Category Archives: Stash

Le Tour de Fleece: Day Eighteen

Wonderwool Wales

Finally I have managed to sort out my pictures from Wonderwool Wales. I’m afraid I was over-come by the excitement and failed to take any pictures actually at the show. So you will have to imagine a couple of alpaca, a couple of Teeswater sheep, assorted other sheep, a lot of stands with fibre and yarn and knitting and spinning equipment, a slighly smaller number of stands of local food, and lots and lots of happy shoppers.

My plan for the show was to try lots and lots of spinning wheels, and to pick up some fibre that I hadn’t tried before. And of course to have a good look at what was out there.

For my first purchase we really need squishy-vision. This stuff is so soft you wouldn’t believe it.

It is superfine (19.5 micron) superwash merino from Bluefaced. Each bag contains 200g. I am going to dye it but I haven’t thought about what colour yet.

Some more undyed fibre in types I haven’t tried before. First New Zealand Corriedale.

Next Falkland.

These are both from DT Craft and Design, and are going to be dyed at some point. 100g of each.

I’m not planning on spinning all the yarn I knit with from now on, so I also bought some yarn 🙂 Time for the squishy-vision again. This is Cash Sock from Bluefaced. 4ply weight, 80% superwash merino, 10% nylon, 10% cashmere. You have to feel this stuff to believe it! And at the top of the picture, Anniversary Aran also from Bluefaced. This is superwash UK merino. Not quite as super soft as the Cash Sock, but still very soft.

Back to some more spinning fibre. Here is 100g of Baby Camel from Scottish Fibres. Then at the bottom, a sample bag of cashmere, and a sample bag of dehaired yak, both from Wingham Woolworks. I love the idea of these sample bags. A great opportunity to try out new things, without buying a huge bag full, which in this case would be quite expensive!

I am obviously going through a camel phase. This is 200g of 50% baby camel, 50% silk from P & M. It reminds me of hair.

The next fibre is some natural black shetland from Hedgehog. I tried some of this when I was having a go on the wheels at Wonderwool and really enjoyed spinning with it. In fact I have been using this as my practice fibre on Suzie. It isn’t quite as soft as some of the other fibres, but is very pleasant to spin with. I got 300g so that should allow me a nice lot of practising 🙂

The next two were bought from a stand which had brought two of their alpacas to the show! The fibre I bought wasn’t actually from either of the animals at the show, but I had to buy it because I loved the colour. On the left is 100g from an animal called Kofie, it is actually a dark brown rather than black. Then on the right is 50g from an animal called Blush. It is rather fun knowing the name of the animal the fibre came from. These are from Black Mountain Alpacas, I don’t think they have a website.

In case you thought I had become subtle in my old age I also bought a couple of scary coloured bits and pieces. These are both the same colour, which on the label is called Fuchsienbeet. On the left are 2, 50g balls of pencil roving, 40m on each. These are 100% merino. On the right is one 100g ball, this is 4ply weight, 75% wool, 25% nylon. Both bought from the High Weald Fibre Factory. I am looking forward to seeing how the colours come out on these.

Lastly here are a couple of pairs of socks from Coldharbour Mill that were part of Paul’s birthday present.

I had a lovely time. It was great to catch up with loads of people I knew (a surprising number of people from my knitting group went), and meet lots of new people too. Lots of lovely yarn and fibre, and a great opportunity to try out a wide range of different wheels one after the other which aided in making a comparison. We stayed in Wales for the rest of the week and had a lovely time even though it was a bit wet.

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show

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On the 20th and 21st of November Mummy and I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the International Halls in Harrogate. As has now become our tradition, we had a day at Texere on my way up North. I am obviously having a tools phase, since I didn’t buy any yarn at all, but did manage to buy some nice small sewing up needles, and an interesting tool which has a crochet hook at one and and a needle-eye at the other. I’m afraid I can’t remember what was the proper name for it, but it looked intriguing, and might be handy for weaving in ends.

The show itself was good fun. Smaller than the version at Alexandra Palace, and with some of the same exhibitors, but I think some different, and those that do do both shows sometimes bring different stuff.

We had a very enjoyable time looking round at everything, seeing what is new in the world of knitting, and chatting to everyone. One of the things I enjoy most about these events is the opportunity to catch up with everyone, and see what people are working on, what they have finished, what they are selling. Also since we went back for a second day we had a proper chance to look at the exhibition. Very interesting and varied. As with all art things, there are some things more to my personal taste than others, but the quality of work was very high, and it was particularly nice that a lot of the artists themselves were there and we could talk to them.

