Expectations

Expectations... I had them. My knitting progress (and enjoyment of said progress) has vastly exceeded my expectations.

When I first started knitting, my inexperience meant that I had no frame of reference for anything, so my expectations were based on the limited knowledge I had. For instance, the first thing I made was a scarf, in aran weight, that required 1 ball of yarn, casting on 20 stitches. This formed the sum total of my knitting knowledge.

When I decided to make a scarf for my brother, I didn't really know much about yarn weights, or needle sizes or anything. I bought a ball of chunky yarn, and the recommended needle size, and cast on 20 stitches. I expected to only need 1 ball, after all, that's all I needed for my last scarf *smiles*

After finishing that ball, the scarf was really very short. This is obvious now, but was pretty surprising at the time *laughs* Another ball bought, and used, followed by another one, and I finally had a scarf the right length.

It was a lot wider than I expected, which I now understand is a result of casting on the same number of stitches in chunky weight as I did in aran... Didn't know that at the time though ;) I was lucky that the 3 balls I'd bought at different times matched as well as they did - I didn't really know anything about dyelots then either...

I was also at the time making an eyelash yarn scarf for my mum, on tiny needles. I expected them to take about the same length of time, being that they were both scarves *rolls eyes*

So, with more knowledge has come more realistic expectations. Once I got into knitting and decided I really wanted to keep at it, I started reading blogs, forums and tutorials online, gathering as much information as I could.

The other reason for choosing "expectations" for my "E" post is boyfriend. He had pretty rigid expectations of what knitting meant (in fact, he still struggles to comprehend that knitting with cotton on tiny needles, like for my green top, actually qualifies as "knitting")

His expectation was that knitting equals chunky wool with old ladies churning out blankets and fisherman's jumpers. Like this:

When I first suggested knitting him socks (as he's not really a knitwear person, and I wanted to make him something) the look of horror on his face was priceless *laughs* He was adamant that it would never happen. No socks.

It wasn't until I finished my first socks that he started to mellow and confessed what he thought I actually meant... He expected knitted socks to be the sock equivalent of the jumper above - big, thick and woolly. As he never has need for big, thick and woolly socks, he didn't want to have me make them and then have to pretend to like them. Once he saw how awesome my socks were, and discovered what the type of fabric created is actually like, he suddenly wanted his own pair.

I expected him to want plain black socks (although I was going to push him towards charcoal grey), but he very sensibly decided that if I was to go to the trouble of knitting giant man socks, they should at least be a bit different than all the plain black socks he already has.

So he's having blue, stripey ones *grins*

When I bought this, none of us (me, mum, boyfriend) knew what to expect once it was knitted, so I cast on for a small section so we could see. That's the fun of sock yarn though, I think, not knowing quite what to expect from it ;)

Tomorrow I plan to post 4 day's worth of the 30 day photo challenge... Stay tuned.

A-Z Round-Up

As the ABC meme finishes this week, I thought it would be fun to do a round-up post... Click here to go to all posts with the ABC tag to read more.

A - I missed the first week thanks to my excitement to post something else entirely.
B - Bags. My obsession with handbags and my search for the right knitting bag.
C - Chaos. Following a weekend of trying out some new crafts and making a lot of mess.
D - Doodling. I doodle a lot.
E - Expectations. I enjoyed this post, looking back at some of the erroneous expectations I'd had when I started knitting. The comments were very reassuring too ;)
F - Fruity Fun. Or Adventures in Dyeing sock yarn with Kool Aid *laughs*
G - Gastronomy. This picture of my cookbooks all lined up is part of what inspired me to start my cookbook challenge!
H - Home. A small tour around my living room.
I - In the City. All about the book "Little Red in the City" by Ysolda.
J - Junebug win. A post about winning a giveaway on figknits and getting some gorgeous sock yarn.
K - Knit Nation. Fortuitous timing, as I would have been posting about it anyway *grins*
L - Random word list. As a "logophile" (lover of words) these lists crop up whenever I couldn't think what to write ;)
M - Many things beginning with M.
N - Natalie. That's me!
O - Outfits. A question for the reader - do you knit what you want and fit it into your wardrobe, or do you knit things that will already fit your usual outfits?
P - Plans. A post about my tendency to make (and then immediately break) lots of plans to do with my knitting...
Q - Quack. A photograph of ducks invading boyfriend's living room *laughs*
R - Random word list. The word "reremouse" actually inspired me to write a children's story!
S - Shakespeare. In which I confessed my love for the Bard and tried to demonstrate that he is still relevant and influential today.
T - Travel. The post conveniently co-incided with the trip to France boyfriend and I had taken the day before ;)
U - Random word list. The word "usward" was the best, and most popular *laughs*
V - Vastness (of space). A post about the time I spent on the back of a boat in Australia learning about the stars.
W - Writing. This post reminded me just how much I love writing, and how much I really want a writing room!
X - I completely forgot about X *ooops face*
Y - You. This was a fun one, looking at my stats and seeing what an "average" reader is like (although I'm sorry I forgot the small but vocal group of Chrome users!)
Z - Random word list. My favourite one was Zenzizenzizenzic ;)


