Now there’s a title! I speak only of yarn, though. Although some people have storage boxes purely to store their Koigu stash, I have never bought any at all. Ever. While I think the colours are pretty, it isn’t the cheapest of yarns and there are so many other pretty varigated yarns to try and I am only one small red-hatted bunny.

Anyway, I bought an odd skein of Koigu from Cairi last week because it was various shades of my favourite colour and I was curious. There’s not a lot a person can do with one small skein of yarn other than admire it:

but the Koigu Addict came to the resuce again with this pattern. I bought some dried lavender at my local farmers’ market at the weekend, too, so assuming that I can somehow stretch time, I will knit a couple of these sachets as Christmas presents.

So far it hasn’t had any strange effect on me, but maybe I have to start knitting with it to get the Koigu Bug. I shall report back!

I started writing this post yesterday evening, but gave up after about two minutes because I was just too flippin’ exhausted.

Yesterday I met up with Diane, Kai, Meeta, Ali and Jacqui and our little band of eager knitters went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace.

I will never go on Saturday again. I need to have that tattooed on my forehead or something because it it VITAL that I don’t forget. It was fine when we got there, but after about an hour, suddenly every other crafter in the universe arrived and it was packed.

I wanted to get lots of photos, but instead, you’ll have to be content with one of my haul:

I bought 150g of denim blue hand-dyed bamboo silk and wool blend from The Handspinner Having Fun. The secret parcel (bwahahaha!) and Folk Knitting in Estonia (which has been on my wishlist for ages) are both from Socktopus – who eaily win the award for most beautiful giftwrapping, if there is one. The purple cashmere laceweight is from KnitWitches and was my early Christmas present from Kai. Well, it saves her carrying it all the way home!

Not in the photo is the bag of sweets bought from the stand in the entrance hall which cost almost as much as a skein of sock yarn. Still not entirely sure I wasn’t conned. After all, fat people will pay a fortune for sweets, they are so desperate. Well, ha! Because I didn’t eat any of them. Um, yes…

I also picked up a copy of the new Yarn Forward magazine, which contains the pattern for the Pomegranate Shawl I designed back in Februrary. The Interweave Holiday Knits magazine wasn’t strictly in my haul, but Diane gave it to me on Saturday so it counts as far as I’m concerned.

I should add at this point that despite being overcharged for sweets, aching in places that I didn’t know it was possible to ache, etc, etc, that I had a BRILLIANT time. Highlights include spinning with a potato!

I will be spending today fondling my haul tidying the house ready for a VIP visit tomorrow. Send very overpriced chocolate.

…it saves time. A brief break in the postal strikes meant I could get my Wollmeise order today.

Wollmeise Superwash in Vergißmeinnicht, medium intensity. I was also sent a tiny gift sken of this colourway:

and I need to find out what it is, because I adore it. (ETA: It’s Indische Rot. Now I just have to stalk the site til it’s available!)

This yarn is destined for my festive knitting. I don’t suppose anyone can guess who it could possibly be for..?

Why wait until your socks are finished before you wear them?

This sneaky photo was taken this morning while shoe shopping with Diane. She was buying, not me. I was just there in my role as Fashion Guru. *sniggers* If you’re buying boots to wear with handknitted socks it makes sense to try them on with said socks. But what if you don’t have any with you? Ever resourceful, Diane used the half-finished sock in her bag, and wandered around the shop with a circular needle around her leg, trailing the remaining yarn behind her. I think the sales assistant was slightly bemused by this mad behaviour by people who knit their own socks and don’t just buy them like normal people. Oh, and for the record, she didn’t buy the boot in the photo, but some gorgeous ones with ribbons on instead.

I have yarn pr0n to share too, of course. I have found The Yarn for my noggin warmer!

Two squidgily scrummy balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in pale pink for Grumperina’s Art Deco Beret (Ravelry link for those of you on there). And I don’t even have to knit it myself!

One of the things I like best about being a knitter is that I get to buy myself presents in order to give other people presents!

This is more of Cairi’s lovely 100% merino sock yarn, for another person deserving of handknitted socks this Yuletide.

The yarn for my Mabelle has arrived:

It’s King Cole Merino Blend DK in shade #136. I think it’s a discontinued colourway (I bought mine from this splendid eBay seller, but can’t find it on the King Cole website). Anyway, the shade name is “African Violet”, though I have renamed it “Tinky Winky”:

See? Far more like a Teletubby. I hope this doesn’t mean that I’ll look less like a delicate flower and more like a big purple creature with a triangle on my head.

It’s lovely yarn. I’ve used it before, pre-blogging, for a small person’s sweater and it washes and wears really well. And it’s incredibly reasonably priced, too. Even full-price, it’s no more expensive than some other yarns which are blended with acrylic and other synthetics. So now I’m a happy bunny with my yarn, it’s time to swatch!

