Woolfest

Two years ago we spent a week of glorious sunshine in Cumbria, and attended Woolfest as part of our holiday.

We were moving house last year, so I couldn’t go.

This year, we decided to take a long weekend, so we headed off to Cockermouth on Thursday 23rd to stay in Rose Cottage B&B for three nights.

On the way we stopped off at somewhere called the Alpaca Centre. They had alpaca jumpers, gloves, hats, alpaca rugs, a stuffed cria; the works! They also had some real live alpaca in their field.



After a much needed cup of tea, we arrived in Cockermouth at about lunchtime. As the B&B wasn’t yet open for arrivals, we headed into town for some lunch and a wander. There were some interesting craft shops, and Hubby spent some time in the music shop there.

Friday was Woolfest. It usually runs on the Friday and Saturday, and I like to go on the Friday. We didn’t spend too long queueing, which was nice, and then we had a wander around. I like to do one loop where I don’t buy anything, and then re-visit everywhere I want to buy from.

I came back with quite a haul!



Here’s a bit of a breakdown
The black "sheep" item is a limited edition bag. It says "It's all about the sheep" and is very cool.



This is a plying tool. After my disastrous attempts at Andean plying (big tangled mess) I’m quite excited to find this tool. I can’t for the life of me remember who I bought it from…



Because I know I will never get around to making myself one, this is a roll for my crochet hooks to live in. rather than the tatty plastic cases they live in right now.



Sock yarn, made from Teeswater sheep (though not from Teeside). Each skein is unique, and this was such a pretty colour. Also the Teeswater is very lustrous. I don’t know if it will be socks or something else. The little bag it’s sitting on is a hand-made gingham bag; lovely!



Fyberspates Lace weight Scrumptious (buy it here) yarn. It really is that pretty shade of blue. It’s amazing. I also bought the Scrumptious Collection book, which Jeni signed for me! I’m already planning to make one of the tops in the book with the yarn I picked up! I have to finish my Après Surf Hoodie first though.



Manx/Wensleydale Organic Laceweight. It’s lovely and soft and pretty and naturally that colour. What more could you ask for? It’s amazing.



500g of “caramel” coloured alpaca fleece, ready to spin. Lovely. It’s a shopping bag full, and when it’s spun I have a bag I can shop with (though it will be a bit hairy for a while!)



I stopped off at Felt Studio UK’s stand and watched Daniella spin for a (very short) time, before buying some lovely Jacob hand-dyed top. It’s a nice fat squishy braid too!



I bought a 100g bag of Hebridean fibre to spin with too. It looks pretty hairy, but it doesn’t feel rough to touch. I’m hopeful that if it is a bit rough I might be able to felt something from it.



Angora Bunny fur from Skyrack Angoras. This is a lovely greyish colour. I had a lovely chat with the lady about how to spin this. She recommended blending it with something else. I think that I’d like to get it to be about 50% angora, but I don’t know yet what I want to blend it with. And I only have some small hand cards. I might need to get on Ravelry in the UK Spinners forum and ask them what they recommend.
I stopped off at the Winghams stand and selected these bargains. 50g balls of merino silk for £3.50. Lush colours too. And now I’ve seen it in person, I’ll be reasonably happy to pick some more up online. Well, when I’ve spun more of my spinning stash anyway.



Manx Loughton fibre, carded (there were also rollags available!) ready for spinning. As you might have gathered, I’m keen to try spinning as many different breeds of fibre (including non-sheep) as possible!



All the colours on Freyalyn’s stand were amazing. I was determined to buy some as the sample I got (that I killed by trying to Andean ply it) from the fiberholics box was really nice colours. This isn’t merino though, it’s BFL and silk. (I went a bit gooey for silk blends this woolfest!)

We also went to Trotter’s World of Animals which was good fun! They had a nice selection of animals there, the meercats were cute, but my favourite were the gibbons! So I’ll leave you with this video of a gibbon running away. Brilliant!

In which I rant about HDNL

So, as you can see from my last post, I’ve been ordering shoes from online. The shoes I’ve had to return were actually no problem. HDNL delivered the Barratts shoes, Royal Mail delivered the ASOS shoes. Both were left with a neighbour. Success! Well done to both companies.

So, given my success, and the fact that I had a £10 off voucher for LoveYourShoes (Barratts) I decided to give the whole shoes online thing another go. I’ve ordered some fit-flops. (You know, the ones that tone your bum when you walk)

The first problem was with LoveYourShoes. for some reason the £10 wasn’t taken off. Why would I pay the shop price plus delivery when there’s a Barratts in town? I wouldn’t. I had to wait until the shoes had been shipped before they could refund me. What a good system that is. Anyway…

They use HDNL to deliver, which was previously a success. When they delivered to my house last Thursday, I was left a card suggesting I could go to Hull (35 miles away) or arrange a new date (when I’m at work), so I called and asked them to deliver to work. Technically we’re not meant to get parcels at work, but I’ve never had trouble with it before. They said that it might be too late to schedule the redelivery to happen on Friday, but that it should be updated by Monday.
On Friday there was no sign – I assumed that all was well.
On Saturday we went out in the morning, and when I returned there was a card from HDNL. I assumed that this was a different order – something else I’m expecting in the post.
On Monday there’s another card. I’m not expecting three parcels so I suspect that something is up. I call HDNL (at 10p a minute) again.
To their credit, the chap on the end of the phone was very nice, apologetic and helpful. He confirmed that they were indeed all the same parcel (I’m assuming it’s the shoes) and that the re-direct message had not got through. He told me he’d call the Hull depot and fix it, and that my shoes should be with me on Tuesday, or today at the latest.
Well, it’s almost 3pm (HDNL are at pains to stress that they could deliver any time between 7am and 7pm) and there’s no sign of my shoes. That doesn’t mean that they’re not here with the post room, but I suspect that they aren’t there either. So tonight I’m going to have to call them again.