Within minutes of entering the show Knit N Caboodle had cured me of my new-found yarn buying reticence and a few little goodies were stashed in one of their lovely purple bags.

Firstly a nice un-subtle sock yarn, this is Schoppel Wolle Admiral ombré in colour 1564, ply weight, 75% wool, 25% polyamide.

Another Schoppel Wolle Admiral Ombré, slightly more subtle, this is colour 1960.

And this one is for Mummy for Christmas. This is as close as I am getting to Christmas knitting this year. Again Schoppel Wolle Admiral ombré, colour 1563.

This one is also by Schoppel Wolle, and is the same yarn weight and fibre, but it is a singles yarn and dyed with long stretches of colour, and is called Zauberball. I am really looking forward to seeing how this knits up. The colour I have is called Tropical Fish, I rather fancy the one called Fuschia too 🙂

In a departure from all sock yarn all the time, I also bought some lace weight. This is Mamma Ocllo, 100% Baby Alpaca in Deep Purple, and you have to feel it to believe how soft it is. I have enough to make a largeish shawl I think, but haven’t yet worked out what pattern to use.

Although I tried hard to give all my money to Knit N Caboodle within minutes of getting into the show, I did manage to save enough to buy the following Jawoll sock yarn from Art Yarn.

And to finish up I bought some lovely postcards of knitted wire shapes on a theme of evolution by Anita Bruce. We were fortunate enough to be able to chat with Anita while we looked at her pieces, which are very interesting and beautiful. I am definitely inspired to do some wire knitting soon.

All in all a lovely if rather tiring couple of days. I don’t know how the exhibitors manage to do 4 days of it. I was exhausted after only two!

Ally Pally

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Since neither Mummy nor I had been able to make it to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace last year we were both really looking forward to this year’s outing. We decided to go on the Thursday, but ended up coming back on the Friday as well since we hadn’t managed to get round everything in just one day.

So at the crack of dawn (or at least that was how it felt – I’m not really a morning person), Mummy, I, and Charles the chicken bag set off for a day of fun.

Charles met lots of new friends, and is definitly started to get quite a fan club. I was hoping to put in a link to the website where I bought him but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to exist any more.

We had a lovely time, there was a lot of knitting stuff to see, and it was great to see so many people we knew and stop and chat. That was part of the reason we had to go back for a second day, that it took us a whole day to get round the main hall due to stopping and talking with people. For me the interaction with other enthusiastic knitting people is a big part of the reason I love to go to shows. That, and of course seeing all the lovely yarn and books and other paraphernalia 🙂

Talking of lovely knitting related things, you will not be surprised to discover that I didn’t come home empty handed (neither did Mummy but I’m afraid I didn’t think to photograph her haul too).

First off the books:

These were all from Jamieson’s. I had been thinking about getting these books for some time, and this seemed the ideal opportunity. Also they were kind enough to look after my purchases til the end of the day so I didn’t have to drag a bag of heavy books around with me. They are Jamieson’s Shetland Knitting Book: v. 1 (Shetland Knitting Book), Jamieson’s Shetland Knitting Book 2 (Shetland Knitting Book), Simply Shetland, Simply Shetland 2 (Simply Shetland), Simply Shetland 3: At Galisteo, and the Colsay shawl pattern (which I don’t seem to be able to find on their website at the moment).

I did, of course, buy a little bit of yarn too.

I had to buy this Wendy Fusion because of the colour – and it was also being sold at a very advantageous price, I think it was something like £1.50 a ball from NKM. I bought 16 balls which should be enough for a jumper or jacket (and probably a matching hat too).

I bought one ball of Sole Latte by Rosários 4 from Moral-Fibre. This is a DK weight 100% milk fibre yarn. I have never knitted with milk fibre before and I am looking forward to seeing what it is like to work with. Also as part of the City and Guilds course we need to produce a yarn file with information on different fibres and how they are produced, including knitted samples, so I thought this would be useful for that too. In the ball it feels a little bit like a very soft cotton.

Next up is two balls of the new Jamie Possum 4 ply yarn. So new in fact that it doesn’t seem to be on their website yet.

This yarn is 20% possum fur, 80% merino. I bought some of their DK in a lovely teal colour a couple of years ago, but still haven’t got round to making anything from it, its time may well have come!

