Saturnalia and Christmas

Hello my darlings, I hope that you all had a very lovely Christmas!

Originally, it had been my plan to write this post much earlier, but events conspired against me, and it turns out that it wanted to be a Christmas update, as well as a report on the wonders of the Countess Ablaze Saturnalia party.

So the format will be totally different from usual, but none of the content should be lost!

Saturnalia

Last year, Countess Ablaze ran a year long dyeing project based on the Twelve Caesars book, by Suetonious.  Each month, she released a new selection of limited edition colourways inspired by the life of a Caesar, as reported by Suetonious.  The project was a great success, and has been followed up this year by a similar theme, based on Homers The Odyssey.

In homage to the Caesars, and because there are so many mid-winter festivities that are actively celebrated these days, it is difficult to choose one without feeling you marginalise somebody, The Countess decided her winter celebration would be a Saturnalia party.

So on the 12th December, in pouring rain, and howling gales, knitters from all corners of the UK flocked to a little shop on the edge of Manchester.

I need to thank the very lovely Amy, of Curious Cat Craftiness at this point, as she volunteered to do all of the driving for our little crowd from Sheffield, despite the standing water, and horrible spray all across the Pennines!

The party was a great success, and it was fantastic to finally put faces to some of the names I see on my screen every day.  Everybody there seemed to get along very well, hardly surprising, given our shared interests I suppose, but I do love an afternoon in the company of marvelously geeky knitters :)  James, of DancingGeek fame, lead a raucous game of Cards Against Humanity, supplemented of course by the Knitters against Swatches expansion pack.  So glad to see him happy and smiling, as the winter often takes its toll on those of us with fragile constitutions.  But it's not that surprising that he was smiling, as he demonstrated a singular talent at the "Invent a name for a Countess Ablaze Colourway" competition that was running all afternoon.  We were allowed to make as many entries as we could think of, then The Countess herself picked her favourites to receive a prize from the large collection that had been donated.  She doesn't promise that any of them will actually become an official colourway, but you never know!  If there is a new colourway inspired by this game, I'd give even odds that the person responsible for it is James!

Next time, I'm hoping to get more of a chance to talk to Bev, of Boo Knits.  Not only did she donate an entire collection of her stunning knitting patterns to the prize collection, she also gave everyone there one free pattern from her entire range.  I chose Hazy Daze, and I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to knit it.

Of course, there was also yarn shopping.  In fact, most of us spent the first couple of hours alternating between browsing the shelves, and chatting to new friends, gradually building higher, and higher piles of yummy smooshies on our tables.  Eventually, there came a point when there was wine, and food, and we all decided to pay for our selections, and put them away, for fear of accidentally spilling something sticky on them.  I believe that one or two people may have still gone back for more even after this point though!

Here is my little collection from the day:

From left to right, this is The Curious Observer Lace, in the colourway Temptress, Viscount of Spark, in the colourway Eccentric Geeks, and The Exotic Traveller, in the colourway Earth Tones.

I haven't even got around to updating my Ravelry Stash with these yet, I've been so busy since then!

I'm a little sad that we had to leave fairly early.  Although I was tired, and it's very important that the Designated Driver feels safe to drive, it's impossible not to feel a little wistful about missed opportunities when you see photos like this posted after you leave!

Next time...

Finally, all of this fun was also beneficial to those less fortunate, as our wonderfully generous Countess donated the price of all tickets sold, plus 20% of all sales on the day, to The Mustard Tree, a charity that helps people who have fallen on hard times to find their feet again.  Together, we raised £600 of much needed cash that will help to see many people through a very tough time of year.

Thank you Countess Ablaze for organising such an amazing event!  Thank you to everyone who helped make sure that our Countess wasn't overwhelmed, by sorting food, drink, guest lists, prizes, tidying, and suchlike.  And thank you to everyone else who turned up and made it a fabulous day :)  See you all next time!

Christmas

Oh my, but it's been a busy one!  It's not even over for me, as I get a second Christmas when I head up to Newcastle to visit my Family in a couple of weeks.

When I started my Christmas knitting back in October, I was feeling very virtuous and organised.  Even though I knew I'd set myself a challenging goal with the sheer number of gifts I was planning on knitting, I figured that having over 10 weeks to knit them in would be fine.  It probably would have, had it not been for The Great Medication Experiment.  As I mentioned in my last update, my doctor insisted that I try some different medication for at least a month, and this lead to me losing the equivalent of 3 weeks of knitting time in a haze of pain and exhaustion.  

