Noodly Appendage

I've been on a bit of a yarn buying kick at the moment - possibly to make up for the lack of knitting I've been doing (don't ask me how that logic works, it made sense in my head *laughs*)

I am actually saving a couple of purchases for their own posts, but I wanted to share this one right away...

It was half price in John Lewis, and I thought it looked pretty interesting. And it seemed like a nice, quick-fix to my lack of knitting time lately.

Essentially you use your hand as a knitting loom, churning out 4 stitch icord. Not quite as quick as the box says ("your own fashion accessory in minutes), but still pretty fast. I made a big pile of cord in a couple of hours...

Hmmm, that doesn't look like much. Here, have a picture with my hand in it for scale *laughs*

It's pretty chunky. Now, though, I have a long icord (or "noodle" as the box called it) and according to the instructions I need to sew it together in one of a number of ways, depending on whether I want a hat, scarf or snood.

Call me pedantic, but the box promised "knitting without needles", not "no needles until you need to sew it up, then you have about 8 meters of seaming to do" *sigh*

Who knows when this intestine will become an accessory! I'm glad it was half price (£6.49) as I wouldn't have been too thrilled if I'd paid full price for it. To be fair, the instructions are there on the box, I just hadn't read them ;)

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 ;)

Yarn, Yarn, Yarn

I like yarn. You may have noticed this already *laughs* On Saturday I got 2 parcels with yarn in the post, which made for an exciting morning ;)

First one was a prize I won in my Nerd Wars team, I got to choose a skein from Nooch fiber, and I picked Merman:

It's slightly more greenish than this picture shows. I have no idea what I'm making with it, but isn't it pretty?

The second parcel was some undyed sock yarn, because it has been ages since I did any dyeing. I jumped in immediately, I'm no good at delayed gratification *laughs*

I did not learn from previous mistakes, so I ended up with seriously bright blue hands. I also forgot to re-tie the skein, so it got a bit tangled. Not looking forward to trying to wind it!

I started with a turquoise colour, then dunked parts of the yarn in darker blue, set that then dunked some more areas in a dark purple. It came out really cool, even though I didn't start with any sort of plan *laughs*

Next time though, I really must remember gloves!

I have also ordered some yarn from A Stash Addict, so I won't do a stash status update until that arrives ;)

Knitting and Stitching Show

I mentioned yesterday that I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace this weekend. It's the first time I've been and I had a good time despite the massive crowds.

I didn't take any pictures due to the aforementioned crowds - being short meant that any shot I tried to take just had a lot of people's heads and not much else *laughs*

My main reason for going was to find new yarn for gran's scarf, as I posted about yesterday. I spent ages looking at all of the grey yarns available before finding the perfect one.

While I was looking, I did of course buy a few other things...

Zauberball - I do love my Zauber socks, so I had to get some more *grins*

I was surprised at how few stands were selling spindles, compared to how many had fibre. I wanted a new spindle, but I didn't like any that I found, but I did like the fibre I saw.

In the end I picked up 200g of this 100% wool with orangey flecks in it. The label was pretty sparse on details but it feels nice and I liked the look of it, so that's all that mattered really *laughs*

I also picked up these dyed silk noils...

It was a grab bag of mixed colours for only £2, so I couldn't pass it up really. I have no idea how to spin them though *laughs* Anyone have any hints or tips for me?

New Cookbook

At my office we often have a pile of books that The Book People bring in and leave for us to peruse and hopefully buy. They're usually focused on children's books and local history and I don't often find any that I am interested in.

Last week, however, they had one that I immediately ordered:

The Homemade Sweetshop *grins* I love making sweets, and this is such a nice book. Lots of things I want to make and the layout is lovely.

I actually made one of the recipes for last weekend, when I met up with my mum, aunt and cousins for the Thames Pageant. I wanted to bring something to snack on, so I made a batch of these:

I completely forgot to take a picture, but they looked pretty much like the ones in the book *laughs* Very tasty they were too ;)

I also decided to try making cake pops to take with me (and I did remember to photograph them):

I didn't use a recipe, just made a cake, smashed it up and mixed it with ready made chocolate frosting. After a few failures, I got to grips with how to attach them to the sticks without them falling off, covered them and left them to set.

