Just need to knit it..!

I assumed my Calmer wouldn’t even be posted until after the weekend, but the postie knocked on the door Saturday morning and handed me a huge, squishy parcel! So a huge thumbs up to Stitching Heaven on eBay.

The yarn is beautiful. The green isn’t quite as violently bright as I thought it might be, which is good. It’s just leafy and springy and very wearable, although I don’t think it’ll go with anything in my wardrobe. *plans clothes-buying extravaganza*

I am incredibly tempted to cast on and start swatching, but I still have a couple more swap items to complete: I am really not getting the point of Selfish Knitting at all, am I?

The strawberry cupcakes (recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking) were for no special reason at all, but sometimes it’s nice to disappear in the kitchen for a while and faff about with a piping bag to make pretty cakes… which then disappear within minutes. Complete lace of appreciation for dainty fiddly bits, but the cakes were tasty which is all that matters, I suppose!

The yarn, however, is definitely for a special reason. I have joined the International Scarf Swap on Ravelry and needed something lovely to knit my partner’s scarf with. The yarn is Dyeabolical Yarns Organic Cotton and Bamboo in “Guru Green” and is deliciously silky and soft. I am vaguely planning something lacy with a knitted-on edging, but so far swatching isn’t going too well. Hopefully there’ll be progress by the next WIP post.

Have a good weekend, everyone, whether you’re eating cake or squishing yarn (or both)!

I was trying to be ever so restrained and not buy any yarn until after KnitNation next month. But on Monday evening I got an email from Kemps listing some new sale yarns and, hand-on-heart, only went for an idle browse…! In my defence, I had actually been looking at buying some Patons Eco Cotton for a while for a specific pattern and it being only £1.59 a ball just tipped me over the edge. And I can recommend Kemps for speedy service: I ordered Monday evening and it arrived on Wednesday!

So I now have six balls in the “Ruby” shade which is a dusky pink. I looked on about a million different websites to try to see what the colour really was as it varied so much from photo to photo, and in the end gave up and just risked it. Fortunately it’s not too dark and not a very pinky-girly-pink.

The pattern I have planned is the Eriskay Sweater from Jaeger Book JHM001 by Debbie Bliss. I am planning to knit the 2 to 3 year size as it should fit Rose for a long time, being a typical Debbie Bliss oversized design! You may notice some more bobbles on there for enabling purposes.

I bought this book when Oscar was a baby with the intention to knit something for him. He will be 11 in October. Fortunately I am a hoarder of knitting patterns and the book is full of classic styles that haven’t dated, although the yarns are long gone.

The yarn used in the pattern is Jaeger Pure Cotton. Both yarns have a tension of 24sts to 10cm, although their Ravelry listings have one as DK and one as 4ply/fingering. As far as I’m concerned, they’re both sportweight.

And then other yarn companies just seem to be sniffing too many dye fumes. I give you James C Brett “Kool Kotton”:

This is a nice DK weight blend of acrylic and cotton. It’s basically a lighter version of Rowan All Seasons Cotton, although it feels less “cottony”. I have bought it to knit this shrug for Rose which I have wanted to make since I saw it on Roo’s blog a couple of years ago but Rose was far too small at that time (!).

But the name makes my teeth itch. I can’t believe that someone – or several someones – actually sat down and chose it as the perfect name for a yarn.

“So this one is a blend of acrylic and cotton. Cotton is perfect for summer garments but the acrylic means it could be used for colder weather wear as well. Any suggestions?”

“Cold Cotton… Chilly Cotton… Oh! How about Cool Cotton?”

“Hmm… it isn’t quite fun and funky enough. How about we spell it with a ‘K’?”

“Yes, that sounds much better. And fab, too.”

But it’s nice yarn and will make a very cute little shrug, which is all that matters. And I can burn the ball bands.

and Mr B – who claims he can’t cook – made me a pecan pie, which is my favourite sort of pie in the world:

and it was delicious and is all gone. *squeezes extra inches on hips* Plus we went out for dinner on Saturday night so I am doubly fat and will mostly be eating vegetables this week!