The result is that I only barely managed to get everything finished by Christmas day that needed to be done by then, and many things that need to be done by the 8th January are still in yarn format.

Here are some things that I did manage to finish though:

One Griffindor cowl, finished, and sent to its new owner in time.  There should be a second one of these, but I just didn't have the time to get it finished :(  Hopefully I'll manage to get it done in time for my friends birthday at the end of January at least!

The yarn for this was Sublime Extrafine Merino dk, in the colourway Red Pepper, and Women's Institute Soft and Cuddly, in yellow.  The pattern is Duotone Cowl, by Orange Flower Yarn.

One very small, very cute, knitted friendly penguin, finished, and sent to his new owner in time, along with a little felted penguin bauble.  I spent most of my time at our Shefknit Christmas Party (Thank you again for hosting a brilliant day Katie!) sewing this little chap up, and needle felting the bauble penguin.  

The yarn for this guy was various shades of Rico Design Essentials Merino DK, and the pattern is "Friendly Penguin" from Baby & Toddler knits made easy.

Just barely finished on time, this hat looked somewhat different just 3 days before Christmas:

By staying up until 3am 2 nights in a row to get the spinning and plying done, then making a game of caking the yarn while looking after my 4 year old niece on Christmas Eve, and knitting every spare minute I could, I managed to get to the stage where all I needed to do was the decreases for the crown, and add the pompom by the time I went to bed (at about 3am again) on Christmas Eve/morning.

The last bits of knitting and finishing off were done while visiting Kellys mum on Christmas morning, and the present was wrapped while Liz was actually in our house making cups of tea in the kitchen!

However, she loves it, so it was all totally worth it :)  And I am super pleased with how the yarn came out, despite the speed spinning, and with how the pattern works, so I'm going to write it up and publish it early next year.

So the yarn for this was handspun, chain-plied, roughly DK weight, made from blue faced leicester fibre, dyed by Countess Ablaze, in the colourway "All night debauch".

Things I'm still working on include the last couple of Christmas stockings, the cupcakes for one of my godsons, a shawl that is also to be a gift, and this:

I've hardly done anything with this, as it's been my selfish project for December!  You can see it's a little bit further on than last time though, although the beads don't seem to show up very well on my camera phone.

This is on the way to being an Alberta shawl, and the yarn is Gleem Lace, by Fyberspates.

I've still got 2 stockings, 2 hats, and 2 cowls to go, and none of them have even been cast on yet!

Stash Acquisition

No yarn based presents for me this year, although I have got a bit of Christmas Cash that might be used to buy yarn.  However, there are a couple of things to show you that in a shock move, did not come from Countess Ablaze!

One is the mustard yellow merino DK that I've been waiting for, along with a half price skein of Juniper Moon.  I think I'll use this to test knit that hat pattern after I write it up.

The yellow is SMC Select, extra soft Merino, and the grey is Findley DK dappled, by Juniper Moon.  Both of these came from Black Sheep Wools.

This is a Christmas special yarn that was on sale when I was feeling particularly dispirited by my lack of progress on gift knitting, and all the pain of the Great Medication Experiment.  I confess that when I received the shipping notification email, I couldn't even remember ordering the yarn, as I'd done it late at night, while laid in bed, perusing instagram on my phone.  I was so miserable and tired, and this was so beautiful, I just went straight through to the site and clicked buy without engaging any sort of higher brain function that might have said I should be saving that money to buy presents for other people!

It is "Mulled Wine Spice", on a sparkle merino sock base, by Mothy and the Squid.

Penguins

Yes, there are more penguins, of course there are!  MANY more penguins!

This is Inflata-penguin.  He was a gift from Heather, one of the regular Countess Ablaze forum contributors, and a most excellent friend :)  Here he is guarding my new skeins the day after the Saturnalia party.

While searching for stocking fillers for the children, I found myself in Penguin Corner.  I did buy a pack of the bubble-blowing pots, which was enough for all of the children, plus a spare one for me!  But I also ended up with a new toothbrush, and 2 pots of hand cream.  If you twist the head off the blue penguin, he is filled with lavender scented hand cream, and the pink chap contains rose scented hand cream.  I use a lot of hand cream in an attempt to keep my fingers snag-free for delicate yarns and fibre, so with the exception of the toothbrush, this was actually an entirely sensible shopping trip, honest!

