Epic Advent

Hello again my dears, I said I'd be back today, and miraculously, I am!

Previously during the period of Advent, I have used this blog to display the lovely yarns in the Opal advent calendar.  Last year I added to that with other advent calendars, and used them all as a means of giving myself a rest, a treat, and a break from the stresses of a roller-coaster of a year.

This year Opal have not produced an advent calendar, but thanks to my lovely friend Katie, of Homespun Wonders, and Yorkshire Dales Yarns, I do have a yarny advent calendar, so I can continue with my tradition.

I loved the multiple advent calendar thing last year, with lots of lovely little surprises every day, so I'm doing the same again this year.  Except that this year I might have gone a little overboard with just how many calendars I've got...

This photo shows most of the advent calendars I have for this year.  I say most, because I took these photos a couple of days ago, believing all of my advent preparations to be complete.  Then we went to the local pharmacy to pick up some of my meds, and get Stephen a flu jab, and while I was waiting for Stephen to be poked with a needle, I spotted another among the various beauty gifts on sale.  I expected it to be too expensive for me (With the obvious exception of the yarn and tea calendars, I'm not willing to spend a lot on these frivolities), but actually it was very affordable.

This is that extra calendar, and I believe it contains a number of sample sized bath products.  I'm looking forward to finding out exactly what they are.

Everybody needs a chocolate advent calendar, well, everyone who isn't lactose intolerant, or otherwise sensitive to any of the ingredients in chocolate.  Poor people!  I love Lindt chocolates, and since these particular calendars are not much more expensive than those really cheap ones with the moulded chocolate in a plastic tray, I prefer to buy myself one of these.  

This year I've rediscovered a little bit of my self confidence in my appearance.  I might be fat, but at least I'm no longer convinced that I'm ugly.  Because of this, I've also picked up my makeup again for the first time in many years.  Having done so, I also discovered that there are a vast array of beauty and makeup advent calendars available.  Most of them are incredibly expensive, but this one was the same price as my chocolate advent calendar!  I'm not expecting a lot from it for the price, but it is another little bit of decadence and mystery to add into my little advent pamper sessions.

Although I do love chocolate, I actually don't really have that much of a sweet tooth.  When given a choice of snacks, I generally prefer savoury.  Dad, Yasmin, and I were doing the grocery shopping one day when we spotted these cheese advent calendars!  So dad bought us one each :)

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to afford a Yankee Candles calendar this year, but then this appeared in my Amazon Black Friday deals at half price.  Perfect!

Doesn't give much away that photo...

I did really like the tea calendar that I had last year, but I was a little disappointed that there was actually only a few flavours of tea, and they repeated throughout the month.  This year though I have discovered T2, thanks to our friend Jo.  I've been wanting to reduce the number of teabags that I use, and switch to loose leaf tea as much as possible.  As a result, we now have a large collection of different loose leaf teas and infusions, and I have fallen in love with this store.

T2 are doing 2 different advent calendars this year, and neither as expensive as I would have expected, given the quality.  I chose the loose leaf version, and I can't wait!

Finally, the bit you've all been waiting for!  And with it, unexpected penguins!  Thank you so much Katie!

I only expected an advent calendar, but when I opened the parcel including 24 days of mini-skeins wrapped in numbered mystery packets, I also discovered this vast array of treats and Christmas decorations!  The pretty tin contains chocolates, the candle in a jar smells amazing, the silver sheep badge is amazing quality, and there are 2 penguins!  One bauble with a jingle bell inside, and one pin bade, which is going straight onto my handbag!  We also need to find a way to hang the little heart wreath on the front door.

On top of all that, there's a full sized skein for Christmas day!  

I'm so excited!

Roll on tomorrow!  Happy Advent everyone!  I'll be back every day or 2 for the rest of the month to show you what all of these beauties contain!

Nottingham Yarn Expo, and Nearly Christmas.

Hello my dears, I hope that you're all well.  As you can see, I'm back with another instalment, and it's more-or-less on time for a change!

Today is Stephen's birthday.  Happy Birthday Stephen!  This means that tomorrow it's allowed to be officially "Nearly Christmas".  We have already made our various travel arrangements for visiting families over the festive season, and I've made my plans for Advent (There will be an entire extra post about that coming tomorrow!) but so far no decorations have gone up, and no presents have been bought or made.

