A love of double pointed needles....

About 18 months after I learnt to knit I decided to try socks. I had been given a ball of sock wool and that seemed as good a reason as any. What I found was that dpns can be really fiddly, and when knitting with 4ply each inch of knitting seems to take forever. I spent most of 2012 avoiding this pair of socks that, quite frankly had me beaten. Every now and again I'd pull them out, add a couple more rows, remember how adding just a couple of rows meant nothing and put them away again. Being someone who likes method and order I couldn't bring myself to start something new with these socks staring at me from the bottom of my knitting bag. I was going to win - except all that meant was I did no knitting.

Just before Christmas that year I finally finished sock number one, and then to my surprise finished sock number two only a couple of weeks later. I was hooked! Since then seven out of nine completed projects have used double pointed needles, from hats to socks to sleeves. Even Hoot was a dpn project (albeit with 5.5mm needles). 

I've just finished these stranded mitts, my first attempt at fair isle knitting. While the tension was definitely not perfect, you can't tell that at a distance and I'm really happy with the overall effect. I've been wearing them the last couple of weeks and the stranded knitting makes them nice and warm. 

And then I've started on a few new projects :

these baby socks (smaller than the last so hopefully they'll be a better fit for the next newborn)

and untangling this microfibre yarn ready to make a mobile phone sock, which I might make flat and seam... just for a change!

Finally back into a ball after a couple of years tying itself in knots in the bottom of our yarn box