On Monday afternoons, we have a little routine where my childhood friend, and fellow knitter Krissy, my sister, and I meet up at my place, and have lunch.  If they aren't at school or nursery, then the kids will be there too.  The tradition is to go to the shops at the top of my street, where we will buy fresh made roast pork sandwiches, then head to the bakery a few doors down, and buy gingerbread biscuits for the children, and something a little more indulgent for ourselves.  My sister bought me a chocolate crispy cake.  At Easter time, these usually have a collection of mini chocolate eggs on top, to make them look like nests, but as it's Christmas, they had cute winter characters on the top instead, and when you dig them out, they turn out to be plastic rings!

There were Christmas markets in town for a few weeks.  One stall was selling all kinds of tiny fimo characters made into jewelry and ornaments.  I already bought a badge from there a couple of weeks ago, but on her last day there, I saw this tiny charm.  I think you're supposed to hang them from your phone, but to a knitter or crocheter, this is totally a stitch marker!

This lot is what I received for Christmas.  I am so spoiled!  As you can see, my friends and family know me well, as there's a bit of a noticeable theme to many of the gifts in that pile. 

The wooden plaque, and plushy at the back were gifts from my 2 oldest godchildren.  The penguin sweetie jar, and necklace/earrings set were from Krissy and her husband, parents of afore mentioned godchildren.

The glowing ceramic light with the penguin pattern, the smooshy, stripy penguin socks, and the set of 4 brightly coloured penguins were all from Kelly.  The teeny, tiny penguin in a bell-jar was from Kellys mum.

The red penguin socks, the fimo penguin necklace, and the amazingly gorgeous set of 12 (12!!!) penguin stitch markers were all from my lovely knitting friend Helen, who I have been working on the Alberta shawl with.  I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect that she hand made all of those tiny fimo penguins herself.  She is an amazingly talented lady!

Finally, the penguin photo frame, and the grey socks, plus another pair of red penguin socks, that I'm afraid went straight onto my feet without passing the camera, were from my sister, brother-in-law, and my 2 nieces.  Yes, that right, 2 nieces!

The best present

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll be aware that my sister has been expecting a new addition to the family for a while, and that her due date was scarily close to Christmas.

I saw her and my elder niece on Christmas Eve, and all seemed normal.  12 hours later, I had a new niece!  Born in the wee hours of Christmas morning, strong, healthy, and home in time for breakfast and presents with her big sister.  When I received the phone call I was bursting with joy!  Absolutely the best present that anyone could wish for :)

I'm afraid you don't get photos.  Family privacy surrounding children is something that I absolutely will not violate.  But you can be sure that I was pleased I'd made a stocking and presents for the newest member of our clan, just in case!

So that is all for 2015!  Have a very happy New Year my dears, and I'll see you again in 2016!

Christmas Approaches...

Hello sweethearts, I hope that you are all feeling well, and calm, as the festive period descends around us.

I hadn't realised just how long it had been since my last update, November seems to have evaporated in a cloud of stress and brain fog!

I'll be doing one more very special update after this, but this will be my last standard update until 2016.  So, what have I  been up to that Gift Confidentiality doesn't prevent me from telling you about...

FOs

Up until yesterday, this was going to be a very small section!  But I've stepped up to the plate and dealt with the sewing, so actually, there's a reasonable amount to show you now:

Yes, this is a finished object!  I know it doesn't look like it, but that's deliberate.  

I have several friends who are involved in the theatre business, and In February, their company will be putting on a play called "And then there were none."  It is necessary for one of the actors to appear to be knitting something from grey wool during this play, and later, the knitting will be yanked from the needles and placed on top of another actors head, in mockery of a judge with his black silk handkerchief about to announce a death sentence. So this piece of knitting needs to look like a work in progress, but not unravel when pulled from the needles, in order that the prop can be re-set for the next performance.  To achieve this, I bound the work off, then sewed loops in place of active stitches along the top.  The spare yarn isn't actually attached to the work, because although this would provide excellent continuity, it would also look very silly as the actor decried his lines while a ball of wool dangles from his head, and rolls away across the stage!  I'm quite pleased with it actually, and it was an excellent use of left-over yarn.

This is my Saturnalia TGV, completed, and ready to be worn at the Countess Ablaze Saturnalia Party this weekend.

The pattern is one of my favourite basic shawl patterns - TGV, by Susan Ashcroft, and the yarn is Viscount of Spark, in the colourway Saturnalia by Countess Ablaze.