I had fun doing this, and will probably carry on posting random word lists on days where my inspiration is lacking - from the comments they do seem fairly popular *grins*


For now though, after 26 weeks of this, I shall have to come up with posts all by myself...

Z is for....

Zone, Zebra, Zenith... I can't decide what to do with Z (but, as I accidentally skipped X, I really should come up with something!)

So, as ever, I turn to my trusty source of unusual words and present to you the letter Z...

Zamarra - sheepskin jacket (as ever, I do try to include some knitting/fibre related content *grins)
Zebroid - resembling a zebra (because saying something "resembles a zebra" is inefficient)
Zendalet - large black woolen shawl worn over the head or shoulders (oooh, 2 knitting related words)
Zenzizenzizenzic - eighth power of a number (seriously, how many times does one word need to include the letter Z?! I could have just posted this word and been done with it *laughs*)
Zibeline - soft, plied wool (anyone else surprised by the fact that there are multiple unusual words beginning with Z that are actually relevant to a knitting blog?!)
Zorino - euphemism for skunk fur (I do have to wonder why on earth there needs to be a euphemism for this)
Zumbooruk - small canon carried on the back of a camel (I just love that this exists and has a name)

I have to say, I have really enjoyed putting together the unusual words posts, so I may post one now and again even though the alphabet meme finished ;) Well, it finishes next week technically, as I skipped a week, so I'll probably post something to finish everything off properly.

Y is for...

You.

Yep, I'm talking to you *grins* And I must say, your hair looks lovely today.

First up, I want to thank you for reading. When I started this blog, I never thought anyone other than my mum and boyfriend would read it, so it means a huge amount to me that you do too. Your comments make me smile and I love being able to "meet" bloggers and read what you have to say as well. So thank you *smiles*

Now, I have had a look at my stats, and I have some information about you - well, an average you. Though, of course, you are clearly more than average... As a reader of this blog, you are a person of excellent taste and character ;)

• You are 50% American, 30% British, 6% Canadian and 14% very well travelled ;)
• Your web browsing preference is Firefox, very closely followed by Internet Explorer
• Chances are you are using a PC, although 15% of you have a Mac, and 2% have the good fortune to be visiting from an iPad

You most likely came here for the first time through one of the lovely link parties I join - WIP Wednesdays, Yarn Along, Finished Object Fridays, Creative Fridays, Fibre Arts Fridays... However, you could be one of the people who found my blog through some interesting google searches. Such as:

• ratio of monkeys today 10/13/11
• princess soles
• fabulus friday crats
• the babe with the power
• marvin the martian reading
• messy kitchen
• craft ideas for the number 13 
• beautiful+things+to+knit

Now, some of these searches make sense, others not so much *laughs* As for the last one, I'm just flattered that it brought you here.

So, you now know a little bit more about yourself. And you thought this blog was all about me... ;)

W is for...

Writing

I love writing. I got out of the habit for a long time so, when I started this blog, part of my enjoyment of it was to do with the simple fact that I was writing again. Not a lot, and not anything earth shattering, but putting my thoughts down into a coherent form and enjoying the process.

I have ideas and rough notes for 2 novels (although I am sure that everyone has their dream novel in their head, so until I actually write them they really don't count!) They're both utterly different, one is a fantasy novel with a heaven/hell theme and one is based on politics... Not quite sure how that works *laughs*

I've also written 3 children's stories. They do count, because I have actually written them ;) Boyfriend would love for me to get them illustrated and then attempt to get them published. I really enjoyed writing them, I have a very different style depending on what I am writing and the one that comes most naturally is the one where I feel more like I am talking to the reader than setting out a story. It just so happens that both my blog and the children's stories are written in that sort of style (albeit with fairly significant differences).

