Yarn counts

This is on an old Inex card that's been on my desk for ages, I think I picked it up at a guild show:

2/30                1 strand    = 1 ply
2/16                1 strand    = 2 ply
2/12                1 strand    = 3 ply
2/24                2 strands   = 3 ply
2/10                1 strand    = fine 4 ply
2/20                2 strands    = fine 4 ply
2/30 or 2/32    3 strands    = 4 ply
2/8                    1 strand    = 4 ply
2/16                2 strands    = 4 ply
2/24                4 strands    = DK
2/12                2 strands    = DK

Just putting it out there in case it's any use to anyone! 

New toy

I ordered a 3d printed cylinder for my Imperia a 60/30 with ribber - a late birthday treat for myself - from one of the Kegworth seminar attendees, Eric Sharp. They arrived on Saturday, and I got to play with them! I made a rather loose sock, so the stitch size needs adjusting - I should also have oiled the CSM whilst the cylinder was out because it kept sticking at a certain spot. Very pleased with it anyway! As the Cog was away this weekend I took the opportunity to do an inventory of my yarn stash, my Ravelry inventory is now mostly up to date.

I seem to have an entire tote of "trophy" yarn, these are Italian fancies - I must think of a suitable project for them really!

Current mood: impressed

Noro yumminess!

I defy any crafter to resist the deliciousness of these colours! Of course, there's the small matter of the white snowflake jumper to knit up first on the midgauge, then I can get the chunky out. So far it's not gone to plan - the lovely zigzag hem I wanted to knit on it is not playing nice (so I will handknit it afterwards), and the snowflake lace pattern I wanted to put on the border didn't work out, so I've settled on a simple zigzag. I've not completely given up on the idea though, I think it just needs to be bigger to have any definition. Lace is hand-manipulated on all but the standard gauge machines, of course, which leaves room for error.

Photo update

These photos are a combination of a camera on fumes and low morning light. Oops!


Spiral tam, unblocked. Pattern here - it's ingenious! Alas I don't have the head for tams.


Crochet baby blanket


Shopping bags made from fat quarters


Yes, I may have gained more yarn last week. Oops, I did it again...

Busy weekend

On Saturday, I had an impromptu visit to Brandon Marsh with my good friend M, a nature reserve just down the road from me that I've never gotten around to visiting. Got to play with my new longer lens and got some OK shots, these are all at the maximum zoom of the lens, I am not anywhere near as close as it might appear! There's lots of romantic wildlife activity going on at the moment but it's surprisingly hard to catch on camera unless you can spend all day there. The weather was lovely this weekend.









Sunday was the annual Nottingham show...




Bill King not visible past all the interested visitors!


Lots of wonderful yarn and buttons and patterns to be had (I may have come home with some. Oops!)

More Nottingham pictures here. I do hope the show runs next year, alas the "voting" system was signing a sheet on your way out (not well signposted, either) which was only instigated mid afternoon, so may have missed the early birds.

The Cog is back home from his third snowboarding trip this year, sans snowboard, helmet and googles. Yes, some lowlife lifted his gear from outside a shop, so he's looking at £800 odd to replace it all. Not a happy bunny.

Current mood: exhausted

Randomly on a Tuesday

Yes, I recently had a birthday (end of last month). Let's just say I'm firmly in the land of the forty-somethings and leave it at that.

Anyway, I had some Amazon vouchers for my birthday, and the first one got this:



Two books - one on overlocking, and one on sewing feet, plus a tailor's ham and a sleeve roll. Yeah, the yarn was on sale at the wonderful Wool Warehouse, nothing to do with Amazon in fact! The jiffy bag contains bandages, refills for my home first aid kit. It's considerably cheaper buying bandages online at Amazon than it is elsewhere, and they seem impossible to buy in person!

Because I never got around to taking a picture of it, the blanket kit I bought at Kegworth:



...and the blanket in progress:



I snapped this in the changing rooms at C and A - love it!



And finally, because I had a tumultous night's sleep and need something restful to look at, a view over the Minnewater in Brugge. Not bad for a smartphone picture!



Current mood: awake

FO: Skirt and mini-write up

So I had a lovely week at Metropolitan with Tony Bennett. There were about 10 of us, and the first two days he showed us some interesting hand-manipulated stitch techniques, ways of casting on and off with doubled yarn, and his flat seaming technique. He also showed us some amazing garments, most of which are constructed from fairly simple shapes. I almost decided to make the long cardigan - four rectangles, one with a bend in - but then decided on the skirt as I love knitted skirts and don't have many. Throughout the week he showed us more garments he'd brought (in case he didn't have enough!) and there were lots of "oohs" and "ahs!". Several of us expressed the wish to kidnap him and do a second week's knitting.

