Not quite to plan

Is definitely a good description of this week. I lost two days in which I did very little, Wednesday and Thursday, due to severe back pain, very little sleep and feeling generally unwell. I'm still struggling to shake off the cold I got when we got back from Norway. I'm felling a lot better now though. I've had two nights of good sleep, my back is much better. I've had really red eyes all week though and thought it was to do with being tired. Vanessa had conjunctivities last week and once or twice this week I've been wondering if I've caught it but then with the lack of sleep and pain my eyes would be red anyway and they're not weepy like when I get conjunctivities. They are still a bit red and this morning feel a little bit itchy. I did have some eye drops in Norway as one of my eyes really swelled up and I may have some left. I can't remember if I brought the bottle home or threw it away before we left. If I can find it I may try it for a few days and if it's no better by Monday I'll call the doc.

The shop update is now ready.. I'd also planned to dye some yarn yesterday but didn't get time. My new deliver of citric acid didn't arrive until lunchtime after I missed the Fed-Ex man on Thursday. After dyeing with vinegar on Wednesday, and being reminded of how much I hate that smell, I decided not to use vinegar again. I'm hoping to do my dyeing this afternoon, including some Bamboozle sock for the Let's Knit cowl and handwarmers and some lace for the Lace Variety Club. Which means if you'd like to sign up for the Lace Variety Club there is still time. I'm hoping the yarn will be dry by Monday so I can get the parcels posted then. The Sock and Easy lace clubs were posted yesterday.

There are some new yarns in the update including Royal Lace which is a blend of Royal Baby Alpaca (which is supersorted baby alpaca) and silk,

new base yarn for Supreme Sock (50% merino/50% silk)

 and Merino Tweed which consists of 2 strands of merino and 1 strand of Superwash meirno. It's gorgeous.

 More Royal Lace and other lace yarns next week.

On Thursday night, Simon took the girls to see his parents. I was extremely tired and went to bed before they came home.  I was reading when they got back and the girls came in to say good night to me. I was reading Margaret Stove's Wrapped in Lace which is fantastic.

 Emily sat down on my bed and looked at my book and exclaimed: ' Mum, are you reading a knitting pattern?' The answer was yes. then Vanessa came in and said: 'Mum, are you reading a knitting pattern?'. both of them sounded like they thought I was mad to be reading a knitting pattern in bed. I wasn't actually reading the pattern itself but this book has lots of notes to go with each pattern explaining about shapes, shaping, where in the world the shawl comes from and lots of other useful stuff and i find it fascinating. My girls thought it was unbelievable.

I've been doing a lot of swatching again this week but I've also done quite a few rows on my cable scarf.

 My friend's birthday is in about a week's time and I'm not sure I'll keep my enthusiasm for this scarf going for that long plus I need to cast on for a secret project next week. I'm also thinking I must finish up some wips soon. I've got too many wips on the needles right now.

A year ago I started fundraising for Shelterbox which is a charity providing an emergency care package including tent and essential supplies for an extended family after a natural disaster.  My fundraising was promted by the Haiti earthquake a year ago. This week they were saying on the local news that the tents that Shelterbox provided a year ago are still in use. My target was to raise enough for one Shelterbox, which is £490. I'm now less than £3 off that total. And i'm planning to keep going. I'll increase the target to raise enough money for another Shelterbox this year and I will be designing another pattern. I've been thinking about this for a while and I will decide on which pattern to go for during the next week. If you want to help me reach my target, click here, and if I've already reached my target by the time you click, then please still donate as I will increase my target and continue fundraining. You can also download the 'Friendship' Shawl in exchange for your donation. And to all those who've donated this year, a HUGE thank you. Watch out for the next Shelterbox pattern coming soon. I've got a few sketches and charts ready for small shawls so will get cracking on one very soon.

I should have posted a 'Pattern of the Week' yesterday but I ran out of time. I've still not decided which pattern to post as I've got several patterns where the copyright has returned to me plus one or two re-vamped patterns that  I want to get ready. So I will put off the 'Pattern of the Week' until tomorrow or Monday and it may be one of my 'new' patterns.

some gorgeous yarns from Great Northern Yarns arrived this week. We have two colours of Cashmere DK

Two balls of 4ply/fingering weight yarn. The green one is a blend of yak, mink, soy and baby merino  and the blue one is a blend of mink, milk and baby merino. The mink is humanly harvested. Read about it on their website. I'm thinking i may use the blue mink/milk/merino blend for the new Shelterbox shawl. I've charted out some options and may start on it tonight, although I already have too many wips on the needles.

Have a lovely weekend and come back for the 'Pattern Of The Week' tomorrow.

Pattern Of The Week

it's time for the first pattern of the week which will become a regular feature this year. Every Friday I will choose a pattern of the week, sometimes it'll be a new pattern launch and sometimes an old one. For one week you will get 50% off if you purchase this pattern.

This week's pattern of teh week is Fantasy Cables sock pattern. This is a top down pattern with an unusual cable pattern. One size suitable for medium-large ladies/small-medium mens.

 I've chosen this pattern because I'm in the middle of knitting this pattern for myself right now. The second sock has been on the needles for ages and I need to finish it so while this pattern is the pattern of the week I will set myself the target of finishing my second Fantasy Cables sock.

