'I-KNIT' ...... LONDON!

Hello again! Welcome back! I can't believe another weekend has flown by and a new week is getting ready to begin. It's been a busy and very enjoyable one for me. Hope you've had a good one too!

Friday evening was spent excitedly checking I had everything ready that I would need to take with me on Saturday morning. What did I need ......
- my small camera, to make sure I got lots of photos to show you
- some lunch, so we didn't waste too much browsing time
- my saved up 'yarn fund' ( £1 for every ball of yarn knitted this year!) + extra :D
- a small, simple project for the train journey (plain socks to show off a very pretty yarn)
- some yarn and needles for afternoon workshop with Woolly Wormhead
- train tickets, safely stored!
All done!

Saturday morning dawned and my great friend Josiekitten arrived bright and early. A last check on tickets and knitting and off we went. I love travelling by train and the two hour journey to London was gone in no time, as we chatted and caught up with each other's news. These are the socks I started for the journey.


It's the yarn I showed you last time. I love the colours, they look so pretty together. An important lesson was learnt and acted upon after my train journey a week or so ago, when I came home with less sock that I had gone with! NOT a very satisfactory situation, I'm sure you'll agree. This time though, progress was made; although I do find it very difficult to keep knitting whilst I chat and look out of the window and drink a rather large cardboard cup of coffee.

After a rather overpriced taxi ride, we finally arrived at Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster for the second day of the 'I-Knit Weekender 2009'. We spent the morning browsing up and down each aisle and trying very hard to be selective with our purchasing. That's extremely difficult, when at every turn there is so much deliciously scrumptious yarn to touch and fondle! It was an absolute knitter's heaven! Lots of the on-line shops had a stand and you could even try your hand at 'big knitting', using giant sized needles and thick strips of fabric. Here you are, our day ....


So much fabulous colour, so much delicious softness and so many new ideas for things to make or try.

In the afternoon we took part in Woolly Wormhead's hat design workshop, which was great fun. I don't quite have a hat to show you yet, but I feel Iknow a little bit more about how to begin designing my own! Hopefully I will be able to remember all I learnt and soon show you the finished product. It's to be a beret! I don't wear hats of any shape or form, but I'm sure I will find a welcoming head for it. Here's progress so far, after we had checked head measurements, calculated the stitches, worked out a pattern for the main body and written the first part of our pattern .......


I had gone with no real plan of what to buy, except maybe to find hand-dyed sock yarns that I hadn't tried before. After that, it was whatever begged to be brought home. Here's what I chose...

They are ... going across..... 1. DI4U 2.'Skein Queen' small balls 3.'Natural Dye Studio' DazzleHT sock 4.'Skein Queen' sock 5.'Artisan Yarns' sock - for dyeing 6.'Schoppelwolle's' Crazy Zauberball 7.'Natural Dye Studio' DazzleHT 8.'Malibrigo' lace 9.All my little purchases together! Scrummy!

Amongst yarns bought that I hadn't seen before, were delicious hand-dyed yarns by the 'Skein Queen' , Debbie Orr. Her colours are really beautiful. I had to buy one or two from one of my favourites too. 'The Natural Dye Studio' uses exclusively historical plant dyed to create totally scrumptious subtle colourways. One or two of the photos above show crotcheted items from their stand. I just adore their yarn! It knits up beautifully and washes well too. I also treated myself to some pretty Malibrigo laceweight, which I think will become an Aeolian beaded shawl. It's the beautiful yarn on the bottom row.

We met the contingent of Dutch Knitters and marvelled at some of their beautiful brioche colour work, whilst enjoying their delicious Stroopwafels and chocolates!


The day finished at 6pm and we made our way back to catch the 7pm train for home. It really was a fabulously relaxed and enjoyable day out with great company!! Can't wait for next year.

Today, by comparison, has been extrememly lazy and I still havent finished my planning for school, so I think I really out to say 'goodbye' and wish you all a happy week! See you next time!

....... TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

......... well, time really is running out! The long, lazy, seemingly endless summer holidays have almost come to an end. Much too soon, I say! I have loved every minute of my carefree knitting days, seeing friends and family and just generally pottering around. The weather hasn't been amazing, but it has been warm, quite sunny and mostly dry; which means plenty of 'being outside'!

Oh my God! How on earth will I survive 'back to school' and the myriad of things to do, places to be, work to plan, meetings to attend, that each new school day brings! I don't, at this moment in time, know how I will, but what I do know is that I feel exactly the same every year, as the challenges of a new academic year draw ever closer. Every year ...... it's all OK! Just different! A different mind set, a different gear, a different class of children and before you know it you're up and running.

As for knitting, I am racing to get as much finished as possible on my summer holiday projects. I got sidetracked today though, as I dug deep into my Russian Doll bag in the hope of finding my blue scissors and just had to pull out 'Sock Blankie' to have a little admiration time with him! That was it ..... 'Sock Blankie' addiction instantly re-kindled. Sooooo to cut a long story short, I have spent all day in the garden with Blankie. Here's how he's looking .......




He's got quite a few more squares added since I last showed you. I just love, love, love rummaging around for the next colourway and deciding where it's going to go. With many of the sock yarns, you never quite know how they are going to turn out until the little square is completed. I guess that's part of the fascination. Each square takes very little time, which means there's always 'just time for one more!' Before you know it ..... you've made a blanket. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, or even wishful thinking, because I just can't wait for him to get done; I guess in about two years time I'll proudly showing you my finished Blankie!

