Autumn in Spring - Louet Northern Lights Wool Top

The fact that I am still spinning and plying the fibre that I started working on last November should give you some idea how far behind I am on absolutely everything right now.  

However, I am doing my best to catch up (the people to whom I owe return messages, emails and phone calls may not think so but I am trying, I promise) and I present this little bit of crafting progress as evidence:

 

Fibre:  Louet Northern Lights Wool Top

Colourway:  Toffee

Fondly Known As: Autumn in Spring

Skein 1:  2 ply, 3.0 oz, approx 117 m

WPI:  Not calculated yet but I think that it looks around a DK weight?  

Left to Spin:  1.65 oz

Left to Ply:  approx 1.6 and 1.9 oz of spun singles

Plan of Attack:  Ply singles (3 oz of plied yarn looks to fill a single bobbin).  

Split remaining fibre as evenly as possible over whatever remains on two bobbins.

Spin and ply last bit into a mini skein.   

Also, on the craft front, I have squeezed in a little bit of sewing - just in an attempt to learn how to do it and make a dent in my fabric stash.  In fact, I have signed up for a quilt class that starts this week and runs one evening a week, for the next 4 weeks.  Y'know, just because I didn't think that I had quite enough to do?  

Ngg, I know, it could be Autumn again by the time that I finish work on this fibre.  No, no - you are absolutely right, I still haven't managed to write or send invitations for our wedding celebration event in July.  Nor have I spoken to the venue since we booked in it January. Nor have I managed to write all of the thank you cards needed for the 1st March.  Nor have I managed to edit the video that we took of our wedding to send to my family.  Nor have I posted that cardigan to France yet.  Nor have I managed to return a number of messages, emails and phone calls.  Nor have I booked or been for a medical that I am supposed to have as a part of my residency application for Canada.

I would start to hyperventilate but it wouldn't be productive - so please excuse me while I nip off quietly to chalk a few key things off my 'To Do' list!

A Saturday Outing

Now it seems that these two balls of yarn managed to escape when they went home to my gift recipient's house on Christmas Day:

Clearly, they have escaped, in a valiant attempt to avoid their knitted fate and they have not yet been found. Actually, I imagine that the conversation in the back of the car on the way home went something like this:

Ball 1: "W'as'dat label say?"

Ball 2: "H-A-T. Ha-t? Ohh, got it - I think that we are going to be a hat."

Ball 1: "Hat?! We don't want to be a hat!"

Ball 2: "Hey you in the front there, pull over - He-llo, he-llo! Can't you see that our labels say, 'Baby Soft'?! The clue is in the name? 'B-A-B-Y'. We wanna be made into summat, baby related. We are not sticking around here, only to be turned into some lame adult hat!"

Ball 1: "No way amico mio, hats are stupid! C'mon, let's hop it out the back here. It's snowing - they'll never spot us making our escape in this weather!"

So, a-hem, if anyone comes across two balls of pale blue Rowan Baby Soft (joined at the hip by silver curling ribbon), on the run, somewhere on the BC Lower Mainland, please do drop me a comment to let me know where you spotted them!

Mind you, perhaps it is for the best - the Fella and I purchased this yarn during our trip to Victoria. We selected on the basis of the colours that we know the gift recipient wears and the hats that she had previously admired. However, on New Year's Day when the gift recipient came over to browse hat patterns, it turned out that she prefered a different sort of design, in a different yarn weight and colour.

I checked my stash - nothing. In fact, as the yarn and the pattern book were sold out locally, we had them reserved for us at Indigo Books and Urban Yarns over in North Vancouver. We collected them last Saturday. Pretty...but snowy!

On our way back, we took a drive around Stanley Park:

Then, half frozen, we went for a drink to warm up before we headed back to Stanley Park for a ride on the last night of the Bright Lights Christmas Train.

It was super romantic, you know - just us, half a hundred weight of 2-5 year olds (all fractious with the cold and cabin fever) and their slightly suspicious parents, who were eying us up - clearly wondering why on earth we would put ourselves through the misery of being out in the snowy dark to ride on a childrens' train...

