Bad blogger!

Yes so I've not posted since August, had an offline period again and just got out of the habit of posting stuff, yes I'm a bad blogger, but I'm going to make a better effort!
So, what would you travel 153miles in both directions to collect? Not much I'd bet, would have to be some thing really special.. well this was to me!
Since woolfest and purchasing my drop spindle, I've suddenly become interested in spinning more, and I've been doing ok so far! produced some thing that resembles yarn any way..


So it felt only natural (esp after watching lots of people spinning whilst at the Blue faced open day) that I should get in to wheel spinning as well, but as you may know, wheels don't come exactly cheap, I had been vainly searching ebay in the hope I'll grab a bargain...me and many many others with more money!
I thought I wasn't going to land lucky until I kept my eye out on Ravelry and spotted that the lovely Jamman was selling her Ashford Traditional wheel at a price I could afford and despite the fact she lives up the other side of the country, it was worth the effort! So off to Tyne and Wear we went, battling through tail backs, torrential rain and the fact that we couldn't go half an hour without some one wanting the toilet (or it seemed that way!), met Jamman and her lovely family, and I finally got my hands on my very own spinning wheel!!!

Its probably about as old as I am, and has actually spent time as a museum piece! I'd love to know how many people have owned her. I'm very enamoured with it, it has a very gothic look, which is very me I have to say, I'm leaning towards a goth name for her, but I've just rememebered one of my favourite books, Daughter of the Forest (Seven waters trilogy) and the main character, Sorcha, has to spin what can only compare to nettles to turn her brothers back from swans, love that book..hmm I'm torn now! Will sleep on it I think, gothic name, or Sorcha..
I've not had a proper go on my own yet, my first attempts under Jammans watchful eye where mixed, but I've got the basics down now, but out of all the fibre I've got at the moment, I'm not happy to make a mess of it! Think this means I need to go shopping hehe I've still got some bags of dyed fibre from texure I might use up, gives me some thing to do when the kids go back to school tomorrow!

I've been productive with my knitting too, and having a good time of it, just cast on yet more socks in an awsome colour way which might just help me beat second sock syndrom as they look that good, I just want to wear them asap! I've got plenty of things to be getting on with, but I seem to be adding to it as the days go by..!

Its all about every one else!

Good job I enjoy just knitting, whether I get to keep the finished product or not!
The Ravelympics come to a close today, and yes I finished my task! It wasn't that difficult to do, and I would have finished alot sooner..if it wasn't for the fact I think I've got the startings of carpal tunnel syndrome, joy!! Getting alot of numbness in my index fingers and my wrists have started aching a fair amount, but I'm sure a trip to the docs would help me greatly...
I did have problems setting in the sleeves on one side, no matter how I tried, it just wouldn't look right, yet the other side looks beautiful! Just my luck...But I still think the overall cardigan its cute!

Snuggly baby bamboo long sleeve Cardigan in snuggle baby bamboo, willow

I've knitted another sock too! Tho this time, it wasn't for me! I knitted a display sock for tigerlilith on Ravelry for her trunk show at K1 Yarns in Edinburgh, I read from her blog that it all went well, and I'm glad I could help out! Even if the pattern nearly gave me nightmares with purling at the start of the row, I was in danger of getting massive laddering, but I discovered a way to twist the stitch to close up the gap and I was saved! Phew! On the strength of this one yarn she sent me to knit the sock, I totally recomend giving her online shop a visit, Old Maiden Aunt, the yarn was super soft and gorgeous, and I can't wait for my "payment" from her in the next few days..you guessed it, yarn, hehe

Monkey sock from knitty, in old maiden aunt superwash merino, cherry.

Before I started my other people knitting, I did manage a couple of things for me, or should I say, things that will stay in the house..
I did a test run of a pattern I want to knit as a blanket, I've got 9 balls of patons melody in a funky rainbow colour, that just screams blanket at me, but with it being such a busy yarn, I can't do any thing patterned, and the thought of knitting it straight..well I can see it staying on the needles for a while, but! I saw the Argosy baby blanket, and its cousin, the dishcloth, and thought hmmm, that could work! Ideal thing being I could knit the dishcloth as a test run to see if I liked the pattern, and I do, tho I slightly underestimated my yarn needs...

opps...

Def watch this space for the full size version!

Oh and my tribbles are breeding again...

Can see them taking over the house eventually!!

Go Team Tardis!

I'm competing in the Olympics! Well the Ravelympics, (linky for Ravelry members only, sorry!) no I've not gone mad lol Its just one big organised knitting event to coincide with the Olympic games. Basically, you can compete in "events" such as the Sock Put, Scarf Strok, Afghan Marathon etc durning the 17 days of the games.
I've decided to represent Team Tardis (predictable I know..) and I'm competing in the Baby dressage.



Which means that I've got 17 days to complete the Baby Bamboo Cardigan for my friends baby, ideal opportunity to complete it, it needs doing so off I go!
Wish me luck!!