I had to get a move on with my August 'Sock Challenge' socks, as time was running out. I knit, knit, knit, knit, knit on Saturday and just managed to complete them with a day in hand ( a day to share with 'Sock Blankie' :D). They fit well in the foot but are a little wide in the leg, mainly because the pattern and the yarn are both quite stretchy. I am very pleased with them though. Jenny Cook's dyeing is really gorgeous. I gave you details of the pattern and yarn two posts ago.
Here they are...... my 'August Welsh Hills Socks'!





Most of my other projects are still no further forward, but I have made a start on my September 'Sock Challenge' socks. I'm calling them 'September Sunday Swing Socks' after the pattern title. It's a free download here on 'Knitty'. The socks feature a stitch pattern that will show off the colours and pattern of the yarn, but is simple enough not to be obscured by the yarn colours. My chosen yarn is an Opal hand-dyed, that has been in my stash since we were in Wales for our son's wedding last August. The colours are rich and autumnal; just perfect for September socks. Here they are so far ......... yarn wound and pattern chosen....


Twisted rib done and first pattern repeat of sixteen rows completed ........



Here you can see a little more of the pattern ........



I'm off to London on Wednesday and then back to school for two INSET days on Thursday and Friday, so hope to see you again next Sunday ..... if not before!

Have a lovely week, whatever you're doing!

Happy New Year!

Seems hardly possible that another year has been and almost gone. It seems even more impossible that at this time last year I had not even thought about taking up the old needles again. I hadn't knit at all since my eldest child was about seven and he's now twenty-eight! It kind of went out of fashion. My three children didin't want to wear hand-knits and slowly it was becoming a very uncool thing to be doing. Anyway, forward wind to December 31st 2008 and I am 100% addicted.

I have spent a very relaxing 'last day of 2008'. This afternoon I spoke to my son and his new wife via 'skype' (online free phone with videocam), another experience I wouldn't have anticipated partaking in a year ago. They have spent Christmas in Australia with his wife's parents. Mr Snoopydog and I have their labrador, Scott, with us for the holidays (smile lots!!!!!!!).

My good friend josiekitten gave me a 'Kool-Aid' dyeing kit for Christmas and as I had a couple of hours to myself today, it seemed the perfect time to try it out. IT WAS FAB! I LOVED IT! So much for agreeing to stash-bust in 2009............I now neeeeed to buy more undyed yarn and lots more'Kool-Aid'. Anyway josiekitten explains the process beautifully on her blog, so all that's left for me to do is to show you the results of my labours.

I love the vibrancy of the colours and the way they merge into each other. I used blue, red and yellow, but as you can see so many other shades appear as the colours blend. It's brilliant! The learning curve is very steep. I didn't put the clingfilm under the yarn before I started dyeing, so it was a very tricky exercise once the yarn was dye laden; a nightmare to stop the colours mixing where you didn't want them to. I am really please with the result though. It looks much better dried than it did wet. As Mr Snoopydog said, 'hmm, yes that does look quite good. I thought it looked awful when you were doing it!'.

Well, there are only one and a half hours left of 2008 and I am determined to stash-bust (saving one pound in my money box for each ball/skein of yarn I knit). I think I will also join josiekitten in the sock challenge; to knit a diffrent pattern each month, using stash yarn. Great idea josiekitten. I need to choose my twelve sock yarns now. I will post my selection tomorrow!

Wishing everyone a PEACEFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND YARNFUL NEW YEAR.

KIND MR SANTA CLAUS....

Christmas seems to have been and gone very quickly. Miss Snoopydog 1 arrived home from Manchester, where she is about to begin her teaching career and Miss Snoopydog 2 arrived home from Bratislava, where she is working with UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). I hadn't seen her since late September, so the drive to the airport to collect her was sweet! We also have Scott, our son's dog, with us for Christmas, whilst his master and mistress enjoy the Australian summer.

Mr Claus did call and was very generous. Besides a new lens for my camera, he left a very unexpected squishy parcel (thanks to Mr Snoopydog). I felt very spoilt , as I also received three new knitting books from family and friends, and a dyeing kit from my good pal josiekitten.

Mr Snoopydog's gift included two lots of sock yarn; one Noro and the second an Araucania Ranco. Then there were eight skeins of delicious Colinette Cadenza, to knit a sweater. I felt quite touched that he had taken himself up to our LYS and made his selections completely by himself. Aaahhhhh! He must approve of my woolly adiction after all LOL.

My dyeing kit is fab and I can't wait to experiment with it. Just look at all the scrummy colours!

As if this wasn't enough, I ventured down to the sales with my daughters. Mayhem reigned, but I returned home with TWO purchases.... woolly ones! The John Lewis sale had just begun and I managed to buy ome lovely Rowan 'tapestry'. There have been lots of complaints about this yarn on Ravelry (knots in the yarn etc), but I have loved the beautiful colourways for ages. The yarn was all half price.

I bought nine skeins of the brown tones and six of the bluey/purple. There are two projects I have in mind in the Rowan 'tapestry collection' booklet. HAPPY KNITTING!