Darning socks

These socks were knitted by my husband's grandmother, who passed away many years ago. 

I could never throw them away because they are a labour of love but they got forgotten somewhere in a box in the attic. 

When I came across them during a recent cleanup, I decided the time had come to do some serious mending. I used my cute darning tool and some colourful yarn. 

I love this job and I love even more that we can use the socks again! 

And then I couldn’t stop anymore and went on mending some great shop bought socks 😊:

my cute darning tool:

Juniper Socks

I recently knitted my first pair of "real" socks, slippersocks not included. "Juniper Socks" is a pattern by Helen Stewart from the curious handmade podcast . You can find the pattern here. I've been listening to the podcast for years and I find it both interesting and soothing. It brings together Helen Stewart's "love of craft, travel stories, life lessons and community". 

I used the suggested yarn : Blacker Yarns Tamar DK. I love this yarn: it is rustic and soft at the same time and the colours are gorgeous. It is spun from the fleeces of fine British rare breeds, including Teeswater, Wensleydale and Leicester Longwool. 

I am happy with my socks and I love the texture and colours. However, I do find knitting socks rather difficult and I hope very much that I will persevere, given my love of socks. Perhaps I should learn to knit socks on circular needles with magic loop, two at a time? 

Sideways slouch slippers

Another great and fun way of stash busting : the Sideways slouch slippers. I found the pattern in my much-used book "Knitted and crocheted slippers" by Alison Howard. This is an easy project from my early days as a knitter, but I still love the design and I'm sure I will make more of these!
As I mainly started this project in order to practise garter stitch, I used some random balls of yarn, without labels or specifications, that had been lying round the house for ages. Holding the yarn double, while guessing the yarn weight, I knitted myself a pair of fun-looking, warm slippers. I recommend this pattern for some easy-going, quick and stash-busting garter stitch knitting!

                                                                                                                                                                 

                    

Eco cotton slipper socks

This is the very first pair of socks I ever knitted. I chose slipper socks, because they don't need an exact fit and can be a bit slouchy (good choice, looking back...:-) )
You can find the pattern for these cabled socks in 'Knitted and crocheted slippers', by Alison Howard (p.102). The yarn I used is an Italian ecological cotton : Mondial Bio Soft, bought at a branch of 'Veritas', a Belgian retail chain. To my delight, Veritas sells every so often an ecological yarn, wool or cotton. They could make more ecological choices in their sales policy, but it's a nice start!