Stepping boldly into 2022 with a bright and cheerful knit

I've welcomed in the New Year by casting on a fabulous new sock. I waited patiently for the Winter Haven KAL (knit along) by Christine @winwickmum so that I could knit her striking new pattern.

Doesn't it look amazing!!!

Although, I must confess that there was quite a bit of dithering about my colours.

My intention was to use Christine's Wild Flower colourway from her first collection with West Yorkshire Spinners, which is a combination of purple, pink, blue and green. I intended to pair it with a dark purple from Opal, which looks just stunning here on my shade card.

But when I came to knit it up I wasn't sure if the purple created a bold enough contrast and I wanted to do justice to the pattern, which it so well deserves. 

So I decided to take my own words of advice:

"If you're not completely feeling the love, 

frog it and start again"

So I tried two other options:

• Christine's Spring colourway in shades of green from her latest collection, combined with Cream.
• Her Summer colourway in shades of red, orange and fuchsia, combined with Black.

And the latter won my heart.

I knew as soon as I started the mosaic section that the pink/orange/red/black combination would make me happy each day as I sit and knit for 10 minutes or so. 

The pattern itself is so relaxing and mindful and also slightly addictive - I really don't want to put these gorgeous socks down, but life beckons, and work must be done, and when my 10 minutes are up I slowly return to the chores and deadlines of the day, feeling somewhat refreshed and energised by my little knitting break.

The colours remind me of a warm summer sunset sky and I look forward to the longer days when I can sit outside and knit in the sunshine.

This stunning photo perfectly reflects the warmth and mood of my new socks with its fiery red and orange sky - by Mike Aunzo (@michaelsonewhere) on Unsplash.com (free to use under the Unsplash license). 

I have popped the link to Christine's blog below if you'd like to join in too. I'd definitely recommend it as there are lots of benefits of joining a knit-along or crochet-along:

Five positive benefits of joining a knit or crochet along (also called KAL or CAL)

1. There is a great sense of community and you can create connections with other knitters/crocheters.
2. It encourages you to start and finish your project so that you can share you Finished Objects.
3. It's great to see the colours of yarn that others use, which is a great source of inspiration.
4. You feel a huge sense of pride as you share your Works in Progress and Finished Objects.
5. You can ask others for help and advice.

I'd love to hear if you've joined a knit or crochet along and whether you've started a new project yet for  2022.

I hope you enjoy every stitch in the year ahead.

Lynne xx

Links to @winwickmum Winter Haven Kal:

Week 1 blog post

Free Pattern and Tutorial for Christine's Easy Mosaic Socks