Socks finished.

Here you see the latest socks for the hospice, posh yarn think it is sophia?
Done on 3.25mm knitpicks harmony circulars using magic loop technique

Gratuitous closeup of the heel for you

Sock knitting may have become easier:)

Isn't this lovely? A real old lady and in excellent condition.

Dumb down TV:( Why do I bother?socks and donations:)

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the almost moronic TV we are now subjected to?
Documentaries can't be shown without distracting music being played all the way through them. Entertainment isn't entertainment without rubbish music throughout, quite often drowning any dialogue. Serious programme has to have funeral music. Watch any drama or should I say don't watch it but have it on whilst reading or knitting(or both) You know what is happening by the music.
Animal Park I used to watch quite often, after all it is Longleat and if you read my previous post you know that is on the list of "hope to do for this year". Insane music throughout and a dependence on the drama side.Also what is with the show a little of the item then say we will be back later. Can't we see each article in full before going on to the next one? Hallo this is supposed to be entertainment.
My latest rant, Going Green with Dick Strawbridge. Fairly good first series but this one is dire. In fact so dire I didn't even watch to the end. It is even more jokey than normal. Perhaps that is because they don't think viewers can understand normal speech, or indeed any item that lasts longer than 2 minutes. Wella fter allw e have the attention span of fleas according to them.The item on using crystal deodorants was pathetic. Use this, play football, smell our underarms WOW it works. It has got to the point now where unless it is a must watch(and those inevitably disappoint) I don't bother but get out a DVD.
I think the only regularly watched programmes chez Moggie are Eggheads; although I can't stand Jeremy Vine he is too patronising, Flog It in case we have something that is worth a mint and we can flog it. That's it off the top of my head.
Now lest you think all the moggie does is moan I have some finished socks to show you and some wonderful donations.

The red socks are finished for YOSH, pattern improvised, yarn DK,BFL dyed by moi.


Here you see the first items for January for YOSH. 1 hat and 1 pair of socks.

Then the dear postie brought some rather generous donations for YOSH.
Firstly from Ruth these 2 silky soft skeins.
I'm thinking Spring colours here, are you?

Then from Dreamcatcher, this fabulous set of pinks to knit up:)

Are we sensing a theme in colour choices? I will really love knitting these up thank you both.

Questions on donating to YOSH

For some reason I called it KOSH the other day it is off course YOSH (year of hats and socks)
I've had several questions sent about donating.
Email address is amber(dot)moggie(at)virgin(dot)net, replacing the bracketed words with the appropriate symbols please.
Secondly type of yarn. This can be double knit,worsted or thicker. Wool content, preferably wool or a wool blend please as my aim is to knit something luxurious for the hospice patients and their families. Something a little different to the socks and hats you can buy at the likes of Pr1m&rk or Asd&
Last year I used yarns such as socks that rock, posh yarn, fyberspates, wollmeise, the knittery to name a few. Also Regia,opal and so forth.It was good to knit with them and I know the finished socks were a pleasure to receive. This year I thought thicker yarns for 2 reasons, not just the warmth factor but my poor hands struggling with fine yarns and fine needles.
Let's face it if you are a patient or a relation of a patient receiving hospice care then receiving something that bit special as a gift out of the blue is good.
BW I have seen the knitting method you mention but haven't tried it yet.
The other thing is , following on from my previous post ,I love making the so called vanilla or simple socks.They showcase the yarns which are variegated and secondly and more importantly they allow me to work on them unfocused. It is a meditation tool if you like.

Hopes for the year and re-awakening the inner moon

In previous years I've done a list of what I'd like to achieve in the year. Not resolutions as such but hopes and dreams. Sometimes they happen sometimes not but as the the song says "you've got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream how you gonna make a dream come true?"


1. I'd love this year to be the year Mr Mog and I get to Longleat. We've wanted to go ever since I can remember . Trouble is that cost of fuel to Longleat, accommodation for at least 2 nights due to distance and amount to see, incredible cost to do everything there = much too much unless we win the Lottery or something.
2. I'd love to get to the Knitting and Stitching show at London, negatives see above.
3. I'd love to take Mr Mog on a weeks cruising the canals. We both miss our narrowboat we used to live on. Things stopping us, see above.
4. Exceed my total of 39 pairs of socks for the hospice even though I'm also making hats this year.
I may add to or take from this list.
I think the sheep have been down to the beach for a paddle don't you?

