All I want is a Tall Ship...

... And a star to steer her by.

As you may or may not know Liverpool recently played host to the Tall Ships Race which was absolutely fantastic and stirred my soul making me want to run away to sea again. Last time they were up was in 1992 and I did run away to sea as it were by signing up to sail with the Sail Training Association that August and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think maybe the family history of sailing and working at sea helps the appeal but I don't think there could have been many people who'd fail to be impressed with the ships that were berthed in Liverpool this last weekend. And there certainly were loads there to see them all too!

Anyway enough of the Capital of Culture report for now and back to our usual topic! There has been knitting, spinning and dyeing activity a plenty over the past few weeks, as the blue fingers and blue smudges over the computer keyboard will vouch for! And little Emily has been the lucky recipient for a lot of it. For her birthday this year she had a toy kitchen but she's hadn't got a lot of food to go with it so I decided to fix that by knitting her some more food and I've had a load of fun doing them too as most of them could be churned out in just one evening or less and the huge smiles on her face has been encouragement enough plus they're good little stash busters! So far she has a slice of Battenburg cake, an iced bun, an ice-cream cone, two cupcakes, a cheese sandwich and a chocolate biscuit. I must admit that my favorite is the ice-cream which is really cool, even if it's blue - which Emily chose and who am I to argue!

I almost forgot that Emily also had some new socks ready for Winter using Gilraens Micro Monkey pattern and some Garnstudio Fabel which has lovely bright colours for little feet and is reasonably priced too. A nice simple pattern to knit, the only work is making up the heel and toe numbers to fit as you go. So that's one pair down ready for Winter and more stashbusting socks to go as these only took 28g of wool and I'm sure I've plenty of leftovers for more!

Also for Miss Emily on the knitting front is a really easy knit (again busting that stash!) using just 100g (with leftovers!) of James Brett's Kool Kotton cotton blend DK yarn and a pattern I found on Ravelry here but I modified it slightly to get the ruffled edge which is really cute and girly. It was a quick knit as well and only took 8 days to finish.


Next on the needles will be for Emily as well and is a cable jumper pattern from Sirdar, can't remember which one right now so will give the details later! As for the dyeing they'll all be uploaded shortly to our etsy shop 'Mam a Mi' and boy do I wish I could keep them all!! And, if you hadn't have guessed already, one has got some luscious blues in it!!

End of Summer

At least that is always how it feels coming home from our weeks holiday, never mind! But I've not been resting without knitting, fear not! I have been busy and have a number of FO's for you plus one I haven't photographed yet as well which is the 'Green Gables' top which was completed in time for WoolFest which really is a bit sinful - wearing Cotton to WoolFest!!! Well I would have been if we'd gone in for another day! The other FO finished before WoolFest are these wonderfully cozy socks:

They were finished only a few hours before WoolFest admittedly but still! And I was so reluctant to take them off as my feet were so toasty warm wearing them. I had planned to knit them up later in the year in time for Winter but I was in the midst of Cast On Fever and as they are knit in Sirdar Super Nova on 3.75mm needles they were a seriously quick knit. The pattern by the way is 'Log Cabin Socks' from 'Hand knit Holidays' by Melanie Falick. You will be seeing more of these socks!!

Next in the FO-fest is some overdue spinning starting with 109g / 194m of Merino/Silk plied with some fine kid mohair - what it will be I do not know but suspect this is calling to be a hat of some form or another. I'm hoping it will call to me and tell me what it wants to be. It's roughly aran weight and is a bit lightly spun in parts and certainly not evenly plied but it was the first bit of spinning I'd done in a while so I'll not worry about it and it is after all a very fluffy and soft yarn to stroke in times of stress!

And besides, why worry about lesser spun yarn when I'm happy knowing I've 4 bobbins full of some Merino/Silk blend from a WoolFest purchase I forgot to confess to tell you all about which was a giant 600g batt from Winghams which I am really enjoying spinning up. There is a plan with all this spinning and hopefully it will be enough to make the garment I have in mind. I'm not going to tell you about it yet as there will be maths involved with the yarn and pattern and I think I'll leave the reveal until I've made a start on the item in question and see if it's going to work or not. Suffice to say the inimitable Mrs Zimmermann is involved somewhere along the line in this grand project!! (Okay - not grand really but I'm a little nervous trying to spin enough consistently for a garment!)

