No Caffeine…..

Seriously, does a day without a regular caffeine fix do this to you? I wonder….

Local department store has our regular January sales every year, you know, if you read back to a previous post, how I turned from a friendly, considerate, kind and generous woman to an absolutely mental, evil, demon of a stalker, who watched every move this woman made, who had this yarn that I HAD to have. who wouldn’t put it down, who wondered around and asked the sales rep what she could knit with it, who flipped through pattern books and all the time, me, watching every move from the corner of my eye, who had a partner in crime watch her too…..remember? As soon as she put it back, hands, several hands, mine and my accomplice grabbed it before anyone else did. I’m happy to say, this years sale was different. Maybe it was without the caffeine fix. I was calm, very calm, very unusual for me and so not me.

There before my eyes, lay a full bag of this purple yarn, in fact two bags. Yup…purple. OK I love purple, alot, to admire and ooh and ahhhh, but to wear? It’s totally out of my colour palette. But this purple was different, it wasn’t too bright, too in your face, it was calm, warm and oozing with yumminess.  This purple yarn was calling me…..Yarnsnob, I’m yours…..take me home. Was this yarn actually talking to me?  Has yarn ever talked to you? For brief moment, I thought I was going crazy!

So under my arm it went and without a moment hesitation or a fight with anyone else, went to the cashier, handed over my credit card and so home it came with me.

I had a project in mind for it but strangely and totally out of the ordinary, I SWATCHED. I NEVER SWATCH, seriously, I do not swatch for anything. I consider myself a very very naughty knitter, so please do not, I repeat do not follow my in my footsteps. To make this more out of the ordinary, I blocked the swatch and waited for it to dry and to make it even more out of the ordinary, I counted the stitches one by one over and over again! Now I do believe something was totally wrong with me that day.

The purple yarn, or should I say Aubergine became this…..

Alexandria Cardigan a pattern I’ve longed to knit. It required an icord at the front…never attempted before, short rows for the sleeves, done once and messed up with my Arwen cardigan, picking up stitches from 3 rows down and BO together to create a kind of rolled edge effect for the sleeves and neckline, which I did for the sleeves but did and icord bind off for the neckline.

So, a little about this yarn. Rowan had a batch of previously discontinued undyed Organic Merino DK and as one off special, dyed colours exclusively for the John Lewis chain of stores throughout UK for the 2010 January sales.

Changes made to the pattern?

Neckline: icord BO

Sleeves: 11 inches before start of eyelet

Dec: ssk ( slipped 1 knitwise, slipped 1 purlwise, ktog) (nice and ne

Inc: picked up st from row below from the back and knit (almost invisible inc)

Omit the first row of cluster pattern so the front panels lay flat

Add button for closure.

Maybe I should stay off the caffeine?  It certainly had a very weird effect on me, I must say!

There Is Progress…..

……..really there is,  on the knitting front, not on the yarn front, well..OK just another 10 balls of Rowan Cocoon in Shale and nothing more, honest!

I really stuck my nose into my knitting these past few days, wanting to finish lots of projects before starting another. I’m funny like that, it bugs me that something isn’t finished and just lying around. I hear voices in my head, whispers in my ear, unfinished projects call me……please finish me, please. No matter how boring the knitting is, I just need to get on with it and just focus myself on that project. My mind does wonder to other things.

So I got down to some serious business. I’d finish one row then on the next row, I see if I can knit a little faster and the next row after that. If my needles could create sparks, I swear I could make a little fire!

This is not the most interesting of projects, somewhat tedious with rows and rows of stocking stitch but I really wanted an over sized cardigan to throw over a t shirt come Spring, something classy and non too fussy and so I chose this. Yeah, I kept saying to myself, it’s only stocking stitch, you can do it with your eyes closed. Just focus.

Blanket Cardigan from the Sarah Dallas Knitting. How do you take interesting photos of a black cardigan? With difficulty.

What’s interesting about this cardigan? Not a lot but there is the strip which runs from one front to the back and the seed st border on the front.

There are sleeves to seam on and also the collar which is half done. I blocked and seamed the two fronts and the body sections as I wanted to try the cardigan on for size. Great fit, not too baggy as I feared that it may look like I’m wearing a bin liner with blue ties or something hideous. Mr Snobs said, Oh I have something like that! Oh great! Still I didn’t care. I like it!

As we all know, stocking stitch has a tendency to curl….damn them curls. I really blocked the s**t out of it, standing on it, stamping on it, placing heavy books over it. I plonked Holly on top of it, hoping that her warm botty may just flatten them curls! No luck. Still, damn them curls. It’s not going to lie flat although some sections are flatter than others.

