inconceivable!

I found myself without any active WIPs on the go yesterday. Since I found the idea of not having any socks on the needles inconceivable (anyone out there who can say that word without thinking of the Princess Bride needs to go and watch that film NOW!) so I cast on for these Cheery Littlebottom socks. It’s the April/May mystery KAL pattern for the SolidSocks group, and I thought of this Regia yarn from my stash as soon as I saw it. I’ve been meaning to cast on since halfway through April but never quite got around to it so I’m glad to finally have it on the needles at last. I think it’s safe to say that I’m not going to get these finished by the end of May!

My Baby Surprise Jacket has been off the needles for well over a week, but it’s still lingering as a WIP since I still have all the ends to weave in and all the buttons to attach. I better get a move on though, the baby is due in a couple of weeks and I still have soakers to knit and onesies to embroider!

I used an applied i-cord to bind off, and I love how it turned out. I always thought that i-cord borders involved knitting yards of i-cord, followed by painstakingly sewing on said i-cord, which sounds like an incredibly tedious thing to do. Not so with an applied i-cord! You’re knitting an i-cord, attaching it, and binding off in one fell swoop, and it gives a lovely polished edge. I’m a definite convert.

There was also a bit of spinning action that went on this weekend. I hand-dyed this fibre a few months ago, and perhaps it’s a touch of Jubilee fever but I thought it looked a tad patriotic (if you squint, and imagine that the purple is actually blue….).

It was a quick spin, started on the Saturday night as a Champions League football avoidance measure, and finished on Saturday afternoon. I didn’t have an exact picture of how I thought the colours would look spun up, but I suppose I thought there would more prominent sections of the undyed white so I was initially a little surprised by the levels of pink. Of course, if I’d bothered to apply any common sense at all I might possibly have realised that white and red obviously blend to make pink, which is why the finished skein has such an overwhelming pinkish hue!

It’s about a 4ply weight, and I was quite pleased that I managed to keep my singles fairly consistent, especially since I was balancing my kindle on one knee and reading at the same time! What can I say, I just can’t put down the whole Game of Thrones saga. I’m not typically a fan of this sort of epic fantasy genre, but this stuff is engrossing! I read the first book out of sheer curiosity from all the hype, and I was completely hooked. I’ve been devouring them all in quick succession and I’m now on the fifth book of the series. Not looking forward to finishing it and having to wait such a long time for the last two books to be published!

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birthday hauling

Yesterday was my birthday, and to celebrate my lovely Boy drove me down to Yorkshire and treat me to a little wool hauling. I had planned to bring my camera along, and show you pics of all the lovely places we visited, but in the rush and excitement of the morning I forgot to pop it in my bag! But I did manage to snap the occasional phone pic…

So here goes. A snapshot wool filled birthday tour…

Giant needles at Texere. These things were ridiculously large!

Beautiful snowy Bradford on the drive to Coldspring Mill. It’s nice to see pictures of Bradford being beautiful because I lived there for 5 years as a student, and the area that I lived in by the university was thoroughly awful. I won’t bore you with the details, but needless to say my last couple of years there were miserable. Hopefully my bad memories can be overwritten with images as lovely as this!

More of the drive to Coldspring Mill, followed by…

a nice cup of Yorkshire tea at the Mill! And a lovely lunch of giant Yorkshire pudding, sausages, gravy, mash and peas (that I was far too hungry to stop and take picture of) for the utterly bargainous price of £3! I’m a bit of a sausage snob, so I was dubious when I saw the price, but it was completely delicious, and I still can’t believe how cheap it was.

We rounded it all off with a stop at Whitby on the way home, and an obligatory visit to the Magpie Cafe for fish and chips and mulled cider, followed by lovely moonlit walk along the pier. There really is nothing nicer than being wrapped up in deliciously warm handknits, staring up at the stars with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, and the wind whipping around your face. A perfect end to the day.

Well actually, the perfect end to the day was coming home to the birthday cake that my Mum had baked for me! Vanilla cake with lemon buttercream is my Mum’s specialty, and it is delicious.

But I suppose the important part of this post is the haulage, so here it is!

Some King Cole Riot DK, which is touted as being a Noro dupe. This ticks (almost) all my boxes (grey? Check. Jewel tones? Oh yes.)

Mystery yarn from Coldspring Mill. It’s a beautiful rust colour, looks like a DK weight, feels like merino and I’m pretty sure it’s Debbie Bliss but I haven’t a clue what line it is. Might have to do some investigating one of these days. They had a larger pack of this yarn, and I’m kicking myself for not getting it because it’s such a lovely colour!