I'm not going to do my pre-Christmas rant about consumerism this year, because between Brexit, Trump, Austerity, Climate Change, and that bit on Blue Planet where they showed all the plastic in the oceans, I think that most people I know are either too poor, too environmentally conscious, or both, to be buying loads of unnecessary Christmas tat.  For the first time in my life I don't feel guilty that I have no plans to buy loads of presents, because for the first time in my life, I feel like everyone understands why.

Anyway...

This month included a yarny event fairly close to where I live (relatively speaking), that I've never attended before:

Nottingham Yarn Expo

Being disabled, primarily in the form of limited mobility, I often find most yarn festivals quite difficult, because they become very overcrowded, very warm, difficult to navigate even if you're able-bodied, and there is never sufficient seating.  Nottingham Yarn Expo is different. It's held in a large, light, open space, with loads of seating scattered around, as well as a small cafe.  It is spread over 2 floors, but there is a lift, and wide access corridors, all with a view over many of the stalls.  There was also an actual string quartet playing in the middle of the space!  There aren't so many stalls that you become overwhelmed, but there are enough to be interesting, and offer some things that are a little bit different.

I do confess to getting a bit lost while trying to find the venue however, but I blame Google Maps for that, as it dropped the pin in completely the wrong place!  I ended up phoning my friend Rachel, who I'd planned to meet there, and begging her aid in finding the place!

This was my haul from the day.

Let's break it down:

Before I go any further, I'm going to point out the tote bag that is the background to all of these photos.  I own many tote bags, but I always want more.  I deliberately didn't bring a tote with me, with the intent of buying one of these event bags as soon as I arrived to carry my acquisitions with me.

These things were the only things that I knew I wanted to buy that day.  I follow the Corner of Craft YouTube channel, and Instagram, and I'd seen this new Christmas themed colourway, and loved it.  It's called "Krampus", and this skein is on the Sturdy Sock base.

Hannah also makes these amazingly detailed little hand-beaded stitch markers.  I knew that she was making lots of them for this event, and I knew that in the past she had made penguin ones, but I hadn't seen any penguins in her pre-event sneaky peaks.  However, upon arrival, I was talking to Rachel, and mentioned that I was looking for the corner of craft stall, in the hope that there would be beaded penguin stitch markers.  As it turned out, I was within ear-shot of the stall in question, and Hannah heard me, and brought one over to me! Just look how cute it is!  Now, I do have to admit, that when you first see them, the price seems a bit daunting for just 1 stitch marker, but then you look at the quality, the detail, and the sheer amount of work that must go into making each and every one, by hand, and realise that they are totally worth the price!

Hannah's yarn dying business is called Chromatic Yarns, many of the colourways have a Dungeons and Dragons theme, and her logo features a D20 (20-sided dice).  As I'm also a Role-Playing Game geek, I had to have one of her little button badges too.

The second stall that I visited was Sable Yarns, and that was because Rachel dragged me there to show me these stunning gradient yarn cakes in matched pairs.  Each pair contains 2 identical 50g skeins, but they have been wound into the cake from opposite ends of the skein.  

I do feel a little bit guilty about this purchase, because Rachel showed me these not only because she knew I'd love them, but also because she wanted help in choosing which ones to get for herself, and of course although she didn't say so until after I'd bought them, this was the pair that she would have liked the most.  She did buy 2 other pairs though, one crazy neons, and one full rainbow, so I don't think she was too upset.  At least I hope she wasn't!

This one is called "Disco Inferno", and although I think they're meant to be used to make socks, I can't possibly use them for something that's going to be hidden beneath my boots.  These colours are almost literally screaming to be seen out in public!

I managed to walk right past the Black Elephant stall first time around, but after stopping for a rest, and a cuppa, sitting on a comfy chair, with a coffee table, with a view of many of the stalls, where we were joined by a couple of girls from Rachel's local knitting group, and one beautifully be-corseted young goth, who apparently decided from our appearance that we were "her type of people".  As knitters do, we then started to show each other the things that we had purchased so far, and several of them had some truly gorgeous skeins from Black Elephant, so I left them all with my bags, and went to find the stall for myself.  