See that curl? Blah!

I love that thin blue line.

I have a few options to fix that curl. Great advice from friends. 1. Buy another ball of the yarn and either pick up the edging and knit or crochet another row, or an edge. 2. Attach a strip of grosgrain around the bottom edge and sleeves, which means more sewing. 3. Block the crap out of it again, and again and again. I think I may opt to attach grosgrain and hope for the best!

La Drogueire Brassiere Caresse Point Mousse, Gilet to you and me. I’m lucky to have this translated from French by some Ravellers. Really simple but effective and totally wearable gilet. My garter stitches are not the neatest of my knitting, kinda messy in places and uneven. I’m planning to add buttons to this rather than a shawl pin.

Using a couple of clover leaf design coconut buttons from my stash. The pattern calls for yarn by the weight not by the yardage and I am realising I’m using more than what is required, possibly due to the fact I chose a DK yarn. I was so lucky to find a further two balls of this RYC Baby Alpaca DK in the same dyelot number after a major search across UK! Several calls and a couple of hours later, I sourced 2 balls and had them delivered to my home…Phew! Lucky or what? Who said knitting was easy!

55…..

Just when you thought I was all done with my bargain hunting….here I am, at it again, stalking, no searching this time for online bargains. I am a bargain whore, I admit it. There is no mistake about that. My last bargain purchases, were, somewhat fun and exciting. I managed to get 44 balls of yarn passed Mr Snobs,  right under his nose. This time the shopping is much more laid back but I had ask myself……. How do I get 55 balls of yumminess pass him this time? I have 2 weeks of him at home in my face 24/7! What do I do?

1. Do I smuggle them in by hiding them under my sweater and pretend I ate too much?
2. Hide them in the downstairs toilet or cloakroon and wait until he’s out or sleeping?
3. Put them in the boot of my car and bring them in together with the weekly daily grocery shopping?
4. Tell him Holly went shopping and brought herself some cat beds.
5. I’m ordering for a friend, they are not mine.
6. I’m knitting you a lovely sweater, they are ALL for you.
7. Say “Look what I got in the post today!” wave them about in his face and hold them directly under his nose?

Answer: No 7 and only with one question asked. “What are going to make with them?”

He’s good, he understands, he knows he’s married a crazy woman, who is stubborn, a perfectionist and always gets what she wants. I was expecting “Are you going to open a yarn warehouse or something?” “Are you EVER going to knit up the yarn you already have?” “You gotta stop, no more, the house is full of yarn, I won’t be able to find Holly.” Oh yeah yeah!

10 Rowan Cocoons

13 Sublime Angora’s – Feather, incidently 10 are on a flight overseas, gifted

and 15 Sublime Angora’s in Husk & 17 in Blacker

…….OH and a button

…..and do you know something? I ain’t got a clue what to make with them!

There has been some knitting going on, really there has…Blanket Cardigan from Sarah Dallas Knitting and a  Gilet from a French pattern. More on that when I quit shopping and actually do some knitting.

I also received some truely beautiful timber buttons from Nora in Australia, too beautiful to use, so I may just frame them Thank you so so much. Xx Ok…I’m going to do some knitting…really I am, no kidding!

Pssst………I have another 20 balls waiting to arrive….eeek! If you find the blog is quiet all of a sudden, you can guess what’s happened…Mr Snobs will have ordered me out of the house! Oh Help!

You Do This Too, Don’t You?…..

Happy New Year everyone, 5 days later lol. Thank you to everyone who has taken time to visit my blog, post comments, for your inspirations and well wishes. Hope you all had a good new year.

This nasty flu bug isn’t going away as quickly as I want. My crispy red nose, yes crispy, you know when it all dries up and it becomes crispy and flaky from the tissues and you blow your hooter so hard you get nose bleeds………ok I won’t go into detail but you get the picture, has found its way back onto my face! A few drips now and again but I’m surviving.

I managed to get out a few days after the festive season to go bargain hunting in the sales and yes my flaky nose came with me, not a pretty sight but I didn’t care. I took my sister along with me for support.

Now you tell me and be honest…..it’s happened to you right? You have all done this before…….you ready for some story telling and lots of pictures?

I head off to the sales, weaving in and out between all the bargain hunters and focus on getting to the yarn department in my local store, as fast as my feet could take me. Once there, I saw lots and lots of bargain yarns, mostly half price. My sister and I are like little children, rummaging around the bags of yarns, grabbing as much as we could carry before anyone else grabs them. Eventually we had to get two shopping baskets, one each. Opposite me, I see a lady in red jacket and she has grabbed a bag of yarn that I had to have, how come I didn’t see that? Oh, she clutches on to it like something precious. I said to my sister, I must have that.

