New for 2021: Marathon Sock KAL PATCHES!

I don't know about you, but I love a patch! They're perfect for adding to project bags, camp blankets and clothing. So I've teamed up with the fabulous ErisApple to create some super commemorative patches for this year’s Marathon Sock KAL!

The patches feature a sock on the needles, with a yarn ball coming from the stitches, with the slogan 'MARATHON SOCK KAL' above the design and '2021' below. The patches are woven, with a stitched edge, and the design is added in vinyl.

The patches come in four colours: red, green, yellow and blue, and measure 8 cm (3.1 inches) across. Like all the colours? You can choose your favourite, or buy a whole set!

 

Prices

• 1 patch: £7
• 2 patches: £13
• 3 patches: £18.50
• 4 patches: £23.50

Want more than four patches? Extra patches can be added at a cost of £5 each.

Shipping

Prices include UK shipping. 

 

Non-UK orders

If you are outside the UK and want to place an order, fill in the form to let me know which patches you would like, and I’ll contact you with a quote for shipping.

If you live outside the UK, please be aware that you may be charged VAT and fees on your order when it enters your country. You are responsible for paying these fees.

 

How to order 

1. Fill in the form to let me know which patches you would like.
2. I’ll send you an invoice via PayPal with the total of your order (if you are not in the UK, I’ll be in touch about shipping before sending an invoice).
3. Wait excitedly for your patches to arrive (by the end of May 2021)

Pre-orders close April 30th 2021.

Order your patches here!

Image copyright ErisApple.

Marathon Sock KAL 2020 - cast on now!

It's here!

The Marathon Sock KAL - a KAL that involves a collective effort to knit a marathon's worth of yarn* - starts today!

The Marathon Sock KAL starts today and runs through the summer (prime sock-knitting season) or until we have knitted the full 26 miles of yarn.

Do I have to knit the full 26 miles by myself? No, of course not! All you have to do is knit a pair of adult-sized socks, and add a photo of them to the finished-object thread (opening soon) when they're done, noting the amount of yarn used. I'll add up all the yarn lengths from each post, and we should quite quickly have knitted a marathon's worth of yarn.

The chatter thread is open now in my Ravelry group, so you can chat while you cast on and knit your socks.

Happy knitting!

********

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks must be cast-on on or after May 1st 2020
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre) for your metres to count in the total
• New for this year: SECOND SOCKS COUNT! You don't have to knit a full pair of socks, a single sock will count. If you are using a single sock as an entry, please include only the number of metres used to knit that sock
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize on Ravelry, you must be a member of the Ravelry group
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2020; to be eligible for a prize on Instagram, you must follow @vikkibirddesigns on Instagram
• Only hand-knitting/crochet will count, not machine knitting. If you have machine-knitted a sock tube and are adding heels/toes/cuffs by hand, the metres you used for the
  heels/toes/cuffs can be counted towards the total

Prizes

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2020 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread (one entry per 100 m of yarn used)
• One prize drawn from entries in the FO thread that are knitted using a pattern by Vikki Bird Designs (one entry per 100 m of yarn used)

*26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

Marathon Sock KAL 2019: We have crossed the finish line!

A huge thank you to everyone who got involved with the Marathon sock KAL this year. I am delighted to announce that we have crossed the finish line!

The KAL took 91 days (we finished at the end of September), 41,897 m of yarn were knitted, and there were 157 entries. The KAL was completed much faster than last year, so a huge round of applause is deserved! I have drawn the winners from Instagram, the chatter thread and the finished objects thread, and the winners prizes are on their way to them as I type.

If you still have socks on your needles that you cast on for (or before) the KAL, if they're finished by the end of October, you can add them to the warm down thread in my Ravelry group to be in with a chance of winning the final prize package.

If you missed all the excitement of the KAL, don't worry, I'll be running it again next year.

Happy knitting.

Marathon Sock KAL 2019: Last call for entries...

We are almost three months into the Marathon Sock KAL 2019, and, drumroll please, we have completed 41,407 m of the marathon! That's 98.1% of the target!

We really are nearly there - I reckon 3 or 4 more pairs and we'll have done it! Hopefully by the end of September. If your socks aren't quite ready to be posted, don't worry: the chatter thread will stay open for a few weeks after the end of the KAL, and, as soon as I close the FO thread, I will open a warm-down thread for all the socks finished after the final pair has been knitted. These don't have to be Marathon socks - they only have to have been cast on before the KAL ends. This is your chance to finish off all those odd socks you abandoned to join in the KAL! I'll be drawing one prize winner from the warm-down FO thread at the start of November 2019.

