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.
