Olympia Purchases

I took this picture of "Little One" when I had got the camera out as it just said "Does my bum look big in this?" - what do you think? BTW he doesn't live up to his name.

Anyway on to yarn purchases. As it happens I didn't buy ANY yarn at Olympia. Well okay perhaps a few balls of acrylic to make a baby blanket.

I did however escape for a short while and bought these few things.

Some organic yarn. This will be used up in MM's aran jumper (when I pick it up again).

I bought these three at Liberty's for a small project that will be completed in the next couple of days.
Finally, I swapped these two hanks of Noro for one hank of Wagtail. Okay I got the Noro and Adrienne has got the Wagtail. I also bought a bag of beads from Creative Beadcraft in Beak Street but I think Lara has decided they would look nice somewhere. Unfortunately she seems to think it funny that she's not telling me where even though she is sat on my lap at the moment whilst I type looking at me all innocent and adoring.

What

do you do when your dearly beloved offers to buy you a present but (a) its not yarn and (b) you don't know what you want? Ideas on a postcard please.

Home, Progress and AAARRRGGHHH!!!!!

Have just landed home from London. My dinner date for this evening had to cancel because her son was ill so I went and got a coach 3 hours earlier than intended and have got home at a civilised hour rather than 2am!

I have managed to finish the back of my jumper and half-way through the rib of the front. I think it is going to work out tighter than I want so once I have finished the front I am going to sew the two pieces together and try it on and frog it if necessary. It's all plain stocking stitch other than the shaping so nothing majorly difficult to redo.

The AAARRRGGHHH is getting home to find someone has had an early night (no objections there as I do it myself) however they had left the keys in the lock so after 30 minutes I finally managed to wake them up to get in.

Photos of spoils and stuff on Monday :)

Selfish Fred & Holidays

has decided to make nothing else for anybody until he has finished a jumper for himself. I did a test swatch with the green I bought from Wingham Wools at SkipNorth, ran the figures through KnitWare and have a plain pattern for a standard roundneck jumper. My intention is that once I have worked it through I will have a template model that I can then alter for myself for the 201 jumpers I will now be making myself.

I've also been naughty in that I have still yet to post the January FO as well as a few other things along the way.

On another note I am off to London tomorrow for a short sprint. I'm seeing my brother who is in GOSH at the moment. Thursday/Friday I am then at Olympia helping out on the Relax & Knit. Friday night I come back home arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning and after a few hours sleep going and helping the Guild of Machine Knitters in Shipley as they are having something to the R&K.

Watch this space for further occurrences...

February FO and Quandry

Well here is February's FO on an outing. They do definitely soften up in washing although I did wash them with jeans. Not for the purposes of felting but rather that if there was any colourwash it wouldn't matter.



I forgot this pic on my last post but a certain young gentleman decided that he wanted to take part in enjoying my stash as well.

Now as to my quandry. I have wound my Cherry Tree Hill into a ball and can not decide whether to use it to knit the Pacific North West shawl again or to use it on the Fiddlesticks Peacock Feather shawl.

SkipNorth Goodies

I must apologise for no "out and about" pics as I forgot to take my camera with me so here are the pics of all the shopping goodies:



COLDSPRING

I got these two cones. Colours are pink, yellow, blue and white.
Then I got these two hanks to make into a jumper for me.
Finally I bought a few odd balls which appealed to me:




THE SKEP
I bought these two balls of Sirdar Blur with the intention of doing a scarf for a friend's grandmother. The needles I was playing with it with on the Saturday night were too small so will be redoing with proper size needles.

I then also got this skein of yarn with the intentions of another jumper for me :)

KNITTING & CROCHET GUILD

I got this cone of ?3ply

along with this blue skein of a similar weightage
and couldn't resist this of Fiddlesticks (seems to be a running theme here!)
I had to break the trend though with these three books. Unfortunately I upset one of the group with the Wild Knitting purchase as they had had their eye on it already. I only bought it because one of the woman from my local group had made the armadillo wrap which features in teh book so wanted to get it so I could show her the book. Unfortunately I found out at the group Tuesday night that she had borrowed the book from another lady of the group :(
And this ball of Tofutsies just happened to fall in my bag. I thought it quite heavy at £12 a ball but then when I read the ball band it is 100g ball rather than the 50g I was thinking. KCG Trading at the moment seem to be the only UK outlet I am aware of selling this yarn so depending how I take to it depends how well I'll be adding to their profits.