And there's more! My current WIP - a lacey tie front shrug to provide a little warmth on all these balmy summers evenings we're having (sorry, wishful thinking!) - was a little to complex to knit all the way down to Devon. So, desperate for something to break the tedium of all those miles on the motorway out came some Colinette 4ply and Sensational Knitted Socks and here you have....

... some Lace Rib socks (on the M5). The yarn is more muted than it looks thanks to the sunshine and the flash (bad combination for yarn photography!) and makes me think of cottage gardens but isn't really great for showing up anything much of a pattern as you can see below. I'm just turning the heel on sock number 2 but have the slight hitch of not being able to find it at all, never mind so I think we'll have to wait for a finished pair for now!

I should also confess to having found some yarn shops whilst away as well and of course had to make a purchase to support the local economy, etc.. and so came away with just a little more sock yarn for the stash! (Like I really need more!)

So here you see 4 balls of Lana Grossa Melinweint Mega Boot Stretch (Mum yours is the one above the lary orange one that looks day glow!) and a hank of Jitterbug in Gaugain colourway which reminded me of the colour of the sea in glorious Devon. when my brain wakes up again I'll try to remember the names of the shops but for now will tell you one is in Totnes and was the first stockist of Colinette ever and the other is in Paignton.

I suppose I should leave you with some lovely scenery shots to calm the mind after all my wittering so here you go! Many thanks for all the comments, I will try to get round to catching up with you all as soon as possible but am drowning in laundry right now so bear with me!

*Blogger must be tired as well and doesn't seem to want to let you have any pretty scenery shots tonight so I'll let you see those again another time, after all I think I may have shown you enough FO's to last a while yet!

One Year Old Today!!

And boy has that year flown by quickly!

I did start a few months earlier on e-tribes (link in the side bar) but it is officially a year today that I started with blogger! I've not got the energy or brain power to recap all the projects that have been started and completed (and still waiting to be finished - which would be interesting - the more I think about it the more that come to mind!) over the year as Emily woke me up before 6am this morning and has been running round like a hoolie all day, and watching her makes me feel all the more tired!

Anyway back to the knitting. I suppose I ought to tell you now that I plan to have a little draw to celebrate my 1st blogiversary - nothing big - just a silly little thing as a thank you for all the comments and support over the last 12 months. And a big thank you to knit-tigger for being the first person other than my Mum to post a comment! If you fancy trying your hand at the draw simply leave a comment and I'll pick a name at random from a hat next week!
And that includes all of you who don't comment - tut, tut - what's stopping you?!


Right - lets' get down to business. I still have a bad case of Cast-on Fever and have started a new project but first of all I should introduce some new additions to the stash:

Notice how I've moved away from my green phase - I stopped myself just before I bought the loveliest green cotton DK which of course I now wish I had anyway. There's 300g of Sirdar Nova Chunky for a project (definitely a cold weather one so look out later in the year!); 350g of Rowan Linen Drape for a summery top and 350g of Patons Laguna 100% cotton to become Green Gable which brings us back to the new project, again more on that later.

And with the designs in 'Sensational Knitted Socks' still whizzing through my mind I got some plain sock and 4ply yarns to be played with at some point soon in time for Autumn.

And then I found some old Rowan pattern books (numbers 30 and 33) and decided I should rehouse them and conveniently found a pattern there using Linen Drape and I had the right number of balls for it - I can't quite remember the name of it right now but it's from Rowan 33 and involves casting on far too many stitches for first glance! Oh and if you think I must have won the lottery to have bought all this little lot, think again. All these items were priced 50p each which is fantastic but it does come at a price with the closure of one of our LYS - a real little treasure trove of a shop with shelves full of long forgotten favorites.

Now there is a reason why I've started a new project and it's simply because I think I ought to knit something a little more light weight for summer time and I've put aside my dislike for cotton yarns as well as this Patons Laguna feels so lovely and soft and is not at all splitty which has always been my problem with cotton. So far so good - it's a really quick knit. The lace panel has a mistake in it - I can see it now in this photo but I can't really be bothered to rip it back as I've done a load more since this photo was taken and it's not too bad a mistake if you try not to see it. I've not been entirely bad - I did complete the back of the 'Lacey Waves' jumper before I started this one so at least when I come back to the jumper it won't be a case of trying to remember where I was up to!!

Of course you realise we won't have a nice summer now that I'm making the effort to knit for warm weather (and when I typed effort initially I mistyped it as 'error' - which is right?!).