I wouldn’t bet on them not having returned the shoes back to the sender. If they have, I’ll probably wait for my refund and then go buy them in store without the money off. Or possibly even from another supplier who doesn’t use HDNL.

At least with Royal Mail the depot is just down the road from my house.
Not Hull.

Shoe Fail

I ordered these:

but they had too high a heel - seriously, I can't walk in a 13cm heel. Otherwise they're gorgeous!

I also ordered these:

But they're not the right colour, they're not as blue as in this picture, they're much more teal/green.

So, no turquoise shoes for me, yet. Ho hum.

All quiet

We had a busy day on Saturday, plenty to do!

First, we headed into town so that I could return the two pairs of shoes I ordered online. Both pairs of shoes were amazing, but the ones from Barrats were just too high heeled (13cm or 5¼” in old money) – otherwise they were exactly what I’m after! The ones from ASOS were the perfect height, style, shape, they were comfy, but they weren’t the right colour. I want a more blue kind of turquoise, and these were kind of teal.

While we were there, we also picked up a new shirt for my fiancé, a mirror for me (my other mirror is now making the landing look nice, which is great for the house, but not so good for me) for doing my hair in the morning, and collected a new watch strap in the post for him too.

Then, at about 1pm, we met our agent again. This time it was a lady who took photos of the house for use in the brochure and online. It’s all very exciting. We also handed over our key, as we’re hoping for them to do the viewings rather than us. My mum has suggested that this will not be practical, that we might have to do some viewings, so we will see.

In the afternoon we headed off to look at two houses which are for sale. Neither was the house for us we think. Both were nice enough, but there wasn’t that wow factor. I guess I’m looking for the feeling I got with my engagement ring and my wedding dress; I should want to stay there. I should be mentally putting our furniture into the rooms, and deciding on décor.

What a weekend!

I’ve had a really good weekend. (As you can tell, since it’s now Wednesday and I hadn’t posted yet!)
Firstly, my new boots arrived in the post last week.

Aren’t they fab?


Anyway, I wore them all weekend and had toasty dry feet despite the weather.


On Friday we went to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. This is the third year I’ve been there. There wasn’t the variety of stands that there were last year, I really had to hunt around for some things.

Here’s my haul


1. Sublime, 2. Debbie Bliss, 3. mug, 4. Pretty Fabric, 5. Buttons, 6. Needles & Kit

Then, at the weekend, Boyf and I went to London. We had quite a nice time. I only took photos when we were in the dinosaur section of the Natural History Museum. It was good fun. They have an animatronic dinosaur, a T Rex, too.
We spent the night in a hotel just round the corner from our old University, and because the Metropolitan line was out of use, we accidentally went via my second year house in Wembley! Whoops!
It was good fun though, even though the bus journey was far too long. Next time we do London we’ll do it on the train! It wouldn’t be as bargainous, but it would be a darned sight better travel wise!

At knit night on Monday one of the girls showed me how to knit with beads, so you can look forward to some pretty beaded knits soon!

I have cast on for something for the NotMIL, but I’m probably not knitting anything else for anyone for Christmas.

Seems like Monthly then...

Yeah, I know, no updates for a while. I've been busy!

Anyway, here I am.

So, what's been going on? Well, I went to Woolfest. Around this I wrapped a week away in the lake district. Beautiful part of the country by the way.
We started off going to Cambridgeshire, to visit Boyf's folks and friends. It was Livestock again (I'm sure I've mentioned it before) I thought it was better this year, though that could be down to the cherry beer I was drinking rather than pints o' wine. Anyway...
After that we headed off up the M6. Like, literally the whole way up the M6. We stopped off at Stafford Castle, which is approximately half way. We spent three nights in Bowness on Windermere, which is a lovely little town on the side of the lake. We spent a day in Kendal. I have a couple of points to make about Kendal:

1. The one way system is horrible if you're not big on driving. Take a bus.
2. The Chocolate shop is amazing, go there and have chocolate instead of lunch.
3. The Quaker Tapestry is beautiful. They also have an amazing quilt there, and the garden is lovely and peaceful. You can't take pictures inside so you'll have to take my word for it. Go there. (They do have a cafe which is meant to be good too, but we didn't try it after all the chocolate!)

I'm sure there's loads more to do, but that's my impression of Kendal.