...without any irritable, wriggly, crying children in tow.

Please relax all - we might have been a bit old to be there on our own but I can assure you that we were simply there to see the lights and have a cheeky snog at the back of the train while clumps of snow fell onto our faces!

Mind you, on the way out, I did think that the parents had every right to be suspicious:

Don't these look like foe straight out of an episode of Dr Who?! Luckily we managed to escape before they received the signal from outer space start their march on the human race, so we (and our knitting project purchases) made it home intact!

(Okay - that is, after dinner, a marriage proposal and a vast quantity of celebratory alcohol which did lay us both out flat until about 3pm the next day!)

Crafty Gifts

Thank you all for your congratulations - I am still trying to get my head around the idea that I am now 'a fiancé' rather than 'a girlfriend'! Um, am I supposed to do anything different?

As it is just about the last day of Christmas, it is time to round off my account of the festive season by showing the craft things that I received in December that I hope will propel me productively through 2009!

These books are all from the Fella, his son and other members of his family. I did not expect them at all. The one on top is a notebook for my knitting projects from The Kid. Both of the sewing books are from the Fella - I suspect that his choice may have been inspired by my less than dazzling Christmas rag quilt and my battle with the house curtains?! Otherwise, as you can see, I am not wanting for knitterly input from the Yarn Harlot!

Now, this is going back a bit but I received a package from my mother in early December. As everything has been so flat out in the run up to Christmas, I have not had a chance to show her gift on my blog. What makes this lack of acknowledgement worse is that I have discovered that it is really uplifting to receive unexpected cards, letters and parcels when away from family and friends. (More of that another time!)

Particularly when they contain lovely things like this:

It is Called Rockpool Candy and I believe that my mother may have some more colours in stock at her gallery? It is a blend of all sorts of interesting fibres that I expect will spin up into something quite unique and lovely - which is what I will try to do, just as soon as I have got my head around how to approach it!

Now, speaking of unexpected and (to date) unacknowledged parcels, not one but two incredible packages arrived at my local Post Office over Christmas:

This is my present from Robynn which contained some delicious chocolates, a skein of extremely gorgeous yarn and a signed copy of a book that I have been coveting from afar for weeks!

Gerard and Craig - Happy New year, I miss you too and your book is fab!

Then I opened my second present and out fell a whole pile of yummy spinning fibres from Mel and her family. Mel used Ravelry to track down a local BC fibre supplier for me (Twist of Fate Yarns)!

Both, I am just blown away by these gifts - thank you so, so, so much. You both sent me things that - if I had found them myself - I would have sought you both out immediately to show, tell and share! Grrr - I miss you both a whole, bloomin' lot.

Otherwise, the final craft related gift that I received for Christmas was from the Fella. He gave me an entry level digital SLR camera as a step up from my little point and click Samsung. Naturally enough, I barely know how to switch it on, let alone use it properly.

So, I have signed up for a beginner's photography class which starts on Wednesday - so please expect a few image burps on my blog while I get to grips with how it all works!

Hopefully though, over the coming weeks, I am really hoping that my images and technique will improve. I am really looking forwards to it!

Happy New Year everyone. Do you know what? I think that this could be an interesting year!

Vintage Glass Buttons and Packing

I am supposed to be sifting through my belongings. Just in an attempt to downsize them for placing into storage or shipping to Canada. The truth is that I am not supposed to be acquiring anything new, right now. However, Nichols Buttons were at I Knit and I had a moment of weakness.

These buttons are so particular that I suspect that I may need to build a project around them, rather than the other way around - I can see myself stalking Ravelry at some point in the future, looking for patterns and yarn that might go with my buttons?!

They will be added to my 'To Canada - Ship Separately' pile. You see, I am trying to avoid being overwhelmed by the task in hand, by trying to build a number of different house piles:

• Stay Behind - Warehouse Storage


• Stay Behind - Accessible Storage


• To Canada - Ship Separately
  
• To Canada - Travel with Me

As you may be able to tell from the above - I am not the kind of person who is able to chuck a change of clothes into a small backpack and head off around the world for 6 months. No, when you put me and world travel together, it is better to envisage something far more Victorian or early Twentieth Century in its aspect - there will be a lot of luggage.