The lady then walks away without putting the bag of yarn back and this is where is gets worse. I stalk her, I follow her around the department with the corner of my eye, I walk up to her, behind her, looking and trying to get a glimpse of the yarn…..lovely colour, I want to touch it and just get a little info about it.

She heads back to the bargain section, there’s hope? No, she still clutching them and rummages around for more. She wanders away, I lose sight of her…where is she? Has she gone to the checkout? Go sister…see if you can find her and off she goes, looking for her. We’ve lost her. The suddenly, she pops her head up from behind the book section and there she asks the store rep about something. I ears drop on their conversation, me on the other side and my sister next to her. She is looking for a pattern to make with the yarn, but the rep tells her there is not enough. I still pretend to rummage around the bargain section.

Half an hour goes by and she’s still not letting go, the rep then grabs her some novelty chunky yarn. Yes, that will be enough lady, you buy that and let me have the other. I can see she’s not interested and I know she knows I want that yarn. My sister spy reports back and tells me that she is desperate to find a pattern for the yarn.

She heads back to the bargain section, my sister stands on one side of her and me on the other, looking at the novelty yarn, looking at the yarn she wanted, comparing, she knows I want it. FINALLY 45 mins later, she places the yarn back into the bargain section and no sooner does she let go, I snatch it from her hand, whilst another bargain hunter was eyeing it up. Sorry, lady, but it has my name on it. The lady in the red jacket looks at me and smiles. I say I am sorry but I have to have this but if you really really do want it, then please do take it. I can see from her eyes, she does really want it as she looks at it again and again and hesitates. You don’t mind if I take it, I ask? Um…..well……mmmmm, no was her reply. YES!!!!! It’s mine.

Now you tell me if this has happened to you, or am I the only one who stalks people around the department, lusting for a yarn I must have? I laughed at myself and feel a sense of guilt that I did what I had to do. What has happened to me? I’ve become a yarn, stalking monster of some sort!

Lady in red…if you’re reading my blog, I’m sorry, it was me! I am that crazy woman that had that red crispy nose, who stalked you like a little kid!

Yarn in question? 7 balls of Scottish Tweedy Chunkiness!

and other bargains I picked up…

and this is supposed to smell like sheep!

But it hasn’t been all bargain hunting, there’s been knitting too:

One Row Handspun scarf for my aunt to match her grey cable hat. Rowan Cashsoft Chunky in Charcoal, purchased in the sales and I wish I brought more.

Big Wool Wham Bam.
Quick and simple from one ball of Rowan Big Wool.

Friendship….

……..is the most wonderful thing in one’s life. Friends mean so much, they make you laugh, they share, they are so sweet and so kind. They are an inspiration to me, I love them, they know who they are.

I have a new knitting friend, who has filled me with inspiration and plenty of it. From my knitting to my photography skills, which I may add are nothing compared to this macro goddess. Check this out. TDoesWool.

A beautifully wrapped gift arrived one morning that smelled so divine even my postman Steve (did I tell you he’s not called Steve but Stu???)couldn’t part with it! Christmas aromas of cinnamon and spice filled my home along with Christmas spirit, of joy and happiness.

Scented satchet, Gourmet peanut butter chocolates, I’m selfish, didn’t want to share, beautiful buttons, we share the same taste, scented pillow and cinnamon stick for that final touch.  Theresa you sure know how to spoil a girl, to pack and wrap the most amazing gift. so much thought and effort.

My versions of an arty, macro, out of focus photos, with my limited digital camera.

That’s not all. I have my very own Zakka Pouch. The original designed by Black Dog Designs, but this one is special as this one is a Zakka Pouch Revisited. Designed by Theresa using felted wool…now that’s creativity. I can’t believe I have my very own Zakka Pouch, the one I saw and loved.

A lovely touch….so personal, so special.

Beautiful Japanese Fabric with co-ordinating ribbon…..an attempt at photography composition.

I am spoilt, so very very spoilt. I don’t deserve but I cherish so much. I’m smiling, I’m happy, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, there are really no words to express my gratitude and happiness. XX

Santa Came…..

…..early and with him, he brought me gifts from two of my many wonderful friends….Belaybunny and Sheknitigans.

From Belaybunny, a lovely knitted scarf in laceweight yarn which is ever so warm.

Some of her handspun yarn which is ever so soft

…….and PY Dale/Laura in Purple Perry, so purple, so soft, so lovely.

Thank you.

From my lost twin Coley, I have my first ever Sundara Yarn in Deadly Nightshade.

