Hidden yarn & a deadline

I did a bit of a stock take the other day and found some yarn which for some reason had not been listed on the website so I've listed those today. I've not dyed any yarn this week so only a small update today of forgotten sock yarn. The good news is they've all been listed in the Big sock yarn sale and here's a taster.

Angel sock yarn Kiwi:
Angel sock yarn girlfriend - I love this one:

Merino Plus Autum Gold, there is another colourway called weekend away which is very similar.

Super Merino Sock Navy Stripes - another one of my faves:

This is November's Sock Variety Club yarn. I dyed far too muc and have kept a couple of skeins for myself and decided to put 3 in the shop. I don't normally put club yarn in the shop but I'm making an exception this time as I dyed too much by mistake. Talking of club yarn, I'll be dyeing the December Sock Variety Club yarn this weekend. It should have been posted by now so big apologies to any sock club members reading this. The parcels will be going out a little late this month.

The Lace Variety Club parcels went out a few days ago and that over a week late going out so I'm not doing very well this month. I promise to try harder next time.

Last night I decided I needed to get some serious knitting done. I seem to have had less knitting time this week than normal and with a deadline this weekend I had to get on. So I stayed up late and watched some programmes I'd missed online. I got some great knitting done and then instead of switching the laptop off I started browsing Ravelry and some other sites and ended up styaing up till after midnight. I'm paying for it now. I'm exhausted and my neck/top of my back is extremely stiff and sore.

I started the day with a big mug of Aero hot choc (Aero is the best hot choc ever) and a Mince Pie and my knitting.

My sleeve is nearly done now and then it's time to assemble the garment and do the neck line ready to go in the post tomorrow. I've enjoyed this garment and it's knitted in one of my favorite yarns, Manos Silk Blend, and it'll be sad to finish it but I'll be going straight on to another secret project which needs to be finished by middle of December. I may allow myself some indulgent knitting time this weekend and do some more work on my silver Organic Merino shawl. I also need some socks. I'd like to knit a cowl to match my Fame Handwarmers and I've got a friend I want to knit a Christmas present for. So plenty to choose from. I may do some spinning too.

This gorgeous bag arrived this morning from Valerie at Stitchy Mushroom. Valerie does some gorgeous project bags and I've been wanting one for ages.

I love this one and it comes with a hand-made stitchmarker which is so cute:

And now a sad story, I knitted these 'Lacy Diamond' socks and I loved them. the yarn was Almerino Sock which was soft and cosy. They were a bit thicker than my other socks but perfect for keeping my feet warm especially when I have to get up in the middle of the night because of pain.

Although I would recommend handwash for all my yarns, I wash all my socks on 30 degree woolwash with a gentle spin. But last time I washed these I accidentally put on a 40 degree normal wash with a full spin and my gorgeous socks now look like this:

Yes, they're felted and far too small for me. They may fit Emily and she may be able to use them as slippers. I'm sad as I loved these socks and i'm short of knitted socks anyway. So I must get some socks on the needles soon.

We've got a busy weekend planned. Tomorrow we're going out for an Indian lunch with a colleague of Simon's and his family. I love Indian food although I wouldn't normally choose it for lunch.

Have a great weekend and check out the sock sale.

Just quickly...

...wanted to tell you that the BIG WINTER SOCK YARN SALE has started. Hurry up and grab your bargain. Lots of sock yarns reduced by 20%.

I'm recovering from a day of shopping in Bristol yesterday. Had a great day but suffering now. Have finished the sleeve for my secret project and done a couple of crochet squares. Now off to do some machine knitting.

Happy shopping!

More Crochet

Yes this is still a knitting blog but my current knitting is secret. You'll see it in Yarn Forward in the new year sometime (issue 22 I think). So in the meantime let's take a look at some crocheting I've been doing. When I desperately needed a break from secret knitting in the last couple of weeks I've been doing this:

The purple squares are Bambino Sock yarn and I think they are the leftover bit from the Let's Knit mystery blanket. The orange squares are Posh Yarn cashmere 4ply which I've had for a long, long time and it's gorgeous to crochet with. I don't have quite enough for a scarf so I'll have to find another colour and do some more.

Yesterday was day 2 of my crochet course and we started by learning filet crochet. We did the basic blocks (top one) and then had a go at doing bars and lacets (bottom sample):

I liked it but I don't think I'll be doing a whole lot of filet crochet in the future.

After lunch we did Tunisian crochet which I found a bit boring first. It also makes a very dense fabric which I didn't like at first but once I got into it and practiced some other stitches and did a colourchange I quite liked it. I also had a couple of ideas for some simple crochet designs. Watch this space!

I've nearly finished updating the website as I write this. I've got sock yarns this time and my favorites are:

Organic Merino Waltz:

Merino Plus Silver (I just love the silver colourway):

Merino Plus Periwinkle and Navy Blue (perfect duo for the Niamh socks in Let's Knit):

and my favorite, Merino Plus Fab, if this is still around when I've finished my current secret knit this yarn will become socks for me, I just love it:

Merino Plus Lettuce:

Merino Plus Autumn Leaves:

Bambino Sock Purple Dream:

Bambino Sock Mint Cream:

You can see all the new listings here.