I will leave you for now with a quote from Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns:

"There is no work in the world more ingenious than Knitting, and this is why it's appeal has lasted over so many centuries"

See we're all really ingenious!! And if you haven't seen it already I suggest you take a look at this little gem of a book from 1943 and her Knitting Book - so many ideas there we think of as 'modern' which have been around for generations.

Ello, Ello - Whats Going on Here?

Well, it's been one of those weeks when everything and nothing has happened! As far as knitting is concerned I'm having a run of Cast-on Fever, but more about that later. As Mum mentioned I've been over at hers for a flying visit - just about 24 hours together with loads of knitting, gossiping and chasing Emily thrown in as well. And if that wasn't enough we did a bit of playing with sheep fluff. She'd managed to get me a Welsh Black fleece for me as well and it was rather sheepy smelling which, although not totally horrendous, wasn't an appealing thing to be in a hot car with for a 2 hour drive. So into the bath it went...
Just look at that mucky water! Pooey bits were removed before bathing of course!
And then onto the line to drip dry! That by the way is only half of the fleece as it was a bit much to handle in one go. And to think that just last week that fleece was still on the sheep! It will need a good session with Mum's drum carder to make it easier to spin so it will be a while before this becomes something wearable - other than as a sheep costume!


Anyway, back to the knitting. Emily's BabyJay mark 2 has been completed - no picture as really it looks no different to the earlier photo. However I did do a different toe to start with as I wasn't too keen on the short row toe the pattern suggested and so did the Figure of Eight cast on found here It's actually a good article for Toe-up's and I rathered the Figure of Eight even if it was really fiddly to get going. Which is probably the reason why sock number 2 hasn't been started, so SSS has struck! Which is really silly as these toddler sized ones do not take ages to knit at all and it's such a simple pattern, I think I've just been too tired to be bothered concentration to cast on. That is my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!


Knitting group was fun on Tuesday night with a real party atmosphere - but then that could have been down to the cocktails filling the tables for those none driving/ none tee-totaler knitters. There was yet another knitting themed novel making the rounds which has been borrowed and read and rather enjoyed. This week it was 'Diva's Don't Knit' by Gil McNeil which was full of Rowan yarns (not always by name but recognisable by description) and tales of being a single Mum with 2 young boys which was entertaining. I do love reading but knitting seems to have taken over now but this book and 'A Good Yarn' by Debbie Macomber, another novel on a knitting theme (including a sock pattern!!), makes me feel as if I'm not wasting knitting time simply because of all the knitting going on in them. Ideal reading for those holidays!

The 'No Yarn til WoolFest' took a bit of a bash the other day as well as I found yet another LYS that is closing down and treated Emily to some beautiful Freedom Spirit in beautiful cottage garden colours, ideal for my little girly girl and destined to become a lacey shrug soon-ish possibly!

I was feeling a bit bad about buying more yarn on the way home but thought no more about it. Emily has a new phrase that turned up after she'd spilt a drink and co-incidentally a police car went past with it's sirens on. "The Police will Get You" she said, which is cute and so I've been pointing out why the police will get you. So on the way home from buying wool, after passing a police car I told her the police will get you if you drive too fast but not to worry as Mummy was being good. 200 yards down the road the police were doing random checks on cars and guess who got pulled over? Talk about speaking too soon! Anyway, the Tax and so on were OK so I went on my way and my yarn purchase served to calm me down after this excitement!
Today the Welsh Police were also doing random checks, which I managed to drive past unchecked... but was followed by a police car. Emily was whinging about something so I told her I couldn't help as I was driving and the police were after Mummy. And yet again I was pulled over!! Arrgghh! My Dad, who was in the car with me, thought this was hilarious and told me, like the police man did, that I needed to get a new tax disc holder as mine had given up even trying to stick to the window.

I am NOT going for a third try like Mum suggested! In fact I shall try to avoid the police as much as possible from now on!! I should actually stay at home and try to finish some of this small mountain of FO's I've accumulated recently.