WINGHAM WOOL WORK

This was the only stop of the day for Sunday. I wasn't expecting to spend that much because they are predominantly a fibre merchant but they turned out to be the most expensive stop. I bought these Surina items, two different ended crochet hooks and some double pointeds.
I got this fibre to play with Mabel as I liked the look of the colourway:
Then I got four skeins of Sari silk. I grabbed these because it is the first time that I have seen it in plain colours rather than the kaleidoscope versions that are normally available.
Finally, I got this large skein of green yarn. I bought a couple last year on SN and have still yet to use them so I will definitely have more than enough this year. Unless of course I go off off green - hmmmm not too likely methinks!

SkipNorth

Well I am safely home with all my stash more or less stored. Pictures will follow in the next day or so as I rotate everything in order to keep prying eyes away ;-)

Secret Pal 10

1. What is/are your favourite yarn/s to knit with? What fibres do you absolutely *not* like?
I think I prefer “plain” as opposed to the current fashion furs (see q 14).I don't like the eyelash and fur yarns (funky fur, fizz, foxy etc). I also absolutely detest Dune after having a disaster knitting a poncho in it early last year.I don't have a preference between acrylic or natural.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I’ve got a storage case for one set of my metal needles, a roll case for my bamboo needles and then one of those stackable boxes with lids for the remainder.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I haave been knitting 25 years. Would say intermediate – advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Not at the moment. I tend to go through phases of what books I collect so its always best to ask me.

5. What's your favourite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
I like citrus smells and rose. I also like the smell of lavender but is not something I’d want something too permanent smelling of.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favourite candy?
Yes have a very sweet tooth unfortunately am trying to diet off sweeties.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I’ve bought myself a cross-stitch and rug making kit to have a go at. Not sure how well I’ll take to it at the moment though. I also learnt the basics for Tunisian crochet at Harrogate two years ago but undecided now whether I’ll take it further. I do also have a spinning wheel (called Mabel) and a washed fleece but the two and the carding combs have yet to meet each other.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Quite a mixed range. Not so fond of 1990s onward though. Yes I can play everything. I also collect Dr Who audios and am quite behind on those.

9. What's your favourite colour(s)? Any colours you just can't stand?
I like various green but not lime (bit too bright for me to wear), also like blue and some oranges. If knitting for myself I don't like pastels. I also ABSOLUTELY LOATHE pink.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?Partner of six years. At the moment we have two cats (Cairo and Lara), two rabbits (Dobbie and Winkie), three rats (Gibber, Ish and Little One (who is anything but!!)).

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear gloves. Again these are bottle green which I need to find as its getting chilly here. I am not really a hat person either although I have done myself a balaclava.

12. What is/are your favourite item/s to knit?Would say that I am not too fussy although with the commissions it seems to be jumpers at the moment. Travelling to/from work I make blanket squares – easy to knit and no major problems if you get shoved/lose your place.

13. What are you knitting right now?
On the needles or about to go on the needles is the fiddlesticks peacock feather shawl, a baby christening shawl, an Alice Starnore aran jumper, a pair of socks and a pair of gloves.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminium, plastic?
The majority of mine are straight although I do have some circulars. I picked up a 3.5mm and a 4mm Addi turbo and playing with those but think I'm converted. The blanket squares I make using a circular as I do them on the train.I have a set of both aluminium and bamboo in straights. My circulars are all metal.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Oh yes - how on earth did I live without the combination!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I inherited a pair of gloves when my nan died so these are about 20 years old. My own UFO though is a balaclava I made about 4-5 years ago which I finally sewed it up in November but still need to do a rib edging for round my face. I needed to make it up quickly as it was extremely cold and windy when I was helping at Harrogate.

18. What is your favourite holiday?
I don’t really do holidays but the times I go away I prefer a doing/seeing break as opposed to sunbathing. Seasonal holiday I like Christmas - think its the kid in me.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I’m into Dr Who, Enid Blyton, Star Wars but am a natural hoarder.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I subscribe to Simply Knitting and pick up copies of Knitting and occasionally Interweave Knits.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
The technique of being able to just follow a pattern straight and no need to frog it!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Mixed feelings here. I need to master kitchener stitch or find a better way of making the ends meet. Sizewise though I am a UK8.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
24 July.