One thing I found with these stories is that I can't force them, I don't decide on a subject or character or storyline  Inspiration strikes randomly and I write. The last story I wrote was actually inspired by a post on this blog. My "R is for" post...

I mentioned the word "reremouse" meaning bat, which I read as ra-ra mouse. I ended up writing about a slightly odd bat, a little bit flamboyant and playful, who saves the day through his eccentricities *laughs*

Unfortunately, the adult sized stories I want to tell don't flow as quickly and easily as those for children, so I struggle to force the words out. One day I would love to have a writing area with a huge whiteboard where I could plot out the details/timelines/characters/relationships, so that I could just get on with the writing part.

Until then, I shall continue to seek inspiration in the unexpected and enjoy writing at all.

V is for...

Vastness.

The vastness of space specifically. I absolutely love looking up at the stars, which is something that is unfortunately not very satisfying where I live (near a city and an airport!) due to the light pollution :( Visiting my mum's house has the added benefit of a brilliant night sky where I can see hundreds of stars.

But the best view of the night sky I have ever had was in Australia. I spent about 10 weeks backpacking there some years ago, and one of my favourite memories (and I have a lot of great memories from that time) is the night I spent on a boat around the Whitsunday Islands.

The boat's skipper was a trained Celestial Navigator, and after sunset he offered to give a little talk at the back of the boat. Only a few of us joined him, most of the other passengers were more interested in the bar *laughs*

They really missed out. The sky was so clear, I've never seen anything like it at all. The skipper (whose name sadly escapes me) had a pair of incredibly powerful binoculars and let me use them - on the basis that I hadn't had any alcohol and the binoculars cost thousands and thousands of pounds ;)

As I looked, he talked about how the stars on the horizon seem to twinkle more than the stars higher in the sky, due to the way their gases interact with our atmosphere. He pointed me to the stars he was talking about and... Wow. They flashed red and green, like disco lights.

The skipper pointed out all the constellations that we could see, and told us the legends of how they came to be. We saw Scorpio (my favourite constellation) and he told us the story that one of the Gods had decided that Orion was getting too big for his boots, so he sent a crab to kill him. The crab, Cancer, failed so the Gods sent a scorpion. Scorpio succeeded, but one of the other Gods brought Orion back in the stars. For this reason, Orion and Scorpio are never in the same hemisphere and cannot be seen in the same sky. I love this sort of story, and I will restrain myself from telling all of them here, because I could go on for hours *laughs*

Amongst the star gazing and moon gazing (very bright through powerful binoculars by the way!) one of the other people who had come to listen to the talk said something like, "it's so clear, apart from that one weird cloud" and pointed to a smudge across the sky. The skipper laughed and told her, "no, that's the milky way".

It was completely breathtaking. I honestly don't have the words to describe what it was like, sitting on the back of a boat, on the other side of the world from my home, looking up at this incredible sight that I never expected to see.

This isn't my picture, but it's the closest I can find to what it looked like - although, really, it doesn't come close!

U is for...

Firstly, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment on Friday - you guys really made my day *grins* Also, boyfriend's day, as he kept checking to see who else had commented on "his" post ;)

I tried to come up with something interesting to say today, but the only word I could think of was "ugh" - now it is raining and Monday, so that seems justifiable, but I try to keep this blog happy and smiley (for the most part, complaining about having a cold notwithstanding!) so an entire post of "ugh" things seemed a bit much *laughs*

So, we shall return to my I-can't-think-of-anything-so-just-grab-some-random-words-and-try-to-make-it-interesting approach to the alphabet ;)

• Ucalegon - neighbour whose house is on fire - because that's when good neighbours become good friends
• Ulotrichous - having wooly hair - see I do try to bring in something sheeplike to these random posts, although I have no idea if this refers to wooly animals, or humans with a wooly looking head of hair (of course, I am now picturing a human with a sheep's fleece instead of hair and it all gets a bit ridiculous!)
• Unasinous - being equally stupid - because when you call multiple people stupid, their relative levels of stupidity may be questioned ;)
• Undine - female water spirit, often colourful - and at last the origin of my online name is revealed *grins*
• Uranoscopy - star-watching - is it just me, or do words with the ending "oscopy" sound very medical?  

