princessdeia

 

1. Stitch Markers, 2. Blue Heron Rayon,
3. Malabrigo Lace, 4. Wildfoote Sock Yarn

Well I am back, and look at the goodies I brought home with me… Stitch Markers, a cute sheep and lobster (to remind me of our time in Cape Cod), Rayon and Malabrigo to make shawls and some sock yarn to make Jason another pair of socks.

1. Superwash Merino Sock - Semi-Solid, 2. Socks that Rock - Mediumweight, 3. Snarky Design Sock,
4. Margo, 5. MadelineTosh Sock, 6. Wexford Merino Silk,
7. 900 MHz Merino, 8. S.A.S.S.Y, 9. Velocity by sKnitches

When I returned home as well as getting some sad news, I was greeted by a parcel containing a Dream Stash and I have to say it really is a Dream Stash - my favourite yarn changes everytime I look at them… I now I have to find some patterns to do this yarn justice.

So after three months of stash-busting, I have finally brought some yarn! I read on Ravelry about Crafty Cottage stocking Peaches and Creme Cotton in the U.K. and I had to give it a try! Jo offers nearly all the shades of Peaches N Creme and a fantastic service, the yarn arrived the next day, there was a slight error with my order, but she quickly sorted out the problem and sent me an extra ball for compensation, now I can’t wait to get knitting.

Original my stash-busting plan was not to buy any yarn in February and March and to try and use up all my pink and orange yarns, as it turns out I ended up knitting a lot slower that I thought and as it ended up, I didn’t buy any yarn in April! I am currently working through my green and brown yarn as part of PS3-Earth.

Part of my plan was to also donate all the money I saved from buying yarn to charity, but I have decided to give the extra savings to Ravelry - even though Ravelraising is over, the amount of time I spent online it makes sense. Speaking of Ravelraising did you check out the list of prize-winners , I was completely shocked!

 
Finally yesterday morning, the first of my flower appeared on my Chilli Plant! 

1. NDS - Mirage, 2. NDS - Dazzle, 3. Cascade 220 - Paints,
4. Cascade 220 - Heathers, 5. Cascade 220 - Quarto, 6. Cascade 220.

I did have big plans to start the year as a two-project-gal, to stash bust and not to develop startitis. Of course this wasn’t going to last long, I went a little mad online, was planning on finally getting around to ordering my Knit Picks Options Needles and Nickel DPN sets. (I got even some cash for Christmas I wanted to spend), then I wanted to buy some Cascade Yarn to make felted hot bottle covers (I went really mad here and brought four types), and then I remember the lovely mirage sock yarn Emms was using at Alice’s Knitmas Party, so of course I have to buy some.

I have been really good in regard to not starting projects, for most this month I have only had two pairs of socks on the needles. I was planning on casting on the Ene shawl (as it was the poll winner last month), however, I am not sure if Shimmer is the right yarn for this project - I think I will get some Knitwitches Silk for this project.

Instead I cast on a Short Row Scarf, using Wendy Fusion yarn, I felt the colour runs where too long to really show off the entrelac pattern, this pattern is much better suited, as each section seems to be a “different” colour.

*Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

The last few times I have seen Laura she has been wearing one of her fabulous shawl creations (really they are more like shawlettes or mini-shawls), I don’t think I would ever wear a big shawl, I guess to a wedding or maybe as a sarong on the beach, but the mini shawls are really wearable. So of course, I had to knit one. I had always liked the Flower Basket Shawl, and I even had the yarn some Knit Picks Shimmer, I brought in the spring. So whilst watching daytime TV today, I have been knitting.

Lolly asked on her blog today about what shoes you wear with your hand-knitted socks with? I have a growing collection of converse boots (I even wore converse at our wedding reception) and I am trying to make matching socks for all my boots, this is newest yarn I have brought to go with my (RED) converse.

This is the second post this week, with my shoes mentioned - I am getting a complex.

Like most of the knitters in London, yesterday I headed up to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting & Stitching Show. Originally, I was meant to go on Thursday, but due to a heavy workload, I decided to go on Saturday, luckily Alice brought a ticket which she no longer needed, as she was now exhibiting, so I used her ticket. This helped me as well as I got to meet up with the girls - who had a list of stalls they wanted to visit.

1. Rooster Almerino Aran, 2. KnitWitches Pure Silk, 3. KnitWitches Pure Silk,
4. The Natural Dyed Studio - Alba, 5. KnitWitches Sock Yarn/4ply, 6. KnitWitches Sock Yarn/4ply

I managed to get some yarn for the swaps I am currently doing (not shown), and of course a lot of sock yarn - I also discovered a new store - KnitWitches, as well as selling some amazing, sock yarn they had some fabulous silk dyed in the most amazing colours. All I wanted to do after the show was go home a knit - but I decided to go to the pub and watch the rugby.