Next was some yarn that I was delighted to actually see in person. I had seen an advert for Biggan Design a while ago, and had spent a very pleasant time looking at all their yarn on their website. At the time I was looking for a yarn for my next City and Guilds project (I am still looking – I may end up dyeing it). I am planning to do a stranded colour knitting project in bright but autumnal shades, so I was looking for a 4ply weight yarn in good bright colours. I love a lot of the shetland yarns but was concerned that they would be a little scratchy. In the end after much indecision I decided against the Biggan Design yarn for this project. It comes in the most fantastic range of colours and is nice and soft, but at the moment only exists in a DK weight, and really the weather just doesn’t get cold enough here to actually wear a DK weight stranded project for many days of the year.

I hadn’t realised that they would be exhibiting at the Knitting and Stitching show, and it was wonderful to actually meet Biggan and her daughter Henrietta (both lovely people). Their yarn is even more beautiful in real life than pictures can show and is certainly soft enough for fussy me. I just love the beautiful bright range of colours. So of course I had to buy 5 balls (believe me it was quite hard narrowing it down to just 5!) to have a little play with.

I think this is going to be a hat (or two), and an opportunity to see how the yarn knits and wears. It is a first cross between merino and border leicester, the idea being to combine the softness of the merino with the durability of the border leicester, I am really looking forward to knitting this up and seeing what it is like – in the ball it feels very nice.

I still think it is a little thick for my stranded jumper project, but they did mention that if the DK sells well they are hoping to bring out other weights in the future. This probably wont be in time for my City and Guilds project (unless it takes me a very long time!), but I will definitely be looking out for it.

Last but not least, I bought the kit for Ballerina by Hanne Falkenberg in colour 16 – Dark Olive / Kingfisher / Aubergine / Cyclamen, from Kangaroo.

I very much appreciated that Kangaroo had sample garments that you could try on, it made all the difference. I had seen pictures of the Ballerina design before, but had been concerned that it was rather short and wide. However what I had failed to take into consideration was that the models that it was shown on are in fact very tall and thin, whereas I am actually short and wide (it comes as a constant shock to discover this – mentally I am quite tall and thin). So actually ballerina comes out a good length on me.

They didn’t have the kit in the colour I wanted at the show, but took all the details and posted it to me. It was very fast and turned up in just a week which is pretty impressive considering it had had to be ordered from Denmark! Mummy also ordered a kit, in her case Da Capo, in colour 4, Light Green / Sage Green / Yellow mix. They have been staying down here looking after my sister’s cats while she is on holiday and the kits arrived just in time for Mummy to collect hers before they went home.

Ally Pally is a fantastic building too.

This is one of the raillings outside.

And here I am with my purchases, looking very happy about the lovely day we have had.

Since it is on top of a hill, it also has fantastic views, but I’m afraid I don’t seem to have taken any photos of the view – I will just have to go back next year 🙂

More fun with the sewing machine

A grand day out

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Mother and I spent a very enjoyable day yesterday at the Knitting and Stitching Show at the NEC near Birmingham. I didn’t go to this show last year when it started so this was my first time, and it wasn’t quite what I expected. I had been expecting basically the same exhibitors as go to Ally Pally and so was initially rather disapointed by the noticeable lack of some exhibitors, particularly Get Knitted and Jamieson’s who I had on my list of people I wanted to visit. All was not lost however, I discovered some new-to-me gems, and some old favourites, and had an unexpected opportunity to catch up with friends who I hadn’t realised were going to be there. All in all a very good day 🙂

Now onto the important subject of what did I buy 🙂 First up the books and magazines:

From left to right we have: Knitted Lace by Sonja Esbensen and Anna Rasmussen bought from The Home Workshop. This is a book of lace doilies, but I thought that knitted up in thicker yarn on larger needles they would make very nice shawls. Next is Designing Worksheets: Presentation Techniques for Textile Students by Jan Messent, bought from a company I now can’t remember the name of – something like Yorkshire Book Company (apologies to them for my utter lack of brain). This is to help with my City & Guilds course – presentation is something I find very difficult. Next along is the April 2005 edition of Lace, the magazine of the Lace Guild. They were giving away old issues for free and this one had photographs of the most fantastic knitted lace in it. They also had the original lace framed on the walls of the booth – very beautiful. Lastly on the right I finally have my copy of issue 2 of Yarn Forward Magazine.

Next up the yarn:

The packet of white yarn underneath is Spree by Sirdar (chunky weight, 60% cotton, 40% acrylic). This is going to be a surprise for a friend of mine. I’m not sure that she reads the blog but just to be on the safe side it is going to stay a secret for a while. I had a lovely discussion about this project with a very nice Irish lady and her daughter, and have got some good ideas that I need to try out now. The bottles at the back have nozzles and I thought I would get them to play with dyeing some yarn, they are from Art Van Go. The cone and the skein are both from Riverside Spinning (he doesn’t have a website as he doesn’t actually exist between the shows 🙂 ). The skein is undyed and is going to be part of my dyeing experiment, it is 100% wool and in thickness somewhere between a 4ply and a DK weight. Apologies for the darkness of the photo – it has been rather grey here today, this was the best of the photos I took. The rather dark cone is 100% wool, 4ply in shades of dark green. He had two cones so me and mother had one each.