As a result, I plan to ship some things over to Canada, so that I have them with me while I am there. Y'know, just a few key things...

...like my yarn and quilt fabric stashes, notions, tools, craft books, shoes and skiing stuff.

Don't laugh! The Fella knows that this is non-negotiable. Actually, it's a bit embarassing - I might have to rename my blog to 'Large Carbon Footprint Stash' or 'Yarn Repatriation'.

Yet I cannot bear the idea of leaving any of my yarn behind in storage - I'd be terrified that it would be attacked by fibre munching beasts. Also, I know that I'll be studying but I am taking 6 months off work - surely this a a golden opportunity to have a go at some of the projects that are stacked in my cupboard?!

As I am sitting here tonight, the only problem is that my Ship to Canada box is almost too heavy to drag across the floor already. Yet it only has my knitting and a couple of sewing books in it so far. Well, I can hardly take my stash and leave all my books, can I..?! It's a problem!

So, here you go. I have two Desert Island Knitting Books style questions for you all*:

1) If this was your box of books, which of these titles would you take or leave behind, based on merit of their content? Either as a practical reference or for their inspiration.

If you are on Ravelry, you can click here to see what books, magazines and booklets I have in my Library. I have some books that I have already set aside to go into storage and a few others that I have not yet been able to upload into Ravelry (as they are not in their library yet).

2) If you were to be stranded on a desert island with only a binliner of yarn and a box of knitting needles for company:

- what 5 knitting books would you absolutely need to take with you?
- what yarns would you hope to find inside the binliner?!

* * * * *

* Note: not that Vancouver is a desert island. Clearly, I could simply order the books that I really missed from Amazon - or borrow them from a library? Yet who wants to order books that they already have?!

I have been a bit coy...

...about the knitting related things that I bought back from Wonderwool.

I am not sure why. What I am sure about is that I destashed some yarn a little while ago and I went to Wonderwool determined not to bring home any impulse buys. I was absolutely clear that I should resist the temptation of all yarn that I would have no idea what to do with later.

I think that my recent Storm Water Scarf disappointment was a good prompt to focus on yarn with specific projects (or people) in mind?

I was almost successful - what helped, in addition to the lack of time, was that a little bit of me felt a bit awkward about fawning over other yarn on other stands when my mother had tables loaded with interesting stuff, like this:

Plant dyed, Artisan Yarns silk. No, I promise that this is not a yarn advert for my mother. However, as I spent a lot of time at her stand, it was difficult not to be tempted by the things that she had on offer!

Also, of all things, I did a Ravelry trade with my mother for 14 balls of pinky-mauve Big Wool at Wonderwool. I traded for this skein, one of her skeins of sock yarn , two books and a hat pattern.

The reason that I chose this yarn is that while I noticed a lot of people fondling this and the banana silk yarns on my mother's stand, not many appeared to sell - so while people were drawn to the colours and textures - just from the comments that I overheard, they were not sure quite what they would do with it?

I wasn't sure either, otherwise I would have made suggestions - so I traded for this yarn, just to see what I can make with it. This goes utterly against my earlier ethos but I was careful to ask the fella which skein colour suited me the best and this was his choice.

So we shall see...!

The other yarn that formed part of my Ravelry trade with my mother is this skein of plant dyed, blue faced Leicester sock yarn:

I have not been able to photograph this yarn in a way that captures its true colours. In fact, it is a deep cherry red and burgundy. It is contrasty but not this contrasty - is contrasty even a word?!

These were the two books and the hat pattern that I also traded for. The hat pattern is the one that the Fella modelled in the sheep walk - how could I resist that?!

Yup, a sock book, an accessories book plus a hat pattern. This may seem like an odd choice for someone who isn't good with dpns and isn't keen on knitting socks. However, South West Trains seem to be decomissioning all of the First Class carriages on my train route into Waterloo. So space to knit with 14" straights is becoming a real battle - I am facing the sad reality that I need to diversify into smaller, shorter needle knits, in order to be able to continue knitting (while burping other newspaper reading commuters on my knee).