I had a dream last night and woke from it with the words "awakening your inner moon". I'm taking this to mean becoming more in tune with the moons cycle and being aware that at certain times of the moon my energies will be lower. This isn't a bad thing or a good thing just something I need to be aware of. I am aware of where the moon is in its cycle but maybe not of where me and my energy is.
This year we are hoping to get to Wonderwool as well as Woolfest. I'm sending out the thought that we want a small caravan to allow us to do this and be comfortable. Whether that be one of our own or a loan for each festival doesn't matter. If it is meant it will happen.
This morning was gorgeous for all of 2 hours, bright blue skies and sunshine. We managed to get on to the promenade for a while and really enjoyed it. Fortunately we went when we did as the weather then changed into grey cloud with freezing mist.
We managed to get several pictures which Mr Mog will no doubt be showing later. I chose these. I think I'm going to do an occasional series of pictures of rooftops. Here is the beginning of that quest.

KOSH 1st hat and socks

1st hospice socks for this year are on the needles and in the red ones case almost off.

I dyed the red yarn for the solid KAL and I'm sadly much behind. They are DK BFL and I love the colour. I decided to have these as January socks because the colour reminds me that this time of year we are longing for the warmth and the sun.
Then these socks I think the yarn is poshyarns. Very silky to the touch and a great double knit. Easy on the hands to knit which helps. The colour of these is perfect for the colour of the sky at dawn with the faint patches of pink as the sun rises.
Then we have the first hat for the year:). This is the aran I dyed and to me is a great colour for the light on snowy ground. Pattern is an adapted one to take advantage of using magic loop technique.
Don't you think Lydia wears it well?
Well there you go the start of my years hospice knitting. We are off.

Poets Calendar for hospice knitting/dyeing inspiration

The post by Leanne at Somerset Seasons today was a reminder that I was going to post the poem by Henry Longfellow called Poet's Calendar. I thought it a great idea for inspiration on my hospice lunar year of socks and hats. Think I need an abbreviation for that don't you? How about YOSH?
Without further ado

The Poet's Calendar

JANUARY
Janus am I; oldest of potentates;
Forward I look, and backward, and below
I count, as god of avenues and gates,
The years that through my portals come and go.

I block the roads, and drift the fields with snow;
I chase the wild-fowl from the frozen fen;
My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow,
My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men.


FEBRUARY

I am lustration, and the sea is mine!
I wash the sands and headlands with my tide;
My brow is crowned with branches of the pine;
Before my chariot-wheels the fishes glide.
By me all things unclean are purified,
By me the souls of men washed white again;
E'en the unlovely tombs of those who died
Without a dirge, I cleanse from every stain.


MARCH

I Martius am! Once first, and now the third!
To lead the Year was my appointed place;
A mortal dispossessed me by a word,
And set there Janus with the double face.
Hence I make war on all the human race;
I shake the cities with my hurricanes;
I flood the rivers and their banks efface,
And drown the farms and hamlets with my rains.


APRIL

I open wide the portals of the Spring
To welcome the procession of the flowers,
With their gay banners, and the birds that sing
Their song of songs from their aerial towers.
I soften with my sunshine and my showers
The heart of earth; with thoughts of love I glide
Into the hearts of men; and with the Hours
Upon the Bull with wreathed horns I ride.


MAY

Hark! The sea-faring wild-fowl loud proclaim
My coming, and the swarming of the bees.
These are my heralds, and behold! my name
Is written in blossoms on the hawthorn-trees.
I tell the mariner when to sail the seas;
I waft o'er all the land from far away
The breath and bloom of the Hesperides,
My birthplace. I am Maia. I am May.


JUNE

Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine
The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights
And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,
The foliage of the valleys and the heights.
Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights;
The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;
I am the mother of all dear delights;
I am the fairest daughter of the year.


JULY

My emblem is the Lion, and I breathe
The breath of Libyan deserts o'er the land;
My sickle as a sabre I unsheathe,
And bent before me the pale harvests stand.
The lakes and rivers shrink at my command,
And there is thirst and fever in the air;
The sky is changed to brass, the earth to sand;
I am the Emperor whose name I bear.


AUGUST

The Emperor Octavian, called the August,
I being his favorite, bestowed his name
Upon me, and I hold it still in trust,
In memory of him and of his fame.
I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame
Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage;
Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim
The golden Harvests as my heritage.


SEPTEMBER

I bear the Scales, where hang in equipoise
The night and day; and when unto my lips
I put my trumpet, with its stress and noise
Fly the white clouds like tattered sails of ships;
The tree-tops lash the air with sounding whips;
Southward the clamorous sea-fowl wing their flight;
The hedges are all red with haws and hips,
The Hunter's Moon reigns empress of the night.