The purple bits are some slippers stared when we had that cold spell and only one need sewing up but I can't find the right yarn again to do that. There is Emily's BabyJay pre-cast-off along with some of Mum's left over hand spun sock yarn to knit some for Emily. And finally the green is my Jaeger Matchmaker DK which is set to become Norah Gaughans Lacy Waves Top from 'Lace Style' and can be seen if you scroll down a bit here. So far there's 14" of plain stocking stitch which is not inspiring me and feels as if it will take ages to knit up. All I can say is I can't wait to start the sleeves and neck insert which is where the brain will have to wake up!And as if I haven't got enough projects on the go already I got a copy of Sensational Knitted Socks (which I love) and have rummaged in the stash to find these two yarns which I fancy trying the cover sock with. Oh, yes and I've a lace stole screaming at me to knit it now. And more socks, possible a couple more stoles.... need I go on? I think I'm finished being good and not starting anything until I finish something - I will be here spinning and knitting away frantically at anything that catches my eye - and possibly all at once!! Right, sorry for the waffle and mad ramblings am off to knit, spin and have a glass of wine, or two!!

Sock-tacular!

Well I'm having fun with socks right now having completed the Horcrux socks from the Six Socks Knit Along. The pattern has been ammended slightly for the knit-along but the original pattern can be found here. It was a nice simple pattern with only one row where my brain had to work a bit but other than that it was a lovely quick knit that's resulted in really comfy socks. I wore them in work the other day and was really grateful of them as they are lovely and warn which is just as well with the onset of our traditional gloomy (and cold) bank holiday weather.
The yarn was some of my Colinette 4ply cones stash and was knitted up on 2.25mm as it was a bit thinner than the likes of Opal, etc and I wanted a nice thick fabric. Now I know this yarn was from the Mill shop so there was bound to be something wrong with it (it only cost about £1 for about 120g so I can't grumble) and if you look closely in the above photo you may be able to see the colour variation on the left hand (or foot) sock. The heel and foot are definitely less yellowy green and suddenly has pink bits in! But I don't mind they will be in shoes after all and not noticeable unless I wave them about telling everyone!

I was trying to get a good shot of the lace zig-zag on the leg but had no success whilst wearing them and was on the verge of giving up until I had a brainwave.

So here you have it - lace through a glass! I was really enjoying the effect I was getting having the sock on a glass on such a sunny day that I got a bit carried away and you can see more of these shots on my Flickr site. Be warned - you may see more lace socks on glasses in the future!

And no sooner had I cast off those then I cast on for some Baby Jays for Emily so we could be sad and have matching socks!
Now most of the time I was working on these was when she was in bed asleep and I'd forgotten to do any measurements so I'm not really surprised that they are a bit on the big side for her. I knew the toe was OK as I'd tried it on her early on before she'd gone to bed but after that I was basing the measurements on some of her shop bought socks. I'll not do that again then. So, very pretty though it looks above this sock is no more because on top of being too big I hadn't enough yarn to be able to make a matching sock. But at least being toddler socks they don't take long at all to knit up so they shall be reborn hopefully into a size that will be better for little Emily!

Future projects other than take 2 of Baby Jays include Norah Gaughans Lacy Jumper from 'Lace Styles' and a lacy little shrug for Emily seeing as the poor thing doesn't have much knitted for her - fingers crossed she'll wear this!

I've met my Matchmaker!

Or: 'Under the influence of others!'

Well Mum has not long left for home after a lovely (but busy) visit up here. As usual we've crammed a load in and managed to get a load of knitting bits done as well. I'll leave Mum to update on her knitting etc but I will say that both she and I have fallen off the yarn diet waggon! But I'm sure you'll understand when you hear that we visited one of my local yarn shops to see if we could get more yarn for the Poppy project as seen in an earlier post. Mission accomplished - the last 2 balls are now safely snuggled with the rest of my stash - more later about Poppy. However the lure of a yarn store closure reduction caught both Mum and me. Plus Chris from my knitting group was there as well to encourage browsing and buying! Needless to say we left the shop with more that my 2 extra balls for Poppy. But look at it - could you have resisted a half price pack of Jaeger Matchmaker DK? The colourway is called 'Watercrest' and could have been sat in the shop for years. The shop is full of old discontinued yarns sat on the shelves and is a real treasure chest of bits that haven't been around for years and newer yarns and it will be a real shame to see it go but the poor lady who owns it lost her husband just before Christmas after years of trying to get him to retire and now just wants rid of the shop and their son has no interest whatsoever in continuing to run it.