I had one of those amazing weekends where I got to spend time with friend (and meet some new friends) and see some family (most of whom I haven’t seen since my wedding).

A few weeks ago, Alice announced that she was planning a launch party for her online store, knowing that we were going to a wedding over the same weekend, I had to decline the invitation, but over the last few weeks the buzz on the Ravelry London Board has all been about the party.

So I managed to convince the hubby that as the wedding wasn’t until the afternoon we could travel down in the morning.

As well as getting to see the iKnit regulars Alice, Emms and Laura (and Ross), I also got to finally meet Sharon and Arianne. Then there was the lovely ladies from Ravelry - Anna, Gabrielle, Izzie, Mel, Mulene, and Sarah. (I am sure I have forgetten someone - sorry if I have).

Aside from the wonderful company and food, the real reason were all there was to sample Alice’s wonderful finds - over the last few days she has been tempting us on the Socktopus Blog with images of Shelridge Farm, Dream in Color Smooshy and Chameleon Colorworks, and of course we all had to buy, buy, buy.

Of course, what you really want to see is what I brought…

I have spent the last few days stuck at home looking like a hamster with toothache. I am on horrid tablets, and have been warned to stay away from alcohol for the next few weeks. (I will come out in a rash ). Luckily hiding out in my bedroom has given me the perfect opportunity to knit! I decided to cast on my Pure Silk Shrug - originally, I started out swatching and I was going to practice the lace pattern before jumping into the actual shrug.

However, when I realized the sides only started with 18 stitches (I am making the medium size), I jumped straight in, and night and mornings worth of knitting and I am on the second side. I thought I should do the back last when I was more confident about the lace and cables.

Stupidly, I could have used this time to finish off the socks I have on the needles and then I could post some FO (I think my lack of knitting this year is embarrassing).

Still to the yarn goddess is around to cheer me up and my Knit Picks order arrived look at all the goodies. Most of this is planned for future projects, Central Park Hoodie, Fetching, Coronet and maybe a River Stole.

1. Undamaged Box, 2. Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor, 3. Shimmer in Morning Mist, 4. Shimmer in Stained Glass, 5. Andean Silk in Navy, 6. Wool of the Andes in Arctic Pool Heather , 7. Palette in Brindle Heather, 8. Palette in Navy

I have been taking advantage of Rule 2.a in the guidelines for Knit from Your Stash and have ordered several hanks of Natural Dye Studio yarn. I first brought this yarn for my One Skein Secret Pal, last year and of course, I had to buy some for myself. However the yarn has sat in the drawer since the summer, when I signed up for Superfluous Sock Yarn Swap, I decided to send this yarn to my spoilee.

The thought of being separated from this yarn, drew my right back to eBay. My plan was to buy some yarn to make my sockapalooza sock, my pal is from America and loves colour, so I thought a hand dyed British socks would be perfect. The colour is Lilac Sun, as for the pattern, I am thinking something like Lacy Scallops (pdf) or Razor Shell (pdf).

Of course, I couldn’t bid on just one lot and ended up buying four different colours – and there was me thinking the Superfluous Sock Yarn Swap, was designed to help stash-bust not to encourage me to buy more yarn!

As I am knitting from my stash I have already decided what socks I am going to make. I am going to jump on the Cookie A bandwagon, the Lipstick (bright pink) is going to become Hedera, the Regency (pink/lilac )is going to become some Pomatomus and I guess if you are going to knit some Cookie A socks you have to make some Monkey socks which will be the Midnight Ice (blue/white).

To help encourage me to knit these socks, I have signed up to the Summer of Socks KAL, I doubt I will be able to knit four pairs of socks this summer - I am sure SSS will set in but you never know. I guess I should finish the my jaywalkers.

I am trying to convince myself that buying yarn from Knit Picks is benefiting numerous knitters therefore it doesn’t matter that I am breaking the rules of Knit from your Stash, I could place an order entirely of sock yarn – but I have been thinking about patterns I love, like Central Park Hoodie and Fetching and have been buying to make those projects.

For a while now I have been thinking that knitting and the Internet work so well together. Ever since I started knitting again nearly two years ago, the Internet has been my crafting buddy. I started knitting again to relax and unwind the evenings, I picked up some yarn and Vintage Knits in John Lewis one Sunday afternoon, came home found my old needles and two weeks later had made a lace vest.