And my favourite...

• Usward - toward us - I absolutely intend to revive this word, I think it's great. "quick, run, that bear is heading usward!"

Today's Misadventures in Craft was brought to you by the letter "U".

T is for...

Travel.

It is quite handy that today worked out to be T, because boyfriend and I travelled to France for the weekend ;) As I would have been posting about that regardless, I'm quite pleased that it worked out that way.

So, boyfriend and I had a free weekend, and decided fairly last minute to jump on the channel tunnel and go to Calais *smiles*

Of course, I had checked out yarn stores in the area. For research, you understand ;) So on Saturday afternoon, we headed to Calais town centre to find the Phildar shop. From the photo on their website it looks like a flagship store, very fancy...

When we got there I was a little confused to be confronted with what appeared to be a clothes shop:

As we walked in, you could see the yarn section peeking out from the back of the shop:

Slightly bizarre *laughs*

Anyway, I had a good look round, making boyfriend take sneaky photos so that I could share them here ;)

The bags at the bottom of the pictures contained sale yarn, all packaged together in dye lots, which was quite cool. And I found this yarn, which obviously had to be photographed - not only does it look like lettuce (or seaweed according to the boyfriend) which I found interesting, check out the name *laughs*

Of course, I did have to make a purchase - it's souvenir yarn after all...

This is 70% angora, 30% lambswool and is so incredibly soft. It was in the bargain bucket, so the 5 balls cost me about £7. There's not a lot of length to them, so I'm not sure what I'll make yet, but as soon as it brushed against my hand, I knew I had to have it *laughs*

Anyway, lest you think we went all the way to France and only looked at yarn, we also took photos elsewhere ;) We went to Sangatte and wandered along the beach, then drove up the cost to Cap Blanc Nez, a memorial from WWII.

Boyfriend took a few pictures of this for me, but I love the moody silhouette look.

Looking out across the sea, you can just make out the white cliffs of Dover across the channel. It always amazes me how narrow the English Channel seems to be...

So, that was our trip to France. Hope you all had a lovely weekend too :)

S is for...

Shakespeare.

As someone who likes words, you may not be surprised to discover that I quite like Shakespeare. Whilst most people I know who were forced to study his plays at school got sick of him, I was lucky to have a few teachers who managed to make things interesting.  My college tutor decided to set us the most bloodthirsty play of all, Titus Andronicus, deciding that teenagers would be far more likely to pay attention if people kept getting beheaded *laughs*

One of the things I most like about the Bard, though, is how much our language was influenced by his work, whether we realise it or not. A lot of people know that he invented new words (approximately 1700 of them, including "advertising", "undress", "blanket" and "swagger"), but he also put existing words together in ways we still use today, for example "seen better days" or "come full circle". He described jealousy as the "green eyed monster", referred to family as "your own flesh and blood" and coined the now overused phrase "the long and short of it" *smiles*

Considering how much language has changed since his time, I find it amazing that his influence is still evident today, in popular culture as well as more academic pursuits. I've always liked the number of times lines from his plays crop up as titles of other things:

What Dreams May Come - film/book - line from the famous "To be or not to be" speech from Hamlet
Darling Buds of May - long running very English TV show - line from one of the more famous sonnets
The Dogs of War - Pink Floyd song - line from Julius Caesar
Band of Brothers - book and TV series - line from Henry V
Brave New World - book - line from the Tempest

Then there's the influence of the stories themselves - Disney's "The Lion King" seems based on Hamlet, while teen flick "10 Things I Hate About You" was clearly influenced by The Taming of the Shrew. And of course everyone recognises Romeo and Juliet in "West Side Story".

So, apologies to those who weren't expecting a lecture this morning *smiles* but I hope it was at least slightly interesting. I was inspired to write about something a bit different this morning ;)

R is for...

Now my initial thought was to post about Ravelry... But I couldn't think of anything to say that hasn't already been said. If you've never used it, go check it out right now (then come back)!

Of course, once I'd discounted that, my brain went completely blank and just wouldn't come up with anything else beginning with "R" *laughs* So I shall use my approach for a previous uninspired post and list some interesting words again...

