Hello my lovelies!
 
Welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes from Episode Twenty - Flappy Socks.
 
In this episode I cover: Old dog, new tricks; FOs; WIPs; Festival of Finishing CrAL; #BackToSchoolSweaterCAL; Feeding the habit; Big up and What's good?
 
This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co. 


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1 - Old dog, new tricks
Having heard lots of radio adverts for the magazine app 'Readly' I was intrigued to see what it was all about.  This was also hot on the heels of me learning from Alyson at the Keep Calm and Carry Yarn Podcast that her local library (Edinburgh) has free subscriptions to libraries through a different app (I have looked into this and very few UK libraries actually offer this service).
 
Already a subscriber to Spotify, I figured that Readly would work in the same way - it doesn't!  You can sign up five more friends or family members to the service and they don't appear to need to live at the same address.  I have offered this out around Woolgathering and my friend Jenny also has one of my five subscription spots.
 
CAVEAT - Having recorded the podcast I went to download the latest Simply Crochet magazine and it wasn't there.  Nor was Mollie Makes...
 
I emailed Readly and they say that those publications are no longer available but that they have lots of other craft titles.  They seem to have started doing Crochet Now instead which is good news but still means that what has gone out in the podcast is a) inaccurate and b) annoying.  I will still subscribe to this because there are so many titles to download, especially if you enable lots of different countries as you can then get magazines from there too.
 
2 - Finished Objects 
There is a bit of a sock theme this month.  Had you noticed?  I have really enjoyed making the Socks Yeah! (shade is 102 Ammolite) version of the Gorman Street Toe-Up Socks from Step Into Crochet.  I can't say the same for the Regia version which is why I have only made one of them.  This yarn split with almost every stitch.  I like the end product, the sock is squishy and warm but the process very frustrating.  I have previously knitted and crocheted socks with a different Regia 4 ply yarn and didn't have these problems.  Tonight I was at Woolgathering Sandbach (the crafting group that I run) and Sam had just finished knitting a pair using Regia 4 ply and had the same issues.
 

 
In advance of a full book review on Step Into Crochet next month, I wanted to set out the rib changes that I made:
Larger ankles - stick to the pattern and keep a turning chain at the top of the rib - this is what I did with the Regia sock on the left and you can see that it is 'flappy'
Medium ankles - try only doing the turning chain on every other rib at the top.  This leads to a tighter rib with good elasticity (see the middle sock) but it was still too loose for me.
 
Thin ankles - don't do a turning chain at the top of the rib at all.  This is how I got a good fit at the top of my socks (see the third sock).
 
I also finished off my Rambling Friends Socks from my Fibre Friends Podcast kit.  The yarn was dyed by Adrienne (Old Oak Yarns), the pattern was created by Louise (Louise Patterson on Ravelry) and I kept it all in my Evertote bag made by Caroline and Kathy.  These were lovely to work on - the yarn was squishy and vibrant, the pattern was great (I loved the simple lace detail at the back) and my project bag had mustard and teal birds on it, a winning combination.
 

 
My final FO is a crocheted shawl of my own design.  It's called Basalt and is 100% inspired by the hexagonal geological features that you get throughout the world.  This vers