They were awesome *grins* Very well received by all.

Stash Status Update #2

Last update: 14th February


Total stash (balls): 88.8
Total stash (meters): 17,705
Total stash (yards): 19,362


Since then, I know my stashbusting plans have gone somewhat awry *laughs* I came back from Vegas with this haul:

I also bought 4 balls of Felted Tweed on ebay. I've heard wonderful things about this yarn, and wondered how much it tended to go for, so I put in a low bid to keep an eye on it (as I always forget to check my watch list!). Somehow I won the yarn. Ooops ;)

Then I saw some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in someone's destash on Ravelry (I know, I shouldn't look!) As it's one of my favourite yarns and is discontinued, I had a look... It happened to be my favourite colour, and a fantastically reasonable price. So I now have 10 balls *laughs*

And let's not forget the 2 skeins of sock yarn I received from my recent lovely swap partners:

Yeah, so much for destashing *laughs*


My consolation for the most part is that I am at least buying garment quantities of yarn, so I should reduce the single skeins of yarn with no purpose. And I have plans for much of the new yarn. I just need to knit faster *laughs*


Current totals:


Total stash (balls): 111.05
Total stash (meters): 21,666
Total stash (yards): 23,393.8

Yarn Cocktails

I realised that I completely forgot to tell you about a new knitting book that I bought after Christmas. It was in the sales, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up had it not been for the fact that it was only 50p *laughs*

The Knitter's Guide to Yarn Cocktails.

If I'm honest, I was most drawn to it by the picture on the cover, and the price ;) The book is slightly strange, with all the patterns named after cocktails - most of which don't bear any resemblance to the pattern or even the colour of the yarn used. But it is a bit of (cheap) fun, especially the slightly bizarre pattern descriptions!

There are a couple of patterns that I may consider making at some point. And there are a few that are, quite frankly, terrifying:

The Banana Boat Men's Boxers, for example.

Funnily enough, boyfriend has requested that I do not, ever, under any circumstances, make these for him *laughs*

New Year - Stash Status

So, now that we're well and truly into the new year (and I am back at work *sigh*), I thought it was about time I worked out the status of my stash...

Last time I worked this out, in November, I had used 11 balls up since I started counting (not including the in-progress projects).

Since then, I finished the socks I was working on, plus Hitchhiker, socks for my brother for Christmas, and (finally) my Cria *grins* You'll have to wait until Friday for the details on that one though ;)

So, add another 15.5 balls used up! Projects such as the dishcloths, mum's cardigan and mum's scarf unfortunately don't count towards my totals, as the yarn was specifically bought for the projects and therefore did not come from stash. But the 15 balls of yarn they used up does account for quite a lot of my knitting time!

I have been pretty good when it comes to yarn purchases in that time too. By November I had only bought 6 new balls of yarn since I started counting. Since then, a few more have come through the door, of course. But nothing too bad... I got 2 skeins of sock yarn from boyfriend for Christmas (50g skeins, so 2 required for a pair of socks) and I bought a few bits myself.

10 balls of Debbie Bliss Fez, in a lovely soft grey. This is the only thing I bought in the sales, I was very restrained and I made myself by a sensible quantity, instead of my usual trick of buying odd balls here and there and having nothing to do with them!

Talking of odd balls, the one other new yarn purchase was a single ball of King Cole Riot. I'd bought a single ball of this a while ago, with no plan, and it's been sitting in my stash ever since, waiting to be used. As I didn't have any idea what to do with it, I bought a second ball in a different colour to make a Noro Striped Scarf. So, one ball in equals 2 used up, which seemed like a good plan to me ;) No picture, because the scarf is already in progress.

As this is all a bit abstract, here are some actual figures:

Total stash (balls): 99.5
Total stash (meters): 19,632
Total stash (yards): 21,469

So, that is what I am aiming to reduce. Shouldn't be too hard *laughs*

The High Street Is Ruined

You know, knitting has ruined shopping for me at this time of year *laughs*

I used to love the autumn/winter collections, all chunky knitwear and cosy accessories. But now, when I walk through the shops all I can think is "But I could make that". Never mind the fact that I have plenty of projects on the go at the moment, and I am not an octopus with knitting needles [side note: how cool would that be - 4 projects going simultaneously!]... So I'm not going to be making all of the things I see out there.

