Gone Overboard

Hello again my dears!

What's this?  Getting up to date with the blog before the next yarn show?  Surely not!

Yes, I am indeed.  I think that I have to, if only because I'm concerned that I might start to lose track of what I've acquired between posts.  And while I'm sure that you all would forgive me for missing a skein or two, I much prefer to keep on top of what I'm spending, and what I'm bringing into my stash, and giving a full and honest report in my blog is a kind of accountability to myself.

I am aware that I'm always complaining about how little money I have, and then every time I update I show you something new that I've bought, and recently, a *lot* that I've bought.  Here's the thing though, what I write in this blog, this is literally everything that I have, and everything that I do.  I don't have an extensive social life, I can't go out drinking with my friends, because it's just too much for my body to cope with.  I can't do frequent holidays, especially holidays abroad, as I can't cope with all the travelling.  I can't work, as the days that I have sufficient energy to be useful are not frequent, nor predictable enough to work with a schedule of employment.  So this; my hobby, my family, and my dog, is all that I have to spend what money I do have on, once those bills and basic life needs that I'm responsible for have been paid for.

That being said, since I received my PIP back-dated payment, and lost my dad, I have not kept my spending under control, and I really need to calm down.

There are 2 more festivals that I will be attending this year - Bakewell Wool Gathering, and Nottingham Yarn Expo.  Unlike Woolness, I will be setting myself a budget for each of these.

I have a number of pre-orders already made for yarn clubs, and Advent calendars.  

I've decided that other than these things that I've already ordered, and those 2 festivals, I'm going "cold sheep" for the rest of this year.  

So please enjoy the extensive stash acquisitions in this post, as there should be significantly fewer after this!

FO's

I have 2 finished objects to show you, completed since I last posted:

Not my usual colours, are they?

The reason for the incredibly bright and cheerful nature of these socks is that they're not for me, they're for the Marie Curie Sock Quest 2019, which is arranged by Sherlock Knits, who works in a Marie Curie hospice.  A few years ago she thought it would be a nice idea to knit a pair of socks for every patient in the hospice she works in as a Christmas present.  Other knitters got involved, and the project grew to include every patient in any Marie Curie hospice over Christmas.  This year the plan is to make socks not just for the patients, but also their loved ones who visit on Christmas day!

I have bought enough yarn to make 5 or 6 pairs of socks, and I'm trying to make a variety of sizes.  This first pair are a women's size 6.

As you can probably tell, for a change, these are not knit to my usual pattern.  These are made to a sort of mash-up of my usual pattern, and this one, by Sherlock Knits.  All profits from the sale of this pattern also go to Marie Curie UK.

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply, and there are 2 colourways.  The main, solid yellow colourway is called "Turmeric", and the variegated colourway that I've used for cuffs, heels, and toes, is called "Marie Curie", with £2 per ball also going to Marie Curie UK.  Unfortunately, this colourway was limited edition, and I don't know if there is any still available to buy.

If you love this idea, and choose to get involved yourself, then most of the links I've given, and more, plus artwork to download to wrap around the socks, are available here, from Sam Draws Things.

I have finally finished one of my Mitred Squares Cushion Covers!

I am extremely pleased with it, but sad because I can't get a photo that does justice to all of the beautiful colours!  Also, I now have to stop procrastinating on the other one, with the infinitely more fiddly border.

The pattern that I used for this is Mitred Squares Blanket Tutorial, by LuAnn Krug.  The yarns are a vast array of 4-ply yarns, mostly mini-skeins by a variety of independent dyers, but also a few Opal yarns from previous years' advent calendars, and a few bits of yarn left over from making socks and shawls.

WIP's

I only finished the cushion cover yesterday, so at present I have only 1 active WIP.  Of course I have many more actual WIPs than this, however I've only worked on this 1, or my 2 FOs, for the last couple of months.

Looks familiar, doesn't it?  So familiar that Becky asked if it was the same project when I posted the finished pair of socks on Ravelry this morning, having seen me knitting just a few more rows than you see in this photo when I visited her in hospital yesterday!  Oh how I wish I could knit that fast!!!

This is the start of the second pair of socks that I'm making for the Marie Curie Sock Quest 2019.  This pair will be a men's size 10, and my current plan is that only the cuffs and toes will be knit in the contrast yarn.  With the exception of the size, and the lack of contrast heel, these socks will be in all other particulars the same as the pair that I've already finished.