Chocolatey brown Debbie Bliss Rialto, in what I think is an aran weight.

According to the pack this is Extra Fine Merino 4 ply, so although I initially thought this was a Debbie Bliss yarn, I now think it’s probably Sublime Extra Fine Merino 4 ply. Yellow is not a colour I’m usually drawn to, but I love this. It’s not quite dark enough to be a mustard, not bright enough to be lemon, and not brown enough to be biscuit. It’s just lovely and buttery, and I’m surprised at how much I love it.

There was more haulage. I picked up a couple of balls of colourful acrylic for my best friends daughter as I’m giving her knitting lessons for Christmas, and a few balls of Stylecraft 4 ply for knitting dolls clothes and accessories. There was also a huge amount of fibre haulage!

I’ve been a little obsessed with dyeing tops at the moment, so I’ve stocked up on undyed merino as well as picking up a few other fibres and blends so that I can try my hand at spinning wools other than merino. It looks like 2012 is going to be the year of the wheel!

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Seeing double

I had a little yarn splurge earlier on this week (the joys of a tax rebate!). Even though I ordered these skeins from two different shops at the same time, it wasn’t until both packages landed on my doorstep yesterday morning that I realised that I’d essentially ordered pretty much the same colours twice. Apparently I like this colour combination! Luckily there are enough differences between them to make me feel like I haven’t ordered a complete set of duplicates, and I can’t wait until my Christmas knitting is all done so that I can have a play around with these pretties :)

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Tinker, tailor, soldier, knitter.

Sorry for taking so long to reply to all your blog comments! I have read them all, and I will reply to everyone this week, but I suspect that my September blog presence will continue to be a little bit scarce. These 60 hour weeks are killing me! I’m hoping things will start to normalise in October, partly because I’m starting to go a little insane, but also because I’m really looking forward to Socktoberfest!
Anyhow, I popped into Newcastle after work yesterday for two things:

1. Buy yarn.
2. See Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Despite how insanely busy town was (thanks today’s Great North Run it felt like everyone in the world was either in Newcastle, or making their way there!) I managed both of the above. Of course, first came the yarn…

It is mmmm so yummy, and the silk gives it a beautiful sheen. I had gone to The Knit Studio hoping to find some Malabrigo (I fondled some of this for the first when I was in Glasgow and am kicking myself for not having bought any! I cannot believe how soft it is.). Sadly, I didn’t find any Malabrigo, although that might be down to me not looking properly as I was in a bit of a rush. This Manos did catch my eye though. It is absolutely gorgeous, but at £14 for 100g it is the most expensive yarn I have ever bought!

There were so many luscious colours, but predictably I left with the brown. It is kettle dyed and has such wonderful and rich variations. I did very nearly buy the green Manos instead, but this skein is for gift knitting so I thought I’d play it a little safe. I might have to go back for the green though, it was the most beautiful zesty green and looked amazing paired with this brown (in fact everything looked great next to this brown). I’m dreaming of something striped, I think my Boneyard shawl has whet my appetite!

I’m a little unsure about what to make with this at the moment. I had initially decided on 198 yards of Heaven, but then I saw the Spiral Cowl and my giftee has a 2 year old, I’m wondering whether a cowl might be more practical than a shawl which could be prone to slipping off..? Decisions decisions.

I also managed quite a bit of progress with my second Vanilla sock while I watched Tinker, Tailor (LOVED it!) at the Tyneside Cinema, which made me extra happy as it was the first knitting I’ve had time to do all week. I even managed to keep things mistake free this time around as well! I might have to rename these socks my “cinema socks” since that’s where I seem to be spending most of my time working on them.

I found it quite serendipitous that the film ended just as I was reaching the start of the heel flap too. Happy days!

I was so pleased with my efforts that I snapped a pic whilst standing alone in the centre of Newcastle, waiting for the boy to come around with the car! I got so many strange looks for this...

Those of you who follow me on twitter might have already seen this, but here it is for the everyone else to see!

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Ochre

I popped into John Lewis on Thursday, to look at some fabric for my Mum. The fabric department is right next the yarn department, and since there was a sale bin in plain view I just had to have a look! I think it must have been the tail end of the sale, because there was (thankfully!) slim pickings. There was quite a bit of cotton and linen which I was tempted to try, but the colours didn’t particularly appeal. This however, jumped out at me.