I know what all the fuss is about with this yarn. The colour is so intense and the base yarn is so soft. Thank you so much for your wonderful kindness and for thinking of me this festive season. Love to you both. XX

See The Difference?….

Arwen, yes Arwen…….this should be finished now and I should have been wearing this last winter but no. Along came other projects and I got distracted and sadly Arwen was put in my projects bag and forgotten about until one day……I hear a faint whisper….”Please finish me, please?”

So out came Arwen from its project bag and I cast on the Front Right section which should complete My Arwen BUT, yes a very big BUT.

A very difficult colour to photograph btw.

 

You see what I see? No?? Go on take a closer look, come closer, closer, stick your nose right up to the  monitor and see what the big BUT is all about.

You still can’t see it? Ok a clue…it’s not the cables. You see it now? Let me show you……

Now you see it??? The left of the picture with the red arrows is the correct knitted front right panel of the cables. The right of the picture with the white arrows is the wrong knitted front of the left panel, which incidently I knitted up way back in Oct 2007.

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

So what did I do wrong? Well…..I read the chart pattern wrong, thats what!!! I should have read from right to left, then next row left to right! But NOOOOO silly Yarnsnob here read every row from right to left and hence the silly mistake AND to make things worst, I did all my short rows WRONG!!!! I knitted the wrapped st and the next st together! HA! Boo Hoo now it means I have to frog the whole of the left side. YES!!! I’M SCREAMING I’M MAD MAD MAD but who do I blame? only myself.

 This is the correct verison of the Right Front panel, with sleeve cuff grafted……

using Kitchener st and dpn’s. The join is almost invisible and clever too!

I could have done the right front the way I done the left front, the wrong version but because I also done the short rows incorrectly, well…..it has to be frogged. SO….sigh….DO YOUR RESEARCH before you start on a major project that you are unsure about, such as new techniques, how to read charts etc. Don’t be a fool like me and plunge head first.

I also feel that after knitting a few sweaters, I have a more understanding of how a sweater is knitted up and this has been a HUGE learning process for me but sadly, it will be a very lengthy one! I’ve also mastered the technique of knitting cables without a needle which every cable lover should learn, so much faster and less fiddley.

NOW would anyone like to frog my left side? It will make it less painful for me lol.

Ahhh Ene, You’re So Pretty!…. (pic heavy post)

What you’ve all been waiting for my Ene is finished! wooohooo and if I may so say, I am pretty proud of myself. Ene is beautiful. I’m in awe. I want to show her off. She blossomed into something so stunning, even Mr Snobs has commented on how beautiful I am she is!

Anyone who is going to start this or thinking about it, don’t be put off by the cast on, don’t give up, it gets a lot easier. The finished results are so rewarding, you will see. Trust me.

Was Ene worth the grunts and groans, major ranting, tantrums and head bashing? I think so. Twist my arm, go on…I could do another, if you would be kind enough to cast on for me?

Finished measurements after blocking 191cm x 96cm

Less than 2 skeins of Dream in Colour Gothic Rose (60gm remaining)

Needles used 4mm and 80cm cable

I’ll let the pictures do the talking

 

 

 

Ene was quite difficult to photograph to get a true colour of the Smooshy, but the above photo represents the true colour. Um….excuse the bathroom tiles.

 

 

Thanks Coley for the encouragement, the giggles, for this wonder book and for Ene.

 

Oh Ene!!!….

You make my heart sing!

Essential:

• Dedication  (give it your “all”)
• Motivation  (keeping looking at other finished Ene’s)
• Determination  (tell yourself I can do it, I must do it)
• Understanding husband  (to be quiet at that crucial moment)
• Total silence  (lock yourself in a room, ideal choice for cast on and beginning of row 1)
• Good friend for encouragment  (laugh about the missed YO’s, extra st and the nice pattern even though it is totally wrong)
• Time out corner  (for a major rant now and again “a must”)
• A couple few bottles of Smirnoff Vodka  (it really helps for the cast on)
• Being tipsy and light headed (makes you concentrate more ~ well it did for me)
• Some precious time, ideally between 4am and 5am  (I was awake)
• Stitch Markers, plenty of them  (they start moving across your work, so split rings are required)
• Be able to count up to 50 and over  (cast on is 375st, found very difficult to count past 100)

 Smooshy Gothic Rose 2 skeins

4mm needles

Chart 1

Chart 2

Chart 3

Now everyone be quiet…sssshhhhh, Ene is calling me

Something Beautiful…..

…..lovely handspun yarns from Sheknitgans aka Coley, Take a look at her beautiful spun yarns.

