Le Challenge - Single

Le Challenge - Single - A single Sock, what else?

always a single lonely sock in the washing

I love Le Challenge, its thinking outside the box time. Great fun. Each month, Lucy from Charm About You and Natalie from Made In Home set a challenge with a prize from the Fat Quarter Shop. Much the same folks enter each month and link up, a real on line community, mostly quilters though we dabble in all sorts.

Lucy and Natalie suggested Beyonce, All The Single Ladies. Well, he did put a ring on it for me 30 years ago, and this year I even got another ring. My long service reward do you think?

So, Single, I used to love those Single cheese slices. Brilliant with white bread, a slice of processed ham and a little mustard. Those were in my single days, since marriage we don't eat white bread, and we definitely don't eat sliced processed cheese, or plastic cheese we called it on picnics.

other cheeses are available 

So, Single, I used to buy single records with my pocket money. Donny Osmond and Puppy Love was my first ever single. My first ever LP was the Osmonds and Crazy Horses. On a theme here. My husband still loves his vinyl and is forever buying, sorry collecting, that really rare record he must have. Do you know you can even buy a special bath for your vinyl collection? A whole hobby there.

singles courtesy of husband,
don't tell him they are probably replaced in the wrong order. 

So. Single, nowadays my thing about single is all the single socks that come out of the laundry. They go in in pairs, two at a time, like the animals going into the ark. But ... they come out in ones. Never understood that. I even made a yellow checked drawstring bag to hold my collection of odd socks when the kids were all at home.

So, say hello to my single sock. Handcrafted by myself. The yarn is Stadtgefluster by Opal, german wool bought locally in Jean's Wool Shop on the Cregagh Road in Belfast. A wool shop visited by my mother and aunts way back when I was a babby in the 1960s and it is still thriving, even through the wilderness years when knitting was a no no. I chose the wool because it reminded of a pigeon's chest, that lovely combination of blue, grey and cream that shimmers in the light. Only I don't see any shimmer here, though they might "hum" after a while. The needles were bought last year in The Loop in Philadelphia, a great wool shop if you should be passing by.  The sock was for my husband but is smaller than anticipated so will do the daughter. I have knitted 4 pairs of socks now, all from the same pattern and none of them have knitted up exactly the same. Go figure!

pattern from Darn It and Stitch, Oxford

loving these pigeon colours

trying for fit

Don't think I'll bother knitting up the second, just might cut the middle man and stop at one.

 ps Don't you love my sock knitting bag? My extra from my IG mini swap from Donna who has her ig and etsy shop The Modern Maker . Just perfect for socks.

even the label matches the wool

Helen x
linking up with Le Challenge - Single