episode 119 | it's a 20k giveaway

EPISODE 119 SHOW NOTES

This week I reached 20,000 subscribers on YouTube!! Hurrah!

You can find out more and the T&C’s for the giveaway below.

FINISHED

I finished Darren’s socks for Christmas - it seems that starting them in August was a good idea after all.

I made these socks using the amazing Storm sock set from Studiomeez that comes with the main skein of starry night delightfulness with two minis in a silver and a brown. It’s finally clicked that the reason they’ve worked up so big is that the yarn is 100% merino and thus has no nylon in it. Many lessons learned from this experience but he can wear them with his boots, it’ll be okay.

I’ve got quite a bit of yarn leftover so I’m definitely making a second pair for me so we can do some serious husband/wife twinning! I reckon he’ll be well up for that!

WIPS

I’ve got all the Christmas projects on the needles right now and they are mighty fine.

Firstly I have almost finished the first of Betsy’s advent socks. She chose the 24 ‘unicorn themed’ balls of yarn to go in the bag (mainly in pinks, purples and blues) so she’s much happier than previous years where I’ve picked the yarn scraps.

I’m working ten rows of each colour over 60 stitches on 2.25mm needles.

My next two pairs of socks are both 24 Days Socks the first ones using my advent swap from Amy @noblecharactercrafts. We decided to do a swap this year and it’s so lovely to open a parcel from Amy each day to see what colour she’s chosen. I’m keeping these socks in my Coco & Flora ‘I think it’s Christmas anyway’ bag and I’m using Aloe Sockwool in White (100) for the main colour and the colours from Amy’s advent so far are:

Day 1. Yarn Bee Color Idyll in Lapis Stone

Day 2. Sweet Fiber in Something Blue

Day 3. A Homespun House in an unknown colourway

Day 4. Knit Picks Stroll in Midnight

Day 5. Noble Character Crafts in Forest

Day 6. Pineapple Yarn in Lush Paradise

Day 7. The Yarnbrary in Winter in The Big Woods

Day 8. A Chick That Knitz in Jiminy Cricket

Day 9. Pineapple Yarn in Seaprise

Day 10. Threadhead Knits Co in Zest

Day 11. Candy Shoppe Yarns in Sugar Rush

Day 12. Yarn Bee Color Idyll in Orange-ology

The second pair of 24 Days socks I’m making are a two colour version using a lovely blue called Petrol from Opal Uni 4ply and a club yarn from Woolly Mama Yarns in the colour Candy Floss. This pair are fabulous because no yarn ends and it is lovely to see the pattern worked up with a darker base - I love them. They are living in my Jibbyroo Sews Christmas ice skater bag.

You can buy the 24 Days Socks pattern on Ravelry or Etsy, depending on your personal preference.

My fourth pair of Christmas socks are my traditional West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas socks, I love this new Vintage Tinsel colourway from WYS and I’m just working a plain sock over 64 stitches on 2.25mm needles and taking my fabulous new bag from Made by Rachel with me everywhere I go in December but mainly I like to knit on these when I’m watching a few Vlogmas episodes, my favourites this year are from:

Claudia from The Sunbird Crochet Podcast.

Jana from Finnish Knitting Stories.

Sharon from scr1tno Knitting Project.

This year my bought yarn advent was from @indieyarnclub and I got the DK weight version we are now going into some super bright yellows and khaki greens and I love it, have big plans for this one.

All my product launches and discount codes are sent via my newsletter so if you want to subscribe and be the first to know about pattern launches etc, you can do so by filling in the form below, I’m not the most prolific of newsletter writers so you’ll never be inundated and you can of course unsubscribe at any time.

Finally, the 20k giveaway, a huge thank you to everyone who has subscribed to my channel and I hope this giveaway goes some small way to letting you know how much I appreciate that.

To enter you simply need to leave a comment filled with love and light and I will pick a winner using the random comment picker on New Year’s Day 2022. The giveaway will officially close at midnight on 31st December 2021.

All the prizes for the giveaway are provided and paid for by me or gifted by my yarny friends, in particular a free pattern from @catherinecrochets, a free pattern from @rowrowandkades plus the amazing Betsy’s Socks yarn set from Shannon at Blue Fern Yarns.

This giveaway has no affiliation with any products/organisations or YouTube/Google. It is open to international viewers but please note that all international (in particular EU) parcels now seem to attract rather large amounts of customs fees so please only enter the competition if you’re happy to pay these fees.

If you want to let Shannon know that you love the Betsy’s Socks colourway you can contact her either at her website Blue Fern Yarns or on instagram @bluefernyarns. Shannon also has a podcast which you can find here.

Enjoy the podcast folks and remember to switch off that negative energy box, aka the telly, and enjoy knitting instead.