And the yarn has already got a project assigned to it from 'Lace Styles' so I at least know what I'm going to do with it and don't feel that it will be sat in the house for years trying to work out what to knit with it. That was one of the nice things about having a yarn diet, going through the stash mountain and working out what was going to be what and seeing just how many project could be made just from what I already have to hand.
Now there's more new yarn for you to see only one of which is another naughty diet breaker but firstly take a look at this beauty:

This is some of Posh Yarn's beautiful 100% cashmere lace weight yarn. Now some of you may remember I had some lovely cashmere/silk lace weight in Emerald Isle from Posh Yarns as seen in my blog header and may be wondering why I'd get more in so similar a colourway (Gem by the way). Well I had a little problem with the colour coming off on me and the lovely Dee very kindly swapped the yarn for me as the colour hadn't set properly on the first lot (something, I'll hastily add, that had occurred at times with the deeper colours but that Dee had managed to fix now so never fear!). What a pleasure it was to deal with Dee from Posh Yarns and what beautiful yarns - I still would heartily recommend them despite the green hands! Anyway, despite the change of colour this is still destined to become 'Melon' from VLT, especially as Mum's looks so beautiful and she's testing the pattern out for me!! So this will be wound into balls and cast on imminently!

Next we have some lovely merino sock yarn that kind of snuck in the house on the excuse that sock yarn was exempt from the diet! Lovely and soft and very zingy but I love it! BTW- have you spotted my colour of the month/year yet?! LOL!

This next lot of yarn I'm please to say doesn't break the diet because it's some homespun from some of Yorkshire Woollyback's beautiful Jacob sheep. It's such a lovely soft fleece that it's been a pleasure to spin up so there'll be more of this with the plan of spinning enough to make a waistcoat. I think I may be a while before I'm knitting this up though as I've only got 122m plied up so far!

Anyway on to some FO's!! I've finally finished Jaywalker number 1 which is a very snug fit - not sure if I've made a mistake, the gauge is out or that I should have done a larger size! Either way it's very tight getting it past the heel of my foot but once on is so comfy that I'm flying through the 2nd one ready to start wearing these!

And yet another FO for you (even though calling 1 sock of a pair a FO is a bit of a cheat!) is my Colinette Tagliatelle jumper from the pattern 'Either.. Or'. This is a lovely quick knit - just a shame I've been dawdling lately!

So there you have it I have finally finished things to show you all. I was going to write more but as it's such a lovely day I think I'm going to sit of the front door step in the sunshine and try to finish Jaywalker 2!

Projects and Photos.

Rummaging in the stash mountain I came across this combination and have been trying ever since to decide if these two yarns go together or not. I've even knitted up some small swatches to see how they look knitted up. So the question is - do they 'go'? At times I say 'yes', then change my mind and think 'no' the green needs a quick bath in some blue dye to take the edge off it a little....
I may make my mind up at some point. And what is this all for? This is Poppy. The pattern was in one of the UK Knitting mags (Knitting - if I remember correctly!) and the original was done in Noro Silk Garden and Cash Iroha (spellcheck says this should be IRA!! LOL)- well I've no such luck to have a stash of Noro to use. (I do have a ball each of Silk Garden and Kureyon but then I want a jumper for me not one of Emily's dollies!) I have enough of the green to do the sleeves of Poppy with the body being variegated and am not sure if this would work or not - can you tell I'm desperately trying to get my stash yarns to play nicely with each other and give me something wearable?



FO-wise I've one sleeve to go so not too far off now! I will get cracking tonight!

Anyway - as we've had some beautiful spring days lately I suppose I should change the subject and let a little light in.


These following photos were all taken not too far from where I am in a place called Eastham Woods. There's a lovely coastal path that follows the banks of the River Mersey to the woods which were formerly a Victorian Pleasure Garden complete with Bear pit and Water Splash (an early roller coaster) which nature has now reclaimed but remnants are still to be found like fountains and rhododendrons in amongst the trees. It's a bit like finding the lamp-post in the woods of Narnia but not quite as magical as you're under the flightpath for Liverpool Airport so you get loads of planes taking off and landing not so far above you. Anyway I didn't get as far as the fountains etc but enjoyed natures display of blossom, catkins and fresh green leaves so thought I'd share these with you. Doesn't Spring just lift your heart? It always does for me!

New Yarn!!

Well my Birthday is almost over! With all these parcels I've been getting my Birthday has lasted for ages now and what a lot of things I have to share with you today. First of all is some yummy 100% wool worsted weight Noro-esque yarn. This is about the closest my budget will let me get to Noro and it is really nice. The colours are deeper in real life and what looks like lilac here is actually more of a slate blue/mauve colour.