Black Elephant is actually a local (to me) dyer, as she lives in Sheffield, but I've never managed to get my hands on any of her yarns before.  I am especially pleased by the yarn that I chose, as not only is it beautiful, it is part of a fundraiser for the Plastic Oceans Foundation.  While researching this blog post, I have also discovered that her partner is behind a new low-waste shop that has just opened in Sheffield, and which many of my friends are overjoyed with.  I am very proud to have these people living in the same city as me!

This colourway is called "Ocean Warrior", on Superwash merino sock yarn.

Although I bought from Hey Jay at Bakewell Wool Gathering, which was less than a month before Nottingham Yarn Expo, I couldn't resist these, because they were wrapped up in little mystery packets, so you had no idea what the colourway inside would be!  I love mysteries and surprises like this, so I had to get myself a couple.  I surprised Jay too by not opening the packets right away.  Apparently many people open them as soon as they've paid for them, and this makes her really paranoid that they won't like the colourway that is inside the packet.  I wanted to prolong the suspense though, so I saved opening them until Rachel and I were sat in Wagamama's waiting for lunch to arrive.  We weren't the only yarnies to choose this place for our lunch either, as our waitress looked at us in bemusement, and asked if there was some sort of wool event going on, as loads of customers had been in with "massive bags of wool"!

Needless to say, I am perfectly happy with greens, blues, and purples.

There were only 2 of these enamel pin badges left by the time Rachel and I reached The Loveliest Yarn Company stall.  It's almost like it was fate or something!

I am cursing myself right now for not recording the name of the stall that I bought this book from.  I've searched the internet for ages trying to find a photo that includes the stall, and shows it's name.  Unfortunately, although I have found photos of the stall, they are from too far away, or the wrong angle, or there are people stood in the way, so I can't discern the company name.  They also sold a rainbow of solid cotton crochet yarns, and little decorative wooden items with holes drilled through for you to sew your own yarny design onto.

None of that meant anything to me after I spotted this book with patterns for knitting my own penguins in it.

There are many places that you can buy this book from online, but I prefer to give you the link to the author's own page - Mini Knitted Christmas, by Sue Stratford.

My final purchase of the day was these 2 incredibly smooshy mini-skeins from Love Handeyed, in association with Woolmouse.  None of the mini-skeins were labelled, so I just chose colours that I liked, and assumed that they were standard merino, if exceptionally bouncy and soft merino, but having checked out their website, I now suspect that the reason these are so very soft is that they're quite possibly 20% cashmere! If this is indeed the case, they were an absolute bargain!

All considered, I had a brilliant day, I loved the layout and the venue, and it was great to see Rachel again.

FOs

Back to the regulars now, bringing us up to date with everything that I've done in November.

 First off, I finished the last of the Scandi style hats that I was knitting for my nieces and godsons.  I'm pleased to say that they all seemed very happy with them :)

The pattern is adapted from Scandi Baby, by Sophie Jordan, which was published in the Christmas supplement that came with Simply Knitting Magazine issue 178.  The yarn is Sublime Yarns Baby cashmere merino and silk 4-ply, in the colourways "Paddle", and "Pinkaboo", and the pompom was from a pack of 12 multicoloured fauxfur pompoms ordered on Amazon.

In among the multitude of issues that I suffer because I have poor circulation, is a condition known as Reynauds Syndrome.  It happens most times that I get cold.  It's not dangerous, just painful, and annoying.  So I wear gloves, and carry little hand hotties in my pockets.  The problem with gloves though, is that you have to take them off in order to use a modern phone, which rather defies the point.  

I saw a photo somewhere, and I can't find where, of something similar to these, that look like ordinary fingerless mittens, but the folded ribbed section is long enough, and snug enough, that when unfolded, it covers the entire length of the fingers, and the thumb.  I thought "Ah!  They will solve my problem!"  So I invented a pattern, and made some, and I am very pleased with them!

Obviously the pattern is not available, although I might make it available at some point,  This pattern is much easier to write out than my sock pattern!  However, the yarn is Ring-a-rosie Marvellous High Twist, in one of her recent One Of A Kind colourways.

WIPs

This has been my primary project for the last week or so, because I've been a bear of very little brain, and haven't been able to handle much that's complicated, but this is just a few simple increases, and miles of garter stitch.  Perfect.

I'm getting close to the end of this ball of yarn though, so soon I'll be starting on the ribbed section.

