All the yarn!!

As my babywearing days draw to a close it's rather nice to benefit from my stash by using the funds for new hobbies!  As well as the rather lovely (still unused!) loom I recently acquired, I've done a bit of yarn stash enhancement of late - taking advantage of some great sales and offers and forward planning handmade gifts.

Today I've finally got round to sorting out my yarn drawers as all the new skeins had been hastily stuffed away in my expedit!  

There's a fair few different balls of Jeanette Sloan Alpaca DK and Alpaca/Silk 4 Ply which are both gorgeously squishy.  The Lion Brand Amazing is earmarked for a new hat for Rach.  There's a fabulous skein of Countess Ablaze Count Cashmerino Sock which I think may be my skein of choice for the Wooly Wormhead Mystery Hat KAL next month.

I've also stashed some more of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 Ply which is such a good value yet really lovely yarn to work with, with a great colour palette!

Now I just need the time to knit everything!! 

Autumnal Update!

Hmm, obviously so not very good at the regular blogging lark any more!  I do miss waffling to the vastness of the tintyweb and have plans to set aside some time in my generally disorganised, chaotic life to do so more often. 

The year is rapidly disappearing and the days are most definitely shorter and colder.  Our gorgeous Curly Girl turned 8 last month which was a very pink and Minecraft themed occasion!

One of her presents was a combination of the two with another of my creeper beanies in her choice of colours.  I have to say I abslutely love how these knit up in the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and whilst I keep considering test knitting some in an acrylic yarn for selling, the yarn snob in me doth protest too much!

One of her other birthday presents was pink hair - something she's wanted for ages!  Since being brunette doesn't really lend itself well to going pink without bleaching we decided to bleach and dye her tips since then it was easier to upkeep/change if she hated it.  Suffice to say she (and I) love it!  Harrison also had his undercut bleached and dyed brilliant blue so they both have far funkier hair then me now (I am rocking the faded red with white streak and roots again!)

Knitting wise I've finished a few more shawls including the Drawing Nigh I was working on last time I blogged, the Sonar Shawl in fabulous sparkle yarn and a huge Starburst Pi, which took 200g of Sparkle 4 Ply and I have yet to manage to photograph well!

And since the smallest one is stubbornly independent and refuses the majority of attempts of babywearing nowadays, funds from slings mean I can buy more fibre related things!  After a brief try at weaving at Fun Club I was hooked and bagged myself an Ashford Knitters Loom and Stand to add to my collection of "things to do lots of when they invent the 48 hour day!"

WIP Wednesday

There seems to be little time for knitting (or spinning, sewing, crafting in general!) at the moment but having made a substantial effort to restart my diet this week I have been picking up my WIP's more than usual to take my mind of snacking!

Whilst I have two shawls on my needles at the moment, the Biellese is only a few rows into the extensive ruffle edge so I'm mainly working on my Drawing Nigh gradient shawl, in a selection of Jamieson & Smith 2ply Jumper Weight. With two strands of the fingering weight yarn held together, the pattern knits up as worsted weight and is oddly appropriate for the cold, wet weather we are having at the moment! Being a more traditional 100% Shetland wool, it's not the softest at the moment but will be perfect as the autumn/winter shawl this is planned for.  The shawl is knit with five colours of yarn and as I have a bit of a 'thing' for gradient yarn, it's proving fun watching the colours develop as the next strand/colourway of yarn is added! 

A whole lot of not a lot (aka the huge long blog update post!)

I think that pretty much sums up the last few months since I last blogged!

The last few months have been busy with the usual family things.  In March we went on a day trip to Crufts 2014 to show the kids the Discover Dogs exibition.  They have been studying different dog breeds as they are intent on us getting more dogs (Willow is 15 now and very much an old lady who sadly does not have much time left with us) They had a huge amount of fun especially seeing (and cuddling!) their favourite breeds!

The end of March also saw Oliver turning two - it still only seems like yesterday he made his rather speedy entrance!

April 20th would have been mum's 55th birthday and the second without her with us.  We arranged a family visit to the burial site in Lincolnshire and four generations of family were there - my granddad (recovering well since a heart attack earlier that month) and great aunt, dad, my sister with three of her kids and us six.  The burial site was followed by a trip to the local award winning ice cream parlour which the kids thoroughly enjoyed, given the 60 flavours ice cream on offer!

The week after was my 34th birthday.  Blah!  I still hate birthdays but received some lovely gifts from Carla including a gorgeous family tree drawing and we had a lovely day of knitting and cake - what more does a girl need!

Hmm, what else!  A few weeks ago marked our tenth wedding anniversary.  Sadly we had no funds for the renewal of vows we originally planned for this anniversary (or for anything else for that matter!) but sixteen years together, ten years of marriage and what feels like a lifetime of crap to get through, we are closer and more in love than ever ♥ (nb this does not apply when the husbeast is annoying me - then he is a knob jockey hehe)  We actually spent the day back in Leicester as Lee had an interview and the rest of us decided to hang out at New Walk Museum with the dinosaurs and mummies!

Hmm knitting wise, I don't seem to have many FO's to show for the last few months!  After many requests I started knitting Minecraft hats for the kids.  So far I have made two Creeper hats for Vaughan and Oliver using my own chart and intarsia in the round.  Rachael is having the same but in a Pink/Purple colourway and Harrison would like an Enderman hat although I've put the last two on hold until the end of summer so I can fit in some other projects (although the weather is that bad here at the moment they may be needed sooner rather than later!)

I was again totally taken with this years Crafts from the Cwtch Spring Knitalong which was the simple but gorgeous Miss Winkle by Martina Behm.  I opted for a skein of stashed handspun (not my own - acquired in a Rav destash!) and the easily memorised pattern lulled my knitting mojo back...I had been feeling rather uninspired to cast on a new WIP after ripping out two shawls prior to casting Miss Winkle on.  The end result is so pretty and has a subtle sparkle I couldn't capture - I love it!

Phew, I think that's about it...I'll update on current WIP's and life when I'm not balancing the laptop on the boobing toddler! I shall also endeavour to waffle on a more regular basis to ensure posts don't reach such epic proportions again!