Uprose the Monarch of the Glen Majestic from his lair, Surveyed the scene with piercing ken, And snuffed the fragrant air.

Legends of Glenorchay

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that put a stag on something and I will invariably want to own it soooooooo badly! Deer (like bow ties) are cool and are extremely high up on my list of dream pets!

You can imagine my delight therefore when I saw a pattern for kilt socks with…you guessed it…stags on them. Now I don’t really have the legs for a kilt, but I really wanted a pair of socks for under me boots and these fit the bill…also it uses up the mustard wool I bought a few weeks back, assuaging some of the guilt I had for breaking my wool buying rule (see here).

The pattern is a bit more understated and actually has the stag as a textural effect, but I’m not one for subtlety when it comes to antlers. Instead I simply substituted purl stitches with a contrast colour…BROWN…In the words of Linda Barker (in a UK Sofa ad) I like it, I think you will too!

I don’t think I’ll do too much close up knitting photography in future as I can see all my mistakes slash dodgy patches…

Should you wish to knit your own kilt socks (with or without stags…although why you’d choose anything else I cannot comprehend) I am using Patons 3285…

No Stags…thumbs down!

I stole borrowed the pattern from my mother but it can also be found here or at many other fine retailers. If you’re buying yarn specifically, I’d recommend Diploma gold (Patons) over the yarn I’ve used here. Generally you want a bit of acrylic in socks as 100% wool will wear much more quickly, clearly not ideal after all that work.

Truth be told, for this very reason I’ll probably omit the foot of these and create kilt leg warmers so to speak…Very Haute Couture non? And if not, well no one (except you dear reader) will know any different when they’re worn under my boots!

To conclude here are some pictures of deer from my local deer centre…you get to feed them! Actually makes me super happy!

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Obviously these photos are old…the weathers not currently quite this bad in Scotland…

“Boys who spent their weekends making banana nut muffins did not, as a rule, excel in the art of hand-to-hand combat.”

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris

So once again It’s been a fairly craft sparse week, the time thieving culprit this time…ruddy migraines!

I did however attend a pleasant knitting evening at a new knitting shop in Dundee called ‘Fluph’…should you be in the Dundee area it’s worth a visit as there is some very nice wool which I was careful to drool around rather than on!…around my extensive stock perusal and tea drinking, I did manage to do a wee bit o’ knitting. Huzzah!

Specifically I finished the first of a pair of slippers I was knitting for myself…now the pattern I used (available here) is actually a woman’s pattern, but having knitted it several times I thought I could masculinise it…with pom poms…now that I’m writing this I’m not sure why I ever thought that was a realistic plan…but safe to say pom poms don’t butch up anything.

I’m now not sure whether I’ll give these away or save them for the days I’m indulging my feminine side, watching rom coms and eating ice cream (please note this isn’t meant to be a horrible stereotype of women, this is something I genuinely do…on a regular basis…), I’ll knit slipper number two and then decide.

Continuing with the yarn theme, while at the knitting evening I obtained some beautiful mustard wool…

DROPS Karisma Colour 52

Now despite me banning myself from buying wool without a project in mind, I got it anyway…with no idea what to do with it…and I still have no idea…HELP! For now I’ll simply stare at it longingly…

До свидания
(Which is goodbye in Russian…I hope!)

“Sitting here with one’s knitting, one just sees the facts”

The Thirteen Problems, Agatha christie

So today I should be attempting to complete, or more accurately begin an essay for my MSc…and if I’m honest, I’m thoroughly uninspired by it (predominantly because the class it was for was an unmitigated waste of time!). Up until a short while ago I couldn’t even bring myself to come up with the focus of said essay…so I decided to whip out the old needles, stick on an audiobook (The Magicians Nephew, C.S.Lewis) and channel my inner Miss Marple.

Now I wouldn’t refer to it as a ‘Eureka’ moment, more of a ‘that’ll do, I s’pose’ moment. The important thing is however I have the concept, and only halfway through slipper one! Knitting thou art AWESOME! I will now most likely rejoice in this fact for the rest of the day, conveniently avoiding doing any of the actual essay writing…but what ya gonna do.

To summarize…knitting good, essay bad!

So long
*and with a swish of his cape he was gone…*

“Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers wont drown”

Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome

A strange sentiment to begin with I confess but I shall explain …I have long thought about joining the world of blogging, and in particular blogging about my creative exploits. I’ve always just assumed though that it’ll go unread and be left a small sad corner of the World Wide Web. As you have no doubt surmised, I have eventually manned up and have decided that I’ll dive on in head first and if no one ever reads it so be it, my sad little blog shall be left to drown and the world will carry on turning. If however it is read and enjoyed I shall assume it is not a duffer and rejoice!
So now onto my reasons for becoming a ‘blogger’, without specific reasons I fear my blog may just become ramblings with the end result being a visit from the men in white coats! But I digress…

1. I am a relatively prolific crafter, however I seem to create very little for myself and so when people ask me what sort of things I can make I generally have to try to convey past creations through the medium of speech plus or minus outbursts of interpretive dance. A blog will hopefully allow me to record my creations and abominations for posterity, so that when the item, whatever it may be, has grown and flown the nest I can look back and smile proudly or regret not locking it in the attic Mr Rochester Style.

2. Having till now only been of any help to a few friends and a long suffering sister, I would like to share with the general populous of the world the skills and knowledge I have gained from being a lifelong maker (Obviously from this I exclude the years where was I was unable to support the weight of my own head, and the years where access to knitting needles would have likely resulted in a nasty accident and some tough questions from a social worker). I use the word share as although I do get that nice warm feeling that comes with superiority teaching, I know there’s always more than one way to skin a cat (not a craft which I will be covering I hasten to add, merely an expression) and I hope my fellow makers will chip in with their tips and tricks too.

3. And finally, people on blogs always seem to be finishing projects…I conclude, perhaps wrongly, that this is because they have blogs. I seem to never be finishing projects…starting projects is a regular occurrence however and this is where my problem lies. I have boxes full of partially completed items still waiting to achieve their creative destiny. My hope is therefore that by starting this I will suddenly start finishing everything, or otherwise feel so guilty that I force myself to get things done so I may blog about them!

And so dear reader we have a plan…