One day whilst bored at work, where I was wishing I had my knitting with me, I started hunting around on Livejournal for knitting communities. There I found several devoted to the Stitch ‘n Bitch Handbook. I fell in love with the new interesting patterns – I adored the idea of an iPod cozy (my other new obsession at the time was my iPod). I was straight on to Amazon to order the book (again the Internet was there to help my obsession).

The other thing the livejournal communities introduced me to was knitting blogs and knit-alongs.  The following spring I started sharing my craft with this knitting blog and signing up to several KAL’s. soon I had several daily reads and I started using the internet to find new patterns, (like Spring Fling and the OSW), learn new techniques (Socks 101 was a great help for my first pair of socks) and discovering new yarns (I am still dying to try Knit Picks Wool of the Andes). Of course this isn’t mentioning all the other knitters I have ‘met’ from various swaps and exchanges.

This weekend, I brought some Sirdar’s Blur yarn to make a scarf as a birthday present. Instead of looking in my knitting books I headed straight online to find a pattern. The silly thing is I have no idea what kind of pattern of wanted. To me this yarn is the thicker version of Kidsilk Spray, so I was thought of looking for a pattern involving this yarn, however all I found was lacy patterns, and the yarn is too thick for this.

So I never did find a pattern – but whilst hunting on the Rowan website, I found this book. It only has six patterns but all of them are amazing. This is the knitting magazine I have been dreaming about. Recently I have been obsessed with grey yarn (I think it started as I had trouble finding grey cotton this summer), I am already making my dress, but I have plans for a cardigan and capelet. I had an idea what I wanted them to look like and intended to just make up the pattern. But they were Kelly and Harvey.

Feeling good about my new discovery, I turned to bloglines to catch up on my daily reading (see what you all have been up to over the weekend). And there on Lolly’s blog were images of there My So Called Scarf – the perfect pattern for my Sirdar Blur.

This month, is meant to be about Socks - and I have done very little updating. For me one of my greatest knitting pleasures is shown right here. One completed sock all ready for grafting.

I am still amazing when I look at the toe of a hand knitted sock and the grafted stitches - Kitchener stitch is fabulous - even an someone who is awful at sewing (e.g. Me!), can end up with neat, smart looking socks.

I should add I learned to do kitchener stitch via a tutorial on knitty.com - as I said the Knitting and Internet perfect companions.

As I have been concentrating on OSSP, I seem to have neglected Project Spectrum, I received this lovely card for Claudia over the weekend, hidden in the mosaic is eye which has been staring back whilst I type this.

I also invested in some Double Top Cotton in brown, from Texere. Which I am going to turn into the mohair stripe sweater from Vintage Knits. I have some left over Destiny Mohair (also from Texere), from my Wavy Gravy Scarf I made last year. 

Now I have a little confession - even since I started knitting again, and invested in Stitch ‘n’ Bitch, I have thought about trying some of the techniques like kool aid dying and felting - but have never actually ventured outside of my normal knitting.

Last month, I decided to dive in and make a felted stash-busting bag and also the felted clutch from One Skein. This is the stash-busting bag - pre-felt and my Clutch is blocking at the moment, I just need to add some crocheted flowers.

I am doing a pretty bad job of avoiding the World Cup, the idea of meeting up with everyone in the pub to watch the game or staying in and watching crap television isn’t really a fair contest, especially when there is cold beer involved! I watched the England game in the pub on Thursday, and although my knitting was in my bag, the pub was too crowded and the idea of knitting in the smokey atmosphere did not appeal.

My stash has also been enhanced with some Cascade 220, when I started knitting again two years ago, Stitch ‘n’ Bitch became my bible and the Internet was a constant source of patterns, amazingly a large amount of pattern (especially felted patterned) called for Cascade 220 or Lamb’s Pride Bulky, and these yarns where impossible to get hold of – now Get Knitted has started selling both these yarns so I had to check them out – now all we need is got Knit Picks to export to the UK and I will be able to find out what all the fuss is about.

Luckily I am not on a yarn diet, as I brought more yarn on Friday afternoon, when I was meant to be shopping for my Secret Pals when I invested in some Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran for me – I think I will turn it into a summer scarf.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to knit much this weekend, as we saw the Foo Fighters in Hyde Park yesterday – undoubtedly a gig I will tell my children about, gorgeously hot day, one of the London’s most famous landmarks, 85, 000 people and members of Queen performing the encore – my only complaint was the set was too short!

Today, I have completed a Blue Square for knit-a-river.