We also spent a day on the lake, on a big tour boat and got sunburned. (No pictures of that I'm afraid)

When we set off for our next destination, we went via Coniston to see the Bluebird exhibition in the Ruskin Museum. That was really interesting. They also had some local lace samples and local wool products available there. (Herdy too, which is a new initiative using Herdwick wool, that's the breed of sheep Beatrix Potter was interested in) and then on to the Bond Museum in Keswick. We also went to the Cars of the Stars exhibition. If you only have time to do one of those, go to the Bond museum. Neither takes more than an hour or so, but the Bond museum is much more interesting, and the staff were nicer.

We then spent three nights in Cockermouth, which is where Woolfest happens. More on that soon.
We arrived in Cockermouth on the Thursday night and had plenty of time to check out local eateries. We found a great little Mediterranean cafe for lunch (we had lunch there twice!) and the restaurants were all lovely too! There's a real-ale microbrewery pub called the Bitter End. It's a lovely town, and is central for walking and cycling too. (We didn't do much walking due to it being so hot, and no cycling.)
So, Friday?
Friday was Woolfest
Woolfest is organised by a cooperative in Cumbria called the Wool Clip. It's a place where all things fibery come together under one roof. There were sheep, alpaca, angora goats, angora rabbits, more sheep, spinning wheels and supplies, so much yarn in so many beautiful colours, both dyed and undyed. I had a blast.
I met some other knitters who like Howies clothing.
And I bought a haul! Much fun!

On the Saturday we went for a bit of a walk, and then on to the Jennings brewery for a tour. It was an interesting tour, I'd recommend it. You also get beer, so Boyf would recommend it too.

-o0o-

So, moving on, what's going on now?
Well, I have 10 projects on the needles, officially. I'm only working on a couple though. The one I want to mention is inspired by my haul at woolfest, and also by the Log Cabin blanket that Yarn Harlot is making. I'm using one of each rare breed yarn to make a square-pattern cushion. (a throw is beyond my patience and budget for this yarn!) The lightest one is Wensleydale, the darkest is Jacob, The dark grey is Herdwick and the light grey that's in progress is Swaledale. Cool huh?
I'm finding YH's explanation about the difference between "pick up" and "pick up and knit" to be invaluable, so it's here, if you're doing anything where you need to pick up stitches you should check it out (unless you already know the difference!)

Well, that's all folks.

Time to be Cheerful!

Well, after the down that was my last post, I thought I’d hop off the depressing work resolution and look on the bright side for a while (at least for one post!)
Thank you for the comments though to BluePURPLEstocking and my Sister, they’re much appreciated.

So, first knitted item of the year is completed! Okay, so I cast them on in 2008, but still, I think that the (Mostly) No Purl Monkeys count as my first FO of the year. I’m wearing them right now! They’re lovely and comfy, though they still smell a little of Kool-Aid which is disturbing (and I might end up with pink feet…)

A long time ago I mentioned that 2009 is the Year Of Natural Fibres!
In honour of this, here are some links to some natural fibre clothing companies here in the UK:

• Howies - they have loads of cotton and merino garments, all ethically sourced and made as close to the UK as they can. They’re not cheap, but there is a sale on.
• Seasalt Cornwall - again it’s all organic as well as ethical. A little cheaper than Howies, and also having a sale right now!
• No Sweat UK are sweatshop free as well as being fair-trade and (I think) organic
• Bam – bamboo clothing. Lovely and soft, bamboo has been around for years but now is showing its potential as a green clothing fibre.

Not News

I have no news, but someone who did take some nice pictures at the Harrogate show is Purplestocking

I'm knitting myself a hat from the Toft Alpaca that I bought from the Yorkshire Show. It's a pattern from Stitch N Bitch Nation, but I'm adjusting it as the suggested yarn is Aran weight, and the alpaca is DK. Wish me luck!

Shiny Shiny!

So, I told you that my PC was broken.
Well, after much some deliberation, and a trip to Maxwells in Northallerton, I now have a shiny new MacBook. It's pretty, isn't it?
It's also wireless, so naturally we've upgraded our home network to be wireless. Which means I can read my emails or surf the web (and Ravelry) from anywhere in the house.
It rocks!

However, we started off, yesterday, with a Belkin wireless router. Which was a bit intermittent last night, and then this morning it just didn't work at all. Pah. So we've swapped that for a nice Netgear one, which was much easier to set up and worked within a few minutes. Much better.

The old computer isn't completely written off yet though, we're now a two-computer household. Or we will be once OH gets the new hard drive working in the new one. Not complicated, but installing Windows takes a while, you know.

Then we'll have to set that one up to wirelessly connect too, and we'll be able to both be online at the same time!

Maybe we could get the XBox and PS2 on-line too now. Ahaha.
However, I am now appeased. And Apple are my new favourite manufacturer!

UK Shoppers

If you want to buy the Wensleydale Longwool that I mentioned in the last post, but can't get to Wensleydale to do so, check out Ecoknits.
They also stock NDS and Artist's Palette - though you could check out their websites (as linked) too. (Artist's Palette have lovely laceweight, I sent some to my SP!) Ecoknits also stock The Nude Ewe, which sounds good.
I've never tried Ecoknits, so if you do let me know!