 

Raspberry Mocha, a beautiful combination of brown and raspberry coloured merino, wonderfully spun into something so soft and divine. I could not resist.

A lovely gift from a wonderful friend Sheknitigans - Knitted Gifts, Scarf Style and handspun yarn from her collection.

 

Two ”must have it” books for your collection : Knitted Gifts and Scarf Style. We’re both working on the Ene scarf from one of the books, a soul sucker project as she has named it and she’s right about that!  It’s taken the life and soul out of me, cast on 375sts……..3 times. That’s 375+375+375= Don’t tell me, I can’t add up. Third time lucky though as I finally got going lol.

More on that later.

Motlen Lava – a mix of grey and purple with a hint of  sparkle! Lovely!

Check out her store for more yummy handspun yarns.

Yarn Candy, Feather & Fan, WIP and Help!!

Yarn Diet? …..Not in this house. Just before Christmas I received these….

Four skeins of Manos del Uruguay in colourway Agate which had now been transformed to this:

Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl. I so wanted to do knit up a rectangular stole with this yarn but the pattern I had in mind just didn’t work. Ok I be honest, I was trying to be clever and thought I could redesign the pattern. Well it didn’t work so it became this. Finished in record time of 10 days. Just need my blocking wires to arrive so it looks more like a shawl than a pair of knickers. LOL

I am trying to learn new techniques with all of my projects this year. So with this project I have learned the new technique : Spit Splicing, Sounds disgusting, it involves splicing the two ends of a yarn and wetting them in whichever method you prefer, placing the ends on the palm of your hand and with the other hand rub so that the friction of the rubbing and the heat will felt the yarn and so join the two ends together. I hope the shawl doesn’t fall to pieces when I block it.

There’s more Malabrigo….

Malabrigo Gruesa & Baby Merino Lace which I plan to make Wisp. These two skeins were a gift from a generous Jo from Crafty Cottage Thank you.

Falling in love with a lovely yarn is so easy…Dream In Colour “Smooshy.” The yarn is exactly it…smooshy, soft, squishy, bouncy and a dream to knit.

Dusky Aurora

The colours are so subtle and delicate, not too variegated for my current project.

Do you recognise where this pattern is from? Hint: I knitted a swatch with my dyed yarn last year.

The lovely yarn company enclosed these two skeins of sequined yarn with my order. Help me decide what to knit with 100yrds of this yarn please?

Crafty Cottage Ravelry/Open Day….

I have something to tell you…..Make a note in your diaries, put a post on your blog, shout it out 1st March is Crafty Cottage Day!!

Remember Jo who owns the Crafty Cottage? who I had a wonderful experience with my first order, she is organising a Ravelry/Open Day at her lovely yarn store. She will be inviting members of the local spinners’ guild, embroiders guild and several other knitting groups around the area…….and you are all welcome….and that includes international knitters If you happen to be in UK around that time……pop along. Jo would love to meet you all.

The event is held on Saturday which is also a market day and there are various stalls around that may be very interesting, an Italian chef (now I must make my presence known …..ooohh), French baker (OOhh la la! MMmm, the bread I mean), olives stall, organic fruits and veg, antique stalls etc. If you’re going there with a non knitter, you can shoo them off to wander around the stalls while you can squeeze the lovely yarns, chat with fellow knitters and pick Jo’s brains with your knitting problems Sounds just perfect doesn’t it? There’s something for everyone.

There are 3 floors at the shop…no not all of yarn, but don’t we wish!! Imagine……….ah hem, two floors which are cafes, which is ideal, you can sneak away to the cafe for a coffee and then return to the store but who’d wanna leave all them yarns anyway? There’s a huge huge selection of yarns, Malabrigo (of course), Hand Maiden, Mango Moon, Be Sweet, Knit Global and more. There’s also a nice comfy sofa for all those who have passed out with excitement…….I’ll be one of them

Natter, gossip, drool, dribble, hyperventilate, scream, pass out – whatever happens to you when you go into a store, it should be fun. Gossip about what yarns are hot for this year and what’s not. Help other knitting chums with their knitting problems, ask for advice and or just chill. Perfect! Jo is also offering complimentary lunch to all her visitors too, so if you’re wanting to attend, just want more information about the event or just to say hello send Jo a quick email  joanne@crafty-cottage.co.uk. She’d be more than happy to hear from you and meet you!!!

So make a note in your diary knitters, I may even see you all there Oh….and take plenty of money and hubby’s credit card  very important and spend!! WWWooohoo!!

More Malabrigo Madness & Crafty Cottage

Meet Joanne Watson….

