This post contains knitting content not suitable for Diane if she doesn’t want to spoil her birthday surprise. Otherwise, read on..!
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Having a ten year old makes me feel ancient. But I can take my mind off it with cake.

I was going to post that I haven’t bought any yarn this year because people keep giving it to me, but then I realised that wasn’t quite true, seeing as I had bought the yarn for Mr B’s boring socks and then the yarn for the Catherine Socks. So maybe I’ll rephrase that and say that I haven’t bought any yarn for a project all for ME ME ME! Until now, that is.

Today I received a squishy parcel of Wild Fire Fibres Superwash Blue Faced Leicester in “Blueberry Muffin”. Vikki even enclosed a tiny box (the sort of size that is perfect for a mouse to keep their best hat in) containing some stitchmarkers.

The yarn is gorgeous. The purpleness drew me to it in the first place, and I have never tried Blue Faced Leicester for socks before, so clearly it was a matter of doing important yarn research that I buy it.

And in one of those lovely coincidental happenings that must happen because the knitting gods are smiling at me and saying “buy yarn because you’ll need it!”, while I was waiting for it to arrive, lovely if spinning wheel obsessed Kai has published her first ever pattern, Lotus Lace Socks!

The pattern is just perfect for my new yarn. They look lovely in purple, and the lace isn’t going to be overpowered by the yarn variegation. I can’t wait to cast on as soon as I possibly can!

So other than eating muffins yesterday, I also got to fondle yarn.

Diane brought me a gift from her trip to Australia: a skein of Touch Yarns “Exclusive”, a kid mohair/merino blend yarn. It’s like having a little purple curly pet and will make the snuggliest scarf imaginable next winter.

Pear and Ginger Muffins from Nigella Express

Spending all day working deserves a bit of a muffiny treat, wouldn’t you agree?

…almost! Mr B’s sixth pair of handknitted socks are finished. He has more pairs of socks than me, but I don’t mind. He wears them, asks for them, and he knows that if he ever even whispered about the amount of yarn I have that there would be no more handknitted socks for him! *evil grin*

Pattern: None to speak of
Yarn: 1 x 100g Trekking XXL, shade #184.
Needles: 2.25mm Susan Bates Silvalume needles of loveliness

Of course, there was some sort of pattern involved. A very basic, cast on 68, half for the heel flap, a quarter for the stitches picked up, etc. Nice, mindless knitting. And once a tad more secret knitting is finished, I can start thinking about something that should have been done a while ago..!

…a pig flying overhead, and a confirmed sighting of the Loch Ness monster. All things I expect to happen today, because this parcel was delivered:

My Rowan International membership gift! I renewed my membership in July last year. A whole nine months ago. I had given up pretty much ever receiving the gift as I was holding out for the purple colourway and it was never in stock. Clearly I’m not alone in my purple obsession. But to give Rowan their due, it arrived!

I don’t intend knitting either the waistcoat or shawl patterns that came with the yarn as the stitch pattern doesn’t appeal to me. But it’s good to know that you can get a shawl from 4 balls of yarn and I might do something lacy of my own instead.

Now off to hunt four leaf clovers and see if that rainbow has a pot of gold at the end of it..!

Done! The pattern is available to download from the Free Patterns page, or from Ravelry.

The pattern has been changed to a 16 stitch repeat and is now knit on larger needles (depending on your personal tension, of course!). And I do think the pattern looks best if worn with the minimal amount of negative ease. I’ve not changed much else, other than to use a fancy heel flap, but this can be replaced with your own personal choice. Enjoy!

One skein of purple cashmere goodness…

…complete with feline approval…

…goes to a name drawn from a hat full of paper…

…and that name is Shelby! Congratulations! Email me your address and I’ll pop the yarn in the post to you.

I’m so glad no one fell for the April Fool’s joke. Mainly because I couldn’t stand it if hoardes of people suddenly came knocking on my door, desperate to snaffle some of my stash! Though I can solemnly promise that I will never take up modelling with matchsticks, ever. Even if my MIL decides that she can’t live without a model horse drawn fire engine.

Nothing new to see here, I’m afraid. I could put up a photo of a slightly-longer sock cuff, but my camera needs charging and it isn’t that exciting anyway. So in an attempt to be interesting, I’m having a competition!

I have 100g of ColourMart Cashmere 3/28NM Heavy Lace Weight in “Vatican” left over from knitting Matilda. Enough to knit another one the same size as mine, or another lacy shawl.

I’ll give the yarn to one random commenter drawn from all comments on this post from now until midday Friday (UK time).

ETA: Comments now closed!

I haven’t been blogging as much as I would recently because, if I’m honest, knitting doesn’t really excite me any more. I look at all the yarn in my stash and feel nothing. And there are lots of other exciting hobbies out there, as I discovered at the weekend while browsing through the craft section of WHSmith. I went in for a padded envelope and came out with enough bits and pieces to start my new hobby – building models with matchsticks. I wanted to start small, but one kit, of a horse drawn fire engine, really stood out to me. It didn’t take long to finish, either.

This one is going to my MIL for her birthday. She loves it!

So that’s the end of knitting for me. I’ll be giving away my stash before midday today, so come along if you want a bargain! And look out for more finished objects soon! This domain name will still exist while I transfer everything to www.hauntedmatchsticks.com. It’s been fun, but matches are the future.