Random Weekend

On Saturday we went to Harrogate, mainly so that OH could have a haircut. I decided to book in with the same lady so I now have new hair too. Hmm. I’m still not sure if I like it; sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Still, it’s shorter. Which is good.
I got a reasonable amount of knitting done on the train there and back and also while waiting for OH. I’ve got about 15 rows left on the “Sock Putt” socks. Then I’m experimenting with a stretchy bind-off from Interweave Knits. If it works, I might have to un-bind-off the other sock and re-do it the new way.
I also did some shopping and bought prezzies for my sister ready for her birthday next month.
Sadly, there are no yarn shops in Harrogate. Well, I say “sadly” but it meant that I didn’t spend a fortune!

So, I’ve shipped my final SP12 package today. Hopefully there are enough clues for her to guess who I am. I’ve quite enjoyed this round so far. I am not sure whether I will join in the next one – it depends on when it is I think. This one fell quite nicely for me with regards to holidays, finance and life generally. Also, I’ll be getting some news from work next Monday which might change everything. My department is being restructured. It’s a good thing for the business, but it means that things will be changing, including my job. But we’ll see – I’m not worrying about it; it would do no good to worry about it, I’ve done all I can.

I also have a package to collect from the post office. I suspect that it is the Niddy Noddy that I ordered from Forest Fibres on e-bay. Actually, they’ve been really good at Forest Fibres, there was a delay with the shipment of Niddy Noddys (customs I gather) and so it’s taken a while longer than expected to ship it. They’ve kept me informed through the process, and have responded to my emails, which is always good, and they’ve even offered me a discount next time I buy. Which I will be doing, next time I want spinning supplies of some sort!

On Sunday I went to “Range”. I intended to buy some wire cutters for jewellery making, but it’s harder to find them than you think! So, I ended up with some more heavy duty ones for now, plus quite a few beads and things. I’m wearing a bracelet I made right now! I’ll take a photo later.

I don’t think I mentioned that we’ve had to split the hamsters up. Aran and Rowan don’t get on, so we now have two cages. We already had two of most other things (bowls, bottles etc) and now we have two cages, two houses, two chewy logs (well, one cut in half with a junior hacksaw), two wheels, the works. They both seem much happier now, no more squeaking. Aran still runs around his cage quickly and Rowan potters around more sedately. They both like the wheels, though Rowan doesn’t run so fast, he prefers to eat!

"I'm a Designer" and "Shopping Spree!"

I’m officially listed as a designer on Ravelry now. Woo! Better get designing!

My Ankh Socks are available as a Rav download!
I’m looking forwards to completing the rest of the hat I’ve been working on (With the cables and the bobbles) not that it’s really hat weather at the moment. Not that sort of hat anyway.
I’m going to be designing some more socks. I’ve got some lovely yarn and an idea about [deleted to keep it a surprise]… and intarsia. Dum-dum-duuuuh.

So, I’ve been on a bit of a shopping spree. There was a free postage weekend at Texere so I thought I’d have a look and see what they had. I ordered around 800g of stuff, plus a ball winder. The stuff was 200g of top for spinning and 600g of yarn!

There’s two 50g bags of black top for spinning, and two of pink. I think I might do some “barber pole” plying with some of that. I’m experimenting basically.
I also have one 50g ball each of charcoal and pink alpaca sock wool. Yum, yum, yum! It’s so soft, so warm! I love it. that’s the stuff I’m planning the pattern I mentioned above with. It’s going to be my first intarsia (maybe). I just hope I have enough yarn.
I also have a 400g cone of un-dyed 4ply sock yarn. (I didn’t get the lambs’ wool, because I thought it would be a waste for my first dyeing attempts.) I’ve been Karma Swapped some Kool-Aid by the blogless Bea, so this cone will be waiting until that arrives from America. Perhaps I’ll find someone selling niddy-noddys at the Yorkshire Show next week.
Last, but not least, I bought two balls of Noro Kureyon. In a red-purple-blue-ish colour. It’s lovely, though I don’t know what I am going to make with it yet. I’m thinking about one of the striped scarves I’ve seen, where you take your two balls of Noro and you begin at one end of one ball and the other end of the other ball (the idea being that the stripe sequence is reversed on one ball) and then do something with two rows of one and then two rows of the other. Or perhaps I’ll do some of that complicated looking intarsia where you have a plain colour as the background and use the Noro as the contrasting colour. I guess I’ll just stash it for now while I decide :-)
I also bought some more sock yarn (which OH was condescending about) from Tofutsies, the one with chitin in. chitin is crab shells, I gather. It’s meant to be hard wearing. I got that at the same time as some other stuff for my Secret Pal. I have some more bits I want to get, but then the first package will be ready to go.

I do like the secret swaps. The Sox swap has been entertaining and it’s nice to know who is sending you stuff, but it’s also fun to try to work out who on Earth has sent you the fab goodies in a secret swap!

Stretched, Cold and Wet

So, Mummy’s Matching Hat is finished. Hooray! I’ll be posting pictures etc on the FO blog this evening. (we took photos last night but I was tired and so didn’t bother uploading them.)
It looks pretty good, I pretty much made-up the pattern! I hope that mum likes it, I’m going to pop it in the post tomorrow all being well. So the photos are of it on me, and mum’s head is a little smaller than mine. Anyway, you’ll see.

