Playing catch up is what I seem to be doing with my life right now. Work has got busy again, We’ve just finished painting the living room and my knitting and writing mojo seems to have left me. A few weeks ago I bought a grown up colouring book, which I know sounds daft but I thought would be something to do when I don’t have enough mental energy to knit or crochet and I’ve not started anything in that; but instead I’ve been coming home, pottering about here and there and not really doing much of anything. You’d think given all the pottering I’d at least have a clean house but no, not really! We’ve started bringing back our habit of a little “home blessing” in the evenings, 20 minutes each to just do something. It’s amazing what you can manage in just that short space of time. It leaves so little time for other things though which is a huge problem. This blog post? Open in draft since Sunday; and it’s now Wednesday evening.
Knitting wise I’ve finished a thing! Well, two things really as it’s a pair of fingerless mittens for R’s cousin.
Please ignore the horrible, late night picture. The main pink yarn has sparkles in it because I love sparkles. It was a bargain ball from John Lewis (£1) but there wasn’t quite enough to do 2 full gloves in it. I learned this the hard way of course. I finished the both gloves, knitting them separately and then realised number 2 looked different to number 1. The stitch count was the same, but 2 had more stitches on the back. Nearly running out of sparkle pink I ripped number 1 out with the intention of making glove number 3 to match number 2. About 12 rows in and *that* wasn’t working so I ripped both out and cast on two at a time so at least of there was a mistake they both were mistaken evenly. In fact looking at them now it looks like there’s an error in the 2nd diamond up, but I think that might just be the way they are on my hands in the photo. They’ve been sent off in the post now, so if it is, it is. They’re for a non knitter, she won’t care, I doubt if she’ll even notice.
Bonus here- my pretty living room! The wall is a bit darker than that (There’s a pathetic lamp attempting to help light the shot) but it’s now all done. If you go digging back there’s a picture in January of half the living room. Few things left to do, I want to get some floating shelves and put up some picture frames. I’m really hoping that later in the month when my mum and Dad come down that he can help me do that. Mainly because I want my daddy to do it so I don’t have to!
Wonderwool was a few weekends ago now and I’ve still not blogged about it. It’s hard to know what to say really. I love it and find it indescribable, for those not in the know it’s a fibre festival held anually in mid Wales. It’s in the covered animal sheds on the Royal Welsh Showground so it’s dry, if not a little chilly at times. It’s mainly small, independent dyers and craftspeople. If you want big name, cheap yarns then you might want to give one of the London shows a go; this isn’t it. I’m a big lover of indie dyers and want to knit with finer yarns so it’s perfect for me. It was my second year and this year I went with a lot more money in my pocket thanks to some overtime payment. I’m incredibly happy with what I got and my aim is to use it all before Wonderwool next year!
Left to right top to Bottom
Fyberspates Sparkle Merino Silk lace in Forent for Celestraium (which I know I’ve not spelt right but can’t be bothered to look up right now!) This yarn blindsided me so much it’s actually wrong! The shawl calls for a 4ply and this is a lace, but I’m sure it will work out just fine. Sparkle dominated my day.
Bargain Bin Mill ends of Alpaca Lace with just a hint (10%) of Nylon. John Arbron stand; I paid about £9 for both!
Other end of the scale with my most expensive purchase of the day (£44! but worth it!) is this Twinkle 4ply from EasyKnits.co.uk. The colour is Zora. I honestly do not think I saw anything else on their stand the first time I went there; I fell in love and could not see anything else. This wasn’t the colour I had in mind for Phoenix but still, I am in love and that’s what it shall be.
Soak in Celebration. Kind of flowery, kind of citrusy. Very interested to try this, I’ve never used wool wash before. This size should apparently last me ages which is good. Not cheap but hopefully it’s worth the price.
Two needle felting kits. These are from Crafty Little Sheep, who makes the kits herself. The Robin one is for my Gran’s birthday present. These were so much each or 2 for £20 so I got the Highland Cow one for me. The Knit Pro hook is a Tunisian one; you attach a Knit Pro cable to it for long bits of work. I chose this one because it’s then easier to fold up and take with you and it’s potentially blanket sized, unlike the fixed long wooden hooks which become “how many stitches can you shove on it” and are uncomfortable with the way I crochet tucked up into my chair.
The last one is possibly my favourite, an Umbrella Swift! I’m getting more into hand dyed yarns or small batch yarns in skeins and it was becoming a pain to sit and unwind them by hand. So much easier with this, I even tackled a skein of laceweight, 20 minutes to wind this way and it would have taken DAYS to wind by hand.
I’m in the process of thinking about what I want to do with my year of projects. Some of them just are not singing to me anymore, and there are projects I must cast on this second, so I think as stated I’ll need my nearly 6 month shift around!
Comments
Post a Comment