Joanne is the owner of Crafty Cottage, a new online store that I have just discovered. Joanne has been fantastic and extremely helpful when I placed my first order. Her new online store is about to undergo a huge overhaul in the new year so please go and support her when it’s up and running. She has a huge collection of yarns of course lots of Malabrigo coming in the new year, yes Malabrigo, you must check out her store but please, leave some for me OK?

Just take a look at the store, isn’t it divine, so quaint and cozy. Just look at those yarns!!  Don’t you wish you were sitting on that table, knitting and chatting? I think I’d be busy oogling the yarns!

This is my order from the Crafty Cottage…

Malabrigo Seleccion Privada Shade P

This is the first time I have ever come across this yarn from Malabrigo and if Joanne hadn’t mentioned it to me, I would never have known it existed. Lots of colours but all vibrant and beautiful. Sadly one skein has left me but gone to a good home

Malabrigo Seleccion Privada Shade Z.

Joanne delayed my order and as a kind gesture, she enclosed these two skeins for me. All were perfectly wrapped in a box with lovely tissue paper. All I can say is that I am one happy happy customer.

There were another 2 skeins of Malabrigo in Curazo a lovely purple colour, but they’re on their way to someone who has never knitted with Malabrigo before…shock, horror..what? but I can’t show you them, sorry. I was very tempted to keep them and held onto them for as long as I could before waving goodbye to them at the post office. Sarah, the post mistress thought I was utterly mad!!!

I can see Crafy Cottage becoming one of my regular online stores and I am already making my list for more Malabrigo, you can never have too much of it can you?

Thank you Joanne for your generosity and I wish you every success with your new online store. Please do add  Crafty Cottage to your blog.

There’s more…yes more. I told you its Malabrigo Madness.

Malabrigo Velvet Grapes, a very very popular shade and I had to get my mitts on these. Can you see why?

and Malabrigo Verdes, this surprise skein I won on Malabrigo Cast On Week on Ravelry Malabrigo Group. A wonderful prize and I couldn’t have asked for a better colour, thank you.

Phew…..I need to sit down with all my Malabrigo’s, 17 skeins within this week, Oh it’s all too much!!! Breathe slowly, deep breaths, faints, thud!!

Yummy Yarns, STR & Wollmeise….

What a happy day today is!! Despite the miserable wet, cold weather we’ve been having, I am really happy. I’ve been smiling all day. I received these through the post today from a very dear,  kind friend, who thought I needed cheering up. It certainly has worked Thank you so much.

They are the most yummiest yarns ever and smell gorgeous and I feel there will be plenty of these yarns making their way to my stash next year.

Socks That Rock-Lemongrass, Wollmeisse – Dornroschen and some sample yarns from Wollmeisse, all gorgeous. I don’t want to knit them up just yet, they’re going to bed with me tonight and many other nights.

And just look at these….

aren’t they the cutest hands and feet you’ve seen? The necklace is a lovely purple gem, beautiful and all handmade by her. Sadly the jelly teddy bears didn’t make it to the photo, I ate them all.

So you can see why I am so happy, very happy. Thank you so much Belaybunny…..off to have another sniff

The Hemlock Ring Blankets….

Phew….what a blocking session I had over the weekend, on hands and knees, pin pricks, wet patches on my knees…ugh but look what I got to show you all….

2 Skeins of Cascade Ecological Tarnish…(and a bit!)

DPN’s Size 5.5mm

Knitpicks 120cm circulars 6.0mm needles

15 pattern repeats

Bind Off using 5.5mm needles

If it wasn’t for Debbie, I don’t think I would have completed it. Thank you again

There were some issues about the ripple effect on the blanket. As you can see, its very slight in some areas but I block hard….very hard. The width of the Hemlock measures 145cm across, very big huh? I wet blocked it, wrapped it around a towel, stood on it to get rid of as much water as possible. I think some people on the KAL have steam/blocked theirs and have put sections of it under the iron to flattern the centre and the ripples. My centre star is very very flat. Overall, I am very pleased with it.

I had to get an extra set of helping hands from Mr Snobs, who pulled and pinned one section whilst I did the other. It was really difficult as each section was coming undone whilst I did the other and the lack of space wasn’t helping either….and soggy jeans…eeewww!!

Someone has claimed possession of my Malabrigo Hemlock already. I don’t know how she avoided the pins but there’s one stuck right in the centre of the star!

I never let Holly near my knitting or my yarns, she has no interest in them whatsoever unless it’s something I am knitting for her but this morning, I found her on my Malabrigo!!! Arrrrggghhhh!!!!! I forgot to shut the door last night and I believe she rolled around in it this morning. How could I shoooo her off? She looks so happy and comfortable. I guess it has her name on that one now….It’s Mine!