Rabelasian - coarsely hilarious (I like that there is a word for this)
Ragabash - idle, worthless fellow (fun word to say, although it doesn't sound very insulting, it sounds quite fun!)
Ranarian - froggy (I've never needed to describe something as "froggy" before, but now I know the proper word)
Rectalgia - pain in the butt (*laughs*)
Rejectamenta - rubbish/excrement (is it just me, or does it sound more like a spell from Harry Potter?!)
Reremouse - bat (I read it as ra-ra mouse, as though bats are just really fancy mice with a bit of pizzazz)
Resistentialism - theory that inanimate objects display malice towards humans (and any of us who have had yarn tangle for no good reason know that this theory is true!)

And to bring this back to knitting, check out this rug knit from rope.

Q is for...

P is for... Plans

You may have noticed, if you've read a few of my posts, that I seem to come up with a lot of plans. And then I deviate from said plans. Then I make new plans *laughs*

Hopefully this has been less evident lately. Not because I have stopped making plans, but because I have stopped mentioning them, to save the inevitable sheepish post when it all changes... "yeah, so, about that plan I told you about..." ;)

My first plan, I think, was to knit one thing at a time *laughs* That lasted all of about a week. Then I upped it to 2 things at a time. My WIP/UFO list is currently as follows: (by the way, UFO stands for Unfinished Object, and not Unidentified Flying Object - just in case you hadn't seen that before - took me ages to work that one out!)

Blanket (ongoing)

My Kool aid socks (ongoing)

Cria (slow going)

Green cotton top (hibernating, unlikely to be resurrected, but we'll see)

Feather and fan scarf (bet no one can even remember this, it's been at least 9 months since I worked on it)

So, plan to limit WIPs was not entirely successful *sheepish grin* 

Then there was the plan in March to use up some older stash by knitting a cushion cover, followed by a post not even a week later, entitled "New Plan"... That was the point at which I tried to stop putting restrictions on my knitting, which takes all the fun out of it for me. Some plans are good, although I'm trying to think of them as aims rather than plans, but rigidly defined rules are not for me. 

My most recently stated aim was to not buy any more yarn for a while, given that I could knit from stash for probably about the next 12 months. I bought some goodies at Knit Nation in July (which was part of the plan) and have been working through my stash since then. I even went to a yarn shop with my mum and didn't buy anything. Why do I mention this plan? Well, there may have been a small purchase that snuck through *laughs* Pop back tomorrow to see ;) 

The best laid plans, and all that *grins*

O is for... Outfits

I have a question for you...

When you choose a pattern to knit, do you make something to fit in with outfits you already have, or do you knit a pattern you like and work it into your wardrobe later?

I was thinking about this question earlier, trying to figure out what it is that I do. For example, shawls were never something that featured in my wardrobe, they're not something that ever would have occurred to me to wear until I started knitting. But there are some stunning patterns out there that I want to make, so obviously I will figure out which outfits work once they're done.

On the other hand, most of the things I have made (or plan to make) are things I would wear anyway, in colours that feature in my usual style, so I know that I have plenty of outfits that will work together. Plus I have a very varied wardrobe that allows me to throw things together and discover new outfits anyway.

Having said that, I don't wear my hand knits as much as I would like, because they aren't necessarily wardrobe staples. I could do with a new black cardigan, but I don't really have the desire to knit one - probably because I hear so many people hating knitting with black yarn!

So, I'm interested, what do you do? Do you knit things you need, things you want, things you may never wear but want to knit anyway? Or a combination of all of the above?!

N is for...

Natalie, of course *grins*

I couldn't not post about myself this week, now could I?!

Travel
I love to travel... Well, that's not strictly true. I love to visit different places, see new things and all that good stuff, but the actual travelling part tends to be a bit of a pain *laughs* I've been extremely lucky to have been backpacking around Australia, lazing on the beach in the Maldives, staring in wonder at the pyramids and snowboarding in the Alps (and trust me, I really do know how lucky I am)

Hobbies
Well, it's probably fair to say that you know I like to knit ;) And I've mentioned recently that I'm trying to make time to read as well. As a bit of a homebody, those (plus cooking) are really my main hobbies. I used to fence when I was a teenager, but gave it up to concentrate on my exams. I also used to love horseriding, but don't get the opportunity so much nowadays. I write, although not as much as I'd like, and love to try various crafting hobbies too.

