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.

Woolness 2019

Hello again my dears, I'm back with a blog about Woolness.  The first ever Woolness event took place on the 3rd and 4th of August this year.  Just 1 month after losing my dad.  I remember talking with him about it, as obviously my original plan when I first bought my ticket had been to visit the North East for several days around the festival, and spend most of that time with my dad.  He'd been looking forward to seeing what I would buy, and what I would make with whatever I bought.

One thing he never would have wanted though, was for my grief over losing him to spoil my enjoyment of a festival all about my favourite hobby, and mental well-being.  So it never occurred to me for a second that I wouldn't still go.

My enjoyment of the event was helped immensely by the timely arrival of 18 month of back-dated PIP arriving in my bank account, as just this once I could get away without setting myself a budget, and letting myself go a bit crazy.

Most of that back-dated PIP money has now been put into a savings account that along with Stephen's redundancy pay is helping to see us through until he is once again gainfully employed.  But I can't deny that I felt a wonderful sense of freedom on that one day that I allowed myself to behave as though money was no object.

Anyway, let's get on to the event itself:

Woolness

I heard about this event from Dominey to begin with.  Clearly I was going to be interested in a wool festival in the city of my birth!  So I joined the facebook group, and found that one of the organisers was a regular at the Travelling Spinners group that I visit (or visited, more on that later) when I'm up in the North East for the first weekend of the month!

The event aimed to focus on the mental health benefits of fibre and yarn crafts, by means of workshops on "Mindful Stitching", introduction to meditation, and my personal favourite, by introducing people to the concept of the "Tension Bird", created by the wonderful Lorna Hamilton-Brown, author of "Myth: Black People Don't Knit", which I thoroughly recommend. I love the Tension Bird so much!  The pattern grew out of finding a use for something that most knitters love to hate - Americans, and therefore increasingly the rest of the world these days, call this thing the "Gauge Swatch", but back in the days when I first learned to knit, here in the UK it was known as a "Tension Square".  Obviously, in that context, "Tension" refers to how tight or loose your knitting is, but as we all know far too well, tension can also refer to mental stress, to feeling "Tense".  In knitting this simple little pattern, and producing the sweet little bird as a finished product, one can release some of that tension, through the repetitive action of creating one stitch after another, and the feeling of achievement at having created something beautiful from your own efforts.

No Fibre and Yarn festival is complete though without a selection of stalls selling the necessaries for our crafts, and I really must say that the variety available for such a new festival was brilliant. Let me demonstrate a little by showing you what I bought:

Hey Jay Yarns

If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you've noticed by now that I'm quite a fan of Hey Jay anyway.  She was the first face that I saw as I walked through the door, stood there in her fabulous dinosaur dungarees, in front of a stall of stunning colours.

I feel it's important to support vendors who you love, and it's so easy to do when they're selling such beautiful things!  I also love that she always has these Mystery Mini-skeins available!  You have no idea what you're getting until you open the sealed paper bag, and you all know how much I love surprises!

I need to find a suitable sweater pattern to work with the fade set there, but I think I'm going to make that my selfish winter knitting, alongside my usual advent mitred squares.

The Woolly Tangle

I don't think I've ever encountered The Woolly Tangle before, but this bright red project bag with many shades of sheep on it called to me from half way across the room!  They have many other gorgeous project bags, and I'm particularly fond of the pyramid project bags!  But it was the colour of this that made me choose to buy it.

Yellow Door Yarn

I'd never heard of Yellow Door Yarn either, but like a moth to the flame, I was summoned to their stand by the combination of mini-skeins and badges!  Such lovely people, they happily encouraged me to dig through the basket of mini-skeins to find all of my favourites, then hunted through their selection of badges to make sure that I had 2 different colours of those.

Sadly, their online shop is currently closed for a stock take, but I've linked to them anyway, so that you can all go and take a look when they're open again.

Turned Studios

This purchase made me a little sad, as a yarn bowl was something that my dad had been working on for me before he died.  I found it when my sister, Yaz, and I were clearing the summer house before his Wake.  Underneath a pile of wood shavings, put aside in what I would call "Time Out" were it one of my projects, presumably because he couldn't get some aspect of the shaping exactly how he wanted it to be.  

You can buy wooden yarn bowls from Amazon for a fraction of the price that this one cost me, but either they have been mass produced in a factory, or they've been produced by exploiting an impoverished work force, and either way they have to be shipped thousands of miles to get to the UK.  So I decided that I would buy one made by a Geordie man, at Turned Studios.

The patterning in the wood of this bowl is because the wood is "spalted".  Dad used to mock this term, and insist that it just meant the wood was rotten!  But he would also admit that providing it was dried and treated properly, items turned out of a spalted gall could be exceptionally beautiful.