Best of all, I have my St Brigid yarn now. And a voucher for being pampered which I sorely need and some Turkish Delight which no one else likes (ha ha ha). Eldest DS gave me a Starbucks mug so I can pretend I’m drinking fancy coffee at home instead of instant. Though TBH I drink good, strong tea most of the time because I find that instant coffee is a bit rubbish. And lovely Kai sent me a Ravelgift (if that’s the right term) of Dark and Stormy which I love and will promise to knit this year.

But I think it’s time to do a final swatch to check that I have the right needle size and then CAST ON for St B. The fun is about to begin!

Anyhow, all is well. The most secret knitting is done and I am progressing with the sock book. I had hoped to be able to show you all a progress photo on the next design today, but an entire day’s progress was frogged amidst much choice language yesterday evening, so instead I have a photo of more squishiness to share.

Ali of Laughing Yaffle dyed these colours especially for me for the sock book. I’ve admired her colours for ages and I’m thrilled with these. The yarn base is Yaffle Sock Yarn (80% wool/20% nylon). I have a plan for the patterns for these yarns, but I need to solve yesterday’s disaster first. So for now I will content myself with sneaky squishing.

There are so many delicious yarns available in the world, but I wanted to focus my attentions on homegrown British yarns, British yarn companies and British indie dyers.

So to start the ball rolling, I have some scrummy Smoothie Sock from Artist’s Palette Yarns which I have used before for the Olivia shawl and is lovely to work with. I love Juliet’s colourways: those of you reading this who remember The Great Wollmeise Giveaway might be surprised at the appearance of some orange in the photo, but it’s a much softer colour and goes so well with the mauve yarn that I succumbed.

I also have some wool/mohair sock yarn from Blacker Yarns. Their yarns are from British breed sheep and are spun in Launceston, on the Devon-Cornwall Border so are really very British indeed. The sock yarn has fantastic meterage (around 700 metres per 100g) which cries out “knee high socks!” to me. Can’t wait to get started!

Lidl occasionally have yarn in on special offer. Usually it’s just something acrylic that doesn’t interest me, but this time they have actual wool/nylon sock yarn and that interests me greatly.

Four 50g balls for £2.99 is a bargain and I snapped up some navy and grey solids and some green and brown variegated. I was tempted to buy some of all the solids, just because they’d be handy for mittens, but I resisted. The yarn feels fairly soft which surprised me; softer than Opal or Trekking, which is my benchmark for softness-of-sock-yarn. I think it might suit being knitted fairly tightly. And of course now I have potential for six pairs of handknitted socks for less than nine quid which is not to be sniffed at.

This month’s colourway is called “Family Vacation” and is inspired by this photo:

As the person who gave away Wollmeise because it was orange, I think it’s pretty clear that I won’t be using this yarn for anything for *me*! But I can think of a couple of people who would love the colours and it’s gone into the pile for Christmas knits. If I can use that word in August.

The club is taking a break for September which I think is probably a good thing for my stash as I can hopefully make a bit more space before it restarts.

He’d visited Weaving Works which was happily very near his hotel and where he was apparently treated very nicely indeed. The alpaca is particularly scrummy. It’s from a local-to-the-store alpaca farm and comes from an alpaca names Krista. No idea what I’ll actually do with the yarn as it’s really the sort that needs an ultimate special project to make the most of it.

I think for those of you in the UK, the Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride yarns aren’t that unusual, but the Berocco Ultra Alpaca which is 50% alpaca/50% wool is the softest yarn imaginable. And continuing with the alpaca theme, the Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace is like a cloud. Each ball has around 400 metres, so enough for a little shawlette in each.

The colour selection was all his own, too! I deliberately didn’t suggest anything because I am awkward and I think he made some brilliant choices. I just need to find the time to knit it all.