The pattern is TGV (High Speed Knitting), by Susan Ashcroft, and the yarn is another of Ring-a-rosie's Marvellous High Twist OOAK colourways.

My current portable project is a pair of socks for myself.  They haven't got very far, because whenever I've been out and about, I've been too busy to stop and do any knitting.

My usual 3&1 rib sock pattern, and the yarn is Regia Design Line by Arne & Carlos, in the colourway "03653".

Before casting on the socks, I was temporarily without a designated Portable Project, but fortunately, by default, I carry the necessaries for the next square in my crochet Memory Blanket in my handbag at all times.  So I've also finished another couple of squares on that while out for coffee (or festive hot chocolate, as the case may be) with dad and Davie over the last few weeks.  

As a happy aside from this, one of the reasons that I've been up north several times this month is because Dad had another CT scan, and I'm pleased to say that while the change is small, the chemo is continuing to work, and the tumours are continuing to slowly shrink. We know that it won't be long until the chemo stops being effective, but given dad was told 2 years ago that his time left on this earth was probably only to be measured in months, I think we're quite happy with this.

There isn't really a pattern for this, it's just simple granny squares.  The yarn in this particular photo is Woolyknit Colour Splash in the colourway "Rainbow".

Not much to look at, is it?

For this entirely inappropriately timed cast-on, I #BlameDunderknit.  Dunderknit is another of the knitting podcasts that I follow, (I absolutely recommend that you do too!) and this month she announced her first ever Knit-a-long.  Her thing is "Vicarious Knitting", that is the knitting that you wish you could be doing, when you're actually knitting practical items, gifts, or commissions.  The yarn you've had in your stash for ages that's been whispering sweet nothings in your ear, begging to be used, the pattern that's been in your Ravelry queue since dinosaurs walked the earth (I might be exaggerating a teensy bit...) you get the idea though.

In my case, there are numerous contenders that I could have chosen, but in the end the one that won it's way onto my needles is the Glasgow Rose Stole, by Lucy Hague (my all-time favourite designer).  This particular pattern has been in my queue for over 5 years, I had even bought the pattern at some point, but had never got around to casting it on.

The yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious, in the colourway "Teal", and this has also been in my stash for over 5 years.  I can't say now if I bought the yarn specifically for the pattern, or the pattern for the yarn, but either way, they've been intended for each other for too long, and I felt I should take this opportunity, when I had been given a perfect excuse to cast on something totally irresponsible.

It hasn't got very far because it starts with a provisional cast-on, followed by some pretty serious lace work, and because our printer has run out of cyan ink, it would not print in black and white, and new ink cartridges cost slightly more than the Hope Diamond, so I was attempting to follow the lace chart on my phone.  I do not recommend this.  After a pitiful few rows, a certain amount of tinking, and a fair amount of swearing, I gave up, and ordered a new printer in the Black Friday sales.  The pattern is now printed out, but I haven't had the brain power to do anything more with this since then.

Stash Acquisition

With the exception of those things that I bought at Nottingham Yarn Expo, this is the only new addition to my stash this month.  The colourway is called "Apple", but in all honesty, I've never seen an apple this colour!  I'm very happy with it, because it matches my current hair colour (I was going for red and purple, somehow it turned out magenta).

For anyone who doesn't know, this is my November KnitCrate, because I love surprises, so I get a random sock yarn delivered to my door once a month.

Penguins!

I know that my hand-knit socks are sturdier, warmer, and fit better, but who could resist skiing penguins?  The blue bits are also sparkly!

I am due to have surgery on my knee at some point in the next few months, which will involve an overnight stay in hospital.  Obviously, this means I need new pyjamas.  However, annoyingly, the fashion this year seems to be for pyjama bottoms with a slim cut, which I anticipate not going terribly well with whatever state my knee will be in after surgery.  So I've bought my new PJs 2 sizes too big, meaning that the bottoms now fall off.  I shall have to do some sewing.  Still, I did manage to find some cotton jersey pyjamas with penguins on :)

Witness actual nail art!  Painted by me!  These are not decals, or transfers, these are the result of me working for 3 hours with tiny brushes and dotting tools, but I am very pleased with them!

"What is this?!?" I hear you say, "This is not a penguin!  This is clearly a snowman!"

Ah!  But look!:

Ta Da!

Magically it has become a penguin!