Stash Acquisition

Are you ready for it?

Here we go...

Knitcrate Malabrigo crate, from August.

I don't usually get the Malabrigo crates.  They are a luxury yarn crate, and they're only released once every 3 months, but I was scrolling through Instagram, and I saw this gorgeous silky laceweight yarn, in this lovely colourway full of blues, and purples, and my bank account was looking so much more healthy than I'm used to, so I ordered one.

It came with the usual pattern book, including both a knitting pattern, and a crochet pattern, designed for the yarn supplied in the box.  There was also another Knitcrate logo pin badge, this time with an oil-slick rainbow finish, and a set of stitch markers.

Knitcrate Sockcrate, from August.

This is my usual monthly crate.  Recently, Knitcrate have started offering the option of selecting a "theme", which represents the sort of colours that you like the most.  The themes available are "All Natural", "Chill out", and "Energize Me".  You can also select "Surprise me", which should give you any one of the colourways produced to meet those 3 themes at random.  I chose Surprise me, because I do love a surprise!

I really do like this tonal green colourway, which I think falls into the "All Natural" theme.

I also loved the little samples of hand cream that came with this box.  The Heather and Hyacinth fragrance was lovely, and the cream was easily absorbed, without being at all greasy.  I get through an awful lot of hand cream, as EDS makes my skin fragile, and prone to dryness and irritation.  So I looked up this cream to find out where  can get it, and of course it's a tiny independent venture in the USA.

The plummeting value of the British Pound already means that I'm concerned I might have to cancel my Knitcrate subscription next month, when I've no doubt the dramatic overnight plunge, should Brexit actually happen, will make the current downward trend look like stability.  There's no way I can be choosing a new favourite hand cream that isn't manufactured in the UK.

How perfect is this pin badge?  I mean, it just says everything it needs to!  I think I mentioned that I'd pre-ordered this badge in a previous update.

I always used to follow Bill and Tedism, ie, my life's motto was "Be Excellent to each other".  Which sounds brilliant, and not an easy philosophy to corrupt.  However, then came the dawning realisation that sometimes being excellent to each other means calling out unacceptable behaviour, and recognising when the playing field is not level.  Inevitably, drawing attention to these things leads many people to accuse you of NOT being excellent to everyone, and to lament your inability to "Just be nice".

Well, I've learned that quite often "Nice" does not equal "Right", or "Fair".  So my philosophy has changed over the years, and now the pithy statement that best sums it up is "Don't be a Dick".  Because sometimes just "Being Nice" isn't enough.  Offering everyone in the room the same nice cup of tea and a biscuit sounds great, and fair, until you see that one person in that room is lying on the floor, beaten, bruised, and bleeding.  Then offering around that tray of tea and biscuits looks like a dickishly ignorant move.

So, Don't Be A Dick.

Also, admire this beautiful yarn!  Both pin badge, and yarn are by by HeyJay.

September Mythical Creatures Yarn Box, by Homespun Wonders.

The theme for September was "Enchanted Garden", and everything in the box had a link to gardens.  I don't have green fingers at all, but I'm hoping that even I can grow mint!  The Rose scented sachet is now in my sock drawer, making my feet smell sweet!  The tea has been consumed, and I'll probably be ordering more.  The flavour was Peach and Orange, which I've never had before, but it was lovely!

Then look at that beautiful yarn!  I'm not always a fan of yellow, but those speckles!!!

The only way that I could stop Finn from sticking his nose into the middle of the yarn, or stepping on it, while I took this photo, was to get him to pose as part of the picture.  He's not always a fan of getting his photo taken, which is why he's wearing that forlorn expression.  Also, I wouldn't let him steal the yarn.

On Saturday 7th September, Knit Nottingham celebrated their 9th birthday with their traditional yarn shop party.  They also invited Hannah, of Corner of Craft to hold a pop-up shop there on the same day.  

My friend Becky's mum lives in Nottingham, and she was already there visiting her mum, so we arranged to meet up, buy yarn, say hello to many knitters, and sit in a cafe chatting and knitting.

I only really needed some black 4-ply, but that didn't stop me buying a couple of extra things!