Alpacas spotted at Chessington today. They must have realised that a crazed knitter was watching them.

Lots of the things I like are purple.

And yesterday was a very purple sort of day.

I met Diane for coffee again. This time she dragged me round graveyards to see dead people and put her feet on the table. Though she made up for her disgraceful behaviour by giving me this:

Her own beautiful handspun yarn, which I had admired on her blog! It is the softest, loveliest yarn imaginable and will be knitted into something gorgeous.

Then the obligatory visit to Stash to ogle yarn, where I bought some Malabrigo laceweight in Purple Mystery (which I keep misreading as Purple Misery…).

When I got home, a tiny parcel from Angel Yarns was waiting for me.

More purpleness! This is for another Molly’s Headband – for my little sister this time.

And though it’s not yarn, I just had to gloat about share my Oxfam find. Four old Rowan magazines for 99p each – numbers 2, 5, 6 and 7.

Yes, the magazines are incredibly dated. And though I used to complain about their titchy sizing, it’s nothing compared to the “one size fits all” thing going on in these. But some of the designs are really beautiful and would look just as nice today. If I can get good pictures, I will share my favourites on here.

Mint choc chip – MINT CHOC CHIP! – self-striping sock yarn from Middle Earth Yarns. If anyone wants me, I’ll be licking my wool…

Gorgeous self-striping sock yarn, hand dyed by Cairi the Wizard and available from Middle Earth Yarns on Etsy.

I got a lovely surprise parcel from Cairi today. This skein of hand dyed aran-weight yarn fresh from her cauldron.

Isn’t it gorgeous?! I can see it becoming a cosy beret or some snug wristwarmers. If I can stop snuggling it for long enough, that is!

Recently I’ve been trying to find laceweight yarn in specific, solid colours. I like varigated yarns, but they’re not ideal for intricate lace, because the pattern gets lost in a riot of colour. And I wanted something bright. Well, I’ve achieved that!

These gorgeous skeins of yarn were dyed for me by the very clever Cairi (visit her Etsy shop!). The yarn is wool with a smidgen of nylon, the same as I used for the Pi Shawl. And the colours almost shine, they are so bright! The green is very solid, whereas the purple has a subtle varigation.

I now need to design some beautiful shawls to make the most of these fantastic colours.

I’ve just spent a very nice afternoon in Putney at Stash Yarns with Diane. Being surrounded by all that yarn and being able to squeeze it all is like knitter’s heaven! Of course, I had to give in and buy something. But first of all, here are the most gorgeous mitts that Diane knitted for my birthday present:

They’re knitted from Koigu KPPM and Crystal Palace Kid Merino and are so soft and snuggly. I really appreciated them walking home tonight! And they’re very elegant and ladylike, which is most unlike me…

So what did I buy? A skein of deilicious Handmaiden Sea Silk in “Ocean” for a Swallowtail Shawl, and a Blue Sky Alpaca pattern for an eyelet cardigan. It’s rare that something so cute comes in big bazooma size. I would have bought the yarn, too, if only I wasn’t so picky…

I am now yarned out for the day. I swear I will dream of fibre tonight!

Shawl am blocking!

Finally I get to use my splendid new blocking wires. I won’t go into a long explanation of how to use them, as there are many guides out there on the net if you Google, which are more comprehensive and better photographed than I could manage. But suffice to say I am happy with them and apart from having to thread the metal through a wet shawl, it was better than using my previous method.

Part of the problem previously was that I had trouble getting the thread to stay taught. The wires, however, won’t bend and with a few pins, stay where they are put. And the wires stay in a straight line, so I know my points will be the same.

I actually blocked the shawl last night, so it’s dry at the time of writing this. However, I’m leaving it to lie in state for the moment, and will take photos later.

And as no YPW Wednesday would be complete without some pr0n, I give you my newest WIP:

A very jauntily coloured Trekking XXL (shade #166, if you need to know) sock for a small person. Nothing beats knitting a small person’s sock for the instant gratification factor!

Today’s pr0n is all about lurrrrrve and is PINK and RED. Click the link to see hot, nekkid balls of yarn!

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The first in a weekly series in which, with no knitting progress to report, your author attempts to distract her readers with photos of lust-worthy yarn.

This is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the new Flamingo colourway. 20% of all the proceeds from the sales of this colourway are being donated by Lorna’s Laces to Breast Cancer Research. Do I need to mention how deliciously silky and soft and glorious it feels? I can’t see it working with anything but a simple ribbed or plain sock, but it’s so girly and PINK that it doesn’t need any extra lacy frills, does it?