********

Want to know more about the Marathon Sock KAL? Keep reading...

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks must be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group and/or following vikkibirddesigns on Instagram
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019
• Double-dipping is permitted
• Socks must be knitted as pairs (no single sock entries)
• If you are entering via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account/do not use Ravelry, you can enter by posting a photo of your socks on Instagram (on your grid, not in your stories), and filling in this form (you can also use this form if, for whatever reason, you are struggling to create an FO thread entry); I will create an FO thread entry based on the information you provide

Prizes (kindly sponsored by LoveCrafts***)

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

********

*Ravelry link. This link will not work if you are not a member of Ravelry. If you have found out about this KAL via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account, but still wish to enter, please post a photo of your finished socks to your Instagram grid (remember to use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019 and tag me, @vikkibirddesigns), then fill in this form and I will create an entry in the FO thread for you

**26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

***Affiliate link

WIP Wednesday: 28th August 2019: Bank holiday sock

Hello! Today is WIP (work in progress) Wednesday, my weekly look at what is currently on my needles. If you'd like to join in, let me know what you're working on in the comments section, or post a link to your own WIP Wednesday blog post.

I posted on Monday about my woeful holiday-knitting this year. Since then, my knitting has had rather an upturn, and I've knitted almost the entire second sock of the pair I didn't knit while I was away! My progress is, at least in part, due to Monday having been a Bank Holiday in the UK, so both my husband and I were at home, and the weather was too hot to do much, especially as we were all winding down after out holiday, so knitting a socks while waiting to switch over the laundry seemed like a good way to spend the day!

These socks aren't my usual colour-palette - they're much fresher and lighter - but I am really enjoying the short stripe-sequence, which makes it easy to see progress.

I’m knitting these socks for my Marathon Sock KAL, which is ongoing in my Ravelry group and on Ravelry. Full details can be found here. The yarn is from Paintbox Yarns,* and was donated for review purposes. Paintbox Yarns have donated several balls of sock yarn as prizes for the KAL, so to be in with a chance of winning a ball, get knitting some socks!

What are you working on this WIP Wednesday?

*Affiliate link.

Marathon Sock KAL 2019: Update: 27th August 2019

We are almost two months into the Marathon Sock KAL 2019, and, drumroll please, we have completed 21,757 m of the marathon! That's 51.6% of the target!

There's still plenty of time to join in, so keep knitting!

And I finally finished a pair. This is my first 254 m of knitting towards the KAL (and I have several more pairs that are almost there).

********

Want to know more about the Marathon Sock KAL? Keep reading...

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks must be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group and/or following vikkibirddesigns on Instagram
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019
• Double-dipping is permitted
• Socks must be knitted as pairs (no single sock entries)
• If you are entering via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account/do not use Ravelry, you can enter by posting a photo of your socks on Instagram (on your grid, not in your stories), and filling in this form (you can also use this form if, for whatever reason, you are struggling to create an FO thread entry); I will create an FO thread entry based on the information you provide

Prizes (kindly sponsored by LoveCrafts***)

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

********

*Ravelry link. This link will not work if you are not a member of Ravelry. If you have found out about this KAL via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account, but still wish to enter, please post a photo of your finished socks to your Instagram grid (remember to use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019 and tag me, @vikkibirddesigns), then fill in this form and I will create an entry in the FO thread for you

**26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

***Affiliate link

WIP Wednesday: 14th August 2019: Cracker joke

Hello! Today is WIP (work in progress) Wednesday, my weekly look at what is currently on my needles. If you'd like to join in, let me know what you're working on in the comments section, or post a link to your own WIP Wednesday blog post.

What goes black, white, black, white, black, white? It’s either a penguin rolling down a hill, or it’s all my current knitting projects!