I know someone who is going to get excited about this photo, even though she claims that her children are spoiled, I know that she loves it when I knit them things :)  These are gifts to go in the Christmas Stockings of my 2 youngest godsons.

I spent a while debating the all important question - Pompoms, or no pompoms?  But I'm assured that all kids hats need great big pompoms!  

The pattern for both of these is Irish Hiking Hat, adapted to get a good fit for toddlers.  The yarn is Rico Baby So Soft, and is one of the handful of acrylic yarns that I really recommend. It's perfect for kids, easy to wash and hard-wearing, but as soft as new lambs wool.  It's a shame really that the Rico Design website is so dreadful that I can't give you a link to it, but it's easy enough to find in every other online commercial yarn retailer.  I bought mine at my local craft store.

Yes, several months after I finished the knitting, I have finally put the finishing touches to the pram blanket for my sisters new baby.  I saw her yesterday, and the babys appearance is looking pretty imminent to me, so I thought I'd better get a wiggle on and make sure this would be ready in time!

The pattern is just a basic basket weave and moss stitch combination, made a bit more exciting by an intarsia checkerboard of different colours.  The yarn is another of those rare acrylics that I actually love - Soft & Cuddly by The Womens Institute.

Now here's a strange thing; I knitted this item specifically with the intention of selling it.

I thought I'd never do that, because the pressure of turning my hobby into my work is something that I'm not sure I want.  However, I do have a lot of part-used balls of beautiful yarn that I'd really like to do something with, so this is the answer.  Phone pouches, knit to my own pattern, from gorgeous artisan dyed yarn, and sold at Knitting and Penguins.

In this particular case, the yarn in question is Count Cashmerino high twist, in the colourway "Why, this is violence!" by Countess Ablaze.  Since I use a lot of Countess Ablaze yarns, I suspect that many more of these will appear over time made from CA yarns, but there will be other yarns used too.

It's not knitting!  But it is a thing that I've made.  Kelly is learning how to perform holistic massage, and this requires the use of a bolster cushion to aid in positioning his clients, but it's very important that everything he uses is cleaned before he uses it again, and that's not easy with a cushion.  However, cushion covers for bolster cushions don't seem to be an easy thing to buy, so I got out the sewing machine and made this cover that can be removed and washed easily.  Again, I'm no seamstress, and my sewing skills are limited, so I'm quite pleased with how this turned out in the end :)

WIPs

For some reason I expected this section to be enormous.  It genuinely feels as though I'm working on about 27 things at once, however, it turns out that I've just got the plans for the next few things already in my head, and the yarn already by my knitting nest, but I've not actually cast on all of the things that are making my brain overflow.

I'm actually only actively working on 3 things right now (I'll be casting on a 4th tomorrow, but that doesn't count yet!)

The first thing is the Christmas stockings that I'm knitting for all of the children in my life. There are 6 of those in total, I'm currently working on number 4.  I've already shown one photo of a completed stocking, so I can't imagine that repeated in progress shots of all the rest will be terribly exciting, although later on you might notice that I do manage to sneak one in anyway, but not right now.

Instead you get this thoroughly informative photo!  I'm not saying what it is though, because it is a gift, and the recipient will probably read this blog, but I want it to be a surprise.

I will say that the yarn is a sparkly merino sock yarn by Rosie's Moments, in the colourway "Night Sky".

This is my current "selfish" project.  I have to have something on the go that is in luxury yarn, and intended for me, so that I don't go crazy!  

This project is special for an unusual reason though.  A very lovely friend of mine who is an absolute genius with a crochet hook, is getting married next year.  She saw a shawl at Yarndale that she decided was perfect for her wedding day.  The problem is, that shawl is not just knitted, but exceptionally intricate knitting, with lace, and beads, and it's *huge*! She's not as confident with knitting as she is with crochet, so she asked if I would help her through any rough spots, and in exchange, she gifted me a copy of the pattern!  I would have done it for the joy of seeing a friend happy, but hey, bonus!

It turned out that the pattern is technical enough that it's much easier for me to help her if I'm knitting it at the same time, so I cast on my own version, and I'm trying to squeeze in a bit of time to work on it every day.  

The pattern for this shawl is Alberta, and the yarn is Gleem Lace, by Fyberspates, in the colourway "Peacock".

Beads

Yesterday the beads that I'm going to use for the Alberta shawl arrived, which is perfect, as I'm just up to the section where you start adding beads.

These are size 8/0 Miyuki seed beads, sold by Bead Stampede.  

