted are……I think lace is 2ply and fingering could be 3 or 4ply and worsted around 10ply rather like Aran???!
Isn’t this blog sooooo goood.
the socks are beautiful the way they are! i think their non-matchingness will grow on you.
Oh the ever present dilemma of not quite matching socks. I think they are beautiful and more importantly – UNIQUE! Enjoy them as what they are, a pair of lovely comfortable socks. GREAT JOB!
I love ‘em! Mix-Match are great, its a yarn thing, I have mitts like that!
I am craving for the beach, and tomorrow will be the day!! It’s so hard to imagine you are facing winter!
I think you would be able to knit socks in your sleep now!!!! beautiful colorway and the non matching makes them a little bit quirky.
x Sandi
They are seriously yummy socks! I like the not-quite matching look! And that beach is just stunning, thanks for sharing x
Beautiful socks, beautiful beach, so much happiness makes me feel warm inside
Those socks are soooo cool, Alice! I love them! My husband always wears colorful socks that don’t match, he buys them in packs of 5 pairs of different crazy colours or stripes and them mixes them around. It’s good fun! (yours are not that different, believe me!). That pic of the beach is fab.
We are having a lovely half term week here so the kids are on hols and the weather is great so it’s perfect for picnics and fun with friends.
Wishing you a lovely 2nd day of winter, Pati xx
Alice… matching socks are HIGHLY overrated!!!!!! Let your feet feel the individuality vibe!!
Gorgeous socks Alice!!
Totally yummy colors.
And, love the shot of the beach. There’s nothing like the beach….unless it’s a forest……or mountains…. or
I’m so excited that you included the brand and color of the yarn. I was hoping you would do that. When I look at your Mandala and want to know every single color in them. =)
Thanks for sharing your corner of the world.
Diane
Wow gorgeous colours! I agree that it looks like a dye issue and not your tension (which looks perfect!). Thanks for the tip about the Touchyarns – maybe I should try toe up?!? I like the idea of being able to use *all* the yarn without stressing out about whether or not I’ll run out before I reach the toe…
Such a beautiful day, and an idyllically calm beach, good for the soul I imagine, the finishing touch would have been raymond on a cat leash!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor Raymond, he wouldn’t enjoy that at all would he, bad me for even suggesting it. I think your socks are fan-dab-i-doze Alice, and the miss-matching doesn’t look out of place at all. Love Vanessa xxx
Gorgeous colours and the wool has a beautiful look/sheen to it. You are the sock queen
Lovely socks Alice. I see all the beautiful socks you are making and would love to make them but don’t think I would know where to start … so I have booked up for a workshop at a yarn shop in a nearby town which is on working with circular needles and double pointed needles and then later in the year they are doing ‘ let’s make socks’. Hopefully one day my feet will have the pleasure of wearing handmade socks. Thanks for inspiring me to want to learn. Love Joanna xx
It is soooooo hot here today….I was toying with the idea of a spontaneous trip to the coast for the weekend. But as it takes at least three hours (and a whole lot of cash!) to get there it’s not really practical =[
So I’m at home drooling over your new socks! Fabulous! I love the quirkiness of non matching socks (perhaps because I can never find a matching pair!) and I think that’s the beauty of handmade socks – no one is going to have exactly the same pair! The colours are gorgeous and they are soooo neat!xxxx
L♥VE those socks!!!!!!!
That colourway is so you!
I’m not sure if you noticed, but the Brighton colourway socks I’ve just finished are also not matching. I don’t think it has anything to do with your tension rather the dye job. You’ll just have to expect that Knitsch socks don’t match I think!!!
I love the fact that they don’t quite match. But they are very beautiful.