Woolfest 2009

You know, if I only did one thing every year, it would be Woolfest! Its just such a fab day out, the people there are just so nice, stall holders and buyers, bumping in to people you "know" from Ravelry and other forums, its weird spending the day staring at peoples chests to see what their name is!
So here it is..the haul..



Oh so many nice things! So from top left, there is some black alpaca roving from UK alpaca & fibre harvest, a selection of naturally dyed fibre from Artisan Threads, dark grey broken tops from Uk Alpaca, from botton left, hand dyed merino from Limegreenjelly, hand dyed merino sock yarn from The Laal Bear, 3 Skeins of sock yarn from Knitwitches, and finally hand dyed shetland tops from Wheeldale Woolcraft.
I'm seriously wanting to have a spin of the alpaca, it is super super soft and the colour is just wonderful, the fibre from Artisan threads is going to be interesting to use as its uncombed but can still be spun in to a textured yarn, I was just taken in by the colours and seeing what was possible with it, I wanted to try!
The whole day was just fantastic, spent several hours at woolfest, wish I could have spent longer! Not that the day was over when we left, we drove down the road to St Bees, unloaded our extensive picnic and was still on the beach playing in the sea till 6pm! Didn't get home till gone 10pm!


All I can say now is, roll on next year!!

I come bearing gifts!

Yes, I know, I've not blogged for a while, feel like I'm forever apologising for not posting! There has been alot going on, internet problems, kids switching to home schooling and just a general lack of some thing to say, but, I bring a peace offering, I've written a pattern :-D
I knew my stash would come in handy one day, I certainly was taken by a moment of inspiration whilst staring at my shelves one day, well that and a lack of right needles for a pattern I did want to knit!

Show off Stranded Cowl

(It is an adult sized cowl, Ewan was just my nearest model!)

Inspired by the Show off Stranded Socks (which are very cool also, so go make them too!) this quick knit uses up that odd ball of dk yarn, either left over from a project, or like me, that must have skein of malabrigo! The cowl is knitted flat, with a provisional cast on at the start, which you use to graft the two ends together when finished to give the cowl a seamless look, naturally you can use a normal cast on and seam both ends together when finished, but I like it this way (read as I'm terrible and seaming, but I like grafting lol)

Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:
50g Variegated DK yarn, I used Malabrigo Merino Silky in Bahia

4mm Needles

Waste yarn

Tapestry needle

2 Stitch markers (optional I use them to mark the first and last two stitches, so I remember to do them!)


Gauge, Doesn't matter!


Stitch pattern is in multiples of 4


The pattern:

Cast on 40 stitches using a provisional cast on (I like this one )

Row 1, K2, purl across till last 2 stitches, K2

Row 2, K2, *YO, K2, pass YO over the two stitches, K2, repeat from * till last two stitches, K2

Row 3, K2, purl across till last 2 stitches, K2

Row 4, K2 *K2, YO, K2, pass YO over the two stitches, repeat from * till last two stitches, K2

Repeat these 4 Rows, until piece measures 21inches from cast on edge.

Set up for grafting, leaving your stitches on the needle, take your other needle and carefully unpick your provisional cast on edge, so now you have 80 stitches divided over two needles, with your working yarn on the back needle, on the right hand side, just as you would for a sock. This does mean you have the wrong side of your work facing you, so you have to do purl side kitchener stitch, which sounds scary, but its not! I found these directions here to be very helpful, it is easy once you get in to it, basically instead of knit 1 off, purl, purl 1 off, knit, you do purl 1 off, knit, knit 1 off, purl, its the opposite of normal kitchener. Very clever is grafting!

And voilà! You are done!


If there are any problems in the pattern or you have any questions, give me a shout and I'll do my best to sort it out!
Hope you enjoy the pattern, you never know, I might do some more one day :-)

(Its Woolfest this weekend, and you can put good money on the fact I'll blog about that, hopefully it will give me a good kick up the bum to blog more!)



Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Its not yarn, its an experience!