This is my Official 2018 Christmas Jumper.  I will not knit such a thing for myself for 3 reasons:

1) You've seen how long it takes me to knit a one-colour sweater for my gigantic form.

2) I hate intarsia with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

3) I cannot make magic sequin snowman/penguin motifs.

That is all for tonight my dears, but I promise that I shall be back tomorrow with exciting news about Advent! (Well, it's exciting to me anyway).

Goodnight!

Bakewell & Ring-a-Rosie's Birthday

Hello again my dears, I hope that you're all well, and that the sudden appearance of winter hasn't upset you all too much.

I'm starting to write this blog somewhat later in the day than I'd intended, but at least this means that the sounds of fireworks have finally calmed down!

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last update, I have recently been to Bakewell Wool Gathering.  This was followed very quickly by Ring-a-Rosie celebrating 22 years of supplying smooshy, yarny goodness.  So this post is about those events, and will take a different format than usual.  For those of you who only come along for the penguins, there will still be penguins!

Bakewell Wool Gathering 2018

Usually I have a car full on the drive to Bakewell, but this year I was all on my own.  Poor Dominey had injured herself, and wasn't up to the stress of the day.  Krissy needed to bring her daughter with her, and while I love her to bits, she is my goddaughter after all, my own health wasn't up to attempting to drive while under the onslaught of an excitable 13 year old.  I was also starting my day at the wrong side of Sheffield to pick them up, so it was easier in all for them to catch a bus, and for me to drive just myself.  It felt a little strange, but when I ended up having to take a detour that involved a switchback trail down a very steep valley, complete with fallen trees across the very narrow road, I was glad that I didn't have to modify my language, as I swore a blue streak the whole way down!

Other than failing to complete my Hazy Daze shawl on time, I did do one little bit of preparation for the event:

When I did finally arrive safely in Bakewell, it was from a different direction than usual, which lead to me parking in a different carpark.  This car park had only 1 working ticket machine, and even that would only accept exact change, despite claiming to accept credit cards.  Fortunately, I did have exact change, having considered that this might be easier.  Unfortunately the person in front of me only had her credit card, and the machine wasn't telling her why it wasn't working, it was just cancelling her transaction.  Repeatedly.  There are no seats near carpark ticket machines, and I desperately needed to not be standing, but just as I'd arrived the wind had picked up, and the heavens opened, so sitting on the ground was seriously an "Only if I can't stay upright a second longer" option.

Eventually someone from inside came and explained about the credit cards not working, I bought my ticket with cash, limped back to the car to display it, limped back through the rain to the parking meter, where I stuck a note telling future customers that it would only accept cash, then limped in to the Wool Gathering.  Fortunately I was late enough by then that I didn't have to queue long, because the cold, wet floor was looking increasingly tempting!  

As I received my wrist band, Krissy and her daughter came past on their way out.  They had already done a full circuit, and were going for a rest.  I was barely capable of coherent speech by then, I think I may have grunted at them vaguely (sorry Krissy!), before I stumbled into the event, and promptly collapsed on the first bit of dry floor that I found.  For this reason, my first 15 minutes at Bakewell Wool Gathering this year looked like this:

Occasionally there were people walking past me, many of them looking at me somewhat strangely, but I'm quite accustomed to that now.

It was quite busy, even though I got there late! This is the back room, which was hot enough to bring on pre-syncopy!

After a short rest, I was able to drag myself to my feet, and begin a slow circuit.  When I first began attending yarn and fibre events, I used to do a quick full circuit buying only things that I felt I couldn't live without, then a second circuit to take a closer look at anything else that had caught my eye.  I know that these days I'm unlikely to make it to a second circuit, so with only 1 exception, everything was bought in the order that I first encountered it.

Unless I'm specifically after new needles, the first stall I always stop at is Rosie's Moments.  Not just for the gorgeous colourways, and cute accessories, but also because she has the best bargain bin in the whole place!  She always has a huge basket of lonely skeins that have been discounted, either because the colourway, or base, has been discontinued, or because they've lost their tags, and she can't be totally sure what they are any more.  I think that at least one of these was in there for being mis-labelled, as both were labelled with the same colourway name: "Stormy Sunset".  Clearly they are not both the same colourway! Both are merino sock yarns, the one with splashes of pink is also sparkly.

