Happy Camper Socks

I'm currently on my third week of maternity leave and no signs of baby Gibbs yet! My due date is this weekend so baby could make his or her appearance at any point really. It's frustrating that I could have another 2 more weeks after this weekend if I go overdue...

Anyway, I am currently in the process of finding things to keep me occupied; there is only so much cleaning and folding of tiny person clothes a woman can do! I have found that sewing is somewhat demanding on my tired and uncomfortable body but knitting is great!

This week I have finally finished my very first pair of socks!

For Christmas I was given a ball of Sidar Heart and Sole Sock Yarn; this colourway is called 'Happy Camper'. I am not particularly confident in my knitting skills and would never have chosen this intermediate project- knitting socks looks so difficult and I've always thought it was a bit pointless considering how cheap you can buy socks.

The yarn band came with instructions for how to knit a pair of socks. I didn't get round to starting this project until going we went on holiday to Spain in February. I previously blogged about my progress with these socks and how surprised I was at how enjoyable I found knitting these socks.

The yarn knitted up a dream and I loved watching the stripes appearing in my work. I found this project challenging enough to keep my interest, but no where near as difficult as I would have expected. I used a set of KnitPro Symfonie Double Pointed wooden needles, which apart from being beautifully multicoloured, were smooth to knit with and well worth the investment. Being wooden, this also meant that I was able to take them in my hand luggage on the Airplane on holiday.

I finally finished the second sock yesterday and am so please with the finished pair. There aren't many obvious mistakes and I have improved my skill with picking up the inevitable dropped stitches. I didn't bother matching up the yarn when starting, so the stripes don't match up but I don't mind.

 I am particularly please with the heels and love the ribbed effect!

So, my very first knitted and wearable garment!! I definitely see some more socks in my future, no that I have got the hang of knitting socks and depending on how wearable these end up being. I have a feeling they might not get much use as we are approaching summer!