Spinning Sue

Saturday Sky

Its a quadruple deal today. We had such interesting skies I had to take lots of photos! The rest are in this album on my Flickr site.

Early morning.

Late morning.

Early afternoon.

Evening.

Just Joinin'

Another KAL! This one is to dye, spin and knit your own sock yarn, or yarn for any other project.

Its called Twisted Knitters and is hosted by Margene.

The official start date is October 2nd so head on over and sign up!

Clapotis

My clapotis is growing and has grown more since I took this picture yesterday. In the picture, I've knit six of the thirteen repeats of the straight section. At the moment, I'm up to nine - four more to go! Its a quick knit so I'm hoping to finish it soon. I'm still not enamoured with the colours of the Rowan Tapestry, they're kind of muddy. I'm hoping to have enough leftover to knit some mittens or maybe handwarmers. I'm not sure how well the yarn will hold up, its very softly spun.

The sock in progress is Trekking XXL in colour #100. I must admit I hated this when I started knitting it but its grown on me. I'll reserve judgment until I finish both. I started this on Monday evening and have made good progress because of all the travelling I've done this week. The seminar was... ummmmm interesting, yawn, but catching the train to Birmingham and back added an extra two hours of knitting time to my week. :-)

The sheepies are back! The field at the back of my house has its woolly inhabitants back. This is a very quiet bunch! Maybe because there are no lambs constantly losing their mummies and crying about it. It was a bit misty here earlier on today.

I thought today's skies were rather nice too, especially after the early rain we had. So this is kind of like an extended version of Saturday Sky on Sunday. :-)

Saturday Sky

Sunrise

Dye-O-Rama Socks Finished

Just a quick post because the Dye-O-Rama socks are finished. I can't wait to wear them they are lovely and squishy and soft! They were knit on 2.5mm dpns, toe-up with short row toes and heels. The navy blue on the toes, heels and ribbing is 4 ply merino I dyed and the multi-coloured section is the yarn from my Dye-O-Rama swap pal, Jeni.

I found out only on Monday that I have to go to a seminar at the Radisson in Birmingham tomorrow. Well, I thought, at least the lunch should be good! Then I found out its only a half day thing. Damn! The coffee had better be something spectacular! Anyone know any good LYS's near New Street? ;-P

Sox On Sunday

My Regia silk socks are finished. I like these so much. The colours and the softness are just fab! They were knit toe-up using this Knitty cast on with an afterthought heel on 2.5mm dpns. Although using this cast on was a bit of a pain - knitting the first round is difficult because the stitches are so tight - I will definitely be using it again because the stripes don't get messed up. It probably didn't help that there was quite a long time between starting the first sock and the second! I'd forgotten how to do it and had to re-learn and make sure it matched. I got there in the end and I like the way it looks.

More socks! I should finish the second of the Dye-O-Rama yarn socks today. The yarn was dyed by Jeni and she is obviously brilliant! The stripes from the two separate balls are matching perfectly. I can't wait to wear these, I love them! Once these are finished, I have a dilemma - so much sock wool! Which to knit next?

I've started swatching with the Hip Knits silk I bought on Thursday at the NEC but the project will be secret until I decide what I'll eventually be making. It will be lace. :-)

Here's a pic of a sunflower from Mum's garden, planted by the birds. I love sunflowers and it is a perfect match for today's weather which is bright and sunny (now the fog has disappered!)

I almost forgot! I've joined two KALs - Warm Hands and Socktoberfest. Both have fairly easy-going rules and I need more socks and mittens! Now to decide what to knit for them...

Saturday Sky

The Knitting & Stitching Show

Yesterday, Mum and I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the NEC, Birmingham. The journey should have taken about an hour and a half but actually took three and a half hours! We left home at 7.30am in plenty of time to catch the 8.19 train... or so we thought. We'd allowed for the road works in Worcester but not for the stupidity of the people managing it who, in their wisdom, put a set of temporary traffic lights on either side of a permanent set of traffic lights. They were not synchronised. Can you say chaos? The 15-20 minute car trip to the station took 50 minutes which meant we just missed our train.

Except that the trains were delayed due to signal failure! We were supposed to be meeting Sue on the train but she had eventually given up and drove. Mum and I caught the first train that came along. It was, in the words of the conductor, the 'severely delayed 6.45am train to Shirley'. Errr yup! We caught it at about 8.40. It was very slow, stopping at all stations and we got as far as Stourbridge and they told us it was terminating and we had to get a coach the rest of the way. Got off train, went over to coaches, grumpy, harrassed drivers told us they were going back to Worcester. Finally, an annoucement came over the PA system about 15 minutes later that said the train at Platform 2 was the train to Birmingham. You guessed it, the very same train we had just got off!

We eventually got to the NEC at 11am and, after a restorative coffee and whinge, were ready for the shopping!

We stopped first at the Knit and Relax stand to say hi to Sue and Fred and swap travel horror stories. :-) Then it was off to the stands. Mum shopped for Britain! For once she spent more than I did, an event unheard of in the annals of our craft show history. :-)

On to the important things! My purchases.

Wildfoote sock yarn from Get Knitted.

Regia Bamboo from Web of Wool.

Fortissima also from Web of Wool.

Lovely Hipknits silk.

Procion MX fibre reactive dyes for plant fibres from Art Van Go.

Alpaca fibre from UK Alpaca. Wish I'd bought more of this! The bag actually contains 200 gms. The little pack on the front is just a colour sample.

I also bought some Brittany Birch 2.25mm dpns, a 2.5mm 30cm long Addi circ and a 5mm 80cm long Addi circ.

The 5mm Addi is already in use in my Clapotis. I'm knitting it with Rowan Tapestry. The only thing I don't like about it is the rogue peachy colour close to the beginning. I know the stripes are wider there because there are fewer stitches but so far that colour hasn't repeated and it looks odd! Ah well, I'm not frogging it!

The second Regia silk sock is close to being finished so look forward to an FO hopefully tomorrow... unless I get sidetracked by some of the new goodies!

The Reveal... The Pics

As promised, a pic of my reveal parcel for SP8 from Terri. Just look at all those goodies! The Thorntons chocolates have disappeared but I have lots of the chilli chocolate left. Its really yummy but quite hot so I can't pig out on it! Probably a good thing really. :-)

A close-up of the hat. Wonder of all wonders - it suits me! Its the first hat I've ever had that I don't feel like a complete dork wearing. :-) And I'm not just saying that to make Terri feel good. Its true!

I'm off to the NEC tomorrow for the Knitting and Stitching Show. I'll be seeing Sue and Fred. If you see me (I'm the bespectacled Aussie redhead with her mother in tow) say hi!

The Hostage Returned

Yesterday, at a secret location, the hostage was returned. The poor camera had been through a terrible ordeal. Forced to perform strange deeds by someone who admits she's 'got the clap'...

Below is a photo exposé of what the traumatised camera experienced. It is not for the weak of stomach. Please look away now if you believe the following may disturb you.

 

Whatever you do, don't let this woman loose with your camera! ;-)

This is the 'real' Saturday Sky pic that I couldn't post on Saturday. Its taken in the Malvern Hills looking east over the Severn valley. I love it up here but I always forget just how steep it is!

Tomorrow, I'll post the pics of my reveal parcel from Terri, my SP8 spoiler.