I'm pleased to say that my health continues to improve, although my throat and lungs still aren't ready for me to face attempting to run or anything daft like that yet. So still plenty of time for knitting!
For most of the last couple of weeks I've been binge watching Dr Who. Amazingly, I had never watched a single episode of the "new" Dr Who, and by "new" I mean anything since my 12 year old self had a crush on Peter Davidson! It's good for knitting along with, so I've been reasonably productive.
Before I show you what I'm currently working on, and what I've finished since last week, I have rather a lot of yarn porn for you...
Stash Acquisition
I've effectively got 3 months worth of new yarn to show you now. And not just any 3 months, 3 months that have included Christmas, the January sales, and a month when I could benefit from the perks of being Admin Assistant to one of the UKs foremost independent Yarn and Fibre Dyers. So, grab a cuppa, lock your kids in their rooms, send your other half out on some errand, and protect your keyboard from potential drool...
OK, so I didn't actually get any yarn as a Christmas gift, but I did get a little bit of cash. Some of that was spent at my LYS during the first week in January.
They had a huge pile of patterns for just 50p each! So I picked up one for a sweater with a penguin on, and one for a mans sweater that I like.
The Peter Pan Cupcake you saw knitted up into a fluffy star cushion in the last post. The other yarns there are enough King Cole Opium to make a simple drapey sweater, in the colourway "Purple", and Rico Design Superba Las Vegas, in the colourway "004". Las Vegas seems to be a new yarn, and it has a strand of sparkle running through it, in this colourway, the sparkle is also purple!
There's also some very long sewing needles there, designed for doll making, but very useful for certain aspects of making knitted, or felted toys.
I wanted to buy this fibre when I was at the Saturnalia party, but got distracted by too many other smooshies, and forgot! I also fell in love with the yarn, but as it was still before Christmas, I was being good (relatively speaking) and sticking to a strict budget so that I still had pennies left for buying gifts for other people.
The Fibre is the red from the blackened rainbow that is Nerds prefer their rainbows darker as a fibre collection. You can buy a full rainbow of these, a "Nerd Herd"! The yarn is The Exotic Traveller 4-ply, a gorgeous blend of baby camel and silk that glows in this colourway - "Big fish in a little pond". Both fibre and yarn are obviously from Countess Ablaze.
Aren't these the cutest little things? 25g balls of sock yarn, designed to be used for baby and childrens socks. They're by Schachenmayr Regia, and called "My first Regia". Unfortunately, I get the impression that this may be a line that is being discontinued. My evidence for this is that everywhere seems to have it on clearance at present, and I can't find a link to it on the website.
This pile actually came from 2 different places. Half of it is from John Lewis, where these were just 50p per ball! And the other half were from Wool Baa 2, which sadly has now closed down.
If they have colourway names, then I don't know them! They are labelled by number, and probably too hard to find now for it to be worth my listing them all. Snatch them up while you can though, they're perfect for things like colourwork, sock yarn blankets, and of course, baby knits!
This is the rest of my little haul from the Wool Baa 2 closing down sale. I suspect that they spread themselves too thin by selling both fabric and yarn. They may have been better just sticking with one or the other, or perhaps we in the North simply haven't recovered sufficiently from the economic crisis for small businesses to be safe expanding, we may never know.
I can't complain though, I have a fat quarter of penguin patterned fabric that I intend to use to line a knitted bag that's been in my queue for ages, 2 large, furry pompoms (the pink one will almost certainly be claimed by my niece!) and a couple of balls of Ella Rae Cozy Soft Prints, which is a great yarn for kids knits, being DK, brightly coloured, and easy to wash. They're another brand with a nearly useless website, and boring colourway names! So I've got colourways "05" (blue-green), and "13"(purples).
The fibre is superwash merino, and the colourway is "Attack!" dyed so that it can easily be spun as a gradient.
In the end, the reverse of the star had one point knit in the original pink/lilac, 2 points knit in the white, and 2 points knit in the pink/lemon. Normally this would bother me, but it's unique, and it's loved, so I don't care! Also, I now have enough left of both of these to make another couple of baby hats.