If you're not familiar with bead size nomenclature, then it's worth saying that the bigger the first number, the SMALLER the bead!  This is because historically the number referred to the number of beads that would fit in 1 inch.  I use size 11 - 14 beads for bead weaving, they need a special extra fine needle, you could never use them for beading knitting, except perhaps for cobweb lace, and that would be an almighty faff.

For knitting purposes, you nearly always want to choose size 6/0, or 8/0 beads.  6/0 works best with 4-ply yarns, and 8/0 works best with laceweight yarns.  You're also going to need a 0.5mm crochet hook to be sure that you can get both yarn, and hook, through that tiny hole in the middle of the bead.  Also be careful about the brand of bead that you choose, sizing isn't standard between brands!  For Miyuki beads, a size 6 bead is 4mm diameter, and a size 8 bead is 3mm diameter, but the more usual sizing is actually 3.3mm for size 6, and 2.5mm for size 8.

Stash Acquisition

It seems I've actually bought quite a lot of yarn during the last month, but in my defense, a lot of that has been specifically for Christmas knitting projects!

Not these though.  These are a brand new yarn base from Countess Ablaze, called The Curious Observer.  It's kid mohair and silk, and it has a very full halo.  Yarns with this much halo are remarkably difficult to get hold of, so having one stocked by an excellent artisan dyer is a very exciting thing!  The colourways that I chose are "Grey skies in Manchester", and "Zombie Princess".  I think it's pretty obvious which is which!

This is also not a Christmas knitting yarn.  This is another ball of Zig Zag by King Cole, an excellent, inexpensive, British, sock yarn.  The colourway is "Smokey".  

I have to confess that although I am a big fan of this yarn, I wouldn't necessarily have bought it when I did, were it not for the fact that Knit Nottingham have recently started stocking these gorgeous project bags by Bertie and Poppet, and when I saw this one I absolutely had to have it!

This is definitely Christmas knitting yarn.  From this lot I'm hoping to get 2 adult sized hats, and at least 1 penguin.  The yarn is another from Rico Design, so impossible to link directly. In this case it's their Essentials Merino DK, and I bought it from Love Knitting.

I can't allow a Countess Ablaze special update to pass without buying at least one of those stunning limited edition yarns.  This month it was the turn of a Viscount of Spark sock blank, in the colourway "Do not answer him at such length".  This particular colourway is actually dyed symmetrically, so if you choose to use it to knit a pair of socks, then you can start one sock from one end of the blank, and the other sock from the other end, and when you meet in the middle, both socks should match!  Amazingly clever!

I'm not going to use this for socks though.  I want this to be a double gradient shawl instead.

I'm a fairly impulsive person, especially when I'm over-wrought, and in pain.  I guess you've figured that out by now.  Well, about a month ago my doctor and I started an exciting experiment with my medication.  The conclusion after around 4 weeks was that it had been a bad change, and I should go back to what I was on before.  During the experiment however, I was often in a vast amount of pain, and my fatigue was insurmountable.  So when I saw this float past on my instagram feed, I decided that it was fated to be the impulse buy that would help cheer me up.

This is a 4-ply merino sock yarn by Yarny Love, and the colourway is "Roses".

This is probably a Christmas knitting yarn.

Several weeks ago I ordered some mustard yellow merino DK, but it has not arrived :(  The rules of Royal Mail mean that replacements can't be sent to me until December 10th, meaning that they're unlikely to arrive before December 14th.  The last day that I can post Christmas presents and be reasonably certain that they will arrive in time is December 21st. That gives me just 1 week to knit the gifts that require the yellow wool.  I don't think it's long enough.  So yesterday I went shopping in real shops for an alternative.  It turns out that Yellow merino is hard to find, but I did find this.  It's not merino, but it is lovely and soft, and I really hope that it will work in the project I want it to.

This is more of the Womens Institute Soft & Cuddly, and it should be on the needles tomorrow.

This is guilt-free yarn!  It might also be Christmas knitting yarn.

I've been meaning to subscribe to my 2 favourite knitting magazines for months.  I buy them every month anyway, and it's more expensive to buy them one at a time from the supermarket.  Then a couple of months ago there was an offer in Let's Knit: subscribe then, and receive a free skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran, plus a Fyberspates pattern book!  Free merino and silk yarn!  It was exactly the incentive that I needed to get that subscription sorted.  So here you have a skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran, in the colourway "Deep Teal".

