New pattern release: Comb Gill socks

I am pleased to say that the second pattern in my sock series - Walks in Lakeland is published today.

Comb Gill - Louise Tilbrook Designs

The Comb Gill socks were inspired by a recent family walk up the mountain of Glaramara, this design represents the second in a series of four.

After you leave the fell wall and sheep behind you, you start the failry steep ascent and Comb Gill (pronounced Coombe Gill) provides an ideal spot for a quick drink and a breather. 

A scenic stopping point where a mountain beck cascades over dark grey slate and granite.

Comb Gill, Borrowdale

The small twisted cables in this sock echo the paths taken as the water finds it own way down the mountainside, carving intricate niches and channels as it does so.

As with many of my patterns, this is offered in both cuff down and toe-up formats - although I'm hoping to win you all over to the way of the toe-up eventually :)

Until midnight on Sunday April 19th, 2015 this pattern is offered with a 25% discount applied at the checkout - no code needed.

For added fun and for those speedy knitters amongst you, knitting a pair of your very own Comb Gill socks and posting a picture to your Ravelry project page (and in the FO thread on my Ravlery group - link here) will get you a discount code for 50% off any of my other patterns.

So, grab your needles and join me..next stop is the wild and rocky summit of Glaramara

 

FO Friday: Socks and more socks

This week my FOs are all about socks it would seem.

 

A combination of a family holiday (we visited the Lake District and had a lovely time - thank you) and school holidays has meant a lot of busy days and brain-frying activity. Some days I didn't manage to knit a single stitch - and my DH rapidly realised that a 'mummy-day' was needed in order to preserve my sanity. 

 

 

The saintly man occupied the boys singlehandedly in wet woodland for over 6 hrs whilst I climbed my first solo Wainwright peak - Whin Rigg - and then spent a happy few hours by myself in front of a log fire, happily sock knitting.

(For the record, the males of the family erected a tarp for shelter, made hot soup and noodles on the camping stove, ate marshmallows and made a bow and arrow set)

 

Thankfully, before we went away I found my long-lost project bag and my one-and-a-half socks in the Golden Skein yarn  - from Desert Vista Dyeworks.

 

I opted for an afterthought heel (using this tutorial) in order to preserve the stripes and I love the way they turned out.

 

In addition I also packed a skein of The Knitting Goddess yarn in Ducks Ditty - a fabulously cheery colourway which was instantly claimed by my DS1. Indeed, so smitten was he with the yarn that he took to sleeping with it under his pillow at night hoping that the tooth fairy's sister would work her magic and leave him with a lovely pair of toe-up, mid-calf socks.

The sock knitting fairy took slightly longer to produce the socks than he would like, but she got there in the end.