Never in my life have I really been taken in by some thing "popular", I was never really a omg must have that right now this second. Yes I might get it months and months later after the popularity has died down, but never at its peak.
Now when I started knitting, little did I know some thing like this was brewing, almost 2 years a go, some one mentioned this yarn site, we all had a look and thought oh nice yarns, pity none is in stock, I don't any of us quite realised what it was.
That site, of course, was Wollmeise. Since then the popularity of this yarn has grown and grown and is now almost a must have in your stash. Naturally I was curious, I loved the colours, and as time went by and more and more people talked about it, the more I wanted a look in.
Egged on by my good friend Tinks, I started stalking the site for updates (which happen once a week, with a limited stock going up for sale, as Claudia is a one woman show!) and trying desperately to bag some.
The first week I failed, I had so many in my cart to jump out before I could check out, I got so close! But ultimately, I failed. Disheartened, but thought well first week, couldn't expect miracles. I tried not to think much of it, but then the following week, Tinks sent me a text early that morning, saying it looked like there was going to be an update (screen goes grey) but nothing happened. All day we refreshed the site, but nothing happened, later that day, I had to restart my laptop (common occurance, its always losing my net connection!) and as firefox came back to life, I checked on the site, found it was back, clicked instock to find the yarn was there! I pretty much flew in to a blind panic, I wasn't logged on to the site, the update was well underway, I had to move fast. I saw a colourway I knew I liked the look of, put it in my cart, flew thru logging in and I was so lucky, the site only timed out once and as the final screen came up, I'd done it, I'd actually managed to buy some! 7th Heaven doesn't even come close!
I was still all happy the next day when I found out there was an easter egg hunt going on, random yarn is put up, and doesn't show on the instock page, you've just got to find it. Some one on the Wollmeise Ravelry group said there was one in stock and gave the name. Not expecting any thing, I went to see, it was still there, I put it in my cart, it was still there, I didn't rush, I didn't panic, I did all the steps and in the end, it didn't go any where, fate! I couldn't believe it! Twice in one weekend? Didn't seem possible, but it was!
Over a week has past, I've been stalking my postman almost every day, only to find bills and junk mail..until today!

Huge knock on my front door, nearly frightend the life out of me, Martin answered and took delivery of...


It was here! Carefully composed, I opened up my packages..


Very pretty, neat bags, covered in a knitting motif and german to english knitting terms, very neat (and useful too!) The next bit was the best..

Totally and utterly gorgeous, I can't explain how nice it is in real life, the colours are so vibrant and deep, and the yarn its self feels so nice and the smell is very unique (yes I'm a yarn sniffer!) It is totally worth the hype! If the yarn wasn't enough there is also a leaflet with more german to english knitting terms, and a pack of gummy bears!

Its all very unreal, its here on the couch next to me and I still can't believe its mine! Def going to earn pride of place on my shelf thats for sure.

Persona Non Grata

Well thats what it feels like at times! Both with my knitting and people. I try and come over as nice, I really do, but some thing must get lost in translation some where, maybe its my spelling letting me down some where…  Please, if I do offend you in some way, please tell me! Its not intentional!

And my knitting too!  I’ve knitted next to nothing recently, just lacking in inspiration, I’m not tempted by my current projects enough (no matter how much I like them and want to keep doing them) and I’m not seeing much that makes me sit up and think yes, thats what I want to do! *sigh* Its tough some times lol

Any way, what is getting me happy is my spinning, I feel like I’ve really come on lately, spinning some thing that really does come across as yarn. My most latest offering I did for my self, was some hand dyed fibre that I dyed my self with some koolaid, and then spun up on Sorsha

 

I named it tropics as it reminded me of a tropical fruit punch of some description, don’t ask me what weight it is, but its a single ply (as I liked the way it looked!)  but came to roughly 322 yards and I’ve just remembered I’ve not weighed yet!

I’ve also had to do some spinning for a swap, which meant *gulp* some one else had to see my spinning! I chose a colourway that my swap person had stated a preference for, but it spun up a bit lighter in colour than expected. Overall I was happy with my ultra very best attempt to make some thing nice for some one!

I did get a gorgeous package back from my swap friend, along with a lovely spun up skein, that I’ve now got to attempt to match (I don’t have to but I want to!) Its all split and ready to go on my couch, but I’ve not been brave enough to start yet!

 

And, if that wasn’t enough to get on with, I was tempted in to buying some fibre with the name First and Last and Always, which those in the know will, well know its a Sisters of Mercy song/album. How exactly was I supposed to not buy it? If, and this is a big if, I can pin down my skills, I’m going to spin this up for a project, I see gloves, most certainly with a gothic feel! Its gorgeous stuff, of shades of purple and a touch of crimson (must piccy it!) uber soft, if I do it right, its going to look great! (and I’ve got enough to cope with a huge margin of error, which is never a bad thing!)

 

Right I’d better get back to being the person people avoid!

Just a quick one, Angel Yarns forum

Yes I know I promised to post more, but that life thing keeps getting in the way, its so annoying!
Ok, quick knitting project pic, just to keep you happy!


There see, first ever more than one colour at the same time project, my endpaper mitts! Even avoided second glove syndrome and did them both one after the other, yeay for me!