Rosarama Beadcraft

Before I got back into knitting, I used to do a lot of bead work.  I still own an awfully large number of beads!  But most of them are of a size suited to jewellery making, or bead weaving, and don't have holes large enough to be threaded onto yarn for knitting. I still use them, mostly for making stitch markers, but I thought that since Rosarama Beadcraft had such a huge selection of colours and styles suitable for knitting with, I should stock up on the colours I'm most likely to use.  Which means lots of purple!  The candy pink is because my nieces wouldn't ever forgive me for not buying at least some of such a stunningly girly pink!  So now I have to decide what to make for them both that will use those beads!

Coastal Colours

Coastal Colours are a regular at Bakewell Wool Gathering, which I've been to every year since it started, as it's just a short trip from where I live in Sheffield.  But I'm not always inspired by Coastal Colours.  Don't get me wrong, they always have beautiful yarn, and beautiful colourways, but often they just don't really grab me.  However, when they do grab me, they really grab me by the wrist, and drag me to the stall yelling "BUY ME NOW!!!"  These colourways were just like that.  The lighter of the 2 wasn't skeined up, Graham told me that he'd only dyed it 2 days before the show, in a last blast of inspiration, but it wasn't quite dry in time, and that I'd have to unwind it and hang it to dry for a while when I got home!  I couldn't not have it though, in the right light, both of these colourways glow!

The book is one that I saw pre-views of last year, and desperately wanted to buy, but couldn't afford at the time.  

This is a huge braid of BFL and Sea Cell, so big I couldn't make it fit sensibly in the photo with the yarn and the book.  I'm trying not to buy fibre at the moment, because I'm not getting a lot of opportunity to spin, but this was another colourway that didn't so much whisper in my ear, as yell so loud I couldn't ignore it!

Bright Seed Textiles

If ever I win the lottery, then I'll be buying an original by Bright Seed Textiles.  Beautiful scenes of the North East, "painted" in felt and fabric.  Even with the temporary riches of my PIP payment, I couldn't justify buying an original, but these prints, and cards are nearly as good.  When I finally get around to clearing the final Junk Room, and therefore have a spare room to become my craft room, this will be proudly displayed on my craft room wall.  Until then, it's on the wall of my Yarn Niche in our bedroom!

Flight Weaving

As this is made from hand-woven silk, there's no way that I could afford a full size project bag, but this sweet little notions pouch just had to be mine.  I spoke with Janis, of Flight Weaving for a while about the craft, as it's not one that I have much experience with, and almost zero skill at!  I confess that after this I've become quite tempted to give it a try!  I might even have done a little research into affordable looms...

Late Lunch

I did have real food too!  I went back to the Links Art Gallery and Cafe, where I had my birthday lunch, because it's a definite advantage of having a wool festival in a town that you know very well, and when you have your own transport, so you know exactly where to go in order to make the day extra special.  And how could I possibly go to the seaside, and not have an ice cream?

As it was such a gloriously sunny afternoon, I thought I'd take advantage of the sunshine to get a photo of my entire day's haul all laid out together on a park bench by the sea.

That backpack is a marvellous thing by the way.  It folds up into it's own back pocket, so if you're going out somewhere where you may find yourself needing to carry more back than will fit in your handbag, you can take this along and unfold it if you need it.  Plus, because it's a backpack, I can use it when I'm also using my crutches, as I was on this day, and it doesn't encumber me the way that shoulder bags do.  Also, it has sheep on it.

Just before I decided that I'd done enough shopping, and needed to find food, I met up with a couple of the girls from the Travelling Spinners group.  It wasn't intentional, I was just sat outside of the venue taking a breather, when they came out, so we had a bit of a chat.  I recently learned from Ravelry that the Travelling Spinners is no more.  It had been run voluntarily by the same few people for a long time, and each of them had put a lot of effort, and at times their own money, into keeping everything going, researching and booking venues, handling the money and the raffle, etc.  But fewer people were turning up regularly, it wasn't always possible to cover the cost of the venue hire, and it was becoming more effort than could reasonably be expected for an entirely voluntary endeavour.  I understand that some of the ladies are hoping to still arrange occasional meetings, but I don't think that it will ever be a regular thing again.  I feel bad, as I wasn't able to attend anywhere near as often as I would have liked, but in the end, I do live in South Yorkshire, rather than Northumberland, and I do have family commitments that I can't just ignore for the sake of my hobbies.

Knit and Nibble

A few months ago I showed you all this photo, and explained how I'd been going to see James McIntosh at my Local Yarn Shop in Dinnington, where he talked about his book, Knit and Nibble.  I also explained how disappointed I was that I'd had to cancel my ticket, as my knee surgery had been scheduled for the same day as his visit.  