You've already seen this, and it's not easy to mistake it for anything else!  This is of course the yarn that I bought to make socks for the Marie Curie Sock Quest.  I bought this from City Knits, as they seemed to be the only place that still had the limited edition colourway available at the time.  They also do bundles, that pair the Marie Curie yarn with solid colourways that match well.

Dad may be gone, but my ties to the North East are not.  My sister and I are still slowly working through dad's house, making sure that anything of value - monetary, or sentimental - is given to people who will most appreciate it, that anything useful, but not wanted by the family, is donated to an organisation that needs it, and getting the house ready to be sold.  Davie has been very poorly, and has needed several trips to hospital, and we have friends up there who are family in all but blood.  Not to mention that the place itself is one I love.

As long as I'm still visiting the North East, I'll keep visiting Ring-a-Rosie's!  Several of these yarns were already included in my finished mitred squares cushion cover.  I think this is my favourite ever collection of yarns bought in one place, on one day!

I love the look of flouffy yarns with a massive halo, but I can't tolerate them close to my skin.  I suspect that this is because usually they contain mohair, and I know that lot's of people have an issue with mohair.  However Rowan have just recently brought out a new yarn that is part of their "Haze" collection.  It's called "Cashmere Haze".  It has that beautiful flouffy halo, but absolutely no mohair!  It's made up of cashmere, silk, and baby alpaca.  I had to try it.  I need to know if this is the answer to having a beautiful halo on a lacy shawl, without the itch factor.

It's expensive though.  I mean, how could it not be?!  But I found a place online called Colourway that has this at a lower price than most others.  There's a limited range of colours available, and largely they're different shades of grey, but that's fine by me, I like grey!  I chose the colourway called "Dusk".

I really want to cast this on ASAP, but I also don't want to increase my number of WIPs, as I've utterly failed to decrease my number of WIPs at all this year!  I also already have too many shawls on the needles.  I need to finish a few of those before I cast on another.

Knitcrate Sockcrate, from September.

This is the first time I have ever been a little disappointed by the contents of my Knitcrate.  I'd seen the sneak-peeks on Instagram, and in those photos, this yarn looked like it was a slightly tonal pale grey, which I would have been very happy with.  Instead it's actually a pale green.  I like green, but I like an intense bright green, or deep dark green.  I'm not really enamoured of this rather insipid and non-descript green.

I believe that in the new Knitcrate colour themes, this colourway is considered "All Natural", which is the same theme I received last month.  So just to be sure that I'd get something a bit brighter next time, I've temporarily switched my preference to "Energize Me".  I don't think I'l keep it like that for long, otherwise I'm likely to end up with an array of Yellows and Oranges that I'll never use!  But I'd prefer not to get another muted green for a while!

Pin badges seem to be a part of my downfall it seems.  I go to a page in order to buy a pin that I've seen, and can't help but browse the yarns while I'm there, and inevitably at least one yarn falls into my basket as well as the pin! 

This time the pin was an absolute must-have for someone who has a yarn stash large enough to pile up into a more than adequate bed, and who is the lover of a man who calls himself by a dragon's name.  

The colourway of the yarn is called "Black Flame Candle".  I confess that in the photos that I saw it seemed less pink, and more red, but I still think that it does well in evoking the glow of candlelight.

This might end up becoming a habit/tradition, and it might be one thing that I allow to break my cold sheep.  

Finn is a cocker spaniel, and cocker spaniels need to be groomed.  I mean, all dogs need to be groomed I suppose, but for many short-haired breeds it's perfectly fine just to brush them and bath them at home.  Cocker Spaniels grow long curly, or wavy, hair on their ears, and it just keeps on growing if you don't cut it.  They also grow feathery hair on their legs, tail, and belly, and sometimes the tops of their heads.  Given that most cocker spaniels also have a great love of muddy water, and rolling in stinky things, it's very important to keep their fur trimmed to a manageable length.

So, once every 2 months, we take Finn to the groomers.  It takes about 1-2 hours for him to be bathed, and dried, and trimmed.  

Just around the corner from the groomers where we take him there is a very lovely cafe, where I usually choose to wait, enjoy a cup of tea, and maybe a slice of cake, and get on with a bit of knitting.  