First up for black and white projects is my sock snake, which is nearing completion. At first I had predicted that I would need the snake to be about 34 inches long, but that was way off, and, having done some maths, I’m now aiming for a much more reasonable 26 inches. The marker is at 20 inches, so there really isn’t much more to go. Once I have a tube of the correct length, I’ll add a pink toe, then go back and add in the other toe, two cuffs and two heels and will have a pair of socks. I’m not sure whether or not I’ve really enjoyed this project, but it has been great summer holiday knitting as it requires precisely no thought once you’ve done the maths to work out how long to make the tube. I’m knitting these socks for my Marathon Sock KAL, which is ongoing in my Ravelry group and on Ravelry. Full details can be found here. The zebra-striped yarn is from Paintbox Yarns,* and was donated for review purposes. Paintbox Yarns have donated several balls of sock yarn as prizes for the KAL, so to be in with a chance of winning a ball, get knitting some socks!

My second black and white project isn’t one I can share, beyond this little peep of some black and white striped stocking stitch. Keep your eyes peeled later in the year to see what these stripes become.

What are you working on this WIP Wednesday?

*Affiliate link.

Marathon Sock KAL 2019: Update: August 2nd 2019

We are one month into the Marathon Sock KAL 2019, and, drumroll please, we have completed 13,504 m of the marathon!

There's still plenty of time to join in. By the next update I might even have managed to finish a pair of socks!

********

Want to know more about the Marathon Sock KAL? Keep reading...

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks must be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group and/or following vikkibirddesigns on Instagram
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019
• Double-dipping is permitted
• Socks must be knitted as pairs (no single sock entries)
• If you are entering via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account/do not use Ravelry, you can enter by posting a photo of your socks on Instagram (on your grid, not in your stories), and filling in this form (you can also use this form if, for whatever reason, you are struggling to create an FO thread entry); I will create an FO thread entry based on the information you provide

Prizes (kindly sponsored by LoveCrafts***)

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

********

*Ravelry link. This link will not work if you are not a member of Ravelry. If you have found out about this KAL via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account, but still wish to enter, please post a photo of your finished socks to your Instagram grid (remember to use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019 and tag me, @vikkibirddesigns), then fill in this form and I will create an entry in the FO thread for you

**26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

***Affiliate link

WIP Wednesday: July 17th 2019: Sock snake

Hello, welcome to WIP Wednesday, my weekly look at what’s currently on my needles.

Sometimes I find that all my works in progress stall simultaneously: a swatch will need blocking, intarsia requires more attention than I have available, my vanilla sock needs a heel; and I end up with nothing easy to work on. This past weekend was busy, and all of my WIPs had reached points that require attention. Rather than go on a long car journey with no knitting, I cast on a simple tube, or a sock snake. I cast on 68 sts and knitted round and round as the miles passed by. No patterning, and no ribbing, heels or toes to get in the way (I can knit without looking, but doing anything more complex in the car makes me feel sick). Once I’ve knitted roughly 34 inches of sock snake, I’ll change to a contrast colour and work a toe, then go back and pick up stitches for the heels, toes and cuffs of both socks. I’m currently thinking a bright pink would look good, or maybe a turquoise - I’ll have a rummage in the stash when I get closer to the end.

I’m really enjoying this sock snake, at least in part because of the yarn, which is dyed to knit as zebra stripes! The yarn is Paintbox Yarns Socks* in the colourway Zebra - Classic, and was gifted to me by LoveCrafts. This sock will be counted towards the totals for the Marathon Sock KAL once it’s done. The KAL started on July 1st and runs until we’ve knitted a full 26 miles of sock yarn! Full details can be found in my Ravelry group.** LoveCrafts have kindly sponsored some of the prizes, so I have lots of balls of Paintbox Yarns Socks to give away at the end of the KAL.

What are you working on this week? Let me know in the comments below, or link to your blog

*Affiliate link.

**Ravelry link; you must be logged in to Ravelry to view this link.

********

The yarn used in this sock snake was gifted to me by LoveCrafts.* All opinions are my own.

The Marathon Sock KAL 2019: FO thread is now OPEN!

The Marathon Sock KAL has been running for a little over a week, and the FO (finished object) thread is now officially open!* The KAL will run until we have knitted the full 26** miles of yarn.

Do I have to knit the full 26 miles by myself? No, of course not! All you have to do is knit a pair of adult-sized socks, and add a photo of them to the finished object thread (open now!)* when they're done, noting the amount of yarn used. I'll add up all the yarn lengths from each entry, and we should quite quickly have knitted a marathon's worth of yarn.

The chatter thread is also open in my Ravelry group,* so you can chat while you cast on and knit your socks.

Happy knitting!