Last night we went to pilates again. We’ve signed up for another term (6 lessons) but we’re going to miss the one on the 11th as we’re not here. After the 6 weeks they are going to stop running the sessions we go to. They’re going to start up “fitness pilates” whatever that is. I gather it’s faster than normal pilates. Hmm. I’m thinking about getting a book on pilates, a pilates band, and a CD of calm music. Then I can do it myself. Okay, we don’t really have space to do pilates in any of our rooms, though in the lounge we might just about manage it. The trouble is that I haven’t got back into going to the gym. I’m thinking about going back to road running – pretty much all I do at the gym is run on the treadmill. I do some weights and stretching exercises that I can do at home (with some small dumbbells and a gym ball, which we own already) and so it seems a little silly to pay so much money for a service I don’t really use.

I wish we had a free or heavily subsidised gym through work. You’d think, me working for an insurer, that they’d do that. Still, the other benefits aren’t bad. And this isn’t a rant about work, so I’ll hop off the work talk.

I’m going to pick up my new book from WHSmith today. This is the one (or one of the ones) I ordered from Amazon but they failed to deliver due to using HDNL. Anyway, for a whole extra quid I have got it delivered to the WHSmith store in town. It took them two working days to get it there, and they sent me an email to tell me it was there. What more could I ask? To be honest, home delivery can be a pain because I’m usually not in. if I was at home all day then HDNL would have been able to deliver, but I would be unable to afford to buy anything because of the extortionate mortgage rates! Anyway, yes. So I’ve bought “The New Complete Guide To Sewing” I am expecting it to be quite a bit of stuff that I already know how to do (I’ve pretty much figured out some stuff myself) but I am hoping that there’ll be some gems which will help me to make more fitted garments (I generally make stretchy things because there’s more room for error!)
I’m looking forwards to it anyway.

While I’m in town, I might have a look to see if Borders have any more US Imported knitting magazines. I saw vogue knitting and interweave knits last time I was in, but neither inspired me to buy them. I’d quite like to get a copy of knitter’s (despite the apostrophe) because the previous one was really interesting, and had lovely patterns in.
There’s one with some free purple dpns in, Lets Knit or Knitting Today or something. I might get that just for the dpns. It also had a baby-patterns book with it. Yey.
Speaking of baby patterns, I’ve leant my mum some needles and patterns and given her some yarn to knit for a small baby due soon. Sigh. I know that she’d love to knit for a future mini-me, but I’m not in that place yet.

In other news, York is flooding again. It’s not too bad at the moment I think. They had a report from next to the Lowther and the Kings Arms opposite the flat we lived in a few years ago. You expect it to flood there though; it floods there every year without fail. If it didn’t flood there in the winter we’d be having a massive drought. Maybe if I get home before it’s too cold and miserable I’ll have a wander to the flooded bits and take some photos. Oh, except for it’s winter and I’m in northern England, so it’s dark from about 4pm. Maybe I’ll take some on my phone then on the way into and back from town this lunch. (if I have to be outside I might as well make the most of it!)
It’s apparently sunny and 6 degrees Celsius (that’s 42F in real money) so it’s not horrible at the moment. It’s slightly warmer than that in Bruges apparently, my friends in Melbourne are enjoying 20 degrees plus (65F ish) as is my aunt in Florida. I’m not grumbling though, it’s below freezing in Toronto where Yarn Harlot is and she has to go outside too!

I wish it was warmer in the office though. I’m frozen! I’m wearing enough clothes, but I am cold. Perhaps a hot drink is in order.

I’m looking forwards to dinner tonight, we’re having steak and chips. Yum. And then I will be sitting and watching CSI and knitting the manly sweater. I hope that I’ll have time to do the update I mentioned in paragraph 1 while the chips are in the oven. Tuesday nights are good for knitting. Unless the CSI is especially engaging, in which case I’ll probably get a row done in each commercial break! Tsk.
Well, back to some proper work for a bit.

This week I are bin mostly...

It’s raining, cold and miserable. Ick.
And I haven’t blogged in ages. Sorry about that.
I don’t really have an excuse. I got half-way through writing a post about something or other, but got way-laid. So, here I am.
This weekend, being one with nothing “booked” in it was scheduled to be Christmas shopping. But, I booked into the hairdressers first, and that took longer than anticipated. However, we got some prezzie shopping done. I still have to think of something for my mum and sister, and for Leon. I’ve bought two things for him so far, well – three if you count the thing he knows about!
I usually enjoy Christmas shopping, though town was even busier than normal. And we were paying a darned fortune for parking! I decided to pay using my mobile, you just text vast amounts of information to this number and they debit your bank account. It’s quite a good method, except that they cheekily charged extra! Poo.
The good bit, though, is that they text you when your parking is about to run out, and if you reply you can extend it; which is handy if you’re in the middle of having a cuppa at the time!