To take advantage of this offer, go to my Ravelry pattern shop and use code: Fantasy to claim 50% off this pattern only. This offer is only available on Ravelry. Offer is valid until midnight UK time on Thursday 13th January. And come back for the next pattern of the week next Friday.

I've had a big yarn delivery today. 20 kg of gorgeous yarn. I now have a huge box sitting in the hallway. I'm busy clearing and re-arranging my workroom so I can fit all this new yarn in. My chest of drawers where I keep my YarnAddict yarns is falling apart so I've taken my stash yarn out of their drawers and put my YarnAddict yarns in there and I'm putting my stash yarn in my broken chest of drawers. All my shelves need clearing out too.

This weekend will be a dyeing weekend and Monday there will be dyeing action too. My first job is to dye the Sock Variety Club yarn and Easy Lace Club so if you want to sign up for these clubs be quick. there are also joint options for The Sock Variety Club and Easy Lace Club and for Sock Variety Club and Lace Variety Club. The joint options will save you money if you wish to join two clubs. All the clubs include one skein of luxury yarn (sock yarn for the sock and easy lace clubs and lace yarn for the lace club) dyed in an exclusive club only colourway, a suitable pattern and for the easy lace club, a tutorial. For the easy lace club the pattern and tutorial will teach you all the skills you need for basic lace knitting and will cover topics such as working yarn overs and various directional decreases, read a lace chart, knit a half hexagon or triangular shawlette, provisional cast on and working a applied border.  Go on, join now, you know you want too.

Here's a bit of a preview of my new yarns in their un-dyed glory. (Light is very poor today so they don't look as good as they could do).

Merino Tweed which consists of 2 strands of merino and 1 strand of superwash merino. It feels gorgeous and it'll be intersting to see how it knits up:

Merino/silk sock yarn, this one is different blend and constructions from my old Supreme Sock so I'm not sure whether to call it the same or find a new name. It has 50% merino and 50% silk and is yummy.

Bamboozle Lace which is the same blend as Bamboozle sock and has 800m.

And last an absolutely stunning yarn, Royal Alpaca/Silk Lace. A blend of supersorted baby alpaca, which is amazingly soft as it's been sorted twice only the finest fibres are used, and silk. It has 1200m and is so soft and silky but is not as fuzzy as some alpaca yarns. I think my next shawl will be in this yarn.

I also have Merino Plus Twist, Fantasy Sock, Dreamy Lace, Fairytale Sock and Angel Lace. Look out for some of these yarns next week.

New clubs & new designs

I've finally finished my current secret project, that is I've finished the knitting and making up but I've still got to finish writing the pattern. but I decided to take a break to announce some exciting club changes. First all the clubs will be going down in price, this is due to changes in the dollar exchange rate and the current economic situation. Check out the club page in the shop for details.

There will be a new club - No Wool Sock Club - This is the club for those of you who are allergic to wool or do not like using wool or just fancy a change. The yarn used for this club will be a gorgeous 55% Organic cotton/45% Tencel blend. it has 400m per 100gr skein. And it's supersoft and gorgeous to knit with. The club will launch in February with the first parcels going out towards the end of the first week/beginning of the second week in February. You also get a project bag in your first parcel and a sock pattern each month. The sock pattern will be the same as the one used for Sockamania that month. And the yarn will be dyed in a shade to suit the sock pattern.


Sockamania PLUS Merino Sock Club will be changing it's name to the Sock Variety Club. The reason for the change is that I'll be using a variety of sock yarns for this club. The yarns may include Merino Plus, Super Merino, Bambino, Almerino, Merino/Tencel and BFL sock yarns. Everything else stays the same. You will still get a Sockamania pattern each month, yarn dyed to suit the pattern and a project bag in the first parcel, oh and the prices have been reduced too. check the club page for details. Current Sockamania PLUS members will automatically transfer to the Sock Variety Club. I will e-mail you all over the weekend.

The Lace Variety Club has already had changes announced so no more changes there apart from the price which has gone down. The Lace variety Club is now bi-monthly.

And if you can't decide which club to join or fancy joining more than one. There is now a Two Clubs Option. This will save you money if you join two clubs at the same time, you save more if you join one sock and one lace club than 2 sock clubs.

Go to the club page in the shop for more details on any of the clubs.

Other news - The new Yarn Forward issue is now out, although my copy hasn't arrived so I haven't seen it yet but I've got two patterns in this issue. There is the 'Fusion' Teen jumper which comes in sizes 12, 14 & 16 years.

and the Fern gloves and fingerless mitts. Unfortunately I've not got pics of the sample gloves and fingerless mitts that went in teh magazine but I've got photos of a version of the fingerless mitts I knitted for my friend Marianne for Christmas. I used my own Merino Plus sock yarn and added beads. The original pattern use Opal Planete for Bergere de France and did not have beads.Marianne loved the addition of the beads and I quite fancy a pair myself.
As my secret project is finished I intend to treat myself to some spinning this weekend. I'm aiming to finish this off:
And I'll need to start the Sockamania socks for February this weekend too. This pattern will als obe used for the new 'No Wool club' and 'Sock Variety Club' for February. The Lace Variety Club parcels for January will be sent out on Monday.

Have a good weekend