In the style of Mastercard...

Buying new storage shelves from Ikea, including the Tv unit I didn't know I needed until I saw it (don't ask!) - £51

Dinner for 3 in the Ikea cafe because we can't resist the meatballs - £14

Making your bedroom look like your dream yarn shop - Priceless!


Oh its been a good day. I decided it was about time I made a proper effort to store my nice yarn, and I wanted to be able to look at it, so, in my infinite wisdom (and yet another extra payment from the tax credits people, I'm not arguing..) I suggested we make a trip to Ikea so I could look at "stuff". Didn't think I was going to see any thing I liked at first, wanted some thing with small compartments to put yarn in, and nothing was looking right, until I came across this one. Didn't believe it had a £20 price tag, it was ideal! All I wanted was an extra shelf (could have done with two, but no bother, will pick one up next time!) and away we went!
Half an hour to build, and way way more time to sort my stash out in a way I liked. I've still got two boxes full I just couldn't fit on (more because its bulky rather than too much!) but it does look super cool, and surprisingly looks like its always been there for some reason! I do have a favourite shelf tho I have to say..

Lots and lots of lovely skeins of sock yarn, its just all squishy and lovely and and..having to restrain my self from rearranging it all again!
(oh the tv cabinet, was in bargain corner, looks much better than my current one and was going cheap, wasn't planning on replacing mine just yet, but hey these things happen!)

Oh and on top of all that, I've finished another pair of socks! Been OTN since November, but I'm making my self finish things before I cast on some thing new, there are loads of things I want to start, but I just won't until I've completed a few things first. So, here we have...

Not Cable Socks, Middle Earth yarns, Not just for goths, and Jet

As you can probably tell, I've been playing with changing yarns, these socks have black ribbing cuffs, heels and toes, and look great, wear fantastic as well! There is suposed to be a pattern in there some were but it didn't come out very well, but no matter, I love the socks! Already got plans to do the reverse of the colours, Jet socks with not just for goths heels and toes, but prob won't be for a while yet, will look cool as a sort of matching pair ish! One day, one day...
Right, off to rearrange that stash again...........

Finally some thing to show!

Ah finally finished a project! First one in a while..well I've done two, but one has been going on for a few months.
First socks where made from some yarn I'd had for a while. I'm not usually a pink person, infact I'm usually the first to run from most things pink..but this looked funky, and the name made me laugh! Plus it came from an etsy shop that I like very much cause she has some stunning colourways, it is of course, Gemini knits, totally recommend any thing from her shop!

(Black)hearted socks in blue purple moo!

I actually had these completed by the time I went to Woolfest, I wanted a new pair of socks to wear and partially show off (not that I showed any one!) but as sods law would have it, the shoes I wore, which I've had for ages (talking a good 18mth if not longer!) decided to bleed red dye all over the heels of the socks!! Bloody typical if you ask me. You can just see it in the first pic, because naturally I didn't photograph them before I wore them. There is a lesson here I am sure...
I actually tried out a new technique with these socks, I was board of doing a heel flap, I'm not keen on how it looks and I find it a pain to do, esp with the heel turn as well because I haven't worked out yet the numbers to divide it up by and have got to look it up every time. So, I test drived the afterthought heel! Basically means, when you get to where the heel would be, you knit in a piece of waste yarn, and then just carry on! No heel flap, no turning the heel, and no gusset! Just knit the number of round appropriate to your foot, finish the toes as nomal. The tricky part is unpicking the waste yarn and catching all the stitches...

(Yikes look at the tarnish on those needles! Good job I found the brasso...)

But once you've done that, you just basically knit the toe again, decreasing at each edge and voila, a perfect heel! It will give an interesting looking heel with stripy yarn, but with a varigated yarn, it eliminates the pooling that happens whilst doing the gussest on anotherwise perfectly patterning sock, and it gives a nice looking heel that matches the rest of the sock.
After thinking about it for a while, I realised that it could prove useful to me on making other socks. At the moment I avoid doing toe up socks, because I just haven't managed to do a top up cast on nicely since Lolita legs, and short row heels are just frankly scary and complicated! But with an afterthought heel, I could do a provisional cast on for the toes, to go back and knit later, and also put in an afterthought heel in the right place and carry on knitting to the top of the sock, bind off, and then add the missing parts! I'm sure this will work in practise, but I have yet to try it!

It will come as no surprise, that my next finished item is....socks! This time some baby socks, for my friend, I've yet to finish the main present, as I'm getting up the courage to reverse the shaping without instructions for the left hand side, never knitted basically blind before, with general instructions to just reverse shaping, takes more of a thought process for me! But any way, quick pair of socks, that I will send off, hopefully tomorrow!

Baby to toddler socks, in Krafty Koala fairground.

They are uber cute I have to say, and almost (note I said almost!) makes me want a baby of my own to knit some for. (I said almost, don't panic!)