Now I just need to get the subscription to The Knitter sorted too, but that will have to wait until after Christmas now.

Penguins

OMG, ALL the penguins!

So remember how last time I made a comment about this being the time of year that all the penguin tat appears in the shops?  And how I've been sore, and miserable, and vulnerable, and I've needed a lot of cheering up?

Well...

First Kelly bought me this.  Sorry for the blurry photo, steady hands haven't exactly been my forte over the last month.  But look!  Penguins will rule the world!

Uhm, sorry about this, but you're going to get a totally unreasonable number of selfies from me in this section.  I don't have a copy of photoshop, and even if I did, I have no skill with such things.  What I have is a copy of Paint, and enough shame to blur out the background on at least some of my photos, so you can't see how much of a mess I let my home get into when I'm sick.

Anyway, I drove up the Newcastle.  It was very cold.  I bought myself a new sweater.  It has a matching bobble hat.

I drove back from Newcastle, the route was mostly roadworks, and I couldn't manage it in one go, so I stopped at the services to buy a medicinal hot chocolate.  And a medicinal giant penguin, who seemed somewhat perturbed by the hot chocolate.

There were Christmas Markets in town.  One stall was selling handmade fimo jewelry, including all manner of penguin things.  I restrained myself to buying only the badge, and putting it on my handbag with some other badges.

The supermarkets even have their own cartoon penguins, they put them on mugs, and bags, and socks, and... I only bought the mug of this one.

The flouffiest and warmest slouchy sofa sweater in the whole world.  With a penguin on it.

This one isn't for me!  This is a gift for a little girl who loves pink.  The penguin is entirely incidental, and I'm trying my best not to indoctrinate her Arctic loving family with Antarctic sympathies.  Honest! 

This year, circumstances mean that I will be spending the majority of Christmas day on my own.  Don't be sad!  I'm not!  I've planned a day of knitting, and dreadful tv, and not having to cook, and wearing my PJs.  But I needed new PJs, ideally with penguins on them...

I went out to meet some knitting friends for coffee in town.  I had to buy a birthday card while I was there, and all the penguin baubles accidentally fell into my basket!  Then one of my knitting friends also bought me the penguin mask, and Kelly bought me another T-shirt, and a tin of wafer biscuits, just because there was a penguin on the tin!

I forgot the snowglobe, this also fell into my basket.

And I wore the mask while knitting in the coffee shop.  I think I might also be wearing another penguin top that I bought while up in Newcastle in this photo, but I've worn this top several times since then, and basically if I'm not wearing it, then it's in the laundry, so I forgot that it needed photographing!

Another friend, who I've not seen for ages, came to visit, and she brought me these!  See the tiny penguin poking out of the top of my book!

I made this little fellow.  He's smaller than the other felted penguins that I've made, and I hung him on a silver string, so that he can be a tree decoration.  He's not for me though.  I'm making a few more of these, and I'm selling them in my Etsy store. (Shelley, if you're reading this, no!  you don't need to buy one!  I'm setting one aside for my fellow penguin-o-phile, and if you let me know your address I'll make sure it gets to you!)

Finally, these arrived!  My little Knitting and Penguins Etsy store might not be much, but it's my little bit of achievement, my last vestige of self-esteem, and now it looks almost professional!

That's all for now folks!  I'll be back next week to tell you all about the Countess Ablaze Saturnalia party :)

Bakewell and the "C" word

I am so sorry!  I can't believe I've left it almost a whole month before getting around to reporting on the Bakewell Wool Gathering!

In my defense, I've had a number of life issues to deal with since then, and I think I'm in a far better state to be writing now than I have been recently.

So, it's been ages, I must have finished some things, right?

FOs

Yes, it's not a knitting project, but it is a thing that I've made!  This is a giant felted spider that I made for my nieces Halloween party.  She seemed to like him.

These are the socks I was working on while on holiday in Shetland, and they are my new favourites!  In fact, I was wearing them today :)  

The yarn is Lady Persephone, by Countess Ablaze, in the colourway "I like what you've done with the place".  The pattern is Hermione's Everyday Socks.

Since it's now officially winter, and it's done nothing but rain for a solid week, there is basically zero natural light in my world, so trying to get decent photos is a nightmare!  The top photo, with flash, probably shows the colours more accurately, but this cowl really needs to be shown in action for you to appreciate just how long it is!  When I wear it I wrap it twice around my neck, and it's super snug.  Unfortunately, in this dim winter light, and with my shaky hands, I even manage to make Kelly look a bit daft, and very blurry! but he's a beautiful creature in real life!