4 skeins of Malabrigo Orchid with 35gm left over from the 4th skein.

15 repeats of the feather and fan section

DPN’s 4.0mm

Knitpicks 5mm circular needles 100cm cable

Bind Off using 5mm needles

Size 122cm full width

Overall I am very happy with the results, a little heavy in weight and sore on the fingers but a pleasure to knit and to watch it grow and grow into something beautiful. Thanks to everyone who have wished and hoped I’d find that *extra* bit of yarn and special thanks to Debbie.

Love Love Love Fellow-knitters…

Don’t you just love fellow-knitters? You are all just awesome I tell you…AWESOME! Not only do you all share my frustration and my tantrums with my Hemlock, which incidentally I have begun to call IT….THAT THING, but some kind knitter has come to my rescue. Am I lucky or what? THAT THING will be finished, no need to tink back a row or frog the 3hour BO. I am dancing with joy, I tell you, I’m ecstatic!

That kind kind person I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart is Debs from Florida (blogless, I’m working on her to get blogging!) What are the chances of an exact match, same colour and same batch number. She answered my pleas which I posted on the KAL a few days back. I was seriously thinking of going back one row just so I can finish it off but hey!!! IT will be finished. Clap your hands….sing for me, boogie with me, yay!!

My Hemlock…..as I now call it has been removed from its naughty corner and made a brief appearance

OK, maybe not the best photograph as it looks more like some weird alien from outer-space or as some people have said, some creature from the sea, but its big, oh very big. In fact, I am frightened of blocking it

….and just look, need I say more? Thank you so very much Debs, you’ve made me smile again. My bottom lip had been curling over for a few days now and was about to stay that way but now curls up with happiness Also, thanks to all who have tried to help.

Are you ready for a wee shop update? Soon my lovelies….soon.

Darlings….I’m Home…

Been back a few days now, have you missed me? I sure have missed you lot. I received all your emails but couldn’t reply to any, something about the server. Just getting back to the swing of things, mountains of washing, cleaning and mail to go through. I had to cut the trip short but tell you why later.

Anyway, had a great time, feel relaxed and refreshed and it sure does you good to just get away from it all. I did a lot of knitting whilst I was away, as you know I took Hemlock with me and managed to finish one skein way ahead of time. I did one repeat on the train, only to find I had made a mistake and had to tink all the way back, was very very annoyed. Two and half hours knitting and I was back to where I started. I aslo felt a little bit nausea too…guess knitting on the move is just not me…urgh.

Much to my disappointment, I could not find a yarn store anywhere. I was so much looking forward to squeezing some yarn and hoping to come back with something, but nothing. Are yarn stores extinct or something? Even the local department store didn’t have a haberdashery department. I did find a couple but they were quite far out of the city centre and as Mr Snobs was busy, I couldn’t drag my mother in law with me to hunt them down. It’s such a shame no one shares the same interest and they didn’t find my knitting fasinating, Oh well.

As I mentioned earlier, we had to cut the trip a few days short. A couple of appointments to view some new apartments were cancelled as I received a call from my hysterical mother to say my father had a car accident. Luckily he was just shaken but the car was damaged. He said he was fine and not injured in any way which was a great relief. The following morning he called to say he had made an appointment at the doctors for a check up, so fearing the worse we made our way back home as quickly as possible. We made a mad dash back to my parents home to find my father sitting happily with his feet up, smiling and watching TV!!!!! He was totally fine!! Uuh??

So much of the weekend was playing catch up with reading blogs and knitting. But today I am feeling somewhat frustrated, angry and feel like throwing my Hemlock against the wall. At the moment, I have sent it back to its knitting bag and into the corner of the room until I can bring myself to look at it, IT has been bad. I don’t want to look at it for a few days cos I have been binding off and I am 56sts from finishing to realise I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH YARN…..you see why I am shouting, you see why I don’t want to look at it or take any pics? The binding off bit is a real bummer as it took almost 3 hours do do it……AAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Actually bummer is too nice a word for it!

So…..if anyone can spare a bit of Cascade Eco yarn in shade 8049………Helooooooo, over here please. Hope you all had a better weekend than me….umph!Off for a sulk

Malabrigo Love, Cascade Eco Arrived, Hemlock, Here I Come….

Hands up those of you who have cast on the Hemlock Blanket? Me Me Me!!