Anyway, other than getting a new hair-do (->) and a bit of Christmas shopping, I also bought some yarn. I bought seven balls of beautiful praline coloured rowan pure wool aran. Okay, it’s brown. It’s for the “Manly Sweater” for Leon. I thought that I had enough of the contrasting colours (Ivory and Sage) but it turns out that I need two balls of the ivory, so to make sure that they’re the same dye-lot (it’s very slightly off white) I’ve had to order two more. Still, I’m sure I can think of something to do with a ball of almost-white pure wool aran weight yarn! :)

I know, I am not meant to be buying any yarn until the S&C in Harrogate, but I do like to have the yarn I want for a project. I’m planning on casting on my Urban Vest as soon as I finish the last of my Christmas knits (although I really should go back to Gypsy Socks first) I’m also inspired to knit more gloves.
My sister asked for gloves rather than mittens for Christmas, (she’s the only person who has asked for specific knitted items!) and so she’s getting some. They’re in a really funky colour (I’ll be updating the finished items blog en-masse after Christmas with all the gifts I’ve been making!)(If you’re on ravelry you can see the yarn already) and I’ve used the pattern for Web Generated Hand Knit Gloves by the Knitting Fiend - she also does socks and the like. Anyway, I am really enjoying knitting the gloves - I’m up to the index finger on the first glove (so I have not just four dpns but also three stitch holders and a stitch marker in play - I’m considering an extra stitch marker too to mark the beginning of the round on my 9-stitch finger!) I’ve been intermittently trying them on (no pun intended) and they’re slightly too big for me - by only a teensy bit. I figure that’s good though, as my sister has slightly bigger hands than me. The cuff is big on me too, but I have unnaturally skinny wrists! So, I’m confident that they’ll fit; I like the simplicity of the pattern and I am seriously considering making a full hat-scarf-glove set for myself, if i can find some suitable yarn!
I’m currently lovingRowan Tapestry, it’s 70% Wool and 30% Soybean Protein Fibre. You get 120m per 50g ball and its tension is 22sts and 30 rows to 10cm on 4mm needles – so I guess it’s basically DK. All the balls look so nice, and I think would make lovely gloves. I’d think about doing the Argosy scarf from knitty. They did it in Noro, but I think that it would work in Rowan Tapestry. However, the gloves are plain old stocking stitch, so a posh scarf might be a bit much – but all that in just stst would be sooooo boring! Hmm. I guess I could add a cable or something to the gloves, and then add the same cable to the scarf and hat. – eek, we’re back into design-it-yourself type territory! But I do enjoy that, hopefully the Gypsy Socks will be a testament to whether I’m any good at making up my own patterns (sort of) or not. Taking a basic pattern and embellishing it is not really designing, is it?

Well, those of you not into yarn will probably be bored stiff by now.
In other news… umm. I do have more craft news, but I guess I’ll save that for now.

We went back to the gym yesterday. I now ache. Anyway, it was actually not bad. My cardio sucked, but then we haven’t been to the gym for a month! (Except for Pilates) I plan to go either Tuesday or Wednesday this week.

Thursday this week is the bi-annual Pub Treasure Hunt! Woo! Bad Data will once again be competing in rounds of dressing up, drinking, answering questions on random topics, and collecting treasure. We usually score about mid-table, though we have in the past won the fancy dress part of it. Depending on the organising team we could end up carrying large fruit items, balloons or eggs and have to find monkeys, light bulbs, photos and the like. The theme this time is “stereotypes”. One could argue that any dressing up contest is usually about stereotypes.
In the past, Bad Data have dressed as:
Batman Villains
Pop Idol Judges
Captain Scarlet
Wacky Races
Dukes of Hazzard
Witches and Wizards
Highwaymen
And now… The French.

I was hoping for a more interesting theme, but still… sadly “geeks” had already been taken before we entered. Shame, how could any team make better geeks than programmers? Oh well, I bet the team doing geeks will accidentally end up dressing as nerds – haha, then we’ll laugh. Ahem.
Really though, we’re being the French. Complete with berets and striped tops. I haven’t yet decided whether I’m going to wear the ‘tache or whether I’m going to try to do “la resistance” a là ‘Allo ‘Allo.
But, I will be taking the camera, so look out for the pictures!

Home Grown Shop

We went to the supremarket tonight.
I tried to buy only things from the UK. Lamb (Wales), a Leek (Yorkshire), Mushrooms (Yorkshire), etc.
Then Leon bought some Danish bacon.
Oh well, almost all UK grown :)

Yarn arrived!

I collected my parcel from CucumberPatch today. Look at the amazing yarn I bought!

Lovely, is it not?

Waiting (im)patiently

Knitting and Craft Related
So, a mere two nights ago, on Wednesday evening, I ordered a big load of yarn from cucumberpatch. They say on the site that usually parcels arrive on the next working day. Now, I’m not so harsh as to expect the yarn on Thursday – the order wouldn’t have reached them until then. However, I am hoping that it will arrive today. It requires a signature, of course – I wouldn’t want them to leave my yarn with some random person who doesn’t appreciate it. However, I’m stuck at work not able to wait at home for it. As we only live 5 minutes away from the post office sorting office I don’t mind walking down there to collect it, so I am hoping that it is delivered early enough that the little card that the man puts through the slot says “please leave 1 hour” or some other short time. It will be annoying if it is delivered 15 minutes before I get home and if the card says “please leave 24 hours” because I’m not going to be here, so I can’t collect it until Monday if I can’t get it today. How depressing.
I promise to photograph and blog it as soon as I get chance.