And and, I've been spinning on my new spindle!

I have it on good authority that this is pretty good going for a first attempt, bit overspun and a bit uneven, but hey, I managed it! I'm going to finish off the roving and do it properly to skein it up and set the twist, think I'll leave plying for another day, but I'm pleased with my first go, and this spindle is bloody lovely to use, its so nicely balanced, I'm sure that made all the difference. I do think, however, I'm going to start stalking ebay for a spinning wheel. I can just see my self enjoying that, nothing would please me more to spin my own sock yarn. It would be a great sense of achievement!
Its some thing to look forward to at any rate :-)

Guess who went to woolfest!

Me!!!!!!!!!!!
Omg, what a day, been looking forward to it since last year when I couldn't go due to the exhaust falling off the car just days before, so I made it perfectly clear that come hell or high water, this year we where going.
After an early start, we arrived to see a field full of cars, which did worry me slightly, I did wonder how I was going to get on bringing the kids, after reading messages about how the stalls are really crowded, and what with it being in a livestock auction building, I had visions of it being really narrow, but thankfully my fears where unfounded. It was busy, but the aisles were wide and the stalls nicely laid out and we had very few problems walking round.
It was unreal, the sheer amount of just stuff every where, every conceivable fibre related craft was covered in multiple colours and sizes. I was overwhelmed by it all, but eventually after going round a few times, I managed to take it all in and started spending the money!
First stop happened to be Fyberspates. I quite fancied some of their self stripping sock yarn, and came away with that..and some lace weight! Hmm I was worried about my self restraint at this point!


After that, I went to track down my Ravelry Woolfest bag I had ordered, it was only a last minute thing as I joined the group late, but liked the idea of having some thing to remember the day by. Have to say, its a fantastic bag, very well made and I hope they do the same again next year!


After that I meandered a bit, I bumped in to Krafty Koala which was great, lovely to meet her and naturally I checked out her stand as well and came away with yet more sock yarn.

At some point during the day, I decided that whilst I was there, I wanted to look at drop spindles. I know I've got a spindolyn, but I fancided having a more conventional one. I'd seen quite a few, but I ended up going back to a stall I'd seen on my very first go round, Whorl Drop Spindles. Lovely guy, laughed because I'd come back to him, saying I couldn't resist. He was right, I couldn't! Think I'll get a niddy noddy off him as well if I start doing well with spinning! Would make skiening a tad easier! Got a nostepinne as well, because some times, a ball winder isn't enough!

Of course, I needed some more fibre to go with this...
Merino/bamboo mix...


Merino bits and roving..

Well I might as well, seen as there was more roving fibre there than I'd ever seen in my life!!

I'd pretty much bought what I wanted at this point, any thing else was just going to be extra.
I discovered the knitwitches stall and bought some very nice silk and mohair lace weight yarn which was marked up for charity sales, can't argue with that!

Yet another stall, Twisted Fibre Craft held some thing interesting in the form of Lopi Roving, its roving that you knit straight up to felt, its unspun, and really quite unusual. I actually wish I'd bought more, but thats easily done, gotta love the net..

And if I didn't have enough to be getting on with at this point, I also came across needle felting, which warranted a starter kit, plus a pegloom too which also took my fancy!



Will I ever have enough hours in the day? I very much doubt it, but at least I'll never be bored!
Did I have a good time? Hell yes!
Did the kids? Oh yes!
Will I be going next year? I'll see you there ;-)

No no, I'm still here!

Ah Bt, just so my fav company...not. Oh well, least I'm back online after I don't know how many weeks.
You'd think I did loads of knitting in my down time right? Um no...
At first I lost all inspiration, not being able to get on to Ravelry and the like. I normally see stuff which motivates me in to knitting or completing my projects so I can start some thing else. I spent rather a large part of my time playing on The Sims, then I was reading, then I suddenly realised that I only had a few weeks until my friends baby was due, so I picked up my needles again to carry on knitting for her.
Then disaster struck! I was out on a picnic with the kids, paddling in a river with them, being so careful, when I slipped, fell forward on to my knees, put my hands out to stop from falling on my face, and broke my little finger! I didn't realise I had at first, I necked some nurofen and carried on with the rest of the day, and it was only when I spoke to a pharmacist the next day did they think it was a good idea that I went and got it xrayed, and sure enough, it was broken. Just my luck, and just when I decided to knit again! I did attempt to carry on, but it just wasn't happening. I was gutted.
I've literally only starting knitting again, 4 weeks after I broke my finger, its healed now, tho I still get painful twinges in it rather a lot, but I'm capable of holding my knitting again, so its all good. Only bad thing is Keir Alexander was born 4 days ago..oops!! Ah well, I'm sure Sharon will understand if Keir's things are a few weeks late lol
Hopefully normal serves will resume again, and I'll be posting lots of nice pics of things I've made again, I've missed not having some thing to show off, so really must do some thing about that!
So until then, flying needles it is!