Next door to the cafe there is a yarn shop, called The Haberdashery.  They may only sell commercial yarns, but I feel that it's very important to support your local yarn store, live on the high street.  To encourage crafts to flourish in your local area, and to keep money flowing in your own community.  Besides, I knit socks almost exclusively from commercial yarns anyway!  

This particular commercial sock yarn reminds me of Bonfire Night, and the baby alpaca is Sooo soft!

October Mythical Creatures Yarn Box, by Homespun Wonders.

I am completely in love with this box!  That colourway is purely autumn!  The theme this month is "Elf King", and I think the ladies have done brilliantly with the theme!  When I saw the jewellery dish I was in shock, I genuinely can't believe that they manage to put these boxes together for the price that they do!

It's about time I trimmed our lavender bushes in time for winter, but there are still a lot of flowers on them, so I'm currently planning on filling every single decorative vessel that I've received in these monthly boxes with sprigs of lavender, then our house will smell amazing!

Finn

It's now time for me to inflict photos of my dog on you, because I think that he is the most beautiful creature in the world, and this is my blog, so I can put whatever I like in it!

A few weeks ago we took Finn for a wander around Bolsover Castle.  There's a few places where he's not allowed to go, as they're indoors, and still contain historical items that could be damaged by a poorly behaved dog.  Finn is a very well behaved dog, but they have to apply the same rule to everyone.

He loved the bits that he was allowed to visit though.  He really wanted to see the view through this window!  He was especially interested in the courtyard fountain, but it's very deep, and he's not daft enough to jump into anything he isn't sure if he can get himself back out of!  I'm very glad of this!

Here he is trying to distract me from writing this blog.  He thinks that my time would be much better used giving him belly rubs and treats.

I own many, many, cuddly toy penguins.  Finn is not at all bothered by them.  He's not interested in toys in general.  Stephen's mum gave him his own cuddly Snow Dog, but he leaves that sat on the hearth untouched, while he plays with his tennis balls, his tug-rope, his rubber chews that are supposed to help clean his teeth, and his bit of antler.  I pick up these other toys from all over the house, clean them, and put them back on the hearth with the Snow Dog, and he gradually picks them all up again, but never the cuddly toy. 

Until he discovered this one penguin.

It used to live on my bedside cabinet, but one night in my flailing about in the dark to reach my bottle of water, I must have knocked it off onto the floor.  Ever since then, it has been Finn's penguin.  It is the only toy that he knows by name other than "Ball".  I can tell him to fetch any one of this other toys, or his growing collection of socks, and he will fetch me a ball instead, but if I tell him to fetch me his penguin, he goes and finds his penguin!  It's a good job it's of newborn baby toy quality, and easy to wash!

Penguins!

Which brings us nicely onto our final subject!

This is not just penguins, as you can see.  This is also my new favourite tote bag, designed by Skeinhead, and it's the perfect response to people who say "Why do you have to make it political?  Can't we just talk about knitting?"

It arrived the same day as these beautiful pin badges by Kate Elford.  Apparently these are all "seconds", so they were on sale much cheaper than normal, but I've looked, and I can't find any significant flaws in them!

Even more from Kate Elford!  Because it will soon be Hallowe'en, and I'm a big old goth, so I love Hallowe'en, and I absolutely needed penguins dressed up as ghosts!

I mentioned that I went to visit my friend Becky in hospital yesterday.  Fortunately she is healing well, and they have allowed her to come home today (Heal fast, and well Becky!) which is good, because she's hoping to come to Bakewell Wool Gathering on Saturday!

Anyway, in the hospital, there is a little gift shop.  I think the profits from the shop go to the hospital charity fund.  I was drawn into the shop by a large decorative penguin wearing a santa hat, but it was this bone china mug that I fell in love with.

I'm not sure if I love this, or hate this to be honest!  It was also in the hospital gift shop.  It has legs like those creepy Elf-On-The-Shelf characters, and velcro hands so that it can be posed "holding" things.  I'm a little bit freaked out by it, but still felt that it deserved a real home.

Finally, the most tenuous penguin artifact ever!  I love these sweeties, but I probably could have resisted buying them, had they not had a picture of a penguin in a bobble hat on the front.

I shall keep the tub when I'm finished the sweets, it's a good, useful size.

That is all for now.  I shall be back soon to tell you all about my visit to Bakewell on Saturday.

Night night my dears.