A grey obsession

I think i'm developing an obsession with grey.

Exhibit 1 - the grey merino I'm spinning. I did a little bit more last yet. Had planned to continue spinning while we watched Question Time but my wheel is making a clunking noise so I stopped.

Exhibit 2 - The grey alpaca I bought on Sunday which is gorgeous and will be on the wheel next. Must get a better pic of it. Still not decided whether to try and get another 100gr bag of the grey merino or ply it with some of the grey alpaca. I weighed what I had left last night, thinking if I'd spun less than half I might do the other half on another bobbin but I'd spun over half so I carried on spinning onto the same boobin.

Exhibit 3 - This gorgeous Organic Merino in 3 different colourways. A customer asked for a custom dyed Organic Merino so I did 3 shades. After months of trying to get a good grey I managed to get 3 good ones in one session. I'll be dyeing more greys I think. I'm really keen to knit something in one of these but must finish other stuff first.Exhibit 4 - The silver Snow Queen. This shawl is hanging on my dress form in the lounge and I love it. The colour is perfect. It kind of shimmers and I keep wanting to put it on. So summing up, I think I can safely say I've got a grey obsession. But then who wouldn't being surrounded by these gorgeous greys.

My secret knitting is going well. I'm catching up on one project. Had to unpick a section this morning but all caught up now.

Last night I grabbed an old ball of sock yarn (no idea which brand it is) and decided to play with tuck stitch on my knitting machine. I chose card no 3. I kind of hoped it would be long enough for a scarf but I made it far too wide - about 80 sts - and it's much, much to short for a scarf. It only took 10 mins though, to knit up nearly 100gr of sock yarn. Amazing, isn't it?! I love the fabric. It looks good on both sides.

So I looked through my stash to see if I had two balls of the same colourway and found 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. I did a quick swatch this morning using tuckstitch and the same card. I'm not sure if it looks quite as good in the Noro.

Here's the other side:

I thought instead of knitting a scarf, perhaps I'd do a very basic shrug. But I'm a little undecided. I think this machine might be magic for using up some stash though. I'm hopefully getting a lace carridge for it soon. Would love to be able to do some quick lace scarves on it.

I did play with some other cards and tuck stitch this morning and this one was interesting, although the yarn is so busy you can hardly see it. The other cards I tried didn't quite work. Any machine knitting experts? Any idea which cards work with tuck stitch? My manual should tell me but I can't work it out.

I coudn't resist the temptation to do a little bit of crochet this morning either and made this quick circle. I'm thinking I may be able to get enough circles out of the two balls of Posh sock yarn I've got to make a scarf. not quite sure about how to connect them yet.

Emily wanted me to teach her how to crochet last night so we had a go at a foundation chain and double crochet. She got it I think but I struggled a bit with my patience. Don't think I'm any good at teaching kids. Adults I love teaching but not sure about kids. This weekend she wants me to teach her how to use the knitting machine.