Anyway, the cowl is Yarn Tamer, which is a pattern from the gorgeous new book called Knit, Play, Colour, by Inspiration Knits.  

The "Tame" yarn that I used is Lord Kitchener 4-ply, in the colourway "Come back in the seventh year", and the "Wild" colour is Viscount of Spark, in the colourway "She's a full on Monet".  Both yarns are by Countess Ablaze.

These are the first of my hand knit Christmas presents.  Yes, it's that time of year again, those of us who like to craft our own special, unique gifts have to be working on them already if we're going to get them all finished in time.  Although you can guarantee that we'll still be up at 2am on Christmas Eve frantically knitting the last few rows of something!

Anyway, these are hats for my niece, and her as yet unborn sibling.  The bump may or may not choose to make an appearance in time for Christmas Day, but just in case, I'm filling a stocking for the newest addition to our family anyway.

The yarn is Baby So Soft Prints, by Rico Design, and I have to say, if you have to knit in acrylic (which you really do if you're knitting for small children!) then this is an excellent choice.  It really doesn't feel like acrylic, it feels soft, and squooshy, and it's a pleasure to work with.

Since the Rico Design website doesn't actually seem to have the Baby So Soft yarn on it anywhere, I'll give you guys a link to where I actually bought this yarn, and that's Craftastic.  This is my local craft store, it's quite literally just at the end of my street.  The girls there are lovely, and they stock just about everything crafty that you can imagine, in the tiniest little shop.

WIPs

So this looks like it's a finished object, but it's not, because I need to make 6 of them!  So far I've finished 2, and started the 3rd.  These aren't yarns that I'd want to use on a regular basis, but they're absolutely perfect for this project!  The yarns are both by King Cole, the main yarn is Glitz, in the very aptly named colourway "Christmas", and the trim at the cuff is knit in Tinsel, and obviously the colourway is "White".

There are so many different ways that I could have chosen to knit Christmas stockings, but in the end I've gone for the afterthought heel method.  These are the easiest thing to knit, but they do get a bit tedious after a while!  I've even managed to work on these while celebrating a friends birthday by drinking lots of gin!

See!  I even managed to Kitchener the heel after half a beer, and 4 G&Ts!  That's a real achievement for me!

This is my current selfish project, and I'm working on it while taking a break from the Christmas knitting.  The yarn is Viscount of Spark, by Countess Ablaze, in the colourway "Saturnalia".  The pattern is TGV (High-Speed-Knitting), by Susan Ashcroft.

I do have another reason for knitting this too, and that's because on December 12th, I'm going to the Countess Ablaze Saturnalia party!  So it just seemed logical that I should knit something with a yarn called Saturnalia that I could wear to the party :)

Stash Acquisition

I know this is really what you're wanting to see.  Just what did I manage to get at Bakewell this year?

Quite a bit it turns out!

So let's go through what's there:

Starting at the top, the project bag is by QuincePie, and I love it!  It's amazingly good quality, and value for money.  It's even lightly padded, so there's no risk of your needles poking through.

Next, the yarn nearest the top left is by Sparkleduck.  The yarn base is Galaxy, and the colourway is "Figgy Pudding", but there are 2 things I particularly like about these skeins, one is that they are 150g skeins, so I actually have 1200m of sparkly 4-ply there, the other is that the sparkles in this particular batch are gold!  I don't usually go for gold colours, but these just look amazing, and they will go brilliantly with the gold beads in the bottom right hand corner when in the New Year I cast this on as my very own version of Celestarium.

Right in the middle of the photo are 2 skeins by Rosie's Moments.  The blue/purple one was the last of this colourway, and it just called to me, saying I had to take it away.  It's a sparkly sock yarn, and the colourway is "Stormy Seas".  The green skein was amazingly in the bargain bin!  210m of pure merino DK, for just £7!  Of course, I snaffled that right away!  The colourway for this is "Emerald Isle".

I'll concentrate on the yarn for now, so next is that twist of blues and purples in the bottom left.  This is a BFL sock yarn by Freyalyn's Fibres, and the colourway is "Noctilucent".

Then we have that gorgeous charcoal grey with rainbow flecks in, and that photo really doesn't do this skein justice, so let's see if I can find a better one...

This yarn base is called Stride, and it's a standard sock yarn. The colourway is "Mini-rainbow - Carbon", and as you can see, it's by The Knitting Swede.

