Discovery November 26, 2009

Eurgh. I did that thing. You know where you don’t blog for ages and end up with loads of yarnie/knittery photos to post and waffle on about.

Well since we last spoke (or, since last I rambled on and you probably just looked at the pics and fore-went the text), we (that’s us of the Manchester Yarn Collective) held the Manchester Yarn Day. Also, myself and a few of you lovely ladies were featured in the Gallery page of The Knitter. If you’ve not yet seen the new book Tea Cozies 2 (that ‘z’ does irritate me), then check it out… I have two patterns in it! Woohoo! Finally, I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate last week – pretty disappointing in my opinion, and I also spent the weekend at the Westcliffe Hotel in Blackpool, where Roseland Bags also made a star appearance!

Anyway I’ll crack on.

These are my stealth socks, which I can now reveal. They’re called ‘Discovery Socks’ and are done in Wild Fire Fibres Fantasia.

        

   

  

They feature lots of intricate cables, and the pattern will be available soon!

Hmm what else. Well my OH and I went to Worseley Woods and collected these branches from a felled tree. We dragged them all the way back to the car on our shoulders (ouch) in the pouring rain (ugh).

Not for nothing though! We now have this beautiful archway which I’ve built. I’ll take a better photo soon. I’ve artistically sprayed it with fake snow, which looks wonderful, and I used a can of glitter hairspray on it too, so it twinkles like the frost on a crispy morning I’m going to put fairy lights through it, and hang stars on, probably.

Back to knitting.. I’ve had Rowan Cocoon in my stash for ages, so I made these super-thick leg warmers – each one used a full ball, and they’re heavy to the feel but once you put them on they feel light. I get a lot of aches in my legs at this time of year and keeping them warm is crucial. These legwarmers have really helped. Plus Cocoon is a joy to work with! (Though it does shed)

         

Oh I finished my painting. Well I only started it yesterday while OH was out. But it’s now dones, and I’m pretty pleased with it. It took some time to get back into the swing of acrylic painting. With anime of any type you need your brush strokes to be super-smooth and invisible. I’m pleased that I can still draw – at uni I excelled at it, but I’ve not done any for two years now, and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it.

I’ve got second sock syndrome…. I completed the first Cornflower sock, and have been distracted. But I’ll do the second one very soon as I LOVE how they’re knitting up!

Thought I’d photograph my Ten stitch blanket in progress. It looks ace doesn’t it!

And of course I have to flash my stash from Harrogate!

Firstly Noro Silk Garden sock yarn (droooool)

Teeswater 4 ply (much nicer than my photo shows)

And merino/bamboo fibre from Skeins.

Oh while I was at the Manchester Yarn Day I got fibre from Green Eyed Monsters which I  haven’t photographed yet (doh), and I did a swap with Six Swans – she had a skein of Manyana and this is my end of the bargain – Shetland 4 ply, which is lovely.

And that’s it! I’m about 15 mins from the end of my latest spinning (which I’m going to do today), and I’ve almost finished a pair of handspun fingerless mitts, using that Wild Flowers yarn I spun. They look really good so far!

I’m also waiting for the delivery man – I have new alpaca/silk laceweight coming, along with Tempo sock yarn and organic merino DK – they’ll all be in the shop very soon! (I can’t wait to feel that laceweight!)

Ciao for now!