********

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules (updated to clarify a few points)

• Socks must be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group and/or following vikkibirddesigns on Instagram
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019
• Double-dipping is permitted
• Socks must be knitted as pairs (no single sock entries)
• If you are entering via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account/do not use Ravelry, you can enter by posting a photo of your socks on Instagram (on your grid, not in your stories), and filling in this form (you can also use this form if, for whatever reason, you are struggling to create an FO thread entry); I will create an FO thread entry based on the information you provide

Prizes (kindly sponsored by LoveCrafts***)

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

********

*Ravelry link. This link will not work if you are not a member of Ravelry. If you have found out about this KAL via Instagram and do not have a Ravelry account, but still wish to enter, please post a photo of your finished socks to your Instagram grid (remember to use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019 and tag me, @vikkibirddesigns), then fill in this form and I will create an entry in the FO thread for you

**26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

***Affiliate link

The Marathon Sock KAL 2019: Cast on now!

It's here!

The Marathon Sock KAL - a KAL that involves a collective effort to knit a marathon's worth of yarn* - starts today!

The Marathon Sock KAL starts today and runs through the summer (prime sock-knitting season) or until we have knitted the full 26 miles of yarn.

Do I have to knit the full 26 miles by myself? No, of course not! All you have to do is knit a pair of adult-sized socks, and add a photo of them to the finished object thread (opening soon) when they're done, noting the amount of yarn used. I'll add up all the yarn lengths from each entry, and we should quite quickly have knitted a marathon's worth of yarn.

The chatter thread is open now in my Ravelry group, so you can chat while you cast on and knit your socks.

Happy knitting!

********

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019

Prizes

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

*26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

The Marathon Sock KAL 2019: 10 days to go...

It's almost here: the Marathon Sock KAL - a KAL that involves a collective effort to knit a marathon's worth of yarn.*

The KAL will start on July 1st 2019, and run through the summer (prime sock-knitting season) or until we have knitted the full 26 miles of yarn.

Do I have to knit the full 26 miles by myself? No, of course not! All you have to do is knit a pair of adult-sized socks, and add a photo of them to the finished object thread when they're done, noting the amount of yarn used. I'll add up all the yarn lengths from each entry, and we should quite quickly have knitted a marathon's worth of yarn.

The chatter thread is open now in my Ravelry group, so you can start chatting about your plans for the KAL.

Until then, happy knitting.

********

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019

Prizes

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

*26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

The Marathon Sock KAL 2019: coming soon...

You may remember that last year, I hosted the Marathon Sock KAL - a KAL that involved a collective effort to knit a marathon's worth of yarn.* Well, it will be back this year!

Rather than start the KAL alongside the London Marathon, which was the original inspiration for the KAL, the KAL will start on July 1st 2019, and run through the summer (prime sock-knitting season) or until we have knitted the full 26 miles of yarn.

Do I have to knit the full 26 miles by myself? No, of course not! All you have to do is knit a pair of adult-sized socks, and add a photo of them to the finished object thread when they're done, noting the amount of yarn used. I'll add up all the yarn lengths from each entry, and we should quite quickly have knitted a marathon's worth of yarn.

I've opened a chatter thread in my Ravelry group, where you can start chatting about your plans for the KAL.

Until then, happy knitting.

********

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Socks be cast-on on or after July 1st 2019
• Socks can be knitted or crocheted in any yarn weight
• All socks must have a proper heel (no yoga or tube socks)
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group
• If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #marathonsockkal2019

Prizes

• One prize drawn from #marathonsockkal2019 on Instagram
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

*26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

FO Friday: Marpleridge socks

One of the things I have been meaning to do for approximately forever is to knit socks for my husband. The small stumbling block has been that his feet are a UK size 14 and require over 100 g of sock yarn to knit a pair of socks. As anyone who routinely buys sock yarn in the UK knows, it usually comes in 100 g balls, so buying a second just to knit one pair of socks is a bit of a pain.

In April I finally bit the bullet and order two balls of Opal Solids in the colourway Petrol - I figured that something fairly neutral would be more likely to get worn, and that my husband would probably get more use out of socks made from a slightly more robust sock yarn than socks made from a merino-nylon blend.

As I wanted to keep these socks a surprise, I hid them in plain sight in a unicorn print project bag that was unlikely to draw any attention as it's one I use a lot, and used my trusty copy of Custom Socks by Kate Atherley to work out the sizing (if you knit socks as gifts, the sizing charts at the front of the book are worth the price alone!).