There’s been a slight whiff of sourness/vinegar aroma in the room the last few days as I dig out my Malabrigo Orchid, which had been hibernating in my stash for many months now. I’m not sure whether to call it an aroma or a pong but its strong, oh so strong! Its not off putting as its a delight to knit with but I’d rather have something sweet smelling rather than the room smelling of pickles, you know what I mean

I decided to cast on at 7am yesterday morning after a sleepless night. I think the whiff of Malabrigo was calling me. I knitted all day yesterday amd managed to finish one skein and I’m so delighted with it.

I did wonder if the pattern would be lost in the shade but somehow I think it works fine. A more variegated shade would be a NO NO, the pattern would be fighting with the colours. I love how the stitches knit up, so defined and unique and the softness……I can’t describe. Oh how I love this yarn!!

I go round and round…..

…and round again, you getting dizzy?

Then this morning my postie delivered my Cascade Eco wool.

I had trouble finding a retailer who would ship to the UK. One retailer was requesting almost $60 for shipping one skein. I embarrassingly asked for the help of my knitting friend Plucky who so kindly offered to help. How could I ask someone as busy as Plucky? I couldn’t. I hate asking people for help with something, so the search went on. Then Jen another kind knitter offered to go to her LYS to check out the prices and shipping. She blames me for walking out the store with some Cascade Eco……am I a wicked girl or not?? Hee hee. I thank you both from the bottom of my heart for your kindness and help

Hemlock knitters on the KAL suggested Webs and that’s where the 4 skeins departed from and at a discount price too. I didn’t get stung on any custom charges much to my relief but these bad bad customs people should be locked up for charging knitters these fees…POO to them!

I had a serious mental block of sock knitting the other day. I just couldn’t remember how to do the heel section of a sock. I frogged and knitted and frogged and knitted. I totally forgot to turn the heel and started picking up stitches only to realise, it doesn’t look right. I tried again only to find the heel was off centre ..aaarrggghh!!!! FINALLY after throwing to one side and forgetting about it in the hope it would knit itself (as if) I tackled it once again and hey!!! Look…

You would think I would know how to heel turn by now after knitting several pairs of socks…..I’m embarrassed. Sshhhh….keep this quiet please!! Oh the joys of knitting.

Thanks for all your thoughtful comments for Sebbie, I’m sure he would have been happy to hear them all.

Off to do some serious winding……yeah man!

Well What Do Ya’ Know….Hemlock Ring Blanket

……I’m so surprised at myself! I never thought I could follow such a complicated pattern. I took one look at it and fell in love. Nothing excited me so much as this. I don’t know what it is about this stunning design but it just blew me away!!  The beautiful star pattern in the centre which fans out into one beautiful blanket. I joined the Hemlockringkal, which is just fab I have to say. There are so many helpful knitters in this group and will answer all your queries if you ever get stuck. There’s even a updated pattern kindly written out to make it more readable!!

The original pattern is a vintage doily pattern and Jared adapted and designed it by adding chart repeats using a feather and fan pattern (such a clever man.) It is SSSOOOOOOOOO beautiful. I used the Emily Ocker’s Circular Cast On but others have used different methods.

I cast on last night using a couple of odd balls of yarn, that I know I will not need for anything. I don’t normally do a test knit but I just needed to reassure myself that I could do it……and I can!!! Hurray!!! Whoooppppeee!!! It feels great when you know you can do it!

Watching it grow and grow as I knit round and round just fasinates me. I’m sure to be really warm this winter snuggled up by the fire with this lap blanket and my knitting……such joy! Now I just need to find Cascade Eco Wool which is what I want to use.

Come on….join me with this gorgeous knit! You can’t resist this…you know you can’t.

Oh…and thank you so much for your comments about my Hanami Stole.

Major Rant ~ Need My Wireless Router NOW

GGGrrrrr….I need this really badly. I’ve ordered a router and will need my techy head on when it arrives but its taken ages to be delivered I don’t even know if I can set it up straight away either, double GGGrrrr!

You won’t believe what I have to do to get onto the internet. I have asked my neighbour if I can borrow his signal for a few days just until I receive my router. I can just about get a weak signal from……guess where?? Sitting on the toilet on the third floor of my house with my laptop up against the wall!!!! Of all places! Its not ideal or pleasant and nor do I wish to send emails and read my blogs whilst sitting on the toilet. Don’t worry, I’m not doing any of my daily business whilst doing this but it’s so annoying. How much longer must I wait! Humph!

I gave my wireless router to my tenants and she asked if we could put in a wireless router in for her, only to find out that she won’t have her laptop until two weeks time WHAT?? Come again? Maybe I shouldn’t be so generous next time.

I hope I can get this router (when I receive it) up and running very soon or I’m going to be sitting on the toilet for hours, not a happy thought or sight

Rant over !