These are all from the Odyssey update at the end of January. Also, I'm particularly pleased with this photo. Countess Ablaze yarns are very photogenic anyway, but the colours look right in this picture, and that's not always easy to achieve.
The yarn in the middle is Lady Persephone, a 4-ply BFL sock yarn, and the colourway is "Stored them away out of the smoke". I love it because it's so perfectly monochrome, if you photograph it on its own then it looks as though you're using a grey-scale filter.
Both of the other yarns are The English Gentleman DK. On the left is "Secret in my designs", and on the right is "In the confidence of his amazing possessions". Given my love of purples and greens, it's easy to see why I chose Secret in my designs, but perhaps you might question the other, as it's a lot more orangey than I'd normally choose, but I think it looks like fire, or burning embers, and I think that Stephen might appreciate something made with this.
This was naughty of me. I was directing a friend towards laceweight gradient yarns when I found this. Not only is it just shy of a kilometre of red/black gradient, it's also made of silk and cashmere. Who could resist that?
This is by Violet Lynx Dyeworks, the yarn base is called Aurora, and the colourway is called "Bloodraven".
I have a commission! Well, I have 2 actually, but this is the yarn that I've got for the first. There are really 6 of the dark grey cotton 4-ply, but the pyramid worked better this way! This commission is for a pair of military style leg-wraps, so it's not going to be a complicated knit, just two very long strips of stockinette. The fabric can't be too stretchy, which is why I've chosen cotton, even though it's certainly not my favourite material to work with. Cotton yarns are usually associated with summer, so they tend to be available in either bright colours, or pastel colours. I needed a dark grey, and I was worried I wouldn't find it, but this is perfect! Another new yarn I think, I've certainly never seen it before, this is King Cole Giza, and the colourway is simply called "grey".
I have until May to complete this commission, and because it's for a friend I've refused to take any payment beyond the cost of the yarn, and being bought pizza!
Oh, the pink yarn isn't part of the commission by the way. I don't think it would really work on the 6'4", well built chap that the grey yarn is for! That is there because this lot came from Deramores, and they offer free shipping on orders over £25. So adding the tiny ball of regia to add to my pile of mini sock yarn skeins actually saved me some of the postage costs!
Shortly after the yarn for the first commission arrived, I was given another! Again, for a friend, so I'll allow her to pay for yarn, and make me tea when I visit maybe, but I won't ask for anything more. Apart from anything else, she's mother of 2 of my godsons, and quite frankly I'll do just about anything for them!
But Deramores send a discount code with each order, so I went looking straight away for the right yarn. Blue to match the curtains, and grey because it's Gemma! And again, a tiny ball of Regia to save me the postage cost! There's actually another yarn missing from this order, but I was warned that it would ship separately. It's a sparkly yarn, with sequins, that I may, or may not decide to use alongside the other colours to add a bit of starlight. I got a free pattern with this order too!
So this yarn is Rico Design Essentials Merino DK, in colourways "28" and "35".
Last, but not least, these two are a result of me spending too much time on Instagram when I'm feeling sorry for myself. The one at the front is a plain merino sock yarn in the colourway "Cosmic", and the one at the back is a sparkly merino sock yarn in the colourway "Nebula". Both are by Yarny Love. Just the sort of thing I love, and exactly what a girl needs to cheer herself up I feel!
WIPs
As always, I have a lot more on my needles than I will show you here, but these are what I've been working on recently.
Socks, in that purple sparkly Rico Design Superba Las Vegas that I bought in the January sales. I'm also trying out tiny circular needles for the first time with this project. The cable and needles are only 9 inches long, so you can make socks without needing to use the magic loop technique, but you do need to get used to working with needles that are only and inch and a half long! I found that working a heel-flap was way too fiddly, so in the end I frogged that bit and put in a scrap of waste yarn to make an afterthought heel. Yes, I have knit significantly more than you see in this photo, but also I packed the light-box away before I remembered that I didn't have an up-to-date photo of this project! It's still just a plain stockinette sock, so not that exciting.