I’m thinking about pairing it with some cream Ethical Twist yarn to knit a Boneyard Shawl with the Three Country Shawl KAL group on Ravelry (because I clearly need another WIP…). I heard about the group in Episode 7 of the A Playful Day podcast (if you haven’t already listened to her podcasts, do check them out. She is so lovely!), and the current KAL designer is Stephen West.
I tried to knit a Boneyard Shawl a couple of years ago but I hated the yarn I was using, and I’ve always wanted to give it another go. I had a little stash dive and was thinking of knitting it with Ethical Twist on its own, but I’m not really in the mood for a cream shawl and I’m feeling far too lazy to dye it.

I think it could work if I striped these colours though. For some reason I feel like Stephen West patterns need cosy earthy sorts of colours, greys and browns and rusts, and this yarn (“Ochre”) plays right into that for me. It’s a very soft wool/cotton blend and it’s definitely reminiscent of those tubes of yellow/brown paint that I used to play with at school, but it also reminds me of autumn, squashes and pumpkin pie filling. I love it.

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Bounty

At the beginning of the year one of my best friends very kindly gifted me some birthday vouchers for The Knit Studio in Newcastle.

I’ve been wanting to visit this store ever since it opened last August, but somehow never managed to get around to it. I finally popped in a couple of weeks ago, but typically forgot my vouchers, so when I arranged to meet a friend for lunch on Thursday I realised that if I headed into town early it would be a prime opportunity for another visit, this time with vouchers in hand.

I love this store. It has all the wonderful yarns that I hear so many knitters raving about and knitting such wonderful things with, but have never had the chance to try. Yarns I have coveted from afar. 

Eventually, I settled on some Zauberball.

I was instantly drawn this ball of natural browns and greys. Although I do love colour, I tend to always go for the “safe” option of quite classic, neutral colours, colours that I can just throw on with anything at the last minute without having to think about matching/clashing. I think there is also something rather rustic and organic about shades of brown, grey and cream which really appeals to me. They feel like comforting colours. It seems a little strange to me now, to think of browns as being one of my go-to colours, since it was the colour of my school uniform and I grew up hating it!

 

I also spied this fiery colourway and thought that it might be nice to travel a little outside of my comfort zone. This is probably the most vibrant yarn I’ve ever had in my possession!

 

And finally, blue is one of my all time favourite colours, and I just could not help falling for the jewel tones of this Jawoll yarn. (It also reminded me of a few MAC eyeshadows I own, and that’s never a bad thing!)

If any visiting knitters are ever in the Newcastle area, I strongly recommend a visit to The Knit Studio! Located in historic Blackfriars, which is an old 13th century friary and one of my favourites spaces in Newcastle, it is the most darling yarn store I’ve ever seen, filled to brim with all sorts of luscious yarns, fibre, fabrics, books and magazines. The owner, Anne, is also lovely and so friendly! Plus, the store is right next to Chinatown, so lots of yummy eats are nearby!

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Spinning berries

Remember the berry braid?

After leaving it to linger on the wheel since October, I finally finished spinning it up!

Thanks to my eager-beaver dyeing attempt, the fibre was quite felted, although thankfully not unsalvageable. It did mean lots of pre-drafting though, and I’m not sure whether it is because of this or something else entirely, but it has spun up quite fine.

It’s not very even, and some parts are woefully underspun but I love the colours. It’s a measly 24 grams, and it varies somewhere between a fine laceweight in places, and a heavy 4 ply but it is oh so soft.

I really have no idea what to make with it. I have about 7 or 8 skeins of handspun in my stash now, and I’ve never actually knit with any of them. I would have loved to have made a shawl with this, but it’s such a tiny amount that I don’t think it would go very far. Perhaps I could stripe it with something, or make some other small accessory, but for now I think I’ll just pet it.

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Thick and thin

A couple of weeks ago, the Boyfriend bought me a lovely Ashford Traditional spinning wheel for a very early combined birthday Christmas present.

I’d forgotten how fun spinning can be, and I’ve been a little obsessed since, trying to spin a little every day. Finally, on Friday I finished plying my first wheel spun yarn!

100% pure merino wool. It’s a little uneven and running thick and thin in places, drifting between a lace weight and a heavy DK, but it’s wonderfully smooshy and I love all 290 yards of it. Strangely, I think the first single I spun was more even than the second. I weighed both singles before plying, and although they were the exact same weight, I had quite a bit of the first single left over.