It sort of reminds me of sunset colours such as in this photo of a sunset taken from our front doorstep at some point.

Either way they're really rich warm colours
which are destined to become something from one of the dozens of Noro patterns Mum has. These two are strong contenders - I'm not sure if I want a jumper or a cardi yet. The jumper is from Cornelia Tuttle Hamiltons 2nd book and the cardi is called Butterfly and I can't remember which book it's from (some combination of 'Noro' and 'Nature' - not sure which one!) but this would have to be shorted than stated as I only have 500g not 550g as the pattern needs.



Also in the same parcel is some 'cashmere feel' lace weight yarn which is really lovely and soft. Now I know grey is a bit boring but it will go with all sorts and be timeless (or so I hope!) and should look nice in the pattern, Maldhi's Shawl from an old Interweave Knits magazine. Hopefully it won't be too taxing and looks a fairly straightforward pattern.

Next through the door was some sock yarn (HotSocks yarn) in a lovely vibrant colourway. Having just finished the other pair of socks (which I love even if I knitted the rib too loosely - no photo as they're not dry yet!) I decided I should cast on for a new pair. These are going to be Jaywalkers! from Grumperina and I'm loving the way the zig-zags are forming and so far it's a simple alternative to plain stocking (!!) stitch socks.

And in case you wanted more sock stuff here you go: some Blue Face Leicester Natural Dye Studio sock yarn. The colours are so much more vibrant in the flesh, much more lemon and lime and will be quite funky socks! But it is oh, so soft and squishy, so lovely!

Remember my Sea Spray hand spun yarn? It did get knitted up into a moebius which I forgot to show you back in January. It only stayed as a moebius for a few hours as I'd made it too big and need to redo it but I thought you may like to see it in it's short-lived beauty.

And taking of beautiful things here are a couple of pretty scenic shots from early February when we went to Portmeirion for a visit. The sunset shot was actually taken on the way to Mum's as we were driving (well I was a passenger) but it's not bad considering we were mobile.

This shot is just so sunny and peaceful that I just love it. Portmeirion has so many lovely parts that I could show you dozens of photos but I will leave it at this but it is well worth a visit if you are ever up in North Wales! And if you're struggling to think what and where Portmeirion is think of the series 'The Prisoner' which was filmed here and take a look here for a better look!

Anyway I think I've taken enough of your time today so I shall leave you with that and hopefully return shortly with some FO's. I should point out that all this new yarn was bought before the 'No yarn till WoolFest' pledge in case you think I've caved in already!

Finally, Some New Yarns!

Well as promised ages ago I finally have pictures of my latest stash acquisition and I've tried this time to have a nicer picture for you so you can see things in 'real' light for once!

Right then, clockwise from top right corner we start with some Twillies Freedom Spirit - a lovely 100% pure wool DK weight yarn which I love. I'm making the vest/tank top from the pattern book that goes with the yarn and I love how the colours are knitting up - a real autumnal blend of colours, not quite as clear and defined as it appears in the ball but really nice subtle stripes of colour that do blend one into the other. Hopefully it won't be too long before that's finished as it seems to be quite a quick knit and I'm about half way up the front now.
Next we have some Sunbeam Aran Knit which might end up as some mittens for my brothers glove less girlfriend or then again I may find some other yarn for her as I do love the colours in this. The picture is quite accurate about those except that the turquoise appears to be more of a darker greener colour right now to me, but then again it is evening and the lights are on so which is more accurate? Your guess is as good as mine!
Following close behind are some Rowanspun 4ply - my very first Rowan Yarn!! Rowan for me is an expensive luxury and I think it would be a long time before I could afford to make a garment out of their yarns, lovely though they are so these are a treat. But what was even more of a treat for me was the price - £1.90 per hank and 25% off on top!!! I have 2 chocolatey brown hanks and 1 green to make myself some of the Ballet Slippers from Melanie Falick's Holiday Knits - possibly not entirely practical but pretty none the less!
And finally there are 2 balls of Sunbeam St Ives in 'Lowland' (as far as I remember!) that I plan to make some lacy sock with. I know looking at the yarn it looks a bit dull and boring compared to the wonderful selections of fancy self striping and hand painted sock yarns out there but I wanted something plain that wouldn't distract from a lacy pattern that I may get round to knitting at some point or another. And that also means I have a stash of sock yarns now without really planning to!! In all I have yarn for 3 socks for myself - some Opal self striping, some Colinette Jitterbug and the St Ives as above but I've also acquired a stash of oddments enough for loads of little Emily socks that was generously donated by my very kind friend Chris (who is soon to join us in the Blogging Community - if she can figure out how!! I must go and lend her a hand soon I think!).

