The hugely long catch up post!

Apparently it has been forever since I wrote, completed and published a blog post!  I could have sworn I blogged just after Christmas but apparently I dreamt that.

Soooo...what have I been up to?  Well, obviously there was Christmas which flew by, as it does,  I was indeed lucky enough to get the Westknit's book that I had requested as well as copious amounts of marzipan chocolate, new sparkly body jewellery (I have expensive taste in that as well) and a beautiful felted picture from Carla.

I've been trying extremely hard not to start any new projects until I had completed all (well, maybe most!) of my current WIP's.  I did however have to cast on another pair of gift mitts for Lee's sister as part of her 40th birthday present (if I love you, I will knit for you!  And hand knit gloves are one of my go-to gifts!)

I decided to use some of my stashed Scheepjes Stone Washed and after falling in love with a stitch pattern, but finding the pattern didn't work with my yarn, I concocted a pattern on the go using quilted lattice stitch.

I can however recommend double checking your needle size - I managed to pick up the wrong circular needle for these which probably explained why they took me longer than expected (2.75mm oops!)  Luckily they turned out fine and the recipient seemed to like them as well,

Pattern: Christmas Lattice Mitts - my own pattern

Yarn: Scheepjes Stone Washed in 806 Canada Jade

Pattern Notes on my Ravelry here 

I then spent most the Christmas holiday's working on my Doodler.  It had been on the needles for a while and it was one of those WIP's that, once I picked it back up again, I LOVED knitting!  The Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light makes for such a smooshy knit and I now need to knit all the things in single ply yarn!  I added 2 rows of black in between each wedge of Colour C in Section 3 - because Edison Bulb is shit scary bright!

Pattern: The Doodler by Stephen West

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Twig (overdyed black), Fluoro Rose & Edison Bulb.

Full pattern notes on my Ravelry here

After I'd cast off the Doodler, it was back to gloves and finishing my Sod Socks (Warm Fingers).  After a bit of scribbling and calculations the pattern was adapted to add fingers and they have proved SO useful these last few weeks as the weather has cooled right down again,

Pattern: Sod Socks (Warm Fingers) - my own pattern, to be published

Yarn: Knitterly Things Vesper Sock in Witchy Woman 

Pattern notes on my Ravelry here

Before I decided to complete all my current WIP's I couldn't resist purchasing Knitvent 2016 from Helen Stewart (Curious Handmade) and cast on the completely gorgeous Alpine Sunset Shawl.  I'm using two skeins of Easyknits from my stash - Deeply Wicked in Keylime and Dusted Dreams in Neon Nights - which I think look amazing together (and Jon is one of my absolute favourite UK dyers!)  This is next up on my complete list - I'm currently half way through - so fingers crossed for a FO soon!

Pattern: Alpine Sunset Shawl by Helen Stewart

Yarns: Easyknits Deeply Wicked in Keylime and Dusted Dreams in Neon Nights

Right, I think that's enough waffle for one post!  I shall be back with some yarn dyeing, beta test knitting and FO's soon.  

New Yarn, Patterns and WIP's

New yarn purchases have been very much scuppered of late as my usual Yarn Fund (aka sell the things to buy more things!) is currently also my iPhone 7 fund as well as tied up as a "just in case" household budget.  Not only that but I had the misfortune of purchasing a couple of skeins of Wollmeise a few weeks ago only for the seller to disappear with my yarn and money!  Thankfully the joy of PayPal meant I got my money back this week but it always makes me a bit sad when someone from a community taints it by being so dishonest.

I have had a few skeins arrive though and, whilst purchased weeks apart, they are rather similar!  The first was a skein of Easyknits Dusted Dreams in the Halloween colour way "Betty Boo"

The second was a skein of Hedgehog Fibres Sock in "Pinky Swear"  which goes beautifully with the skein of "Jelly" I have stashed away!

I think it's safe to say I like pink and speckles!