Overall I think I’ve found it a little easier to spin on a wheel compared to using my drop spindle. I certainly spin faster on the wheel, although I have found it harder to gauge how much twist I’m putting into the fibre with the wheel. I suppose (I hope!) that that’s something that comes with practice. I don’t know what this skein is destined to be yet. I’m a little in love with the natural colour of the wool, so I’m going to leave this undyed, but I’ll be experimenting more with the next one. I haven’t decided whether to dye up some fibre to spin, or spin the undyed fibre and dye the spun skein. I’m leaning towards dye first, then spin. I also want to give navajo plying a try. So much to do!

wheel spun and spindle spun

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Spinning for spring

 

I seem to get more of an urge to spin in the spring when the skies are lightening and the weather gets slightly warmer.  I’ve even been outside twice this week without a coat on! It really must be getting warmer.

Back in June, the Boy took me up to Glasgow for long weekend, and I persuaded him to take us to New Lanark since it was only around the proverbial corner.

 

It’s a precious little place which  I wholeheartedly recommend anyone to visit if they find themselves in that area. I absolutely love the history of it, and after wandering around the museum and seeing the gorgeous plants and views from their roof garden, of course I ended up in the gift shop. And of course I bought several balls of wool. Several might be around thirty. Eeek! And then, in the corner, I spied some large bags of emerald green fibre which I pounced on and added to my loot. Because when you’re buying several balls of wool, what’s one more bag?!

The other night, in a fit of procrastination, I felt the need to dig out my hand carders and have a play. The New Lanark fibre (I wish I’d had the foresight to ask what kind of fibre it was at the time) seemed the perfect choice for carding, since the rest of my fibre stash are combed tops and this was more of a lofty  mass.

The carding went a bit easier than I thought it’d be. It’s still a little tricky, but I guess practice will take care of that. I’ve decided to give woollen spinning a try, since I usually spin worsted. It’s supposed to give you a soft fuzzy yarn, since you’re spinning across the fibre rather than with the fibre, but so far all I’m getting is uneven singles! Let’s see if I manage any improvement.

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FOs: Socks, Ishbel, Springtime Bandit

Pattern: My basic sock pattern
Yarn: Regia Color 4-ply /4-fädig

Really wasn’t a fan of this yarn at first. I bought 3 skeins of it in the Fenwicks sale, naively assuming that it was self striping, but soon finding out otherwise after casting on. I do love the colours in the yarn but I’m not a fan of random variegated yarn. Luckily the boy likes it so I made one pair for him, and by the end of it decided the colours weren’t all that bad anyway so cast on for a pair for me. Still not a big fan of variegated yarn and won’t be in any hurry to buy more, but these socks have definitely grown on me.

 

Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze

I really loved knitting this, I can understand why it’s everywhere at the minute. If I make another I’ll probably knit the large stocking section, this one’s a teensy bit too narrow to comfortably tie the ends in the front. I also love this yarn, it’s so soft and squishy and very warm, and although I thought the colour might be a little too bright, I think it’s just right for taking the edge off a gloomy winter. I wasn’t too keen on sharply blocked points, so I just blocked a fairly gentle scalloped edge.
This is going to get a lot of wear this winter…

 

 

Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborn
Yarn: Sirdar Just Soya

Another little scarflet I finished a little while ago. I had started knitting it in Teddy Sonnet wool, but that was way too scratchy to be worn as a scarf, so that was frogged and I started again with some lovely green soy I picked up in a sale for crazy cheap. I really enjoyed knitting this too, it was a pretty quick knit and the lace pattern repeats were easy to memorise for each row. It’s the first time I’d ever knit with soy, and I do quite like it. It’s very slippery and quite splitty too, but it does have a lovely sheen and drape and it does feel rather nice and silky on the skin. It’s surprisingly warm, I wore it out today in horrible blustery wind and rain, and felt quite toasty. Truth be told, I’ve actually worn this a few times now, and still haven’t blocked it which might be why it curls so at the edges. Ho hum.

I headed out to Kemps today (my last day of freedom before I start back at uni, sob!) and picked up a few bargains. I got some RYC Cashsoft 4 ply (above), which is in the early stages of becoming a baktus. I also picked up some Emu superwash which I think I might turn into a Boneyard Shawl. I also picked up some lovely red yarn for some snuggly cowls I’m making so lots of yarn related fun to keep me busy in the next few weeks.

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