Figgy Pudding!

So who's started planning their Christmas projects?

Packing up

Lovely Perran Yarns being packed ready to find their new owners in Sweden & the UK!

Woolly Warmth

I've been included in this gorgeous woolly treasury by bebbyjumpers today as part of the current Knit1Treble2 team challenge - so cosy!

Here's a quick look at the woolly goodness that I treated myself to yesterday too:

• James C. Brett Passion
• King Cole Riot
• King Cole Twist

Look out for some new knitted lovelies using these yarns in my shop soon - or I might just keep them myself...!

And finally, the gorgeous moonstone stud earrings that my daughters treated me to for my birthday. 

They were bought from my favourite local jewellery shop - Velvet Crystal.

Exactly what I wanted - thanks girls!

Skeined!

First up - Happy Father's Day! Hope all Dad's everywhere had a fab day, whatever you did :)

Last night and this evening I spent reskeining a couple of 500gram megaskeins of DK merino superwash wool.

I bought them from Fyberspates a while back, and have finally got round to wanting to dye them and get them into my Etsy shop!

I wanted to divide each megaskein into 50gram skeins ready for dyeing. I knew how many metres of the wool there was per kilo, so I calculated the length for 50grams from that.

I know that my niddy noddy winds a skein of 1.9metres each time round, so I could calculate from that how many times I had to wind around to make each skein.

I added a couple more winds each time for good measure - nobody likes underweight skeins!

It didn't take as long as I thought, and my arms lasted out. Now I have a gorgeous pile of 50gram skeins ready for the dye pot!

Yummy new yarns

Remember the dye pot I showed you? Well here are the results:

Superwash Bluefaced Leicester sock yarn in shade "Emerald Isle" - so vibrant!

I used 3 shades of Jacquard dyes mixed in different ratios.

There are just 3 skeins of this delicious colourway currently in my shop, so don't miss yours!

The following day I got the dye pot out again, with 2 skeins of British Bluefaced Leicester aran yarn to transform.

This time I was looking for some slightly softer shades, and played with 2 of the Jacquard dye colours in the blue range.

Out of the pot came "Mediterranean Mood" - still vibrant but a softer tone - and again currently available in my shop.

The shades in this yarn remind me of the beautiful sea we saw around Turkey when we honeymooned there back in 1996!

Dyeing to show you...!

Postal delays? Not here!

My postie delivered a fantastic package to me this morning.

It was from the USA and contained 2 skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash yarn that I bought via Ravelry.

The yarn is beautiful - wonderful rich colours; I can't wait to start knitting with it.

The most amazing part of this - it was only posted 4 days ago!

Sensational Supplies

Following a recent order I have been inspired to add a couple more colourways of the Creative Yarn Packs to my shop.

I have added Ice Cream Sundae - a delicious pale pastel mix..

..and Flaming Fire - a hot mix of reds, oranges, a little gold and some darker browns.

There are many other great supplies on Etsy from UK sellers - here are a few to inspire you!

Top row, left to right:

• Hand-dyed silk carrier rods from SassaLynne
• Berry mix organza ribbons from Overspill
• Red pointed muffin cases from MarmaladySupplies

 Bottom row, left to right:

• Stripy Tiger Pendant Charm from CardsAndCraft
• Pick your own 9inch felt squares from Titchables
• Campfire sock yarn from JunoFibreArts

So what are you waiting for? Buy some fab supplies and get crafty!

KnitExpo Winter 2010

Finally, after living here in glorious Cornwall for almost 4 years, I got to a knitting show!

On Saturday eldest DD and I went to the KnitExpo at Exeter and had a great day. It was small, but perfectly formed. Here are some of the views of the day:

 Hand-dyed yarns of course! Lots of them.

Heaven. :)

 Felted balls, felt, felted items, felt everything from Felt Folk.

I just love the way the felt balls are displayed in the sweetie jars - they look brilliant!

 I absolutely fell in love with the egg cosies from the Wool Sanctuary.

I really can't tell you why. I'm not an egg cosy type of person, and wouldn't actually use one. They just really appealed to me!

Creative supplies

I've introduced a new section to my shop recently - Creative Yarn Packs.

There are lots of crafters out there making beautiful cards, toys, textile art, etc, all using small lengths of various yarns and other materials in their creations.

I happen to have a huge stash collected over several years of yarn-addiction that needs to be tamed in size.

Hence the new section.

I love the colourways that are emerging - for example the ones pictured here - Passionate Purples and Monochrome Mania.

New stash

I've had several sales from my Etsy shop recently which have enabled me to buy some more yarn stash - yay!

I bought these lovely items from Scandanavian Knitting Design.

Big Fabel is a thick sock yarn which is also great for gloves, hats, etc. I used this yarn to make the unisex fingerless gloves in my shop.

I'm hoping to make some more of this style in these colours but with a half thumb. 

I'm going to try this technique of using waste yarn to create the thumb gusset.

Eskimo is a new yarn for me. It's squooshy and thick and lovely!

I adore the colours available and it feels next-to-skin soft.

I think these may become cowls.