There has been a huge amount of fantastic new patterns released just lately that I am totally itching to buy and cast on.  The two that I am really lusting over are the latest MKAL from West Knits - Building Blocks which is so unique and cleverly constructed!  I'm also very much hoping if I'm a good girl, I will be getting a copy of Best Knits for Crimbos :-)

And the latest release from Curious Handmade - Hundred Acre Wood (with kits available from Little Skein in the Big Wool) which is not only my favourite shawl shape but I was a massive Winnie the Pooh fan right up until the kids were born (and still have a boxed up collection of Winnie the Pooh bits that used to adorn the house!)

I have a rather important project to finish before I start anything new though (including Knitvent 2016!) as the husbeast has commissioned a knit after conceding that fingerless gloves are indeed the bomb. Mainly because he is down in our unheated, freezing cold garage alot!
So, he wanted fingerless mitts, in blue or black. I let him stash dive. I was thinking some nice but cheap acrylic blend because he’s not a fan of woolly feels and he’s very likely to get these filthy.
He has instead decided it needed to be a cashmere blend. He quite fancied some of the Wollmeise.  He was even asking about me buying in a skein of Blend - and he says I’m a yarn snob!!

Instead, I persuaded him that this was a good option:

This Noro Cash Iroha has been stashed for years, is a good dark blue (he’s an Everton fan!) and meets the cashmere criteria - plus it’s aran so these fuckers will be warm and quick to knit!  I refused his request for fingering weight yarn as his hands are HUGE! I never realised this before LOL

I'm one down and now just need to remember what I did for the first and write up the pattern (Man Mitts!)

It's a bit nippy!

The weather here has turned decidedly chilly during the last week.  Thankfully, I managed to sort the garden before it did, as it was getting rather neglected out there.  For a small "city" garden it is quite well planted and the trees have taken over somewhat since spring - I really haven't used or tended the space as much as I probably should.  Very much down to still getting used to the closeness of the neighbours here and whilst our garden is private - due to the trees and dense planting - it's still not what I've been used to for the last ten years or so!

This week marked the four year anniversary of my mum's death so me and the kids took a trip with my dad up to the burial site to freeze a bit!  It's strange that, despite living in Lincolnshire for years, I only realised how cold it was after moving to Leicestershire back in 1999!  Mum is buried in a green burial site in North Lincolnshire, which is beautifully serene but oh, so VERY cold.  Her Bramley apple tree is getting quite big now and the site has been filled with so many trees over the last couple of years.

Craft wise, I seem to have done quite a bit  in the last month or so - the sewing machine has even had a bit of love as well as the knitting for once!

I decided I needed some new project bags and since Halloween is my favourite holiday (year round!) I picked up some Halloween fabric whilst it was in stock every where.   I really need to take better pictures of the finished bags but for now, admire the glorious Riley Blake Designs fabric!

I also picked up a Riley Blake Fabric Panel for a Zoe the Zombie doll which I LOVE and has pride of place on my desk at the moment.

Knitting wise, I have have multiple FO's from the last month or so!  Feeling rather pleased with that hehe as I rarely seem to manage to fit much knitting into my weeks.

As well as completing my Semele in Wollmeise Pure Wasabi for Yarndale, I also added another Woolly Wormhead hat to my collection - this time the lovely Adiantum.  The pattern calls for a sport weight yarn but my stash is woefully lacking in that (and my yarn budget/savings are pretty tied up at the moment) so I used a skein of Wollmeise Pure in 26 Fe which worked really well and I love the finished hat (as always!)

I also decided it was time to finish the pile of Raspberry Mitts that I originally cast on two years ago to sell at a home ed group we no longer go to!  These are all in Rico Creative Designs Aran in colourways 04 and 05, with the five pairs of gloves taking 200g.  .Now I just need to sell them somewhere!

And if that wasn't enough I have also FINALLY completed my Aisling Shawl!  Seriously - on a roll! The last border repeats went pretty quickly and I had a whole 7.8g left of the Five Moons Artemis 4 Ply after cast off - good job I dropped needle size for the border!  I really love the gradient yarn with this pattern and the Truly Hooked blank knitted up beautifully.