I also bought a set of 3 button badges that I've pinned to my bag.  They say "Yarn Addict" (guilty as charged) "Eat, Sleep. Knit", and "Knitting is cheaper than therapy" which might be true when the NHS is sold off to American profit-mongers after Brexit, but with the amount that I spend on my hobby, as a percentage of my income, I don't think this is currently true!

The project bag is the only thing that I came back for.  Because the Rosie's Moments stall is fairly near the entrance, I was able to come past it a second time on my way out.  I'd checked out a few other stalls that I thought might have nice project bags, but none of them appealed to me as much as this one.  I couldn't get close to it on my first visit, because the stall was just too busy, but on the way back I managed to sneak in.  I think I was lucky, because this was the last bag in that fabric, and I saw someone else looking at it as I approached, but she put it back, perhaps because the price tag had fallen off, or perhaps she decided against acid green.  Her loss, my win!

These are all mini skeins, and they have no tags or bands on them, so I've had to research the colourway names. On the left is "Thunderous", on the right is "Joker", but sadly I can't find anything similar enough to be confident of the colourway name for the one in the middle. They were bought from HeyJay, who had some really lovely, bright colourways, and they are destined to be part of my mitred squares blanket.

I think that these are my favourite purchases of the day.  I know that Dominey wanted to steal the one on the left!  Which doesn't surprise me, teal is her signature colour.  But that skein in particular called to me from across a very crowded room!  Neither my camera, nor my pitiful photography skills, can do justice to either of these skeins, but the teal in particular just glows!  I was literally on the verge of passing out as I fought my way towards the Coastal Colours stall, they were situated in the back room, which is always very crowded, and very hot, as you can see from the photo I took as I went in!  Fortunately these guys had a chair that they let me sit on while I clutched my prize to me, and talked about dogs with other customers until I felt steady enough to finally pay for my yarn, and escape the room.

I'm not sure if the tags attached indicate colourway names, or colour blends that have been used in their production, but they are the only nomenclature that I have to go on, so the skein on the left is merino, silk, and yak 4-ply, in the colouway "Lily-Iris", and the skein on the right is merino, silk, and yak laceweight, in the colourway "Tomato-Avocado".

Back in the main room, but working my way down the other side, I found All Wool that Ends Wool, who I saw for the first time last year.  I had decided that what I really needed at that point was an obnoxiously loud DK that I could make a winter hat from.  This colourway is called "Circus", and it definitely fits the bill!  I can't find a name for the mini skein, but I'm sure you already know that it's destined to be a part of the mitred squares blanket.

Finally, right next to the door on the way out, I spotted these gorgeous fellows on the Cat Designz stall (warning!  If you click that link, be prepared for adult language!) I may never actually use them as buttons, but you understand entirely why I had to have them, right?


Although my tour of the event itself had been rather short, by this point my body had definitely had enough of standing, and walking.  Fortunately it had also stopped raining.  So I hobbled into town to find lunch, and more importantly, a drink so that I could take my medications, and found Krissy and her daughter also heading for lunch.  Krissy kindly offered me a bottle of water that she had with her, so we stopped for a rest by the river while I gratefully took my handful of tablets.

We then headed to the little Bavarian cafe in town, where I had a gluten free frankfurter.  Then I went to the Original Bakewell Pudding shop, to buy an entirely not original Bakewell tart with icing and a cherry on the top for Stephen.  We also popped into a marvellous little cheese and wine emporium, where I treated myself to some miniature gin liqueurs, including a cherry Bakewell flavour, and a parma violet flavour!

Krissy and her daughter then went to catch their bus home, and I headed back to the car.  As the weather had improved significantly by that point, I stopped for a rest outside the event venue, and chatted to a couple of other yarnies for a bit, while working on Gemma's socks.

My total haul for the day looked like this:

Post Event Knitting

I had a little over a week between Bakewell Wool Gathering, and Ring-a-Rosie's birthday party.  During that time I posted my previous blog update.  I also finished 2 more projects, and cast one on.

I don't often do this.  This being, get home from an event, and immediately cast on with a yarn that I've just bought.  But I really wanted to see how this would knit up, plus the weather was starting to hint that Winter is Coming, so clearly I need a new hat, plus I really wanted a bit of selfish, instant gratification knitting.  So before I even remembered to take a photo of this skein on it's own to record on Ravelry, I had it balled up and cast on.