Tomorrow, Vanessa and I are off to Bristol tomorrow for a day of shopping with my friend and her daughter. Should be a great girls' day out. I've been planning what knitting to take. There will be a 2 hour bus drive each way so plenty of knitting time. I'm taking the sleeve of my secret project. Finished the front this morning so I thought the sleeve would be nice and light and easy to take. I'm hoping i might finish the first sleeve tomorrow.

Now I'm going to do some crochet before I go to bed. Nite x

New yarn

But before I show you pictures of a gorgeous yarn that arrived yesterday I'll show you photos of the new silver Organic Merino 4ply I've started. This picture doesn't show the beauty of the piece that well. It's got a garter stitch body and lacy edging but the ediging is not showing up properly. I need to get my blocking stuff down and pin it out. will do that next time I block something which should be tonight or tomorrow. I'm trying to resist the temptation of this piece though and concentrate on my current secret project which is progressing brilliantly. I'm about halfway up the body and only cast on yesterday morning. I dyed some yarn earlier which will be in the shop on Friday. While Iwas waiting for all of it to cook I did some machine knitting. I'm trying to knit up some scarves for a craft fair next week. This is the silk lace I had in stock a while back, it's not the same base yarn as my current Pure Silk Lace but it's equally gorgeous. will look a lot better when it's blocked. More pics then.

This is the yarn I'm drooling over.

It arrived yesterday from Fyberspates and I'm pretty sure it's the same base yarn I used a few months ago for this shawl:

It's ablend of merino/silk and real silver which really sparkles. I love it! I wish I knew the wholesaler for this yarn as I'd love to dye it myself. I'm not sure what to do with it but I'm thinking perhaps a cowl and handwarmer combo for a friend for Christmas although I'm really keen to keep it for myself.

Another parcel of yarn arrives yesterday too. This is Sublime for a secret project I'll be starting around Christmas time. So this is the last you'll see of this until the finished garment is in the magazine next year.

I'm also going to try to knit up some wire bracelets and flower brooches for next week's craft fair and these supplies of wire and beads arrived earlier. Will try and get one piece done tonight. It's pretty quick.

Tomorrow is day 2 of my corchet course. I've done plenty of practising sincle last month and I'm loving it. Will be interesting to see what we'll learn tomorrow.

Crochet and wire knitting

I had a pretty awful weekend really. After working like mad last week to finish a secret project I must have over done it as this weekend my neck/back and shoulders were killing me. Iwas in so much pain i didn't really know what to do with myself on Saturday. Saturday mornings are rather stressful here as girls have ballet and the way the lessons are organised means 4 trips in total back and forth. In between all this Simon was nagging Vanessa to do some homework and revision. Vanessa was tired and argued back, then Simon and I ended up arguing. Not a nice morning. In the afternoon I went to bed and slept for 3 hours. Didn't want to wake up again and had to force myself to get up. Sunday was a little better but I was still in lots of pain. We went to church in the morning and I managed to sit in a comfy lounge chair which helped a lot. In the afternoon we went to a local diy store and got paint and flooring for decorating Vanessa's bedroom next weekend. I struggled even though we weren't in the store long. Basically the top half of my back was a tight, aching mess this weekend. I'm a lot better today.

I decided to do some indulgent knitting this weekend. I had some silver Organic Merino 4ply which I was desperate to do something with. I've also fallen in love with garther stitch this year. I used to hate garter stitch but now I love it. It's squishy, quick to knit and beautiful. So afte charting and thinking a bit I started a shawl in garter stitch with a lace border. I forgot to take pics earlier and it's too dark now so will share pics later in the week. But it's looking good so far and I'm very happy with it. Not sure if I'm going ot use one or two skeins yet.

Last weke this gorgeous 'Crochet Motifs' book arrived. It's full of colourful crochet shapes (see below for what I've made already). I love it. So much inspiration.

I've also acquired this Crochet Answer book. I have the knitting version and it's brilliant, so had to get this one too.

And I was tempted to get tihs Granny Square book but I'm not too impressed. There are two projects in there I like. If I'd flicked through it in the shop I wouldn't have bought it but that's the problem with ordering online.

This was the first shape I made from the first book. It's done in Patons cotton whichI don't like. It felt stiff and horrible to crochet. I'm not too keen on cotton and this didn't do anything to persuade me.

I crocheted these two squares last night. The yarn is Manos Silk Blend in one of my favorite colourways. I'm kind of thinking I'd like to crochet up enough squares in Silk Blend ot make a scarf or a blanket. But these two are very different size. So not sure.

I knitted two bracelets in wire with beads. The one on the right is purple wire and a mix of beads in lilacs, purples & plums and it's for me which is why it is so much bigger than the other one.

