New skillz

 I threw a pot.

Not that well but I threw a pot!

A soggy interlude in Cumbria

 Over the last few day M and I have travelled 847 miles. We set out Thursday am and drove for around 7 hours to get to Cockermouth in Cumbria to go to Woolfest among other things. It rained as we came off the M6 toll and it didn't stop really.
Walking from our hotel to Woolfest is probably the wettest I have ever got in such a short space of time.....but it was worth it. I blew my wodge (been saving some pennies special like) and have posted piccies of my haul below.

We also took the opportunity to meet up with some friends in Cumbria  - one of these lovely ladies has a friend who breeds alpaca and she managed to get me a dark fleece for a price much cheaper than Woolfest - she also gave me her fawn fleece to prep and spin....I see a lot of spinning in my future.

We met up with some Border Terrier friends and their dogs at Grasmere- where I not only found the Herdy shop, mug above, which M got me as a little pressie but also one of my friends, who is a knitter, knit me a scarf. No-one knits for me! And I hate knitting scarfs so it really was an excellent gift. It is pretty and soft and come winter will get well worn!

Yarn purchases - all lace, 4 ply and sock weight.

 New spindle - had to try it out with the 100% Polwarth below - so well balanced it spins like a dream.

 More fibre goodness from DK FeltStudio UK. I bought a batt from her last time at Woolfest which was divine and I just could not resist these.

As we headed out of the Lake District via Windermere which looked very swollen - so much water everywhere. We headed south to the Midlands and our next overnight stop in Burton-on-Trent - this not only broke up our journey but put us in the area of Melton Mowbray where we met up with some more friends on Sunday (and some of them have Borders). We spent a lovely day with lovely people and their dogs finally heading off for the final leg of our journey home....we got in about about 9.00pm yesterday.

Spent a quiet one today....cast on a new project with some new yarn (bad Dobby) and cat napped and relaxed as much as possible. Still tired but an early night should solve that.

I've called this 'a labour of love'

 From this (a few weeks back) to.....

this. Finished, off the needles and now blocking - taking up our whole bed!

EZ 100th Anniversary Pi Shawl - Gull Wings Pattern by Mwaa Knit Obsession.
Knit using 5mm circs (ended up using 3 circular needles all at the same time) it took 7.5 ball of Rowan Pure Wool 4 ply in a light sage green colour.

I am pleased to have it finished - especially after fuffing it up a while back and having to rip out about 8 rows of 500+ stitches.

Socks of happy.....

 and mine are orange!

I had the idea for this pattern whilst knitting on something else (a shawl) and I wondered if I could make it work...so I started playing with charts and numbers and after a little fiddling about I got it to fit and work in the round.

The gusset I borrowed from 'The Show-Off Stranded Socks' (see a previous post) but worked in moss stitch, it is a bit fiddly but it looks really good (imho). I tweeked the heel and the toes to get some balance and to continue the flow of pattern and on the whole I am happy with the outcome. Just need to write up the pattern properly now - made notes as I worked through both socks and the pattern seems to flow well.

The socks are knit in Opal Uni - in an orange that is very bright and makes me even happier - on two 2.5mm circs.

(pattern is copy right of 'Dogwomandon't Designs').

From barf to pretty.

 From nasty apricot coloured Hayfield Superwash wool 4 ply to some bright and pretty colours.

A while back Wibbo of Wibbo's Words gifted me some Koolaid.

 Thought I'd put it to good use (finally). To over dye the dire apricot took most of the sachets but I think it was worth it.

Slightly off-topic. The beacon for the Jubliee at Rottingdean - taken from my lounge window.

Poor neglected little blog

Time is flying by and I've been uber busy. To catch up. I finally finished this pair of socks that have been on the needles since April (details are on my Ravelry page). The pattern 'Show Off Stranded Socks' is designed to 'show off' hand dyed/variegated yarn and  on the legs it works but on both feet there was some serious pooling. I don't mind this and the socks are for me so it doesn't matter anyway....but I do kind of wished it hadn't.

Jubilee tiara for Lottie - she was unimpressed to say the least especially as the day before she got her first taste of live prey....she cornered and snapped at a mouse that Conkers had bought home to play with (3 mice in two days). She didn't hurt it, M rescued and released it, but she's been a bit hyper and trembley ever since.

 M cleaned out the spiders which enabled us to have a good close look at Tiny and by the looks of it (without shooting myself in the foot here) I'd say Tiny is a girl!

Working on some new own designs - quite happy with this - it's working name is 'The Orange Sock of Happiness'. Oh and I have gone all a bundle on bright orange and green. Bizarre how my colour tastes have changed a couple of years back I hated orange and always was drawn to pinks etc.

My never ending Pi shawl - this had to have some serious ripping back this week as I dropped two stitches (whilst moving between circs) right in the middle of a load of yarn overs and it could not be recovered in a 'tidy enough' way. Bit pissed off with it right now so have ignored it over the weekend and got on with some secret knitting instead.

Still reading for the 52 book challenge, even though I've passed book 52 already. Getting ready for our family holiday this month and M's and mine trip away - am excited.

That's all the blog worthy stuff for now.