Now, James McIntosh was a successful chef, and food writer, and he is also gay.  He became successful out in the wide world, but when he returned to his native Ireland, his sexuality became an issue, that eventually lead to him falling into a deep depression, that threatened to end his life.  His partner, Dr Thomas Ernst, is a huge believer in mindfulness as a way of easing stress, and reconnecting with yourself, which in turn helps with recovering from Depression and Anxiety related disorders.  Thomas tried his best to guide James through many mindfulness exercises, but couldn't find one that worked.  Until James discovered knitting, then he found that the process of knitting could be a kind of mindfulness, that the repetitive motion, and the focus on the now, were themselves a kind of meditation.  He calls it "Knititation".

I thought then that he would be ideal as a speaker at Woolness, and shortly after I had to cancel my ticket to see him in Dinnington, I discovered that he would indeed be speaking at a special evening event at Woolness, involving very yummy food (chef, remember?) and a few special access stalls, only available to people who had booked tickets for the evening event.

The evening was brilliant!  James and Thomas were both candid, and funny.  I was moved by the stories of James' depression from both of their perspectives, as I have been both the sufferer, and the carer of a partner who is suffering.  I heard many things that were familiar to me as they spoke.  James' passion for his hobby, and his enthusiasm for sharing this hobby as part of the treatment for a very serious medical condition is infectious.  I know that to an extent though, this is because I have also found that crafting, and in particular knitting, have helped me through some of the worst times of my life.

I had left a message on James' Instagram before the evening, asking if it was ok for me to bring my copy of his book along for him to sign.  He said yes, and then he recognised me when I took my book up to him!  He had these tote bags available too, and I mean, how could I not?

The other stalls there that evening weren't all knitting related, but they were all local artisanal products.  I bought a couple of small bottles of gin, but I only kept one of them.  The other was a thank you gift for Gemma and Graham, who had looked after Finn for me all day while I'd been out.  I'm told that He and Reggie had a brilliant time playing together, then snuggling up on the sofa with the family in the evening.

This is where I feel awful, because I can't for the life of me remember the name of the stall that I bought the hand made soaps from.  I can tell you that they smell amazing!

The stunning hand-woven project bag is by Woolly Originals, who I also spoke with for quite a while!

Something that amazes me about this whole day, is that I did it all on my own.  This is something that I couldn't have done not so very long ago, as my own anxiety and depression were at times so paralysing that I couldn't leave the house. I know that it was easier because this was in a place that I know and love, and where my accent is a sign that I belong.  But I am still proud of myself.  Most especially for the evening event, where everyone else appeared to be there in small groups.  Still, I made myself approach people, and I found myself sat at a table with the 3 lovely women who are Knit 3 together, and 4 other women who were clearly there together too.  They were all friendly, especially once the knitting came out, and we started comparing projects.  2 of us were knitting mitred squares, but with different numbers of stitches, and very different colour choices.  We got onto the subject of the WI, as the 4 women all together turned out to be from the Wickersley WI.  There is only one village in England called Wickersley, and it's just down the road from where we live!  We were all most amused that we'd all travelled 140 miles in order to sit next to people who were practically neighbours in South Yorkshire!  So I may possibly be joining the WI!

Finn

As this isn't a regular type of post, there's no FO's, no WIP's, and no Penguins.  Sorry!  I genuinely hope to post a regular type of update in the next 2 weeks, before Bakewell Wool Gathering, as the current confluence of grief + stress + available cash does mean that I really need to do a Stash Acquisition update at the very least before I go to another yarn show!

What I am going to include is more about Finn, because he is in every way an absolute joy!  Every cold and soggy dog walk, every muddy pawprint, every "WhatHaveYouGotInYourMouth?!?!" are all worth it for this happy, loving, fluffy snuggle bug!

Here he is on the morning of Woolness, wondering what I was doing up so early, and determinedly snuggling up on my pillow rather than agreeing that he should go for his morning walk!  To be fair, as you saw from the photo's at Whitley Bay when I went for food in the afternoon, if I hadn't walked him early, it would have been too hot to walk him safely.  I know that Gemma and Graham had initially planned on taking both dogs (Finn and their Lakeland Terrier, Reggie) out for a long woodland romp that afternoon, but decided against it because of the heat.

The next day was a little cooler, and he loves the beach so much that I felt guilty for going to Whitley Bay without him.  He wouldn't stay still, or pose for any photos, he just wanted to be sniffing all the things, and splashing in the sea, so here is a lovely shot of the tide coming in, with a sandy coloured dog, against a background of sand...

Home again, on his favourite rug, playing with an authorised sock.  Yes, he has a number of socks that are his very own to play with, as he loves them so much, and they're easy to keep clean.  He still steals our socks (unauthorised, or illegal sockage) off the drying rack though!  

That's all for now my dears.  *fingers crossed* I'll be back again before going to Bakewell!