More yarn:

At the back we have a ball of Fortissima Colori Socka Color, colour: 2419, 75% wool, 25% polyamide, 4ply weight. This was from Web of Wool and will probably become socks. As will the two balls on the right, they are Admiral degrade by Schoppel Wolle, 75% wool, 25% polyamide, 4ply weight. The colours are 1309 and 1352 and they are from Knit ‘n’ Caboodle. You may have noticed that this yarn is suspiciously similar to Trekking sock yarn, and that is because it is made in the same factory and is to all intents and purposes the same (but not at the same price 🙂 ). Knit ‘n’ Caboodle were a company I hadn’t come across before and I am very glad I found them! Lovely helpful people and some very nice yarn – I am already composing my next order. The final yarn at the front left is Pura Lana Ecologica from Uppingham Yarns. This is an aran weight 100% organic wool yarn, the colours I got are called Mushroom and Earth which makes them sound not nearly as desirable as they actually are! This yarn is beautifully soft and cuddly, I got two balls of each colour and think I am going to make a nice cosy hat for the winter. At Â£2.00 for a 50g ball this seemed a very good buy.

I am also glad I found Knitting 4 Fun. Unfortunately by the time we got to them I was rather tired and incapable of making a decision. They had some absolutely beautiful Wool / Silk yarnÂ but I couldn’t decide between the Kingfisher or the Teal Green, or decide how much I needed to buy. Luckily she sells online so I can work it all out in the comfort of home. Bev the owner was a delight to talk to and had a beautifully displayed stand – with a great view of the art at the entrance of the exhibition.

I found the whole show very inspiring, and the temptation to cast on for about 300 new projects is very great. I have managed to restrain myself so far but it is only a matter of time! I will be good and finish off my City and Guilds homework for Sunday first though – I have been putting off the drawing part of the homework but need to just bite the bullet and get on with it.

It’s arrived!

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I caved and finally ordered some of the Kauni yarn everyone has been going on about. It is such fantastic colours I couldn’t resist, and it arrived on Saturday! I had been hoping that the weather would perk up a bit so I could take pictures outside, but it hasn’t so I’m afraid we have inside pictures today:

Surprisingly (!?) I ordered the brightest colour they had (EQ), and while I was at it a couple of balls of Trekking found its way into my shopping basket too. It was the first time I have ordered from Astrid’s Dutch Obsessions and the process all went very smoothly and quickly, and she even included a little piece of cake! (just visible on the right of the picture above). I have been very restrained and haven’t casted on yet, I am still plotting what exactly I am going to do. The yarn is very nice and I love the long stretches of colour. My only niggle is that it isn’t the softest yarn in the world. I think it will be ok, it is not that harsh, but I would love to find something in colours like this but perhaps in merino. If you have come across anything I would love to know about it!

Stranded hat

The hat is trotting along, I have started the decreases for the crown (and changed my mind, undid about 20 rows and redid them), here you see version 2 (version 1 didn’t live long enough to have its photo taken):

My hands are definitely getting more used to knitting together, although I am still haven’t some difficulties with pulling the yarn in the left hand too tight, anyone have any suggestions?

Comments

The Japanese short rows aren’t too much of a pain once you get going. Also, while the pins are handy while you are starting out because they make it completely clear exactly which thread you need to pick up, I think you can dispense with them once you have got the idea. Once you have got rid of the pins it it probably less fiddly even than the wrapping method. I am going to do some more experimenting so watch this space!

KnitPicks in the UK

Louisa Harding and Debbie Bliss

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I was intending to post this on Monday, which was my day set aside for doing a bit of organising round the house and catching up. Monday started fairly well, I got up early and put the sheets in the washing machine and got the vacuum out. As I was vacuuming near the utility room I noticed that the washing machine wasn’t moving round, and thought it must be near the end of its cycle which meant it had washed pretty fast. A while later when the cycle had actually finished I went to move the sheets into the dryer and thought they felt very wet. I put them back in the washing machine for a quick spin to try and sort them out, and noticed as I set it going that it was making all the usual washing machine noises but that the drum wasn’t actually spinning. It turns out that the washing machine has decided that spinning is over-rated and that it isn’t going to bother anymore, which unfortunately makes it rather useless. I had to rinse out the sheets in the bath because they were still rather soapy – it certainly makes me appreciate the machinery when it is working!