OCTOBER

My ornaments are fruits; my garments leaves,
Woven like cloth of gold, and crimson dyed;
I do not boast the harvesting of sheaves,
O'er orchards and o'er vineyards I preside.
Though on the frigid Scorpion I ride,
The dreamy air is full, and overflows
With tender memories of the summer-tide,
And mingled voices of the doves and crows.

NOVEMBER

The Centaur, Sagittarius, am I,
Born of Ixion's and the cloud's embrace;
With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly,
A steed Thessalian with a human face.
Sharp winds the arrows are with which I chase
The leaves, half dead already with affright;
I shroud myself in gloom; and to the race
Of mortals bring nor comfort nor delight.


DECEMBER

Riding upon the Goat, with snow-white hair,
I come, the last of all. This crown of mine
Is of the holly; in my hand I bear
The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.
I celebrate the birth of the Divine,
And the return of the Saturnian reign;--
My songs are carols sung at every shrine.
Proclaiming "Peace on earth, good will to men."

Holiday yarn knit up into socks

These socks were made from the gorgeous yarn that Laal Bear gave me for Yule. I love how they have knit up. I thought for a change I would do plain colour heels. I don't like to be conventional as you no doubt have guessed by now so I didn't match them. I thought it would add to the fun:)
Thanks Ursula for the yarn. I would urge anyone interested in hand painted yarns to catch up with the Laal Bear.
Yarn is double knit and it took me 3 days I think to complete the socks.

Themes/ideas for year of hospice knitting

This post will be added to as inspiration strikes:)
Please note this is not a finished list, you are very welcome to add to it.
The idea is to give a list of moons, flowers, trees,colours and ideas for the year to help anyone wishing to dye yarn or donate yarn for the hospice project. However, should you wish to donate something that just feels right to you then that is brilliant. We all have ideas and likes or dislikes of colours. I would thank those who have already offered donations, I do appreciate it as will the hospice.
Without further ado:-

Moons of the year,
this list varies with what you read and where. Take this as a starting point.

January - Wolf moon, deepest darkest point of the year. Tree Birch and later in the month Rowan, colours I think of for January are grey and white, Zodiac signs are Capricorn and Aquarius. I always think of January as hope, a new year and new beginnings on the calendar. Days becoming gradually longer so maybe in the colours a touch of rose and palest pink for brighter dawns?

February - Chaste moon, spring is on its way slowly. Snowdrops and aconites are showing their heads through the snow. Trees, Rowan and Ash. Colours yellow white fresh green. Zodiac signs Aquarius and Pisces. Maybe water colours for Pisces? On the wheel of the year Imbolc. Valentines Day is also in this month.

March - Seed Moon. Trees Ash and Alder. Zodiac signs Pisces and Aries. On the wheel of the year it is Spring Equinox and Ostara. Easter lies somewhere between March and April so colours from then maybe golds rich yellow and rich green?

April - Hare Moon, Trees Alder and Willow, Zodiac signs Aries and Taurus

May - Dyad Moon, Trees Willow and Hawthorn. Zodiac signs Taurus and Gemini. On the wheel of the year Beltaine a fire festival. Think fire colours maybe?

June - Mead Moon. Trees are Hawthorn and Oak. Zodiac signs Gemini and Cancer. On the wheel of the year it is Summer Solstice, longest day.

July - Wort Moon. Trees Oak and Holly. Zodiac signs Cancer and Leo. Colours for me are fire colours, golds reds oranges. Simply because I am Leo and they are my colours. Also reflecting the peak of growing season.

August - Barley Moon. Trees Holly and Hazel. Zodiac signs Leo and Virgo. On the wheel Lughnasadh or Lammas. Harvest colours would go well here.

September - Harvest or Hunters Moon. Trees are Hazel and Vine. Zodiac signs Virgo and Libra. On the wheel it is Autumn Equinox. Maybe complimentary colours for the balance of Libra?

October - Blood Moon reflecting the time to slaughter animals for food for the winter. Trees are Vine and Ivy. Zodiac signs are Libra and Scorpio. Wheel of the year it is Samhain. Also Halloween and Day of the Dead. All Hallows Eve. Lots of names for this time of year. A new year in pagan beliefs.

November - Snow Moon. Trees are Ivy and Reed. Zodiac signs are Scorpio and Sagittarius.