The BnB I stayed in was nice enough, but no kettle on the first night (a mistake) and no locks or bolts on the doors except for the bathroom. Luckily I had decided against taking my laptop, because I would have felt compelled to keep it locked in the car. Thursday night we went for a lovely meal at the Badger Inn, and I came back to find my door wide open (the handle was falling off and it didn't shut properly half the time).



OK, the skirt is finished - I had some non-rolling elastic (petersham?) and finished it off Friday night. The skirt is made from two straight pieces with hems (the basque) and four small "half hour shawl" triangles. Still not sure about the two silver pieces - it makes for a very heavy poncho, being 500g of yarn. I need to sew the edges to finish the fringing and have a think.

The sock yarn I got at Yarningham:



Current mood: working

Whoops

Well, what can I say? I'm still not doing any handknitting or crochet,  but when Knitpicks Felici sock yarn came back on sale, well....

I also treated myself to a copy of the Lutterloh system,  which is an interesting pattern drafting system using two body measurements and the golden ratio. Whilst there's only a few patterns for men and children, and I don't see myself sewing a complete dirndl outfit anytime soon (it's a German company), there are enough interesting things to keep me occupied I think. Have heard good things, so we shall see...

Fibre East 2015

It's a terrible thing to admit that yarn you've had for at least a year still hasn't told you what it wants to be! So I was determined to keep a tight grip on my purse at this year's Fibre East, not least because payday's not 'til Friday and the bank account is a little in the red this week. Oh well, I nearly succeeded!

I had an email from Pat on the Friday night to say the marquee was rather damp and to wear sensible shoes. Lynda brought trays so we could keep our belongings dry. Luckily I think the weather was better on the Saturday - when I spent an afternoon machine knitting a very oddly shaped jumper in the back garden. I'd volunteered to help out on the Guild stand for the Sunday, which had that dreadful grey mizzle that sets in for the day. Undeterred, plenty of folks were in shorts and sandals - it wasn't very warm, either! There were four marquees and three halls, all named after breeds of sheep, plus an area for competition entries.

I picked up some paper quills to fit my Glimakra shuttles, and an Ashford shuttle to fit the shuttles I bought last week from P&M Woolcraft. Very nicely made. Then I bought some mercerised cotton for weaving from My Fine Weaving Yarn (so much nicer to see the thickness in person!) and a shawl kit from Debonnaire. It has sequins, what can I say? Bumped into a few weavers but not many knitters that I knew, apart from the good folks of Yarn Cafe of course. A lovely event as always - can't wait for next year!

View from the stand:










Weaving in progress with new shuttle:


More pictures from Fibre East here - I daresay there'll be more on the Fibre East website soon too.

Still really enjoying the weaving. Finally onto the second cabled sock, everything else is on hiatus at the moment.

Current mood: impressed

FO: CSM ribbed socks

Second ever pair of 3x1 ribbed socks. Slight error on the first one (bottom) when I put the ribber into slip before starting on the foot; turns out that's a no-no. Second one went better. Also, love the new blanket - Eddie the cat has already pulled a thread in it though (see the yellow loop). He seems to appreciate wool, starts paddling on it.


Second half of the yarn required for the hearts blanket. Need to count up the first squares, think I'm a few short. Just being lazy as they're upstairs.


Took several attempts to get a picture not over-exposed, this is King Cole Bamboo in denim, very nice handle to it. For once I have a project in mind for this, a long tunic with lace. Already swatched on the KH950i.

Current mood: sore - chiropractor tried a different angle on the stretching machine last week. Felt great on Friday morning but has hurt ever since =(

Unloading the camera

Just some pics of a few finished objects, and a few things in progress.


Picked this up at the Nottingham show (King Cole Bamboozle). Isn't it pretty?


It's going to be a long waistcoat


Made myself some socks yesterday. Well, why should the etsy shop have all the best stuff?! :) (Lang Jawoll Magic)


Upside down, but this is the start of another blanket. And yes, the magenta IS that bright...


Bit of a miscalculation with the placemats - (a) there are only three, should have been four and (b) over-felted them. And (c), they were all supposed to be the same size. Whoops!

Current mood: leg hurty, but I've been driving, hopefully it'll wear off soon.

Easter break

There may have been a few yarn purchases this weekend in Gloucester:







No idea what I'm going to do with any of this, just that it was pretty. Probably yet more hats! Cheltenham has THREE yarn shops and Gloucester at least one (couldn't visit it as it was closed Easter Monday). How come Rugby can't even support one? Bah!

We had a hat competition at Manor House on Thursday and my reversible hat came third (alas, no prize for third!).

Took some Noro with me and made six squares whilst we were away:



Sprinkled Tom's ashes yesterday, under one of his favourite bushes:



Current mood: sore - currently undergoing the modern equivalent of a medieval stretching rack for my back, the hope is it will suck the damaged disc back in.