Unravelling - In a Good Way!

Now that I have some form of internet (moving is stressful enough without feeling so out of the loop!) I thought it was about time I posted an update about the exciting new yarn I bought at Unravel.

For those who don't know, Unravel is an annual knitting show held in Farnhan Maltings. It comprises many stalls of knitting/crohet/crossstitch/needlework related goodies - everything from yarn and fibre to buttons, beads and notions.

I was excited to book my ticket, until moving weekend happened to coincide with the day I was planning to go. Ooops! Luckily, cunning boyfriend is not only cunning but also amazingly supportive of my hobbies, and insisted I go anyway. A day off from hauling boxes, and a knitting show? Who could say no? *laughs*

The main reason I wanted to go was to finally meet up with Sarah and Tink. We all started blogging at around the same time, so it was great to meet them in person. We've always joked that Tink is my evil twin, and now that she has come to the dark side and is knitting socks, well, the link is complete ;) I also got to meet Gilly, who was lovely and has awesome hair.

I've borrowed this pic from Sarah, as I was sadly lacking my camera:

But enough about the day - you want to see the yarn, right?!

I was in the mood for obnoxiously loud colours, and the first thing that grabbed me was this skein from Sparkleduck:

Teal and orange are two of my favourite colours, I couldn't resist them all twisted together like that!

I spent quite some time at easyknits, trying to decide between a few of their "deeply wicked" skeins. The colours are so wonderfully saturated. After eliminating the first one I loved, due to the fact that it also contained a large proportion of teal and orange, I settled in this one:

So, so bright and wonderful.

When I spotted some Colinette Jitterbug, I had to have some. I've wanted to try it out before so I grabbed a purple skein. Then Sarah pointed out the colour she liked best and I immediately switched my allegiance and bought it...

I was hoping that boyfriend might like it, I think he deserves some socks. Luckily when I got home, he was most taken with it. So at least one of the things I bought has a plan already *laughs*

And while I am on the topic of new yarn, I should also mention the yarn mum got me for my birthday (3 days after Unravel - so really, the skeins I bought were obviously birthday presents to myself *grins*)

KnitPicks Felici. I know there's some drama going on with buying from KnitPicks at the moment, but luckily in the UK you can't buy direct from them, this came from their only UK supplier. Phew. Anyway, it was on my wishlist because I adore my Super Awesome Happy Rainbow socks, they're so soft that I wanted another pair in the same yarn.

Wow, that turned into a long post! I have more to show off - mum bought me a swift for my birthday too - but I think I'll save that for another day ;)

Overdue Update and Exciting New Venture

Hi again, poor neglected blog ;)

I mentioned in my last post that things have been particularly busy lately. And they really have been! But hopefully everything is a little bit more settled now. Cunning boyfriend and I have moved into our new house, which is starting to feel like home now. Especially the funky new office.

I have new yarns, new projects and new toys to show off, although I will post them separately so I don't use up all my content at once *laughs* Most of the new yarn comes from my trip to Unravel, where I met up with Tink and Sarah and had a great time :) Again, more on that later.

Saving my most exciting news for last - I left my job and I'm starting a new venture as a freelance writer. I'm really excited about it, and have spent the last few days getting my new website, twitter and facebook page set up *grins*

web: www.nataliehowells.com
twitter: @NHowellsFW
facebook: Natalie Howells Freelance Writer

I'd love any feedback you might have. Everything's still a bit of a work in progress but constructive criticism is most welcomed.

I'm also available and excited for any guest blogging opportunities - so if you'd like me to write a post for your blog (on any topic, I'm very flexible *laughs*), just let me know. Either leave a comment or use the contact form on the website and I'll get back to you :)

I'll be back on Monday with actual knitting-related content.

Still Here... Just!

I've been very quiet on here recently, I know, and I haven't had much to show either.

Both of these things are connected to how much I've got going on at the moment. I'm leaving my job tomorrow, and next Friday boyfriend and I are moving in together. There's so much stuff to sort out that I haven't been doing much in the way of crafting!

I'm very excited, but also daunted by how much there is to do in the next week. We're moving from 2 small flats into one house, which is great in terms of having so much space, but stressful in terms of logistics *laughs*

As for the job - well, I'm taking this opportunity to do something new. More about that later, when things have settled down a bit!!!

On Disappointment

After my post on Friday, about my disappointing socks, I started to muse about disappointing knitting.

I am quite lucky, I have been delighted with most of the projects to come off my needles. I've certainly had projects that I never finished because they weren't turning out right, but very few that I consider truly disappointing FOs.

My Brown jumper is, in hindsight, a little disappointing. The arms are too long, the neckline is bodged, the colour of the yarn is overwhelmingly samey and the body is a little short. But, and this is an important but, it was my first jumper/sweater and therefore those faults aren't so much disappointments as learning experiences. I keep meaning to go back to it and see if I can fix it to be more my liking though *laughs*

The very first garment I made, which was supposed to be a capelet type thing, came out completely wrong. My gauge was pretty far out, and I was a little saddened, until I blocked it to within an inch of its life, and ended up with a cute shrug that I prefer to the cape *smiles*

Now that I look back through my projects, there are some that I love, some that I like, some that I like well enough but don't seem to wear... But nothing that is really disappointing.

