Friday, 5 February 2016

The Power of Three

I seem to be collecting yarn in combinations of three skeins that look fantastic together at the moment.  Many are completely accidental matches - like this Easyknits trio. 



The Deeply Wicked skeins in Pinky and Keylime were bought together but intended for separate projects.  But add in the skein of Dusted Dreams in Neon Nights and they seem to be made for each other.  The Neon Nights is yet another skein which is far from my usual comfort zone of solids but makes me happier than I expected!


I'm also loving the trio I have in the wings for my Westknits Doodler.  The Madelinetosh Merino Light in Twig which I overdyed to a pure black really makes the neon Fluro Rose and Edison Bulb pop!



Now I just need to be restrained and not cast on yet (must.finish.all.current.WIP's!)

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Rosalind...in the Pink

It's been a quiet week on the knitting front as I've been feeling considerably under the weather.  But the sun has come out and the postman has just delivered a couple of skeins I picked up from Ravelry destashes, so I'm having a quick cuppa and fondling nice yarn before I crack on with boring chores!

So first up the scrummy new yarn...which is not surprisingly, Wollmeise.  First up is a bargain NiP (Nobody is Perfect) skein in Versuchkaninchen.  The colours are a mix of my favourites and it's such a beautiful combination that reminds me of spring and tulips!


I also picked up a skein of the really rather decadent Blend in Zarte Knopse.  It's a sport weight with 499 metres per 150g skein and, as the name suggests, a fibre blend with 70% Merino, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon.  Deliciously soft!


As well as spending my last remaining yarn funds (I very much need to destash some yarn and a considerable amount of my wardrobe!)  I did manage to finish my second Woolly Wormhead Rosalind in Easyknits Deeply Wicked "Pinky" last weekend. 




I'm seriously tempted to cast on another but am trying to finish all my current WIP's before even considering casting on something new.  I desperately need to organise my WIP basket as well as the yarn stash as that has very much become a "cram it in wherever it fits" arrangement!  I also still want to sew a few more project bags...I think I'm going to have to start planning my days a bit better if I'm ever going to fit in everything I'd like to do since sleeping less is not a valid option hehe!

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

WIP Wednesday

Ironically I started writing this on Monday but didn't get very far! It was very much the weekend for not getting very far though, as I ended up frogging the entire border on my Aisling Shawl (again) after realising I had completely missed a section of the chart!

I did manage to finish my first elbow length fingerless glove in the fabulous British Bea Knits Self Striping.  Still need to name my pattern though...Loooooong Elbow Length Fingerless Gloves is a bit of a mouthful.



These ones really are elbow length!  I still have just under 68g of yarn left though (actual weight of the first glove is 33g. I've finally invested in a set of mini digital scales for my knitting bag as Lee has re-homed my others down to the depths of his man cave/office so am back to recording all my yarn weights as I go - much better than playing yarn chicken!)  I have, however, once again managed to make a hole in my finger tip despite changing from HiyaHiya Sharp 9" Circ's to ChaioGoo Red Lace 9" Circ's so I have decided to cast on my second Woolly Wormhead Rosalind whilst it heals.

I'm using the skein of EasyKnits Deeply Wicked in Pinky which I snaffled at Yarndale - it perfectly matches my hair (on a good day lol not on a "it's been 6 weeks and needs re-dyeing pink day")


I actually love this skein so much that I picked up another in a recent sale.  I also picked up a lime green skein of Keylime to match as well, but on arrival that's actually speckled and not a semi solid which I'm still a bit unsure of (especially the orange sections!) but I'm giving it time to grow on me.


I also had a bit of spare time this morning to do a bit of yarn dyeing.  Nothing remotely interesting as I still haven't replaced the acid dye stash that went missing when we moved, but instead I have overdyed a skein of Madelinetosh Merino Light in Twig I had picked up for a great price in a destash on Ravelry.


As this skein is destined to be paired with Fluoro Rose and Edison Bulb for a Westknits Doodler, I wanted black instead of brown.  I'd forgotten how much I completely LOVE dyeing yarn and this quick session has very much rekindled my desire to do it on a more permanent WAHM basis... 

Monday, 11 January 2016

A new week and a new WIP

Thursday last week saw me finishing the body of my Aisling shawl which just leaves the rather extensive border to knit.  I swore after finishing Biellese and Pop Spots last year that I wasn't making another shawl with a knitted on border for a while but obviously forgot!

I've got 79g of the charcoal sparkle yarn (Five Moons Yarns Artemis in Anthra) left which I'm hoping will be enough but am also dropping down a needle size just in case.



After completely messing up the first repeat of the border on Friday though, I've tinked what I knitted and put the WIP in time out for a little bit!

This prompted me to cast on a couple of smaller, quicker WIP's that require a little bit less concentration when socialising!


The left is Easy Knits Deeply Wicked in Pinky which I picked up at Yarndale as it matches my hair!  This one is going to be another Woolly Wormhead Rosalind.  The right is a self striping sparkle yarn from British Bea Knits which was a custom colour way called Nyree Dawn.  I cast this on last night - another pair of my long elbow length fingerless gloves - and not only is the colour way perfection but the yarn base is fantastically soft too.

I'm also attempting to get back into my journalling - or at least some form of organisation/planning.  I still use one of my fauxdori's for knitting planning and notes so have invested in some more of my favourite Moleskine notebooks and Stabilo Point 88 pens.