Still Feeling Rough

Well, I've spent the past 3 days coughing and all day today sneezing, Ihink I'm going for the world record - ;0). My eyes are streaming and I'm really bunged up. And I've booked another day off work tomorrow because I feel so rough. So the photos and random facts are going to have to wait (yet) another day. Sorry folks. :0(

Not so "bleurgh" today

Well, I'm not feeling quite as "bleurgh" as I was the other day. I've almost finished 2 WIPs so that's helped. Unfortunately, I'm full up with a cold and have a really sore throat so that's not helping matters. :0( I'm hoping it won't hang around too long because I'm having my wisdom teeth taken out on Monday, 4th June under general anaesthetic and they won't do the op if I've got a cold. After waiting over 12 months for the op, I don't want to miss it now and have to wait again.

Anyway, to cheer myself up I ordered a new knitting bag, Ilga Leja Urban Goddess pattern and a Know Knits Go Knits pouch from Get Knitted. Super speedy service (as always) - ordered late Wednesday evening, e-mail yesterday morning to say it'd been sent and it arrived today. :0) Brill! I'll post some pics tomorrow, along with my 8 random facts - I've been thinking hard and hope what I've come up with is interesting! ;0)

Tag - You're It!

I've been tagged by Knitting's Nice. I *promise* I will blog 8 random facts about myself, but not tonight. I'm just in a bit of a "bleurgh" mood. Can't quite explain it really. I don't want to knit, I don't want to surf the web, I don't want to watch telly, but I don't want to go to bed either. *sigh* I've tried knitting socks, a baby cardi, a bag - all WIPs I've got on the go but can't seem to get anywhere with at the moment. I get like this occasionally when I've got too many WIPs on the go at once. I usually remedy the "bleurgh" feeling by casting on a new WIP. *rolls eyes*! Not this time though. I WILL reduce my WIP pile ..... I WILL reduce my WIP pile ..... *LOL* So, I'll have a think tomorrow and try to come up with 8 interesting facts for tomorrow night's blog. :0)

WonderWool S.E.X.

I had such a good day yesterday. We arrived at about 10 a.m. and didn't leave until almost 5.30 p.m.

The photo on the left is my "little haul". ;0) I actually didn't spend very much (for a change *LOL).

There were 4 of us at the spinning class. We started with choosing a fleece, then carding and making rolags. Then we used the rolags with drop spindles. I enjoyed it but don't think it's really for me. Maybe when I've got more time (like in about 20 years when I retire!!) I'll think about it again. At the moment though, I'd rather be knitting. ;0)


I saw this beaded wrist purse on the DT Craft and Design stand. It was such a cute little purse and the beads gave it a nice weight. You dye the yarn yourself and then crochet the purse. This will be a first for me in two ways - (a) because I haven't dyed anything myself yet (these are Procion dyes) and (b) because I've yet to knit anything with beads. So I expect a steep learning curve!!







Next is a handspun baby alpaca scarf kit. I just love the natural colour of this yarn, it's super squidgily soft and I like the fact that I've got a photo of the actual alpaca the yarn came off (Lysander).









Then I had a bargain at HipKnits - £15 for all this yarn, in one of their sale bags! From L-R - aran weight silk yarn (which will probably become a scarf), a gorgeous red/orange/green worsted weight yarn (destined to become my new sock bag because I broke mine this morning!), a super chunky weight yarn (which will become the handbag from this month's Simply Knitting, along with some other yarn from my stash) and lastly a cotton yarn, worsted weight I think, but I'm not sure what this is going to be. Maybe another bag.



Also from DT Craft and Design, a Kool-Aid funky dyeing kit, including yarn and pattern to make fingerless mitts and wristlets. I thought I'd try Kool Aid before starting on the procion dyes for the wrist purse. I also bought some undyed sock yarn from them, which I've been dyeing this morning. So far, I've got orange/green yarn for the mitts and bluey-green/purpley-red yarn for socks. The yarn is hanging on the line to dry as we speak so hopefully I'll be able to get some photos later, if it dries.


I was surprised at how easy it was to dye yarn, although what my colours will look like knitted up is another matter! But at least it's given me a taste for dyeing and I'm quite looking forward to trying the procion dyes for the wrist purse. I'll probably order some more undyed sock yarn, because I was told I'd have *loads* of dye left over, so I'll be able to dye some socks to match my purse! I do like to be co-ordinated!

Wonderwool Wales - 19th May, 2007

Tomorrow, I'm going to Wonderwool Wales. I can't wait! I'm so excited I probably won't sleep tonight. :0) But that won't be a good idea because I've got to get up at 6 a.m. and I'm driving me and Debz there. *LOL*

We're booked onto the "Introduction to Spinning" workshop at 12.15 p.m. - DH said that if I come home with a spinning wheel, he's moving out! (If I'd known that was all it was going to take, I'd have done it years ago!! *LOL*)

I've got some cash and can't wait to get my hot little mitts on all that luscious yarn. :0) No doubt, there'll be some yarn prOn photos tomorrow!!

Very Fetching!

I needed a quick, easy and satisfying knit - and here it is: - Fetching from Knitty.

These mitts took just 2 hours each to make - one last night while i was watching Heroes on SciFi and one today while I had my lunch break in

work.

I used 4mm dpns and 1 skein of Posh Yarn Eva 8 ply .

I will DEFINITELY be making more of these.