The pattern is Magnolia Magnolie Hat by Christina Korber-Raith, and the yarn is All Wool that Ends Wool handdyed DK merino/nylon, in the colourway "Circus".

At this point, I feel the need to say something about the pompom. I usually make my own pompom out of yarn left over from making the hat.  However, I felt that in this case the hat was quite loud enough, without adding an equally loud pompom.  The current fashion in pompoms is the faux-fur tribble.  So I went in search of faux-fur tribbles.  I found that the prices can be quite ludicrous!  Bearing in mind that I don't do Ebay (Complicated psychological issue) I found prices ranging from £4 - £22 for a single pom!  In the end I decided to go for a random mixed pack of 12 different coloured tribbles for a little under £15 in total.

Of course, you know what this means, right?  Yes!  I have to knit a bunch more hats with tribbles on them!

Well, it just so happens that it's about this time of year when I start knitting hats for my godsons, and it also just so happens that I'd bought a copy of the Simply Knitting bumper Christmas edition (mostly because there was a quote from me in there if I'm honest), but the extra pattern book that came with it included an adorable Scandi style baby hat, that I was pretty sure I could adapt (heavily) for older children.  There will be more on this subject later...

I finished these while I was up in Newcastle visiting my dad, and made sure that Gemma had them in time for winter scout camps.  She was especially pleased with these, because without my knowing it, they match her new boots perfectly.  I'm paranoid that she'll find them uncomfortable, because horror of horrors! there was a random knot in the yarn while I was knitting the foot of the first sock!  I ranted, and swore for a while, because not only was there a knot in the yarn, it joined 2 pieces that were't at the same point in the colour repeat!  So I carefully cut out the knot, pulled out more yarn until I found the colour repeat, checked that it was going in the right direction, and re-joined the yarn, hoping that the join can't be felt when Gemma is wearing the socks.  I was actually tempted to knit an entire 3rd sock to be sure!  I still might if Gemma finds these uncomfortable!

As usual, these are knit according to my own internal sock pattern.  I have been asked to write it down, which I'd hoped to get done before I went up to Newcastle too, but my brain just hasn't been in the right place.  It's a fairly simple pattern, but the most important part of it is how to adapt it for different sizes of foot, and ankle.  Obviously I know how to do that, but how to phrase what I do so that someone who isn't in my brain can understand it?  That's not so easy!  So sorry that I've not got this done yet Becky!  But I promise that I'm working on it!  

The yarn for these is Ice Yarns Super Sock, and the colourway has no designation that I can find.  I just call it "Purples".

Ring-a-Rosie's 22nd Birthday Party

22 might seem an odd birthday to celebrate, but like me, Barbara, who runs Ring-a-Rosie, has had a tough couple of years.  In fact we first bonded because I visited the shop quite a few times while spending time with dad while Trish was in hospital, and later as he began his own treatment for cancer.  At the same time, Barbara's mum was being treated for cancer.  So for both of us Christmas 2016 was not exactly merry and bright, and we comforted and consoled each other, and continue to do so.  Although sadly her mum lost her battle, Barbara always asks how my dad is doing whenever I pop in.  

So, 20, and 21, came and went, and Barbara was not ready to celebrate.  So 22 has been celebrated instead!  And celebrate we certainly did!  I'm used to being one of just a handful of people in the shop, often monopolising Barbara's attention as we chat.  This was the shop that night:

I drank pink fizz, ate cake (I elected to suffer the consequences for the sake of birthday cake, and didn't ask if it was gluten free!) bought yarn, chatted to many lovely people, gave Barbara hugs, and hogged the only chair for a while to sit and knit.

I didn't photograph this while I was in the shop, but this is what I was working on.  It's such a simple pattern, but it's perfect for showing off the glorious colours in Barbara's hand dyed yarn!  So many people asked me about it during the party!

The pattern is TGV (High Speed Knitting) by Susan Ashcroft, and the yarn is Ring-a-rosie Marvellous High Twist, which is a merino based sock yarn, and the colourway is one of Barbara's many un-named, one-of-a-kind colourways.

Oh, I guess you'll want to see what I bought too!