One of the highlights of Wonderwool for me, was the opportunity to meet Posh Yarns Dee and Tony - I returned again and again to their stand trying to select the yarn that I wanted to bring home with me. It was very tough and I was very hard on myself, keeping my yarn+known project acquisition objective firmly in mind.

After my prickly Koigu sock yarn experience, I knew that I wanted to invest in some Sophia cashmere sock yarn. Just a combination of the above train situation and preparing against for the possibility that I might get the urge to spend another 2 months knitting a pair of socks for myself. After much deliberation, this was my final selection:

Also, I decided that I needed another skein of sock weight yarn, of a different sort, for a specific project that I have in mind, later on this year. As I had heard a lot about Emily, I picked this:

And seriously, that was it. My purchases, in their totality - two days surrounded by yarn but I headed home with supplies for only 4 projects. I was practically in awe of my self restraint.

However, there was one skein of yarn at Posh Yarns that kept catching my eye but I kept making myself put it back. I picked it up, I put it back. I went away, I came back, it was still there, I picked it up, I put it back. I picked it up, I put it back.

Which skein was it? Well, it was this skein of Laura that featured on top of my earlier posh yarn table photo:

You see, I had already made my one sensible purchase of cashmere sock yarn for me.

I knit so slowly that I could not justify it as another sock purchase for myself and I liked the colourway too much to bear the thought of knitting it up as a present for anyone else.

So-I-walked-away-one last last time and put-it-out-of-my-mind. That's where it should end, right? Me feeling a twinge of regret and wondering which lucky knitter now has that lovely skein of yarn?

Well it seems that Dee happens to know us knitters even better than we know ourselves (at least she has me exactly pegged). On Sunday - I got back from a stroll around the food section with the Fella to find that Dee had popped by with this:

Inside that bag? Wrapped in pink tissue paper?

I am sitting here, with this yarn sitting in front of me and I am still smiling - thank you Dee!

Isn't that just beautiful? I do not know what this will be yet but I do not mind. I am quite happy to sit here and pet it and love it - I might even call it George!

Human or Fibre Machine?

Apparently there was something on TV recently about someone who was cultivating their belly button fluff to spin and knit into something? Now I missed this little gem of national tv programming but heck, if people are happy to collect, spin and knit up their favourite pet's hair, then why not use human lint too?

Warning: I suggest that you do not read on if you have just fallen off your chair, utterly revolted by this concept.

However, if you happen to think that it is safe to call into question the sexiness of your partner's knitting efforts and think that it is safe to leave said knitter unattended with her blog while you fly home on an aeroplane, please do read on...!

So, in the name of sustainable eco-fibre research for today's knitting community, I have been investigating the contents of the Fella's tummy button over the past two weeks. I have noted his unstinting and diligent ability to produce about an inch of fingering weight lint per day, in a variety of quite attractive whites, greys, blues and blacks. I find this oddly fascinating.

Yup, I have pictures of the output but I will save them - you know, just in case the sexiness of one of my knitting projects is called into question again? (Oh, am I going on?!)

So hmm. Let's think about this logically for a moment. There are 36 inches in a yard and it would take around 200 yards of yarn to make a nice pair of simple mitts, such as the Thank You Mitts?
Oh - unless my arithmetic is out, that is not good. Doesn't that mean it would take me 7200 days or 19.72 years to harvest sufficient Fella lint to make a pair of mittens? Let's round that up to 20 years to account for any fibre wastage during spinning.

It just seems like a lot of effort over time for a small project outcome. Especially when, a quick look on the net tells me that it is possible to pick up a skein of Pro Natura Zitron Trekking sock yarn for about £7.50. In my personal view and very limited experience of human lint colours, their range does seems to include certain shades that might be quite a close match?

So, almost regrettably, I hereby conclude that stashing human lint is not a worthwhile endeavour. (That is, unless someone starts up a Human Lint Cooperative. Where people who possess the astonishing ability to create belly button fluff sign up to make weekly lint deliveries?)