Recently I ripped out the back and half a front of a cardigan I had started, because I knew it wouldn't turn out right at all. I am learning more and more to see when a project just isn't going anywhere - which is something I didn't do well at first. I have other projects that I never finished, but I always felt a little guilty about them.

Of course, finishing something only to be disappointed seems like a much worse fate, so I am happy to have learned when to say enough *laughs*

Well, They Got Finished And That's The Best I Can Say About Them!

I have a finished project that I haven't posted about despite finishing it a couple of weeks ago... Well, by "finished" I pretty much mean "cast off because I was sick of it" *laughs*

Behold - The Noro Socks of Frustration and Disappointment:

While the colours are great, I don't like anything else about them *laughs* The yarn was awful to work with, thick and thin, it came apart in my hands at least 3 times, and just rough and unpleasant to the touch.

I haven't blocked them yet, but hopefully a soak in some hair conditioner will soften them up!

Because I got sick of them, they're really short and hard to photograph without looking weird, so I tried to take an arty shot...

*laughs* Not my best work!

When I split the ball of yarn into 2, I decided to wind one ball in a different direction to the other, so that I would get a kind of upside down mismatch...

It worked, but I gave up on them before I finished a full colour repeat. I tried but in the end decided that knitting something that I got no pleasure out of was a bad plan so I cast off early. And that was such a good feeling!

Another busy week...

... Another lack of much knitting progress *laughs* I really have nothing to show off today, I've made a tiny amount of progress but nothing worth taking a picture of.

However, I realised that I had forgotten to post a picture of my A Stash Addict yarn, and it is so pretty...

I was initially going to use it for socks, but the colours are so soft and delicate that I think it has to be a shawl of some sort. Which is daunting, because lace!

Lists, Glorious Lists*

I was looking through my blog archives for something the other day, and stumbled across a post from December 2011, with a list of knitting techniques/skills to check off. I thought it would be fun to update it, and see what else I have done since then *grins*

Bold are ones I have done, italics I intend to try at some point.

- Afghan
- I-cord
- Garter stitch 
- Knitting with metal wire
- Shawl
- Stockinette Stitch
- Socks: Top-down
- Socks: Toe-up
- Knitting with camel yarn
- Mittens: Cuff-up
- Mittens: Tip down
- Hat
- Knitting with silk
- Moebius band knitting 
- Participating in a KAL 
- Sweater
- Drop stitch patterns (as long as Clapotis counts!)
- Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
- Slip stitch patterns
- Knitting with banana fiber yarn
- Domino knitting - don't even know what it is!
- Twisted stitch patterns
- Knitting with bamboo yarn - I have some in my stash just waiting for its turn
- Two end knitting 
- Charity knitting
- Knitting with soy yarn
- Cardigan
- Toy/doll clothing 
- Knitting with circular needles
- Baby items
- Knitting with your own handspun 
- Slippers - bad bad bad, but that was my own fault
- Graffiti knitting 
- Continental knitting
- Designing knitted garments - well, I designed something for myself, it's only ok, but it counts ;)
- Cable stitch patterns
- Lace patterns
- Publishing a knitting book
- Scarf
- Teaching a child to knit - I attempted this with boyfriend's youngest!
- American/English knitting
- Knitting to make money - doesn't appeal in the slightest
- Buttonholes
- Knitting with alpaca
- Fair Isle
- Norwegian knitting
- Dying with plant colors
- Knitting items for a wedding
- Household items
- Knitting socks on two circulars - no point, I'm happy with DPNs or Magic Loop
- Olympic knitting
- Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
- Knitting with dpns
- Holiday-related knitting
- Teaching a male how to knit
- Bobbles
- Knitting for a living
- Knitting with cotton
- Knitting smocking
- Dyeing yarn
- Steeks
- Knitting art
- Fulling/felting
- Knitting with wool
- Textured knitting
- Kitchener BO
- Purses/bags
- Knitting with beads 
- Swatching
- Long tail CO
- Entrelac 
- Knitting and purling backwards
- Machine Knitting
- Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegated yarn
- Stuffed toys
- Knitting with cashmere
- Darning
- Jewelry
- Knitting with synthetic yarn
- Writing a pattern
- Gloves
- Intarsia
- Knitting with linen
- Knitting for preemies
- Tubular CO
- Freeform knitting
- Short rows
- Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
- Pillows
- Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
- Rug
- Knitting on a loom
- Thrummed knitting
- Knitting a gift
- Knitting for pets - not mine, but I did make toys for a friend's dog
- Shrug/bolero/poncho
- Knitting with dog/cat hair - why?!
- Hair accessories
- Knitting in public
- Double knitting

At the time, out of 100 I had already done/attempted 43. The total is now 55. Interestingly, the ones I have done since I first posted the list are split between ones I had intended to try, and ones that I initially had no intention of doing. 

I would have expected to get through more of the list in the time since I first saw it, but there are still things on there that I don't plan to try because they don't appeal. Regardless, I'm happy with what I've achieved so far - I've only been knitting a few years after all *laughs*

*Ok, so I really like lists!