Remember I said that I was planning on knitting hats for my godsons?  I decided that given one of the tribbles is duck-egg-blue, and another is a colour that I can only describe as ASBO pink, and that these colours are favoured by my 2 gorgeous nieces, what I really needed was appropriate yarns to knit matching hats for my nieces as well as my godsons.  To be honest, I didn't think that I'd be able to find such a delicate blue, and such a bright pink in the same line of yarn, but amazingly I did!  

You see here Sublime Yarns Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4-ply, in the colourways "Paddle" and "Pinkaboo".  Stylecraft Bellissima in the colourways "Smoked Pearl" and "Double Denim", and of course, a selfish yarn just for me, Ring-a-rosie Stargazer, in a gorgeous one-of-a-kind mix of greens and blues.

This was a party thrown by Barbara though, and we already know how incredibly generous she is from the number of free mini-skeins that you've seen she sneaks into my bag!  This party took that to another level though!

For one thing, she had invited a representative from Stylecraft, who was lovely, and helpful, and really knows her colours!  Not only that though, if you bought any stylecraft yarns, you were given a tote bag full of freebies!

On top of that, as I went to say goodbye, and thanks for such a great party, I was given an amazing party bag full of goodies!  Actually, Barbara went hunting to try to find one with Purple yarn in it, but I was perfectly happy with a beautiful grey colour that was right next to me!  This bag contained 2 balls of Sublime Yarns Lola, 3 mini-skeins that Barbara has specially dyed for the party, patterns for 2 different cowls, or a hat, that could be made using the Lola yarn, some gingerbread people, and a herbal tea that was so lovely that I bought more as soon as I got home.

So once again Barbara, thank you so much for hosting such a lovely party!  And even more for such generous party bags!  You're amazing!

Afterwards

It's been nearly 2 weeks since the party, I've spent half of that time up north with daddy, and half back at home sleeping off a cold.  I have not been idle though!  I have followed up on my threat of hats for children!

These 2 are for my godsons, and have already been delivered to them, as my sister went up to visit a couple of days ago, and she took them up with her.  The pattern is heavily adapted from Scandi Baby by Sophie Jordan, and the yarn is Stylecraft Bellissima, in the colourways "Smoked Pearl", and "Double Denim".

I've seen 3 photos of my youngest godson taken since I sent these up, and in every photo, he's wearing his hat.  So I guess he likes it!

This is the first of the 2 hats I'm making for my nieces.  How perfect is that pompom for this?!?!

I actually entirely forgot to take a picture of my progress so far on the second of these, so give me a minute while I do that...

Fortunately these are pretty quick to make.  My aim is to finish this in the next couple of days, and get both hats to their new owners as soon as possible.

As above, the pattern is heavily adapted from Scandi Baby by Sophie Jordan, and for these 2 the yarn is Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4-ply, in the colourways "Pinkaboo", and "Paddle".

The only stash that I've acquired since my last update, other than those from Bakewell, or Ring-a-rosie, has been my October KnitCrate, which included a whole booklet full of patterns this month!

Penguins!

Yes, the penguins section still exists, even in this unusual post.

These were my nails for Ring-a-rosie's party.  Knitting and penguins and shiny nails!

A couple of months ago I bought Stephen a wind-up pink Tyrannosaurus Rex.  We were back in the same bookshop (yes, bookshop.  Where else do you buy cheap plastic tat?) a couple of weeks ago, and I spotted this guy.  So Stephen bought him for me.

This wooden penguin tree decoration was also in the bookshop.  He seems to have climbed on top of Stephen's books too.

I know I've not mentioned Kelly much recently.  I'm afraid I've not seen much of him recently :(  This is because Stephen has been ill, so I've been staying with him.  Kelly is still in my life though, I still love him very much, and I think he must still like me at least a little bit, because he gave me this adorable little chap :)  He's a felted brooch, and his beak is very long!  

This is officially the best hair brush I've ever owned.  When we saw him in the supermarket Stephen just looked at me, and I didn't even blink before I said "Of course I need that" and put him in the trolley.  The penguin, not Stephen.  I'm not strong enough to put Stephen in a shopping trolley.

That's everything that was in my blog notes, and it's now 5am.  We have guests coming over tomorrow, so I think I'm done even if I have forgotten something! I'll be back after Nottingham Yarn Expo, and then it will be Advent, and time for my new Advent tradition of Blog About All The Advent Calendars!

Night night my dears!