Personally, I think that someone would really have to be feeling very thrifty or love their partner a lot to collect their lint everyday, for 20 years, in order to make them a pair of mitts.

Mind you - a pair of handspun lint mitts would make a very novel and unique 20th Anniversary present from a knitter to their partner?

"Ohhh darling, thank you for the new china and this beautiful platinum ring. In return, I made these mittens just for you - from you - in celebration of the 20 marvelous years that we have spent together."

[Cue stunned silence and people studiously avoiding eye contact?!]

Hurrumph - my first ever socks, not sexy when worn in bed...? Pah! What'd'ya mean?!

Set Them Free - Yarn Destash!

Edited to update what yarn has gone.

Last week, I mentioned feeling cluttered by yarn purchases that I am no longer sure that I will use. Some were impulse buys and others were bought for projects that have not come to fruition. Either way, I cannot see an immediate use for the yarn and it is languishing untouched in my stash.

So yesterday, I went through my craft cupboard, my yarn basket and my three yarn drawers. Folks, I have set aside some yarn to destash. Scary - I have never done this before.

I have added these yarns to my Ravelry stash, marked them as available for Sale or Trade and indicated what I paid for them. This way, I am hoping that if someone happens to want any of it, they can contact me and let me know how much they are willing to offer. At least that is how I hope it works.

In summary, the yarns are:

· 10 balls of Rowan Ribbon Twist (black and pink) · 2 skeins of Posh Yarn, 4ply Sophia Cashmere (Terracotta)

· 2 cone wound skeins (still need to weigh these) of Hipknits Laceweight Silk (Pink) Gone!

· 14 balls of Rowan Big Wool (mauve) Gone!

· 3 skeins of Wagtail Mohair-Merino 8Ply (Medium Violet) Gone! · 3 skeins of Wagtail Pure Mohair 4Ply (Mulberry) Gone! · 2 yarn cakes (50g each, I think) of Hipknits Aran Silk (Pink, Red and Purple) Gone! · 2 skeins of Evolution Sport Weight (Figgy Pudding) Gone!

The proceeds from the Hipknits yarns will go to charity. Either to a UK charity that I support (see right), Knitters Without Borders or The House That Yarn Built. I am happy for the person who buys the yarn to choose which of these good causes gets the money.

Let me know in a comment if you are interested in any of this yarn, otherwise message me on Ravelry! You can find the statistics, description of each yarn in my Ravelry Stash.

Vancouver & Ravelry Yarn Haul

It's quite a discreet acquisition of yarn really:

1) 2 skeins of Classy Dream in Colour (Cocoa Kiss and Black Parade) that the fella bought for me to create Father and Son Dashing (or similiar). So - hats, scarves and now fingerless gloves? I seem to be working my way down their bodies!

2) 4 skeins of Koigu KPPPM (reds and browns) and 1 skein of Indigo Moon sock yarn (pinks) for um, socks. YES, socks. Okay, I got a bit carried away after Dotty gave me that tiny sock lesson - so it seems that 2008 will be the year that I get to grips with DPNs (or two circulars) and sock construction, after all?

3) 3 balls of RYC Lux which I acquired via Ravelry and that I picked up from the Sorting Office, the same day that I jetted off to Vancouver - I plan to test knit another Castle Couture hat because I have made a couple of modifications to the pattern and I want to verify that they are correct.

Apologies that my blog is so slow this week but I have been suffering badly from jetlag. Last night was the first night that I managed to get to sleep before 4am. It is a very strange experience trying to operate at all, let alone function properly at work, on 2-3 hours sleep.

What I can confirm is that my heart is still very firmly here:

With this man and this yarn:

Yup, he is keeping all that Classy Dream in Colour yarn safe for me - it is destined to become a jumper for him. I know, international yarn stashing. (Not bad, eh?!)

Acknowledging Christmas Generosity

I appreciate that it is mid January (I am so behind) but I would just like to acknowledge some of the gifts that I received for Christmas in order to thank the people who gave them to me.*

You already know that I received a pair of Lantern Moon glass needles from Robynn before Christmas. (They are winking at my from my needle jar and I am itching to use them!