I also ordered a small amount of yarn from Get Knitted which I would expect to fit through my letterbox, unless they have a very peculiar way of packing. So I will at least be able to begin my Christmas knitting marathon. I can talk briefly about the Get Knitted package because it’s yarn for making a nice scarf for Leon’s Grandma. I’m planning on a pattern from one of the Stitch n Bitch books and using some very posh Louisa Harding - Kimono Angora, which is 70% angora. I’m quite excited about using it, and it’s an excellent price at Get Knitted at the moment as it is on sale.

I know that I should relax, some yarn should be there when I get home.

I also made a sad discovery last night. I bought some lovely yarn from Sheepish which is my LYS. [They have been very good in there] However, in my excitement at buying Rowan Pure Wool Aran, I accidentally bought only one ball of each colour I wanted (two balls total) when I actually wanted two balls of each colour. Oh dear. The chances of me getting more of those two colours from the same dye lot is pretty slim I think. This means that I can’t make the cusion covers just yet, which is a shame. However, it also means that I have one of the seven balls of yarn needed to make Leon’s manly sweater. The cream ball will make the cream stripes (the thinner one, I believe) so now I only need to buy 2 balls of green (or was it another colour?) and 4 balls of brown. I'm thinking about using the other ball I bought to make the newsboy cap, though I need some plastic stuff for the brim. I fancy a green knitted hat.

In Other News
I’m thinking about growing my hair again. It’s gone a bit mullet at the moment (!) because it’s been too long since I last had it cut. It needs colouring too because my roots are showing. I’m probably going to go for something a bit warmer now it’s coming in to winter. I usually end up with a gingery colour in winter. I don’t want it to be a horrible mess for the wedding in November, so I’ll have to get it trimmed at least again then. Growing out this very layered and choppy style could be fun.

Aston is still well. I see other bloggers posting “dogs on Thursday” and “Yarn Pron Friday” and I wonder whether there should be something similar for my little hamster. Bless him. He’s been quite grumpy since Leon cleaned him out on Wednesday night. The new sawdust isn’t as nice, it’s much rougher. He doesn’t seem fussed though (Aston, not Leon, Leon was quite worried about the sawdust). So if anyone knows of any “Hamsters on …” rings (I’m thinking days of the weak, not toast here) let me know. If not I might just make it up, pick a day and go for it. He deserves a little limelight.

Lastly, I need a new winter coat. Some days haven’t been too cold so it’s not the end of the world yet. Anyhow, I’ve seen a very pretty coat in New Look which is so nice, but a bit more expensive than I usually go for. It is a wool blend though, and has an attached hood with fur trim. I’ve seen some nice ones in Next too, about the same price, but not quite as nice, and black. I don’t really want a black coat, too miserable. Lights and brights cheer me up in winter.
In a move to keep cheerful today (half day at work!) I’m wearing pink-and-brown which is a brilliant combo and matches my allstars. I like pink.
On that note, I’ll sign off, leaving you with that statement once more:
I like pink

S.E.X. (Stash Enhancement eXpedition)

I’m ordering a massive package of yarn online. Not really an expedition, but still.
I’m making some Christmas gifts, that is all I can say. I’m not telling who they are for, or what it is that I’m making. I have a short time limit to make anything though! It’s less than three months ’til Christmas!

I’m also thinking about treating myself to some of the Lane Borgosesia Cashwool that I’ve seen at Pavi Yarns. This would be to make “Coastal Shades” from a recent SK. It’s a lace scarf thing. Pretty, in two colours. They used pale blue and cream, but there’s scope for others there. (Nutmeg and Ecru might work…) but anyway, I’ll probably hang on until either Pavi have a sale on these or next payday.
Oh, wait – next payday I’ll be saving up for the Stitch and Craft show in November. Poo.
So, I’ll be waiting until that sale happens.
Never mind though, I have lots of other knitting to be doing, and my progress on almost all of my projects is pathetically slow at the moment. In fact, for one item it’s negative. Yes, I’ve frogged the Spiderweb Capelet. I got to the last row, looked at it and thought oh no, that looks nasty. I think I might have used an inappropriate yarn, a solid colour would have been much better. Still, I have balled the yarn back up to use for something else nice.

This weekend we’re off down to Cambridgeshire to visit Leon’s folks. We have not seen them since before our holiday. It’s usually a pretty relaxing weekend for me, I get to knit and we have lots of cups of tea. We sometimes go on daytrips to see things, we went to a farm last time which I liked because I like the sheep and goats, and the chickens actually. And Pigs. In fact, everything except for cows. [on a side note, I’ve been trying to figure out if you could knit from the hair of a highland cow – anyone know?]
We’re going to a quiz of some sort in the evening, they field a family team.

Well, I’m off to do some knitting. I have still got a scarf, socks, bag and blanket on the go. (is there such a thing as knitting ADD?)

Crazy

The weekend was, as expected, a crazy shopping spree!

Leon and I went in pretty much every shop in York (well, that's an exaggeration, but it felt like it!) to try to find the bits we still wanted for our hols. I bought some T-shaped T-shirts and a couple of vests, a bag, some knickers, that sort of thing. I wanted some cheap T-shaped T-shirts to wear if when I get my shoulders sunburnt. I also picked up a casual sun dress. Most importantly I picked up the new bikini that I have been hunting for. It's practical for water parks. I went swimming in it to test its not-being-see-through-ness, which was sucessful. I also jumped up and down and wiggled about a lot to make sure I wasn't likely to fall out of it (which is the case with my side-tie ones!)