I knew that these socks were going to require quite a lot of knitting (I cast on 76 sts), and that the legs would require over 100 rows, so decided to knit socks with a simple pattern to them to keep me interested, and to make it easier to keep track of the row count for the various sections. The Marpleridge socks pattern from Custom socks ticked almost all the boxes (the largest stitch count given is slightly smaller than I needed, but as it's a 4 stitch repeat, it was easy enough for me to modify the pattern): the 4 row repeat was easy to count as every fourth row is a garter ridge (and I can reliably count to 22 if the markers are nice and clear), and knitting the 4 stitch pattern really wasn't much harder than knitting a vanilla sock.

I was surprised at how quickly these socks knitted up. I cast them on on May 7th (the first day of the Marathon sock KAL) and finished them by the end of May. I presented the first sock to my husband as a birthday present and after that point had to finish knitting them as he knew about them!

Here are the finished socks. I think they went down well - the photo is after wear as he wanted to wear them to work before I got a chance to take a photo of them! I might even make him another pair (eventually!).

********

Pattern: Marpleridge by Kate Atherley
Yarn: Opal Solids (Zwerger Garn Opal 4-ply) in 5187 Petrol
Ravelry project page

FO Friday: Sock amnesty

You may recall that I am currently running a Marathon Sock KAL over in my Ravelry group (you can find out about it here). Well, when the KAL started, a few people asked whether WIPs (works-in-progress) were allowed. While I decided that they wouldn't be allowed for the main KAL, I did decide that they would be allowed for a separate warm-up thread to encourage people to get some socks finished before casting on their marathon socks. Handily this also acted as an encouragement for me to get some socks finished.

Starlight Express socks

First I decided to finish my 'Starlight Express' socks. I started these socks somewhere near the start of the year, and nicknamed them Starlight Express after the very sparkly, very 80s appropriate stripey yarn (which I bought at the British Wool Show last year). I had planned to knit these using the Vanilla is the New Black pattern, but I reached the heel section while I was on the train to Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March, and working a new heel is not conducive to relaxed train or sociable knitting, so I carried on knitting a tube ready to add afterthought heels at the end.

I simultaneously enjoyed and didn't enjoy knitting these socks. The knitting itself was fine - I always find knitting stripes motivational, but the stripes are quite wide, and somewhat muddy (there is no clear distinction between the end of one stripe and the start of the next), all of which slowed me down a bit. Matching the tubes was easy enough - I somehow managed to find the same point in the stripe sequence twice (this was quite possibly luck rather than judgement), but matching the heels proved much harder - I ended up knitting the second heel twice to improve the match and they still aren't perfect...

Afterthought heels - a small leap of faith...

The finished socks are lovely to wear though. Having knitted a lot of socks I now know that I like my sock yarn to be that bit grippier, so this commercial Opal sock yarn is perfect. I also think this may be the first pair of sparkly socks I have kept for myself! Every other pair has been gifted to someone else.

Pattern: Afterthought heel socks - improvised, so no pattern
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Funny mit Silbereffekt, colourway 9332 Heiter
Ravelry project page

******** 

Festive sockalong socks

The second pair of socks I finished for the warm-up portion of the Marathon sock KAL is the socks I cast on in November for the Festive Socklong that was being run by Amy from the Stranded Podcast. When I went to hunt these out I wasn't sure how much I had knitted, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had knitted the whole of the first sock, so just needed to knit the second to match. 

Having looked through my notes on Ravelry and in my phone (the two default places for writing notes about how I knitted socks) and coming up with nothing helpful, I had to examine the first sock carefully to establish how I knitted it. It turns out I had knitted the sock from the toe-up, with a Fish Lips Kiss heel, which was easy enough to replicate. I did fail on getting the socks to match fully as I didn't take into account that the yarn had two sections in the same colour on each colour repeat, oops. Not that it matters - the two socks have come out remarkably similar! One small thing I did on these socks that I do quite a lot with yarn that has pooled into stripes is to work the heel from the opposite end of the ball of yarn. This means you can work the heel without disrupting the striping, and I find it a pleasing fix.

While I could put these socks into a box and save them for Christmas-time, I've put them in my regular sock drawer as I think they're pretty subtly festive. I'm looking forward to wearing these ones.

Pattern: Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist

Yarn: Unbelievawool Merino Nylon 75/25 in the colourway Jolly Holiday (a club colourway from December 2016)

Ravelry project page

All the cast-ons!