Right main reason for being here is to let people know that the lovely (not!) admin over on the Angel Yarns forum pulled the plug on the whole thing without warning or explanation, leaving all the members and mods a bit stunned, but with true british spirit, every one regrouped on Ravelry and some lovely people took on the job of recreating the old forum, under a new name and have been trying to locate all the old members, so heres me doing my bit!
New forum, Phoenix knitters (as in rising from the ashes!) is here http://www.knittingforums.org.uk/

Please come and join us and stick two fingers up and the people at Angel Yarns who thought it was ok to do this sort of thing to us!

Finishy type things

Well I did think for the new year I'd try to blog a bit more..hmm day 18 and this is my first post! Oh well! I will try tho..
Will start with my last project of 2008, suddenly found a nice pattern for some yarn I'd had knocking around in my stash since Black Sheep had a closing down sale, it was 50p a skein for Rowan R2 Braid, so its like a soft ribbon, very soft, but kinda hard to find a pattern for. Me being me, I'd bought all the black and white ones, and whilst browsing that wonderful resource that is Ravelry, I saw some one elses project that involved making a bag and I was like, aha! Thats the one for me! Just a simple bag, I finished it in a day, big drumstick needles job, its been christened the Guinness bag, for obvious reasons...

Recycle in Rowan R2 Braid

I've finally managed to finish my Japanese Feathers scarf which was nice to finally get done, seen as its been on the needles since last March! Its not as long as I probably should have done it, but I was attempting to be creative-ish, I cast on when the yarn was in a dark stripe phase and I've knitted it until its gone through the whole sequence back to dark again at the other end, it looks good, just not hugely long. Picutures are not brilliant but the light quality at the moment is just pitiful and the flash just bleeches out the lovely blues, but you'll get the idea.

Japanese Feather scarf in Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 Ez

Since Christmas I've also been trying to perfect my spinning, I'd started on this blue merino before christmas and it was looking good, and apart from a few wheel problems (I'm still getting used to adjusting it!) I've done some thing that compares to aran weight! It was entirely spun and plied on Evangeline (yes I know I said Sorsha but there is a reason for that!)


The pic below shows what I'm aiming for, its what Jamman did on my wheel before I arrived and it looks so thin and even, I can only dream! The blue is what I had left over from plying and makes a good comparrison, I can dream, but it is some thing to aim for. I'm assuming its all down to how I draft, and at the moment I predraft every thing so I only have to concentrate on one thing at once, I did have a go at drafting as I spun but I was letting the wheel take it before it was spun enough and when it broke, I couldn't get it going again, so went back to predrafting. It will all come with practise I'm sure.


And last but not least, I mentioned in a previous blog that I was going to call my wheel Sorsha, like a character in my fav book who has to spin shirts out of a stinging plant to save her 6 brothers, but it never felt quite right, I liked the idea, but it didn't fit the wheel and my ashford traddy being a dark finish, struck me more as a gothy one and I've lent more towards calling her Evangline for a while, and I think I know why, cause this is Sorsha...

A dinky double drive pre 1999 Kromski, which is very much like the current Mazurka from their range. Its so small in comparrison to my traddy but spins very nicely and I was totally smitten on first sight! Kate was lovely (as was her cat, Sabbath!) and I even got a bag of fibre to play with as well, so thats me busy for a while. Good day today! Must make time for knitting tho..

The story of Doggie

My youngest lad Callum is 5, hes a bit of a nut case (in the nicest possible way!) and is probably one of the sweetest kids going.
Before he was born, even before we knew he was going to be a boy, my step mum bought a blue dog, and since he was born, its always been with him, and was the toy he became attached to.
Doggie (as he is known) is a well travelled dog, he can tell the time, he can play burn out on the ps2 and even gained a sunday best name of Rudolph last year (I'll let you guess what time of the year that was) and even has his own collar and a bell. He does speak in a rather deep voice and I've known him and Callum to have some very indepth conversations.
I saw the cuddles the puppy crochet pattern when it was free on Ravelry and was immediatly struck on how much it looked like Doggie.
Back in september I didn't rate my crochet skills so my pattern has languished in my pattern folder until I got up the courage to do smiley cat, and realised I could do more than I realised and straight away set about attempting to make cuddles the puppy.

And here he is!
He is most certainly a cousin of Doggie, and is incredibly sweet looking! I can't wait to introduce him to both Callum and Doggie on Christmas day, Callum is going to be made up, green is his favourite colour (the boy has good taste!) and it will be interesting to hear what this dog can say and do ;-)