Orange

The last photo is of some World of Wool blended tops I spun up as a trial of my new baby...

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yep, I bought another wheel ☺



Here she is bonding with the existing herd. She's a Haldane Lewis, I got her from a very nice lady up the road, via the wonders of Ravelry. First double drive wheel, and the first non-Ashford. I loves her to bits already, except she's a bit bigger than I appreciated. I may need a bigger living room.

Oh and the beloved has christened her - Hamilton. (geddit?) Not maybe the most feminine of names, but I think it's stuck ☺

~♥~

Fairies Wear Boots

or at least they do in my new Etsy shop! You can see items over on the right hand pane of the blog. I've been meaning to do this for ages - I make so much, I can't possibly make use of it all myself :-) Although my Etsy name is my own name (you couldn't make that up after all) I decided to give the shop its own name too. So "Fairies Wear Boots" it is. Why? Well, it feels like a good fit for what I make, who I am and the kind of stuff I like. Also it is a cool Black Sabbath song which is a bonus yes?

In Other News
Ange and I did a dyeing workshop with Lilith - the Old Maiden Aunt herself. Now I have a pretty good selection of Lilith's yarns:



so the chance to play with the base yarns and dyes that she uses was too good to miss!

Here's the results - these are the sample skeins we did one afternoon:



From left to right:
Merino Superwash 4-ply
Merino Bamboo 4-ply
Merino Cashmere 4-ply
Alpaca Merino 4-ply
Alpaca Silk Sport
Alpaca Silk Cashmere 2-ply
Merino Silk 2-ply
Blue-Faced Leicester Aran

I chose the merino/cashmere for two skeins which I kettle-dyed the following day:



I just need to think up names for the colourways!

I also decided to have a crack at dyeing some combed tops - the green is BFL, the purple BFL / mohair. I handpainted these and I am really chuffed with the purple (which I've christened "Tart's Boudoir") but the green is a bit insipid (totally my own fault) so I might overdye it.



So a highly recommended way of spending a couple of afternoons!

Also I finished Dad's hat, and also Mum's socks (also in Lilith's yarn - Merino Cashmere in "Wicked")



~*~

Poorly sick :-(

I have been slightly floored by a threatening cold. I don't do colds, as a rule, and I'm determined this one ain't hanging around either. However, it has meant a day away from the steaming heap of donkey-poo that is my work at the moment, and has led to an FO (I'm not too poorly to knit. I'd have to be dead to stop knitting.)

Ack! Blogger is broken. No pictures. Sorry. For those on Ravelry, if y'all step on over to my projects (go on, guess my username) - it's the Scrap Wrap, by Natasha Sills, from here. Mine however is rather smaller, not so wide (why?) and is, as yet, unfringed, cos I can't be arsed at the minute. Cute pattern though, we like. I like random knitting like this.

Well, I thought today I'd get shitloads of stuff done, but nope. I knit the wrap, picked some green tomatoes, in the vain hope they might ripen up inside, took a couple of piccies for here and Ravelry, rinsed out some yarn I dyed yesterday and hung it to dry, then lost about three hours reading Rabbitch's blog and gigglesnorting (I love that word) rather a lot.

I'll come back later and see if Blogger has recovered from its fit of the vapours. Can anyone tell me why, when I put pictures in a post, they always appear at the top rather than at the cursor, and I have to drag them, kicking and screaming, into place?

And if you have an explanation as to why I am completely incapable of typing more than three words correctly at a time, I'd love to hear from you.

Some Finished Objects!!!

Wow. I finished something. Bit bored one evening, I made these:

Some leetle felted pots. The left and middle ones are in Rowan Country, the blue one with some added novelty yarn. The greeny one is in my own hand-dyed aran. The pinky one was crocheted, the other two knitted with a crochet base. I chucked them in the machine on a standard 40 deg wash, just turned down the spin to 600rpm. They then took a short trip in the tumble dryer too.

And just for the hell of it, here's some yarn-dyeing-in-progress shots:

The yellow one at the top is dyed with turmeric.

Oops

Can't believe it's been a week since my last post. I am a very bad blogger. So what's been happening? Well, the Scarf of Doom has finally been finished off, I just need to block it and then there will be pictures. I'll edit this post later (i.e. when I'm not at work) and put in piccies.

The Cursed Scarf of Doom blocking


I've been learning to knit in the round on four needles. My mum, with the patience of a saint, has passed on the dark art to me, and I am practicing. Nearly got it, just need to try not to twist the cast-on and I'm there. I did manage at one point to only have three needles on the go, I blame this totally on a rather nice Merlot and watching "The World's Greatest Elvis" on the telly. I would like you to know that I don't normally watch this type of thing, but I watched it by accident last weekend and found it hilarious and strangely compelling at the same time. The chap I earmarked last week in fact won as well, so I feel quite pleased about that.


I partook in some Stash Enrichment. (again piccies hopefully later if I can get the colours looking right.) 3 balls of Sirdar Juniper for a lovely scarf, I've been hankering after some ever since I saw it, so I treated myself.
I also placed my first order with Get Knitted, for some more Kimono Angora (and a pattern fell into my basket as well, for the Troika shawl...ahem) and what a fab experience I had. Ordered at about 10.30am on the Thursday, by the time I got home on Friday there was my parcel, sturdily wrapped with the yarn in a ziplock bag inside another plastic posting envelope-y bag, and the pattern in a plastic pocket inside a card-backed envelope, also in the plastic envelope-y bag. Perfect condition, and I also got a lolly and a pen as well! (I was singularly impressed by this. It's the little things in life that make the difference.) Super fast delivery (normal first class, nothing special) beautifully and sensibly packaged and a little freebie to boot. Needless to say they will no doubt be getting lots more of business from me, as soon as my bank account has recovered from holidays (gulp.) Naming no names, but this is such a difference from the disappointing service I had from a very large internet yarn supplier - a month to deliver some Rowan yarn.

I've been dyeing some more of the itchy Aran, I've decided it's probably going to become an Adult Surprise Jacket for me. I certainly don't want it next to my skin! I've experimented with using turmeric for dyeing, and had much better results than I expected - a lovely muted golden-yellow. It works interestingly when overdyed with food colour and / or Dylon as well.



I've been flat out at work as well, which has not pleased me greatly. I feel like Sisyphus rolling his rock up the hill. I finish one lot, and three more have arrived. Oh well, keeps me in work I guess.

I've also had a rethink on the Granny Present. I felt the throw / blankie I was making was too stiff and not snuggly enough, so I'm doing a stash crochet afghan in rainbow stripes. I'm just about to start the green stripe, it's looking pretty cool if I say so myself. I might do another for us!