So what's left?  Oh, the little red yarn cake is actually a handspun merino, by Weave Knit It. The colourway has no name, but I bought this last, and I was determined to find something red, so I've called it "I want something red".

Of course, there's the undyed yarn right at the bottom too.  These are little waifs and strays, leftover short skeins, that I bought from DT Crafts.  I have no idea what they actually are, but I do know that they're real wool, so I'm going to use them in my natural dyeing experiments.

The non-yarn items are a pair of sock-blockers, bought from Laal Bear, who sadly has now retired from the yarn dyeing business.  Some Knit-pro needles and spare tips.  Shiny stitch markers from A Little Bit Sheepish, who have promised they will try to find something penguin related for me next year! And finally, a marvelously gay sheep key-ring.  I'm afraid I can't remember which stall I bought this from, it was one of those impulse purchases that I just suddenly decided that I needed!

I can't finish the Bakewell section without mentioning the Rare Breeds Trust, who gave a fascinating talk on the work that they do in saving rare breeds of sheep, and other animals, from extinction.  Many of the breeds that we love for their interesting fleece are currently at risk, so if you'd like to keep working with the likes of Manx Loaghtan, and North Ronaldsay, then you might want to look into the work that these guys are doing.

Of course, since it's been a whole month since my last update, Bakewell hasn't been my only source of new stash...

These are more little additions from Craftastic.  As you all know by now, one of my very good friends, and mother of 2 of my godchildren, has a thing about the colour grey. I'm making hats to go in the stockings this year, so I needed yarn to make hats for toddlers. The paler grey is another skein of Rico Baby So Soft, and the darker grey is a pure, superwash merino, by Stylecraft.

I can't have an update without displaying my total girl crush on Countess Ablaze to the entire world, and this photo deserves it more than most.  The yarns are Lady Persephone, in the colourway "Bad Girls Club" on the left, and Countess of Mohair, in the colourway "Odysseus lies forlorn of sleepers with spiderwebs grown upon it" on the right.

But the fibre, that's the best thing about this photo.  I really wanted this fibre.  The colourway is a combination of all of my favourite colours - dark, burgundy reds, all shades of purple, and bright turquoise - and the fibre itself is Perendale.  The very first time I visited the new studio, there was a pile of fibre on the table, waiting to be labelled.  I was sat next to a pile of Perendale, and I couldn't stop petting it! But I am supposed to be on a fibre diet, I really need to use up what I already have before it starts to felt.  So I was good, I resisted, I ordered only yarn.  So you can imagine my surprise when I opened my mail and discovered this!  I had had the most miserable day, with things going wrong, and my body betraying me at every step, but returning home to this made me burst into tears over how lucky I am to be able to count Lyndsey as a friend.  So if you're reading this, thank you again Lyndsey! Thank you so much! 

Finally, this is the October Yarn Club from Lanitium ex Machina.  I've never joined a yarn club before, I'm always nervous about ordering something when I have no idea what it's going to be like!  But the theme for this club was The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman, and I adore those books.  I couldn't imagine that anything inspired by them would not be pleasing to me.  I was right.  I was able to order the 2 skein option, which included the main colourway, and a second, semi-solid colourway dyed to complement the other.  So here we have the gorgeous blue-grey "I am Hope", on glitter sock, and the beautiful purple "And Ishtar Dances" to match with it.

Phew!  That's it for new stash for now, although I do confess that there may be a couple more skeins on their way to me right now, but you'll have to wait until the next update for those.

Penguins

It's that time of year again, Halloween is over, Christmas is fast approaching, and the penguin tat has appeared in all of the shops!!!

Kelly brought me these back from Whitby.  I'm afraid they didn't last very long :(

I don't even know what this is.  It's called BunBun, or that's what it says on the label.  I am reliably informed that BunBun is also an insane flick-knife wielding bunny.  But my BunBun is a strange, penguin-like creature that lies on his belly.

Penguin scatter cushions, you've got to love them :)

Demonic snowflake penguin!  The light changes colour, so it doesn't always look like a sleep-deprived hell beast, and you can turn the light off, which makes it much more cute.

Finally, who doesn't want their supper to be served on a tiny tea-tray decorated with quirky penguins?  If I didn't know my boys better, I'd be expecting hot chocolate and shortbread served on this to me every night!

Right, I really need to go and cook dinner now, so that's all for now.  Hopefully I'll be back again in less than a month next time!  Take care of yourselves my darlings.