I also discovered that them people who keep whinging about clothing sizes are right! I tried on some size 12 items in several shops, which ranged from a 36" (my bikini top) to a 40 (Dorothy Perkins vest). This is confusing and irritating. However, the thought of going metric is even less appealing - I don't want to be a 90cm person, even if I am. 90 sounds big, 12 sounds small(er). Though the connotations would be different I guess. Who knows.

I did try to buy some all stars that I liked from Office. The first pair I liked they didn't have in my size. Bummer. So I asked for another pair which I liked almost as much. They did have one pair in my size, but they were terribly scuffed. Bummer. I went to two other shops which sell this kind of shoe. Nobody had the ones I wanted. In the end I bought a pair of glittery biscuit coloured ones from New Look (not real All Stars) for a tenner. I'll buy some proper All Stars in the USA where they'll be cheaper. And the New Look ones are really comfy, so maybe it was for the best!

So, then I finished off the secret item I was making, and I looked at it...
I giggled.
I held it up to show Leon as I began to laugh.
Oh dear!
What should have been a pretty shawl would go round most people at least twice, and was about long enough for a toddler. I ripped it out before thinking of taking a photo of the hilarity though! It was brilliant. So the surprise isn't happening, there's no way I can knit something in three days, with all the other stuff I have on anyway.

I'm in SP11!
I'm still waiting on ravelry

Running in socks

Last night I went on my first run with some of the other girls doing the race for life. The planned route was from work, over Scarborough Bridge, up to Clifton Bridge, and then back. However, while we were waiting for the entire group to turn up Leon happened to come past, so I got him to collect my bags and instead of the original route, I ran from work over Scarborough Bridge, up to Clifton Bridge, back to Scarborough Bridge and over, then the other way down the river to my house. Around 2.14 miles according to GMaps Pedometer (that’s 3.45 km). It wasn’t too bad, although we did have a rest under Clifton Bridge before we came back. To celebrate, we’re off out for a curry tonight!

I measured myself last night for the first time in a while. It appears that I might finally have lost an inch from my waist. (This explains why some of my trousers are falling down)

I’ve done quite a bit of shopping for my holiday, including some exciting bits I have ordered from Avon. There’s a funky beach bag coming to go with my sun lotion. I’ll probably get more than just the stuff that I’ve ordered, but the one I’ve ordered has a slight tint so you can see if you’ve got everywhere! Less good if you don’t want it everywhere I guess. I ordered a couple of shower scrubs too, but I think that was all – oh and a toiletries bag, which has some mini bottles and pots in for taking lotions and potions in! Excellent!

I’m going to have to go back to New Look and buy the beige sling backs I saw. I saw them when I was shopping for my dress for Rose’s wedding, but couldn’t justify the expense. Now they’re half price, so I can justify that a bit more! I could so easily spend a fortune though! They’ve got some cropped trousers, linen mix, in fantastic colours at the moment. There is also a green dress that Leon has convinced me I should get, but it’s not in the New Look at this end of town, so I’ll have to go to the other one and see if they have it there. I’ll need a belt, though, or it’ll make me look pregnant! Haha. I have a fab green and pink dress/top for our holidays (I’ve probably mentioned it) and I also hope to get another of the same style. I like them. I’m still umming about some nice flipflops I’ve seen in a catalogue, where there are also a couple of dresses I like – however, the green dress is much like the ones in the catalogue. Hm.

The second sock is coming along nicely. I'm about half way down the leg (if you call it that?) and about 20 rows away from starting the heel bit. I think I might try a toe-up pair next time. I’ve noticed something about my sock yarn too, it’s much more stretchy than my double knit, for example. I don’t know whether that’s because the double knit is not as high a percentage of wool though. Sock yarn is so dear too! Compared to normal yarn I guess it’s not bad really, but it’s the fact that one ball and (for my current pair) many many hours of work go into the socks, and that’s so much more expensive than buying socks. I’m looking forwards to wearing them for the first time though.
If any knitters are reading, would you suggest that I wash the newly knit socks before I wear them? If so, should I just stick them in the machine or hand wash them? I’m using the Opal yarn, I think it is 100% wool – if not it’s close to.

I have to finish the socks soon though, because I have so many other projects waiting in the wings! As well as the sudoku blanket there’s knitting for the SCBU to be done and there are loads of accessories I want to knit. There’s also at least two tops I want to knit in the most recent issue of Simply Knitting, and the next one is due out in about three weeks! At least now that my yarn stash is sorted out I can see exactly what yarn I have – I’ve got loads of fancy yarns with no present use – if anyone knows of anything interesting to do with about 20 50g balls of random fancy yarn, let me know! They’re probably going to end up as trimmings for something or other. Some of the nice feathery stuff might make nice teddies, or cuffs on mittens!
I’m sure I’ll think of something. The eyelash stuff is rotten to work with though; I really don’t know what to do with that. I guess I’ll think of something – or I’ll see a pattern I like somewhere. (Or sell it on ebay!)