What sort of yarn would work best with glass needles, I wonder? Something not too slippery?

In addition, I received:

- a fridge notepad and stitch markers from a certain Yarn Floozy. The notepad has pride of place on my fridge and I am waiting for a good opportunity to use my stitch markers!

- a moebius scarf and a personalised sock kit from Yogic Knitter who koolaid dyed the yarn specially for me in colours that she knows that I like!

I have hardly taken off the moebius scarf since I received it but I do not wear it when I see Mel so she probably thinks that I do not like it. That is not the case at all! It is just that Mel has knitted the other half of the skein into an identical scarf for herself. Now as she knitted both scarves, I feel that she should have garment wearing precedence when we are out in public!

(Okay. Quick question - now why is it that everyone seems to want me to learn how to knit socks when I cannot even hold dpns without an apparent attack of Tourette's Syndrome?!)


Also in the picture are a few gifts from my fella:

- a 2 metre ruler. You need to understand that this is not just a ruler - it is, in fact, an important, international communication device (I tend to work in metric, while he works in inches)!

- a camera monopod for taking pictures of knitting in low light (out of frame for obvious reasons!); and oh, um

- not really presents but I do claim the two skeins of Indigo Moon Yarn in the picture as a present, even though they are simply a by-product of a gift purchase for Robynn! I did a 'recon' to 3 Bags Full back in October but I didn't have time to think about everything I wanted. So I asked the fella to go back on my behalf in December to pick up some things that I had seen for Robynn and Mel - a pink medium sized KnitKnow Pouch and 2 skeins of sock yarn for Robynn (in purples), so that she could make another pair of boot socks.**

Just to be on the safe side, he bought me over a selection of three colours (purple, green and blue) but he only picked up two skeins in one of the colourways, which is the one that he happened to like the best (green). Well, as the present was for long boot socks, this nailed down exactly what I wrapped for Robynn! Luckily, she agrees with the fella and the yarn is happily stashed in its new home...

...so, this means that the fella has unintentionally added to my sock yarn stash too. Now if I do a mental count, I think that I am now in posession of between 5-8 skeins of sock yarn when I do not, or should that be cannot, knit socks.

*Sigh*

So perhaps I do need to submit to lessons at some point during 2008?

People...I will try but I cannot promise success.

Or an absence of swearing.

* Christmas Gifts: I did manage to stick to my rule of 'no presents for over 18s' (in the main). A formal exchange of presents was dispensed with the majority of adults and both parties donated money to charity instead. To soften the absence of gifts blow, my fella and I also gave small gifts of gourmet ground coffee from the Monmouth Street Coffee Company or Canadian Sockeye smoked salmon, that the fella had smoked specially in Canada and bought over with him for family and friends to enjoy over the festive period. However, there are some people I knew would give gifts anyway...so I reciprocated!

I hope that you all enjoy your presents as much as I am enjoying mine.

**Opps, note to self: reimburse fella for proxy gift purchases!

A Rabbiting Good Yarn!

I am a long way behind on blog posts as a result of the problem with my PC and my holiday break with my fella. Yet somehow, it feels wrong to ignore some of the highlights from the past month and zoom straight into 2008. Particularly when one happy winter moment, happens to be all about yarn.

When I was in Vancouver in October, I hoped to catch up with Rabbitch who, apart from being refreshingly blunt, is an independent hand dyer - coffee, dry humour and yarn. Who would miss out on that?!

However, if you stop by Rabbitch's blog, you may spot that she works two jobs, runs a family and dyes yarn while enjoying a glass of Merlot - she is a busy woman. So sadly, it didn't happen.

However, after I spotted some of her fab colourways over at The Sweet Sheep, I kept an eye on her Etsy shop for yarn that might suit one of my projects (as I do not knit socks). With the result that I ended up purchasing some DK alpaca-wool (Red Red Twine, Anthem and Raspberries) and a skein of super bulky (Cranberry).

My yarn arrived on the 22nd December. In my package were three extra skeins (2 x Toe Jam Sock Yarn in 'To Make the Boys Wink' and 1 x Turquiose DK Alpaca-Wool) for me to show people, just in case they want to put in an order of their own...