Colour
I love colour. I love bright colours, rich colours, neutral/earthy colours... In fact, everything but pastel really. It makes me happy (as you may have noticed from my orange obsession lately!). One of my favourite things about myself is my colour changing eyes... I have green eyes that change hue depending on my clothes and hair colour. When I had red hair they were a darker green, blonde hair makes them go almost yellow (or golden, if you want a nicer way to put it!). Some days they're more grey-green *smiles* Today, with a bright pink top on, they're kind of washed out but when I wear a blue top tomorrow, they'll go extra green ;)

Jobs
I have had a bit of job variety, working in supermarkets, restaurants and bars during my teenage years. Right now I work in Marketing and Communications (which sounds more fun than it probably is!). But my most surprising job was when I worked in security. I know, don't laugh! I may only be 5 foot tall, and weak as a kitten, but for a summer I worked as a steward/security person at various events across the UK. I worked at football matches, concerts, Glastonbury Festival, the Queen's Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace... I still find it surprising, but it was an amazing experience and I met some very cool people (including my favourite band. Oh, and Ozzy Osborne!)

Anyway, that's enough of me waffling on ;) Have a good Monday.

M is for... Many things!

[Side note: boyfriend's suggestion for this post was "M is for Monday. Ugh. The End" *laughs* Whilst accurate, I don't know quite how inspiring or interesting it would be for anyone reading!]

Unlike last week, I had too many ideas for this post, and not enough to say or show about any of them. So...




M is for My Mum, who is coming to stay with me for a few days this week *grins*


M is for Muscle pain thanks to all the cleaning and gardening I did in preparation for the above visit ;)

M is for Massages. Mum and I are having a mini spa break, with much pampering (my muscles are pleased about this)

M is for Many Minor Modifications to Man socks (more about that on Wednesday!)

M is for Menorca, Majorca, Malta, Margarita and Maldives... All places I have been to, beginning with M. My dad and I had a plan to do an A-Z of the world, visiting a country beginning with each letter. Some will be difficult/barely possible, but we wanted to try. I'm going to try and do it for both of us. I seem to have a fair few M countries already though!

M is for Metric - for some reason I switch between metric and imperial measurements (not in the same project though - that's never a good plan). I weigh things in grams, measure length in inches (for short things) and meters (for longer things) and generally have very little consistency in my approach. I've never been able to understand why.

M is for Mattress Stitch. I hate it. That is all (ok, I know it is amazing and wonderful and finishes things beautifully, but I hate doing it!)

M is for Making - I like making stuff *laughs* But you probably already knew that ;)

L is for....

Ok, for some reason I struggled with a word for this week. I was going to do L is for Learning, and talk about all the different things I have learned since starting knitting. But I'm planning to do something similar for my knitting anniversary in November, so I decided to avoid repeating myself!


One of my favourite words begins with L, "lethalogica". It means "inability to remember the right word", and I just love the fact that there is a term for it! 


So I decided to look up other unusual words beginning with L. As a huge fan of words and their meanings, this seemed like a cunning solution to my writer's block *laughs*

• Lanameter - instrument for measuring the quality of wool (see, I even manged to make it topical)
• Laniferous - wool bearing
• Lentigo - freckle (I need to try and work this one into conversation some time)
• Lethanomia - tendency to forget names (boyfriend has this!)
• Lexiphanic - actually a synonym for my other favourite word (sesquipedalian) - prone to using long words ;)
• Libriform - shaped like a book (why there needs to be an actual word for this, I'm not sure *laughs*)
• Locutory - a room for conversation (how very civilised!)
• Logophile - lover of words (that's me)
• Ludic - spontaneously and aimlessly playful (as opposed to planning your playfulness with a purpose in mind *smirks*)
• Lutescent - yellowish (not sure why "yellowish" isn't good enough?!)

So, I'm sorry for the cop-outness of this post, but inspiration really deserted me this morning! Tomorrow will have far more exciting content (boyfriend had a go at dyeing yarn) and Wednesday will reveal whether or not I managed to get to grips with toe up socks *laughs* And in the meantime, I think we've all learned that words are interesting, bizarre and sometimes utterly pointless ;)

K is for... Knit Nation (of course!)

