Back in the middle of November I had an outing up to Yorkshire to see my parents, and managed to fit in rather a lot of knitting related things while I was there.

On the way we stopped in to Texere in Bradford. A marvelous fun place if you happen to be up in that part of the world, definitely worth a visit. Basically it is a mail order warehouse which is also a shop, great fun to wander round and see all the bits and pieces.

I bought some coloured merino tops.

Emerald, terracotta, wine, purple, petrol, ink, and chestnut. Each bag is 50g. I am going to experiment with mixing colours together in my spinning. I am thinking of spinning a single in each of 2 or 3 colours and then plying them together, to see what the effect is like, and also to see whether I like it knitted up.

I also bought a couple of posters of sheep breeds which have gone to Mummy as part of her Christmas present 🙂

No trip to Yorkshire at that time of year would be complete without an outing to the Knitting and Stitching show at Harrogate. We went on both the Thursday and Friday this time, allowing us finally time to see the exhibition as well as to see all the stands multiple times. This year for me was definitely the year of needles and fibre. I bought these fabulous coloured acrylic needles from Bev at Knitting 4 fun.

I am such a sucker for pretty knitting needles.

There are sizes, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, and 8 mm needle heads, cables in 60, 80, 100 and 120 cm, 8 end caps, and 4 cable keys in the bag. They are all fully interchangeable with all the other KnitPro needles.

I did quite well with Mummy’s Christmas present, and also got her 6 balls of Lang Mille Colori from Art Yarn, and a wooden shawl pin. She chose these so although they wont be a surprise, at least I know she likes them!

Continuing on the needle theme, I got another couple of Knit Pro needle heads, and some very cute cat buttons from Knitting 4 Fun, and a 30cm, 2.5mm addi circular needle from Art Yarn.

The 30cm circular has very short angled needle heads. I am intrigued to see whether I will be able to knit comfortably using my normal knitting hand position. I am looking forward to experimenting!

Last but not least, I got some gorgeous purple silk fibre from Oliver Twist (I can’t find their website, not sure if they have one).

This is so soft, but they have washed it in some incredibly strong smelling detergent! I think I may have to spin this in small doses, or try and air it or wash it before I start spinning.

While I was staying with my parents we also popped into Boyes, and I bought 2m of a fabric described as Chef Check.

The squares are about 3cm wide, and it is a nice sturdy non stretchy fabric. I plan to pin it over my foam playmats when I am blocking knitting, and then use the checks on the fabric to make sure that I have everything lined up.

As a special treat on my way home we went to Wingham Wool Work. I hadn’t been for three years, and the last time I was there I wasn’t a spinner, so there was lots to see, we ended up spending most of the afternoon there!

I think I now have enough fibre to last me for years!

I got some Falkland.

Some Corriedale.

Some Manx Loghtan.

Some Shetland Moorit (this really is a lovely colour).

Some Teal Merino.

Some rainbow merino in blues and greens.

Some rainbow merino with silk in, in turquoises.

in greens.

and in oranges.

Whew! This will keep me busy for a bit! It seemed like a great opportunity to buy things while I could see them and feel them. Particularly with the blends, which were all a bit different, and there were many more than are available generally on the website.