it's here!

ETA: Sorry some photos have been removed because of copyright issues.

Yarn Forward arrived yesterday and I very excitedly tore off the plastic cover to take a look at this (sorry can't show you the front cover with my design on it. Had to remove it due to copyright).

yes, that's my 'Lulu' design. I know it's bright yellow and to be honest I didn't choose the colour but I think the photography is brilliant. I showed it to a friend today and she said she thought it looked great to wear as a cover up to the beach. My idea when I designed it was for it to be worn over leggings, which is a brilliant option for those not so confident about showing off their legs or on chilly days.

Here are some other photos, the first two are the photos of the mag

This is my second front cover for Yarn Forward and i'm very excited. it gives me such a buzz to see my desing on the front.

I must admit I've been struggling to get any work done this week and I had a bad week last week which means I need to get on with it for the rest of this week. There are patterns to be written and e-mails to reply to. I've been really struggling to concentrate and focus lately and my to-do list is getting ever longer. I did manage to tick off two jobs on that list today:  I placed two wholesale yarn orders for Woolfest. Most of the other Woolfest vendors are probably well organised and been dying yarn for weeks, I'm not. I was determiend to be organised but I'm worried I'm getting behind now. But today I've ordered 4 new yarns plus one new yarn yesterday. I've got two new lace yarns coming, a pure silk which has 1000m and a Silky BFL Lace which has 760m and is a replacement for my Supreme Lace which I can't get hold of right now. I've also ordered a silk 4ply, and two yarns I've been desperate to order for ages: Ocean Silk which is a seacell/silk 4ply yarn and is gorgeous. And Silky Camel which is a 4ply silk/baby camel blend which is also gorgeous. I can't wait for these yarns to arrive. I will dye some to put in the shop for those who can't get to Woolfest.

I've listed a few skeins in the shop today.I didn't get much dyeing done last week so there isn't much to list but there are a few skeins of Amazing Cashmere Lace and some of my yarns this week are named after some of my favorite places on Costa Blanca and Costa Calida in Spain. Can you tell I'm longing for our summer holiday?

Cashmere El Palmeral:

Cashmere Playa Flamenca:

Cashmere Pumpkin:

And 3 colours of Super Merino Sock:

From left to right -  Mar Menor, Alicante and Sandstone.

yesterday I skived off work and went to visit Tina Barrett who will be familiar to readers of Let's Knit, Knitting, Knit Today and Yarn Forward. Her gorgeous red dress was on the cover of last month's Yarn Forward. She's a brilliant designer and a lovely person and only lives 10 mins drive from me. We had a great morning eating cake and talking about knitting and designing. It's great to meet up with and talk to someone who understands exactly what you're talking about. I had a browse through some of Tina's fantastic knitting books and borrowed a book by Lily Chin which is called Couture crochet workshop which is a fantastic book adn I may end up buying it. I stayed far too long at Tina's but we had such a great time. Tina also showed me the website she's doing for her husband's hand-made knitting and spinning accessories and tools. They are fantastic.

This morning I had plans to get my act together and do some pattern writing and grading then my friend, Clare, called and asked if i had time to pop over. I didn't have to be asked twice. I always enjoy seeing Clare. We could talk for hours. We spent a couple of hours catching up before I headed home for lunch and to dye some yarn. I didnm't get as much done as I'd hoped but I've dyed a few more skeins of Super Merino (my last 6 skeins in stock) and some Angora Lace. I'd planed to do some Exoctic Cobweb Lace and Cashmere Lace too. From next week I need to devote one or two sessions a week to some serious dyeing to get ready for woolfest. I also need to tidy up my workroom so I'll have room to store all my Woolfest stock. Now I need to do some work before I go to bed. Oh and I have done a little bit of knitting in between adn during all the sosialising I've done. I'm making good progress on my current secret project and this evening I treated myself to an hour of knitting on my beaded lace shawl. I will get an up to date in progress photo soon.

now go and take a look at the shop update.