I still have quite a few WIP's on the needles and am hoping to finish the year with a couple more FO's as I have a HUGE queue again and loads I still haven't managed to cast on!  I've also had a few really lovely skeins arrive over the last couple of months but yarn porn can wait for another day!

Yarndale 2016

The beginning of Autumn...shorter days, falling leaves, cosy days curled up on the sofa...AND YARNDALE!!

I once again took advantage of the fabulous Knit Nottingham coach trip up, staying overnight in Nottingham with C - which of course meant being completely knackered (as much from lack of sleep as from getting up at an obscene time that started with a 6!)  I also accidentally dropped one of my Venti Starbucks just before we got to the coach stop which thankfully wasn't a bad omen for the day although I did also pull a hole in my Avalanche sweater shortly after arriving at Yarndale too but that's now fixed!

Like last year I took absolutely no photos as I am useless!!  I also went with no specific shopping list this year apart from a Spin City Drop Spindle and being determined to buy something in a different fibre and colours to my norm (no pink or lime green!) If nothing else, the atmosphere of Yarndale and just being surrounded by SO much gorgeous yarn, fibre and related items as well as a huge amount of knitters/crocheters/spinners is amazing with or without buying lots of new fluff (and that's coming from someone who hates crowds and is painfully shy!)

On to my new acquisitions then!

Spin City was a must stop stall for us as both myself and C wanted a Drop Spindle.  Louise makes absolutely gorgeous resin drop spindles and obscenely floofy batts in quite possibly the BEST colours ever!  This is my new pretty...

Next up on the "completely necessary to visit" stalls was Easyknits.  Jon is one of my go to Indie Dyers in the UK as his colours are so beautifully saturated and his solid colours tick all my boxes! I've had a bit of an itch to buy blue yarn just lately - which is odd because despite blue and purple once being my favourite colours I never knit with them!   I was drawn to a skein of Deeply Wicked in Aquillian and then found a perfect match in a skein of Dusted Dreams Galactica.

My other completely "need to visit" stall was WooSheeps.  I only discovered WooSheeps at Yarndale last year and highly recommend them!  Neil dyes such epically fabulous solid coloured skeins on very gorgeous bases...and with the most hilarious names (anyone for a Pink Big Dick?) and Sue is just fabulously lovely in every way!  I was extremely restrained and left the Dick alone (not often I can say that!) but did succumb to a decadent skein of Ken in Imperial Purple - a merino, silk, yak blend which I think needs to be knitted with a lime green to make the colour pop even more!

Next up was Five Moons who again does a huge range of solid colour skeins in a rainbow of fantastically saturated colours.  The 50g skeins are ideal for me as they are perfect for hat knitting!  I've been hankering after a skein of something autumnal for a Woolly Wormhead Cannetella and not only did I find the perfect skein of Pumpkin Luna 4Ply but there was even a sample of the Cannetella in a similar tone (as well as other WW samples YAY!  I think I'm experiencing a bit of a fangirl moment over the fabulous WW!)   I've already caked this and started the cast on - I'm thinking of beading it too for a change!

My last yarn purchase was 5 skeins of Undyed Superwash Merino Sock which is destined to be dyed in a deep fuchsia to make a cardigan - I'm thinking the Solstice Cardi as the simplicity really appeals and will suit my style although I'm also thinking a bit of lace on the back may be nice!  Who knows just yet - I have lots of other must make projects before I start this (and I wish I'd picked up another pack of these as I still REALLY want to dye ALL the yarn!)

So that sums up my very restrained purchases!  I was also won over by the travel coffee cup so that and a pen were my last minute buys - here's my Yandale 2016 Haul Picture.

My only regrets are that I didn't say hi to more people I recognised (or for that matter arrange to meet any IG friends!) That and not taking lunch again LOL  By the time I got home just after 8pm I was painfully exhausted and it's taken me a couple of days to recover.

Back to the usual day to day activities now though and bad timing meant that last week actually marked the start of t'husbeast opening his new business so it's all very busy and a tad stressful here which is very much meant a lack of blogging (or knitting!) so I shall endeavour to do an update post soon!