Anyway next on the agenda is an update on something I mentioned last post, namely my purple sheep fluff. So here you go, complete with progress shots.

On the bobbin.

After Plying.

I had some grey 'unknown' silky fluff (man made definitely as it melted when I tested a sample by burning it) which I decided would make the fleece go further and give me more to play with and hopefully soften the yarn up a bit as it's not something I'd wear next to the skin. I'm really pleased with the results - the grey has evened the colours out a bit but you still get a mix of the great colours along with the silky shine of the grey stuff. To those spinners out there I will just point out to you that I've been calling my prepared fleece 'fluff' so far as I've not quite got the hang of making rolags yet and as it has indeed been great piles of fluffy fleece so 'fluff' seems the right word to use!!

And what have I planned for it? A cushion cover with some sort of cabled design on the front which might not show up too well with this yarn or not but I don't care as that's what I would like to make - I've already got a lovely pale grey piece of velvet from work for the back of the cushion (soft to compensate for any roughness in the yarn) and am just playing with the design and scouring through books searching for 'the one'!

On the needles right now other than the Freedom Spirit is a hat for DH who has finally let me knit something for him. No point in showing you though as it is Plain and simple and ever so dull to knit. Unless you really want to see plain old navy stocking stitch on the needles a photo is not being planned. And I have to agree with Kat about having problems getting going with hats. Hers looked a huge hat for her Son and having never made anything for a larger head than mine this seems to be taking an age to get anywhere, especially as there's no pattern or detailing to work on. Mind you am really please with the pattern which is from Ann Budds Knitters Handy Book of Patterns so this was adapted specifically for the required size and yarn gauge and was really simple to do.

Anyway I'm waffling again. Hopefully will be back soon with FO's for you - there's getting to be a disturbing trend of new stuff I've bought or been given lately and not so much knitting, but then I have been spinning. Well anyway I'll crack the whip and get knitting! Fingers crossed for FO's soon!

What a Busy Week!!

Well I've been to visit Mum to cheer her up and my what a busy week we had. No sooner had we put little Emily up for her nap then out came the felting equipment, dyes, spinning wheels and so on! Considering we only had a couple of Emily free hours each day we managed to get loads done and here it all is for you.

First of all is this felted necklace that was made mainly by Mum with bits by me as well - what great fun it is squelching bits of fleece in soapy water and trying to form shapes with it. It takes a bit of time and effort but was well worth it!

Next of all I plied my 'Icy' hand spun with my beaded thread. Now that was fiddly - it took ages to thread all the beads I had (approximately 1200 seed beads) and then trying to ply that thread with the 2 strands of hand spun whilst evenly spacing the beads, trying to get and even ply and getting used to Mums wheel (hers is double treadled whilst mine is single treadled) was quite a task but between Mum and I we got the job done.

Now although there is only 100m worth of yarn I really should have had more beads on the thread. Also I would try to use a nylon thread rather than ordinary sewing thread as the beads tended to stick on this and had to be freed every now and then. It's certainly a pretty effect and I can't wait to see it knitted up but I think I should have practiced first as this is not quite as well plied as I would have like it to be as you may well be able to see in the following close-up shot. Still I love it though and have now decided that it looks more like sea foam than iceberg colours as I initially thought. I doubt you will have too long to wait before you see the finished knitted article with this as I love it so much!

And what crafty idea was being cooked up next?

Well Artis-Anne has the finished results posted on her blog but I thought you might like to see the progress shots. And having seen what hers looked like spun up I fancy having a play with mine and think I might start off with this one:

So that's it for now - I'm off to try and remember where I tidied my hand carders away and have a play with some of that sheep fluff.

I will at some point show off my new yarns, I haven't forgotten it's just not really a very good light to be able to photograph it well for you so I'll try to pose it nicely for you in a better light tomorrow. Sorry to be fussy but am getting bored of photos of stuff on my dining table! Anyway, back to this sheep fluff.....