The start of something truly epic. This year the Shefknit girls are running a year-long Knit-a-long with the aim of encouraging us all to push our boundaries as knitters. The only rules are that the project must involve at least 1200m of yarn, and be something that we consider challenging. Some of the girls have chosen cabled jumpers, but many of us have chosen Celestarium, by Audry Nicklin, a huge circular shawl, or blanket, with a chart of the stars of the Northern Hemisphere picked out in beads. If you know your star charts, then you may just about be able to identify 6 stars of Ursa Minor in the section that I've already knit.
I'm using Sparkleduck Galaxy, in the colourway "Figgy Pudding", and this particular batch has gold stellina, so I'm using gold beads.
I really need to concentrate on this one. The start charts are nothing like a standard repetitive lace pattern, you constantly have to count your rows, and your stitches, so I'm expecting progress to be slow!
This on the other hand should be super fast. This is the second test knit of my Beginner Beanie pattern that will be the follow up to the Learn to Knit Mitts. It's knit flat, because learning to join in the round, and magic-loop techniques, are definitely for more advanced patterns! This one teaches basic increases, decreases, and how to read a pattern that is written with multiple size options.
The yarn is Juniper Moon Findley Dappled DK, in the colourway "108 - Grey", and the pattern should be released in a couple of weeks.
FOs
Errm, so there was only supposed to be one item in this section, that being the thing I refused to show you last week. It never occurred to me for a second that I'd finish 2 more projects in less than a week! So this section is a bit more lengthy than anticipated.
This is what I couldn't show you last week. It's a shawl/scarf that was a very delayed Christmas present for Gemma.
I cursed this project more than once while it was on the needles. At first because it took me 3 attempts to get it started without making mistakes, then because it was such a pain to 'read' my knitting when it was a long, thin, curly annoyance on a curly, annoying circular cable. Then later because I had to pick it up and work on it when I really didn't feel much like doing anything except crawl back into bed and stay there until the heat-death of the universe.
However, this is also the project that saved my love of knitting, and therefore helped me crawl out of the pit of despair I'd fallen into. Once the pattern is established it becomes enjoyable to knit. Soothing almost. And when it's finished it's so lovely that it becomes worth all the effort.
The pattern for this is Sunrise, by Susanna IC, and my version is made with Rosie's Moments Sparkle Sock, in the colourway "Night Sky".
I've had this pattern, and this yarn, in my queue/stash for two and a half years, and never found the time to actually make it. But for a little while I found myself free to choose a project entirely selfishly, and to work on it as much as I wanted to. The pattern is simple, repetitive, and effective. There is a suggested number of lace repeats in the pattern, which I ignored. I simply worked until I ran out of yarn. I'd expected with the long colour changes to have to cut a fairly large section out of the yarn when I joined the second ball, but miraculously it started exactly where the first ball ended, and after my cast-off row I had just 7 inches of yarn left.
The finished article is a very long, narrow, decorative scarf. I've not measured exactly how long, but in the region of 3 metres. Perfect for spring accessorising.
The pattern is Falling Water, by Bonnie Sennott, and my version is made using Katia Darling, in the colourway "205".
My most recent finished object is this beanie hat. It's the first test knit for my Beginner Beanie pattern, and this is the child (5-12 years) size, as modeled by a very cute plushy dog that I bought for Stephen on my way back from Newcastle last weekend.
The yarn is Ella Rae Cozy Soft Prints in colourway "05", and the pattern should be available in a couple of weeks.
Penguins
Just one week since my last update, but I've still managed to acquire a new penguin! As well as numerous people sharing this heartwarming link about a penguin who was nursed back to health by a kindly old man, and returns every year to see his friend and saviour, I also received a surprise gift from my lovely friend Heather:
Isn't he cute? He's like my own little woolly gentleman, bringing me love and roses!
Heather was one of the people who joined in with the little knitting workshop that I ran a couple of weeks ago, and I'm so happy that not only did everyone enjoy their evening, also several of them are still knitting now! I keep seeing peoples progress pop up on my facebook feed, with people saying how much they're enjoying this new hobby. Heather herself is now working studiously on producing scarves and blanket squares for everyone! I love it! I'm so pleased I could share a little bit of the joy and serenity that knitting gives to me.
Here's wishing you all a little bit of joy and serenity too.
TTFN my dears!