December- Oak Moon. Trees are Reed and Elder. Zodiac signs are Sagittarius and Capricorn. Wheel of the year this is Yule or Winter Solstice. Also Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah I think?
Colours- reds greens?

Blue Moon - 13th Moon of the year can be placed differently each year - Storm Moon.

This is a (very) small selection of ideas and inspirations. I'd welcome any additions to my incomplete list. I just wanted to try and get something down to reflect my ideas for the year.
I'm going to make a hat in the aran yarn with purple grey splashes. Reflecting the bruising skies in January and the almost monochromatic landscape. For my socks I'm wondering whether a white with speckles of faint colour would go well? Do you remember how we used to speckle paper with a toothbrush? You would see faint traces of the colours that are to come throughout the year.
As always do leave your comments on this. I'll be adding it to my side bar somehow so you don't always need to scroll through.
I've had 2 offers of yarn already, thank you for that.

Hospice year of # 3 will be socks and hats Yarn needed please.

I've come to a decision. The hospice "year of " for this year will be socks and hats. I decided they would do most good for hospice patients and families. Scarves are all very well as are fingerless gloves but what a person needs most to keep warm is socks and scarves.
My aim will be 1 pair of socks and 1 hat for each of the 13 moons of the year. I am hoping that like last year it will be much more.
This will be my third year of hospice knitting. First year was shawls, last year was socks. Getting to be quite a habit isn't it?
As always if anyone wants to donate yarn I'd be thrilled. Preferably worsted, double knit or thicker please due to my hand problems with sock yarn.
I've also had a very generous donation from Ruth Woolly Wormhead who has donated a copy of wee woolly toppers her hat book. Thank you Ruth.
My first pair of socks for January's moon are on the needles.
Watch this space.

Felicitations for the new year, current knitting and SP gift

Happy new year to all, may the forthcoming days bring much joy amongst the gloom.
All the forecasts are of depression,credit crunch and so forth but amongst that there is much to enjoy and be grateful for. Good friends, good health hopefully for all and joy to be taken when and where we find it.
With that in mind look at what the postman brought me on the last day of the year. A gift from my SP:))
Fabulous new book that I'd been eyeing on amazon but decided I couldn't get what with Yule gifts and all.
Mountain colors bearfoot yarn in my kind of colours:) I love bearfoot, I've knit with it before and it isn't too fine for the current state of my hands. It is almost DK I think? A delightful card that my SP got from Stitches. Thank you SP for the lovely gifts.
Then I've been doing some knitting this past week. This is the red I dyed to make socks for the Rav solid socks KAL. Sadly it is a little fine so I'm struggling to knit it. I haven't finished for December but hey ho. I will get them done in due course. I decided they needed a little patterning as they were semi solid and to me that was boring:)

I do love variegated yarns they always make me smile and are cheery somehow to knit with.

These definitely made me smile:) ArtisAnne brought the yarn as a gift when she came to stay a few days ago. Hand dyed by her the yarn is alpaca nylon and yummy. Feels like silk to knit and these socks were made in just over 2 days. Not bad considering we had visitors and neither Anne nor I knit all the time. We went to see the Laal Bears on Monday and had the most tasty lunch there. Sadly I wasn't too well so we had to leave a little early but I was glad we went. Anne and Tony left on Tuesday and it seemed oddly flat afterwards, we had such fun.
I thought I'd better start another project and it is socks again:)
This is the yarn that Ursula gave me for Yule. Isn't it gorgeous? I'm actually half way down the foot now. I've done the heel in a solid yarn that she gave me to compliment the variegated and it does. DK so easier to knit. I am sorry that I can't enjoy sock yarn or 4ply at the moment but comfort my self with the fact I can still knit with thicker yarns.

Yesterday was dreadful, freezing fog all day and dark most of the day. We went to pick up a new laptop for Mr Mog at T£sco. I don't like the firm at all but they did have the most reasonable laptop with a good price so it had to be. Mr Mog is very pleased with it and indeed so am I. So speedy and good to use. It is far easier than this PC and added advantage I could blog in bed on bad days:) Mr Mog has graciously said I can use it:)
Today is glorious though extremely cold. We have been up to the promenade for a very short walk, far too cold for me to stay out long but delightful in a perverse sort of way. Certainly makes you appreciate the warm house when you come back in.
We took several pictures but I love this one. Can you see all the frost on the rocks?
I am thinking of trying to do a photo a day for this year. We will see how long that lasts.
I don't make resolutions per se but normally do a little hand made book with things I would like to achieve in the coming year.
Watch this space next December to see how many happened.