Yep, Knit Nation was on Saturday *grins* I hadn't been last year (having never picked up knitting needles or even considered such a thing) so I was pretty excited to go this time. I did try to take lots of pictures, but I got there first thing and it was pretty busy, so most of them came out like this:

I'm not very socially outgoing with people I don't know, so I wasn't very good at asking for photos, even though I'm sure no one would have minded. But I did get a few (blurry) shots as I was walking around.

A somewhat depleted selection of Wollmeise on the Loop stand. I met the lady responsible for Wollmeise outside just before the marketplace opened, she was lovely and was very flattered when I said I was looking forward to getting my hands on some of her yarn *smiles*

The Habu stand. I'd heard of Habu before and been intrigued, they make yarns combined with all sorts of strange things, including paper and steel... I loved the way the yarns were packaged, on cones or these little parcel-like bundles, and it was cool to see what it was like once knit. Not my cup of tea, but really interesting nonetheless.

A hanging display at the Juno Fibre Arts stand. The lady there was so nice, and very admiring of my Clapotis *grins* Incidentally, that wrap is really very warm - I was melting in the marketplace!

So, that brings us to the end of my usable pictures of the show... I know, I'm rubbish! But, I have got nice pictures of what I bought, which hopefully makes up for it *laughs*

I took a set amount of money and planned to only spend that. Amazingly, I did. I spent exactly what was in my purse and no more. Very proud ;) I also told myself that I did not need to buy skein after skein of sock yarn. As you saw from my post on Thursday, I already have plenty that I am excited about using, and I tend to get a little stressed if I have too much waiting for me! I wanted to have a look at some yarns that I have been coveting for ages, to see if they are as nice in the flesh as I was hoping, so I have a long list of things that I do want to buy once I have used some of what I already have.

So, I bought 1 skein of sock yarn that's intended for a shawl and not socks... Wollmeise ;)

I had to buy some, just to see what all the fuss is about. I was slightly wincing at the £20 price tag (hence why it definitely won't become socks!) but actually the skein is 150g rather than 100g, so it's better value than I first thought.

My second purchase of the day was a Blocking Kit from Brownberry Yarns. Perhaps buying it so early in the day was a mistake, I was lugging the tube around for the entire time, but never mind! I've wanted one for a while and it was a good price, so I'm happy.

After going to the Loop stand for the Wollmeise first, and passing the blocking kits and having to immediately get one, I decided to have a wander and look at lots of things before deciding what to buy.

I got this adorable "emergency yarn" keyring from Old Maiden Aunt. And fell in love with their beautiful colourways. It took a lot of willpower not to spend all my money on their sock yarn *laughs*

At The Bothered Owl, I purchased these cool stitch markers...

The Great British Yarns stand had lots of Knit Picks, which I'd seen were on their website. I've heard a lot of good things about Knit Picks, especially for such a reasonably priced brand, so I had a lot of fun squishing all the skeins *grins* Sharon, the lovely lady on the stall let me play with their sample book to see all the swatches, and I came away with this lace weight alpaca. I love the colour, and it is so, so soft. I resisted the sock yarn, but have made a mental note to get some in future. I'm a sucker for really soft yarns ;) I also picked up a skein of undyed sock yarn (I know, I know, but I promised the boyfriend he could have a go at kool aid dyeing!)

I popped upstairs to the salon to have a look at all of Ysolda's samples and had to buy Whimsical Little Knits 2 and get it signed. I didn't take Little Red with me for signing, as I really didn't want to have to lug it around all day!

At the Nimu Yarns stand I bought this beautiful shawl pin. I love it, it's so very me *grins*

This brought me to within £20 of my self-imposed spending limit when I spotted a bargain bin back at the Brownberry Yarns stand. As soon as I put my hand in, I was overwhelmed with soft squishiness. So I bought 6 skeins of this beautiful baby llama yarn. I love alpaca, so I figure llama makes perfect sense ;)

The skeins are quite short, so I shall have to plan what to make carefully. I love the colour. In fact, I was very drawn to a lot of the grey yarns I saw (especially on the Old Maiden Aunt stand). I steered well clear of everything orange, no matter how much it called to me!