It's a bank holiday in the U.K. today, and, somewhat unusually, gloriously sunny! It's also the start of my Marathon Sock KAL*, so I'm going to make an effort to cast on some new socks today. There are three major options: long-anticipated socks for my husband (he has rather large feet, so the project will be a long one), or sparkly socks for me, or stripy socks for me (both in yarns that have been wound for ages, but never quite made it to the needles). Or maybe all three...

Three projects lined up, all ready to go

Socks that might take a while...

Sparkly firework yarn

Pastel stripes with contrast heels, cuffs and toes

I had originally made the KAL a WIP-free zone, but decided to add a warm-up thread for those who wanted to get a few things finished before casting on something new.** I have more than one or two sock WIPs lying about, so in the past week I have finished one pair of socks and started the second sock on my long-abandoned Christmas Sockalong socks that I started last November. I have no idea why the festive socks got abandoned, the yarn is lovely and the micro-stripes make for an enjoyable project. By the end of the week I think I might actually have salvaged some sock needles!

Starlight express socks!

Christmas in May...

I have one other cast-on planned for today: a baby blanket for a friend. It'll be a second Peter Rabbit blanket, knitted in bright pink chunky yarn, so good and quick once I get started. Today might not be the best day to cast on a chunky weight project as it is rather warm, but the sooner I start, the sooner I'll finish. This blanket will be my big project for my Blanket Along.***

The original blanket

New colours!

If you want me today, you'll find me outside, knitting in hand, enjoying the sunshine! Happy knitting!

*For more details on that, read this post. The Ravelry thread is lovely and busy!

**Full details can be found in the Ravelry thread. To be eligible, WIPs much have been cast on before May 1st 2018; the FO thread will close early on June 1st 2018. To access the thread, you need to be a member on Ravelry; membership is free.

***Another KAL I am currently hosting in my Ravelry group. The thread isn't as busy as the Sock Marathon thread, but there are plenty of inspiring projects, and you can enter with WIPs if you want a push to get something finished. Again you must be a member of Ravelry to join in.

The Marathon sock KAL!

In April it was the London Marathon, which is televised in the UK. Over the morning of the marathon I had various friends texting me about things that were happening during the coverage. As ever, it did briefly cross my mind that one day I could run a marathon, but I haven't run in a very long time (not more than chasing children level running anyway, and before that I was never a serious runner), so it's not something I would naturally do. So instead my mind turned to things that could be done that relate to the length of a marathon. As I was knitting a pair of socks at the time, I idly wondered how many pairs of socks would need to be knitted to knit a whole 26(.219) miles of sock yarn. The answer is quite a lot – 141 pairs of UK size 10 socks to be precise.*

I quickly realised that knitting a Marathon's-worth of socks was going to take rather a long time. But what about if I had help? Which gave me the idea for a new knitalong: the Sock Marathon KAL.

The KAL will be running from May 7th in my Ravelry group, and will continue until a full Marathon's-worth of socks have been knitted! There are a few rules, which I've listed below, but anyone is welcome to join in – the more the merrier! To join the KAL, head over to the chatter thread in my Ravelry group,** introduce yourself, and tell me what you're planning on knitting.

How long do you think the KAL will take? Do you think we'll be done by the 2019 London Marathon?

Happy knitting everyone!

********

Aim

Knit a Marathon's worth of socks: 26.219 miles of sock yarn converted into socks.

Rules

• Any yarn weight, any pattern
• Must be cast-on on or after May 7th 2018
• The KAL will close once the full 26 miles of yarn have been knitted
• You must post a photo of your pair of socks to the KAL FO thread, including the exact number of metres of yarn you used (to the nearest metre)
• I'll keep a running total for the group
• To be eligible for a prize, you must be a member of the Ravelry group

Prizes

• One prize for the person who knits the most metres
• One prize drawn from the chatter thread
• One prize drawn from the FO thread

FO thread template

• Date cast on:
• Date cast off:
• Link to your Ravelry project page
• Number of metres of yarn used***

*26.219 miles = 42 195 m; each of my pairs of socks uses approximately 300 m of yarn (assuming sock weight yarn at 400 m per 100 g)

**You'll need to be a member of Ravelry to join in the KAL. Membership is free.

***You must use metres for this KAL – 1 yd = 0.91 m