But I still can't bring myself to buy them.

If I'm honest, part of it is because I enjoy showing off my finished garments to friends/colleagues/that guy walking his dog/etc... I don't want to be wearing knitwear and have them ask if I made it and have to say no!

Just as an example, I really like this top from Next... There are loads of gorgeous chunky knits in all of the shops, as well as finer gauge items like this, but I just can't buy them.

The high street is ruined I tell you *laughs*

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 :)

Best Laid Plans

I mentioned yesteday about my excellent plans to avoid buying more yarn, thanks to my already overflowing stash. Well, I am actually getting through some of the stash, and have decided to donate some yarn to charity - stuff I know I'll never, ever use. 

That sounds like excellent justification for my small slip off the wagon, right? *laughs*

While at Knit Nation, I fell in love with Old Maiden Aunt yarns. I didn't buy any, thanks to my lack of need for sock yarn. But I started just keeping an eye on the website so I'd know when it was updated with new stock. You know, just for information *laughs*

And then I saw a yarn entitled "Orange Test #2", from the testing section (where new dyelots are trialled, some successfully, others not so much). And it was orange (ish), and cheaper than the usual yarns, and in stock, so I obviously had to have it ;)

It is almost impossible to get the colour exactly  right, it's a gorgeous russety brown, the picture below is pretty close anyway... I love it *grins*

Not yet sure what it will become though.

In other news...

I have an award *grin*

In fact, I have 2, because (and please don't desert me for having a giant head) I was nominated by 2 people... I know, right?! Thank you to Charlotte and RugbyMad :) I'm very flattered.

Misadventures in Yarn Shopping...

I mentioned last week that my mum came to visit over the weekend. We had a lovely relaxing spa break on Thursday and on Friday we headed out to find a yarn shop.

I want to knit mum something for Christmas, but decided it would be best to consult rather than surprise her, to make absolutely sure I made something she'd like. So we wanted to go and look at some patterns and get the yarn.

We had an interesting time trying to achieve this goal *laughs* We headed to the first shop, but the roads have obviously changed significantly recently and the sat nav just couldn't cope. So we gave up on that one. The next one we did find, a tiny little place called "The Wool Shop". I did actually buy a pattern, but I'm not keen on a yarn shop that has all of the yarn behind the counter, I want to feel it and smoosh it before I decide to buy! Anyway, it didn't have what we wanted so we headed onwards...

To a house. Apparently the yellow pages app hasn't been updated in a while and sent us to a residential area. No yarn shop there. Next stop was Maidenhead, where the first shop we found may have been categorised as a yarn shop but appeared to only sell fabric *sigh* We really weren't doing very well by this point! However we did have a good look through some charity shops, where I found a couple of retro patterns to buy:

I want to make myself a cricket jumper in cream, with black and pink stripes, so I was pleased to pick up a pattern for that. Obviously there will be some modification required, but it should work. And the other pattern interested me enough to splash out 25p on it *laughs*

Anway, we decided to try one more shop. Which turned out to actually be a yarn shop... Yay ;)

Mum found a pattern, but they didn't have enough of the right yarn (no matter, the internet has already come to the rescue on that score). Plus she also picked up some lovely yarn in the bargain bin, £1 a ball:

We decided to try and find a pattern online for this, as the lady in the shop was really not very helpful at all.

More amazingly though, I didn't buy any yarn at all *pauses for everyone to get over the shock* I think it may be the first time I have been into a yarn shop and not bought anything and I was very proud of myself. They had some Manos del Uruguay (which I love and adore) in one of my favourite colourways, but I was strong and resisted. I have plenty of yarn ;)

So, our shopping expedition wasn't quite as successful as originally planned, but we got there in the end at least! The pattern I bought first is on the left, and mum's present pattern is on the right. Incidentally, this will be the last time I mention mum's present. It won't be a surprise as she knows what she's getting, but I think it'll be nicer not to see weekly updates on progress!

As this is turning into quite a long post, I'll save my stories of our knitting (and crocheting!) for Thursday *smiles* So please do pop back to see just how I got on with a hook for the very first time ;)

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*