So, that was Knit Nation for me. I had a really good time, and could have spent many, many times the amount of money I had set myself. Looking forward to next year already *laughs*

J is for.... Junebug Win

Subtitled: See how I make the meme work for me ;)

Last month I entered a giveaway on figknits, during the Junebug giveaway month. I was very, very excited to win this beautiful yarn:

It's Shalimar Yarns, Zoe Sock, in the discontinued colourway "PillowMint"

But that's not all, the parcel also included a size D crochet hook (for those, like me, who have only just got to grips with knitting needle sizes and are still bewildered by crochet sizes - it's teeny tiny!) and a cute "mirth" t-shirt. I have to say, even though I don't crochet, the hook feels lovely to hold with its smooth bamboo handle. It's now in my notions bag waiting for me to learn how to use it *laughs*

The yarn is 100% Australian Superwash Merino and is beautifully soft. It's just over 400m worth, so I'm thinking it'll make some knee high socks, which will be fab *grins* My plan is to split it in half when I wind it, and knit the socks toe up, so that I can make sure I use all of the yarn (I usually have quite a bit left over as I underestimate just how small my feet are!)

And, just because I can, here's another picture, isn't it pretty *smiles*

I is for.... In the City

Little Red in the City to be precise *grins*

Ok, maybe it's cheating a little bit, but my book arrived at the weekend and I wanted to share ;)

I pre-ordered it when I saw a fantastic post on Ysolda's blog about what to expect from the book. As a result, despite having so few patterns, it became my must have purchase.

For those who don't know, the premise of the book is:

So it has sections on prep, techniques and patterns. The prep section is hugely informative, so I haven't really scratched the surface yet, but there is a lot of information on choosing a yarn for a project (very useful as I rarely use the recommended yarn) and how to make things actually fit.

There's a lot of maths for that last part *grimaces*

I hate maths. But it looks fairly simple, I hope, and making things fit well has got to be motivation enough to ignore my maths hatred ;)

It's a gorgeous book, with some gorgeous details, I love the "this book belongs to page", it feels like being a kid with a special book again *grins*

And I utterly adore the little bookmark/ruler tucked inside...

So cute :)

I can't wait to get stuck into this book properly. In fact I have already swatched for Cria, using the Jaeger Monte Cristo yarn that boyfriend's mum gave me. Just need to get my exact measurements before I start (and being patient is not fun for me!)

Head over here to Charlotte's for more ABC posts

H is for... Home

Before starting today's post, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who stopped by on Friday and commented on my Clapotis! I've never had so many comments, and I can tell you they made my day *grins*

Anyway, before I get too gushy, on to "H"

H for me is for Home. My mum's house will always be home, because it's where I grew up and it's family and history and all those things. But, I obviously have my own home too

My home is a little flat, with 4 rooms including the bathroom. It's tiny, although it does have a garden, and it's the first place I've lived in alone (without housemates or anything).

I have mentioned briefly before about my living room decor. I love the steampunk aesthetic, but I don't want to live in something that looks like a film set, so I have incorporated little touches here and there. It's more battered antique than steampunk perhaps, but it's exactly what I want.

Like this bookend (although I think it is supposed to be a doorstop)

One of my favourite things in my living room is the antique typewriter. It's all battered and could do with a good clean, but I like the way it looks as it is:

I love this little selection of bits and pieces, the globe was from Spitalfield Market, and was exactly what I'd been looking for. The glass bottle actually contained real ale (bought for my brother entirely because I wanted the bottle!). The metal box is a candle and was the inspiration for my mirror paint job.  And the test tubes were discovered by my mum in a little shop in Rhodes while we were on holiday. You can also just see the cogs bookend on the shelf below (it's made of plastic and I keep wanting to make a proper one, but I'm no metalworker!).

You've seen the top of this next item quite frequently, as it is where I take most of my pictures. Partly because this is where the best light is, and partly because I really like having it as a backdrop to my pictures. It's a Victorian travelling trunk, owned by a lady named Cybil Bury (her name is still marked on the top), picked up from an antique place in Rye for a steal *grins*

This is my fabulous Victorian pine blanket box, that mum suggested would work as a coffee table when I spotted it but couldn't decide if I should buy it or not.

Close up of the little stack of books at the end, with some old opera glasses balanced on top. Again, mum's idea (she has really great ideas, as soon as I described what I was trying to do, she immediately suggested vintage books).

So, that's a very small snapshot of my home. I have more globes dotted around, as well as cushions with map fabric and leather covers, but they were too bathed in sunlight to get decent pictures *laughs* It seems that taking pictures when it is sunny is almost as challenging as when it isn't, as you can tell from the sunflares ;)