Monday ended up being spent in research on and shopping for a new washing machine, which we found and ordered and will be arriving sometime on Thursday. This one has a bigger drum than the previous one though it takes up the same space in the utility room and is more energy efficient which will be good. It even has a little display which tells you how long the washing has til it finishes!

Just to add insult to injury I managed to crack one of the heads of the vacuum while swapping heads, although I don’t think it will make much difference to the functioning of the vacuum (it is a pretty useless vacuum at the best of times). I don’t think I am cut out for house work!

Back to knitting related things.

I have been to a couple of great events organised by Kareen at the InterKnit Cafe in Farnham. Unfortunately I completely failed to take any photos, but I have photographed the things I bought 🙂

First, on 27th June was a talk by Louisa Harding, and second on 13th July was a talk by Debbie Bliss. They were both very interesting and I enjoyed myself enormously. They talked a bit about how they had come into knitting designing, and about how they approached their designing and their inspirations for their upcoming autumn pattern books. They also both brought with them loads of garments which will appear in their new pattern books, and Debbie also brought garments from her current pattern books. We were able to have a good close look at all the knitting and also try lots on – which I did gamely despite all the samples being made to fit a 34 inch chest and me being quite a long way from 34 inches anywhere!

I am hoping that Kareen will organise some more of these events, I had a great time and it makes such a difference to actually see the garments. However fantastic the photography in a pattern book, knitting is such a 3D tactile activity that nothing can beat seeing the garment there and being able to feel the drape and see all the stitch detail. It was also very interesting to see lots of people in all different shapes and sizes try on the garments, sometimes a garment looked completely different on people of different proportions even though they wear the same dress size. I have come away with lots of ideas and quite a few unintelligeable scribbles in my notebook!

I did buy a few little bits and pieces while I was in the shop 🙂 First at the Louisa Harding day:

The ball at the front is actually chocolate brown Rialto DK (100% merino) and the toffee colour is Louisa Harding Fauve (100% nylon) which is a kind of suede-like thin ribbon. There is a lovely pattern for a cardigan in the Rialto book which I am going to have a go at (although having tried the model on I will alter it a bit), unfortunately I can’t find a picture of it on the Debbie Bliss website at the moment.

At the Debbie Bliss day I also bought:

The purple is Rowan All Seasons Cotton (50% cotton, 50% acrylic I think), and enough of the Cashmerino DK to make a cardigan – it is the most fantastic kingfisher / peacock colour. I am looking forward to trying all of these new-to-me yarns.

Goodies!

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Last week I treated myself to some little goodies, and they are so beautiful I have to show you. Apologies for the dark photos, it was rather gloomy here yesterday when I took them.

First up rainbow coloured Denise needles from Knitting Help . Fiona (sadly blogless) from the Ash knitting group brought her set to the January meeting and it was love at first sight! They are just beautiful, a really interesting marbled colour, and useful too. Now I will be able to easily see which size needles I have picked up, and also to see whether I have got matching points or have accidentally picked up one of each size. They also of course will fit with the set I already have giving me two circulars in each size, always handy. I have started knitting with them already and the tips and cables fit together well and are very comfy to knit with.

Secondly a little parcel from Blue Moon Fiber Arts . This is three skeins of their lightweight Socks that Rock. The colours, are from the top: Chapman Springs, Sunstone, and Fire on the Mountain. I’m afraid my photography doesn’t do justice to how beautiful the yarn is. I am really looking forward to knitting this, although I haven’t yet decided whether to go for a fairly plain sock or something with a bit of pattern. I think I will go for a bit of pattern with the Sunstone, because that is a semi solid and the colour doesn’t vary very much, I am still undecided about the other two. Any ideas? recommendations?

Comments

Thanks Sandie for the needle recommendation. I have some of the Knit Picks needles, my sister brough them back from a business trip, but I haven’t used them very much yet. So far I really like them though.

We usually have snow about twice a year here but it rarely ever settles and if it does it is usually only an inch or so and is gone in about a day or less. Something to do with being on the edge of London probably.

Thanks for the nice comment on the avatar! The photo was taken by my husband on our honeymoon in the Loire region of France. We were looking round a maze in the grounds of one of the chateux and he thought it greatly amusing that although he could easily see over the tops of all the hedges, due to my height (or lack thereof!) all he could see of me was the top of my hat.