...yarn enabler? Who me?!

Just on the basis that if someone wanted any of the extra skeins, then we could come to some arrangement where the relevant money was paypal'd over to Rabbitch.

So, what did I get?!

Super Bulky New Zealand Wool

Colour: Cranberry (top image truer to yarn colour)
Quantity: 1 skein, 14o yards

When touched: a little crunchy in hands but not scratchy against face
When smelt: no smell!

Purchased for a scarf project and I think that I can feel another Gaiter project coming on!

DK - 70% Alpaca, 30% Merino

Colour: Anthem (a signature Rabbitworks colour)

Quantity: 2 skeins, 400 yards per skein

When touched: lovely and soft
When smelt: no smell!

I am missing one of these skeins now - there's a story behind this, read on!

Toe Jam Sock Yarn
50% Rideau/Arcott, 30% Lincoln, 20% alpaca
Colour: To Make the Boys Wink
Quanity: 2 skeins, 375 yards per skein (7st/in)
When touched: slightly crunchy in hands but not scratchy on face!
When smelt: proper, real wool smell

This was one of the sample yarns!

DK - 70% Alpaca, 30% Merino
Colour: Raspberries
Details: as before
Project: baby knit (once baby has landed safe and sound)

I am really looking forwards to seeing how the Alpaca-Wool DK knits up.

I didn't manage to photograph the Red Red Twine and Turquiose skeins before they were snaffled up by Anne of The Small Gallery (1 Capuchin Yard, Church Street, Hereford). Anne is looking to gauge interest in them, in order to decide whether to submit an order.

So, if you would like to get your hands on some of the Rabbitworks yarn mentioned in this post, then you need to get in touch with The Small Gallery in Hereford. In addition to the DK Alpaca-Wool in Red Red Twine and Turquiose, Anne has one of the pink Toe Jam Sock Yarn skeins and...sob...one of my two Anthem DK skeins too.

So...if:

• you happen to be in Hereford
• you decide to pop into the gallery
• the Rabbitch yarns are still there
• you like the Toe Jam sock yarn or Anthem DK but need two skeins for your project...

...then let me know. I am sure that we can work something out?! Even if I feel that I would rather poke myself in the eye with a dpn than relinquish my single, orphan skein of Anthem!

And, as this appears to have become a promotional post for Rabbitch and The Small Gallery, I may as well include some pictures of my trip to the gallery between Christmas and the New Year, so that you can see some of the other items and artisan yarns that were in stock, e.g. Knitwitches, Fyberspates and Artesano!

Recent Compulsive Yarn Acquisition

I am not going to provide lengthy descriptions of these yarns, I have decided to let the pictures speak for themselves - I will be interested to know what you think. For some reason, not all of my pictures uploaded to Flickr, so I will upload a few more pictures later this evening.

The light was very grey when I took these pictures - it was a Sunday morning in my rainy, grey back yard. I have grouped the yarns by colourway and therefore, by potential project.

For tantalised fibre fiends, the above yarn includes skeins of:

• Fyberspates Scrumptious
• Knit Witches 4 ply laceweight silk
• hand-dyed and spun Yummy Yarn
• HandMaiden Strata, Casbah and Silk (something)
• Lorna's Laces
• Noro - the only yarn that is not hand dyed (I think).

All of these yarns were either acquired at Alexandra Palace, on my recent trip to Vancouver, at the 1st UK SnB Day or at Fun of the Fair, just off Carnaby Street in London.

Oh and just in case you think that I am totally single minded, here are some fat quarters that I picked up for my mother when I was out for the day in Vancouver with Dotty. So can you tell where my colour mood is at the moment?!

This being the case, to tell you the truth, I have no idea how I am going to part with them. It doesn't help that when I mentioned them to my mother last Saturday, she exclaimed, "I don't have any time to sew at the moment!"

Well. Ok. That's that settled then?

As she doesn't need them, I can keep them? Simply nestle them in with my aqua colourway yarns and gaze at them all lovingly?