The one on the left is silver wire with silver and charcoal beads. The wire was the same thickness but the silver one was much harder to knit with. Not sure how to secure the bracelets. If anyone has any good advice re fastenings please let me know. I decided to try another flower brooch too. This one is knitted using silver wire and a silver Kidsilk Haze. I'm not totally happy with this one so may try another one tonight. Got some gorgeous pink Kidsilk Haze ready.

After an indulgent weekend of knitting I'm now ready to start my next secret project. Yarn is ready and is one of my favorite, Manos Silk Blend, in this gorgeous lime-green colourway. This is one of the top colours for this season according to what I've seen in the shops lately.

I started a mobile phone sock with beads last night too. My local knitting group is having a stall at a craft fair next week so I thought I'd knit up a few mobile phone socks to sell.

This week I'll mainly be working on the new secret Silk Blend project but I'm hoping to find some time to knit some wire bracelets and mobile phone socks and some scarves on the knitting machine for the craft fair next week.

I'm hoping to do a shop update with bambino sock, organic merino 4ply and Merino Plus sock on Wednesday.

Let's Knit

Issue 25 of Let's Knit arrived yesterday. I was so excited and quickly flicked through it looking for my 3 designs. Love the sweater on the front too. In fact, it's a fab issue with lots of shopping ideas, beautiful yarns and designs.

Close to the back of the magazine is part 1 of a new Mystery Baby Lace Blanket project. It's in 3 parts and you won't know what the finished blanket will look like until part 3 is published in issue 27. The blanket is gorgeous though so get the magazine and get knitting. If you don't have a baby or know someone who has a baby or one on the way, knit one anyway.

Here's a pic of part 1 I took before I sent it off. I struggled to get any decent picture. It was difficult to try to photograph the 3 parts separately without revealing anything I shouldn't.

The yarn is Bambino Sock and I'll be dyeing more of this gorgeous yarn tomorrow and it'll be on the website by Monday. You can also use Fantasy Sock yarn which is equally gorgeous. I've set up a special section on the website where you can order pairs of Bambino or Fantasy and get £2 off. You can ofcourse order these special pairs even if you're not planning to knit the blanket. There are lots of shawls out there which would be fantastic in these yarns. How about these stunning colourways:

See, there's that grey again. I just love that colourway. Another good yarn for this blanket would be Organic Merino 4ply. I will dye up some of that next week.

More Fantasy sock yarn will be listed tomorrow.

My next design this month, also in Let's Knit, is the gorgeous Niamh socks. I took a celtic cable (which I love) and translated it into a fair isle pattern. The colourways are Vermillion and Candyfloss. I did swatch in several colourways and I'll share some pics of those over the weekend sometime. There will be lots more Merino Plus and Super Merino next week including some more skeins in Vermillion and Candyfloss. If you'd like to pre-order some, contact me.

And, next we have 'Mel', a beautiful Debbie Bliss Fez sweater. Fez is a lovely yarn and is a blend of merino and camel. I'd love to use this yarn again for future designs. I love how the magazine have styled this sweater. It looks so much better than it does on my dress form below.

Mel features 3/4 length sleeves and deep mistake rib along the bottom of body and sleeves and around the neckline. It's easy to knit and so comfy to wear. Perfect for layering. And as it's an aran weight yarn, it knits up very quickly.

3 designs in one issue is not bad, but that's not all. My yarns were also mentioned twice in this issue. Here's a round up of various stunning yarns and my Exotic Cobweb Lace was included. It's the red skein I've tried to circle in the bottom left hand corner. They got my website wrong though on this page.

And finally in a round up of all things violet and glitzy we have my Pure Silk Lace which is skein no 4, the one I've circled.

Today, I had another exciting arrival, a parcel from Sock that rock. Their sock yarn is gorgoeus and I try to avoid their website as it's all just too tempting. Aren't these two skeins beautiful?

I needed the red one as I started working on a shawl with a skein of this colourway that I bought at least a year or two ago, maybe even longer ago. But I ran out of yarn very quickly. So I had to order some more and the purple skein just kind of jumped into my basket. there were quite a few other skeins that fancied a trip across the Atlantic too but I managed to resist. I don't need any more yarn!

Here's the shawl in progress:

I just hope the colourmatch is good enough.

I'd better get back to my knitting. I'm finishing another Let's Knit design which needs to be with them by Monday. I've got nearly half a sleeve left to do tonight so it's going to be a late night for me. I hope there is a good movie on. This weekend, after working flat out all week on finishing two deadline designs, I'm allowing myself some time off before I start on a design for Yarn Forward. I'm planning to do some more crochet as my next workshop day is next Thursday. I'm going to have a go at knitting some wire bracelets and flower brooches. I got some wire the other day and I've had to put it out of sight as it's so tempting. The same goes for my crochet hook. I've hidden it. I was in danger of getting seriously hooked which is not good when deadlines are looming. I'm also planning to spend some time with my knitting machine and knit up some scarves. I've got some yarns I'd like to try on the machine. The machine is the best stash buster ever. I'm planning to knit up several scarves for a craft fair the last week of November.

Now, go out and get your copy of Let's Knit. Lots of gorgoeus designs and fun things to read in this issue.