VERY quick, VERY easy, VERY satisfying :0)

And luscious, luscious yarn :0)

Update on Madeline Shawl Jacket

Well, things are quite positive at the moment. :0) I had an e-mail back from the designer first thing this morning and she has offered to dye some more yarn for me if I send her a few yards of what I'm using at the moment so that she get can match the colour. It's going to take me a bit longer to finish but at least I know it'll get done eventually. I tried it on last night - it's easier now that I've taken the armhole opening off the waste yarn ;0) - and I'm really pleased with how it's looking. So, fingers crossed that the yarn comes back and the colour matches ;0)

Progress report on WLD Madeline Shawl Jacket

I've been knitting all day today on Madeline. The knitted-on border just seemed never-ending but at last I finished it. However, my happiness soon turned sour when I realised that I have just 33 grams of yarn left. That gives me 16 grams per sleeve. Looking at these tiny little balls of yarn, I really don't think I'm going to have enough left to finish my jacket. :0(

I've e-mailed the designer in the hope that she can either (a) say yes, 33 grams will be enough or (b) mail me some more yarn in order to finish this. I was hoping to get it finished in time to wear out next weekend, but that's looking less likely as time goes on.

Anyway, I'll keep on knitting the sleeves until I run out of yarn and I'll keep you posted on what happens .....

April Showers in May

These socks are knit in Posh Yarn's Lucia sock yarn in the April Showers colourway (April's sock club yarn) using 2 x 2.75 mm Inox Grey circs, toe up with short row heels.

I thought the colourway went perfectly with the Scrolls pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks. The pattern reminded me of ripples in puddles - very appropriate today as we've had torrential rain for most of the day. This is a 14-row pattern but it knitted up extremely quickly.

They took me 9 days to knit - I made the first sock in April but got sidetracked by other things ;0) and finally finished the other one today.

Sockamania May Socks Finished

I managed to get these finished earlier today. I've really enjoyed knitting them and will definitely be knitting another pair in this pattern.

Also, concentrating on knitting has helped take my mind off my throbbing wisdom teeth today. If my hospital appointment to have them removed doesn't come through soon, I might let hubby loose with the pliers ;0)

Pattern - Sockamania May Day socks by Anni (see Sockamania KAL on the right-hand side bar - more lovely patterns are available to purchase from Anni's blog - Confessions of a Yarn Addict - also on the right-hand side bar)

Yarn - 100g (300m) of Fyberspates 100% Bluefaced Sock Yarn

Needles - 2 x 2.75 mm Inox Grey circs

I modified Anni's pattern slightly to knit toe up and finished off with a garter stitch rib because I felt it flowed better from the point I finished in the pattern. If I'd finished on a stocking stitch bit, I would've done a 2x2 rib because that would probably have looked better but I finished on a purl bit, so garter stitch seemed the best choice.

Sidetracked by a shoulder scarf

I had every intention of finishing off my pair of Sockamania May socks over this long bank holiday weekend. That was until I happened to take a look at the Get Knitted site late on Thursday evening. *rolls eyes and blushes at lack of willpower!*

They've just had in stock the most gorgeous scarf kits from Strickwear - I chose the Merging Colours Pretty Picot Shoulder Scarf in the Blueberry colourway. I placed my order late on Thursday night, it was dispatched on Friday and arrived on Saturday (yesterday). How's that for great service?!

The kit came in its own vinyl zippered pouch and contained 8 x 30g skeins of laceweight yarn in varying shades. Using my swift and ball winder -I'd be lost without them ;0) - I turned these skeins into 24 mini-cakes of yarn. (Each skein needs to be wound into 3 x balls.) To get the merging colours, you work with 3 x strands of different shades, changing colour every 4 rows or so.

It's mainly garter stitch, with a cable up the centre, and is such a quick and easy knit. It's knit using 2.25 mm needles to start (only for a few rows) and then changes to size a size 4mm (24 inch) circular. I used my Knit Picks Options for this bit.

AND I have enough yarn left over to knit another shoulder scarf, possibly even 2. My next one will have the colours merging from light at the neck to dark at the picot edge.

This scarf measures 9.5 inches down the centre back and I can see me getting lots of wear from it. It'll take the chill off bare shoulders during summer evenings and I'll even be able to wear it tucked in the front of a coat during the winter, so it's very versatile.

Can I finally just say - please excuse the white bra staps showing in the photos! *LOL* I wouldn't normally be seen in public with white straps under a black vest but I just threw on this top so hubby could take the photos!

A WIP pic at last!

This is the WIP pic I wanted to show you a week or so ago but I just haven't got around to uploading the photos.

It's the Madeline shawl jacket by White Lies Designs in raspberry cotton. The yarn has a lovely drape and is light but warm.

These photos don't show the colour as it is IRL. It's probably somewhere between the first and third photos. It's not a completely solid colour and has lighter bits here and there, which I like. For a better idea of what the colour is like, visit the White Lies Designs website -

It's worked in the round (I'm using 6mm Addi turbos). The sleeve holes are placed on waste yarn and picked up later.

This is a close-up of the knitted-on border. I had a total of 352 (ish) stitches OTN when I finished the main body and I think I'm about halfway through the border. Then it's on to the sleeves.

I'm really enjoying this at the moment, but I'll be happier once I've got it off the needles and can try it on. It's kind of bunched up at the moment so it's difficult to lay it out flat to see exactly how big it's going to be.





And this is where I am at the moment. (sorry about the poor photograph)

I love the way the pattern swirls on the back. Now I've laid it (almost) flat, I can see it looks like a flower.

I probably won't do much work on Madeline this week because I've just started the Sockamania KAL. The pattern came today and is gorgeous, so I'm off to cast on for that now. If only I could decide which yarn from the stash to knit it in ...... ;0)