Monday 30 November 2009

First gift gifted!

Yesterday my best friend came over to help us get the flat ready for the holidays, since it was the first Sunday of Advent. And since I'd finished and wrapped them, she decided to open her Christmas socks - which means I can blog about them!

Pattern - Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn - Posh Yarn Laura, colourway Spruce
Mods - fewer repeats of the lace on the cuff and a shorter rib, otherwise as per the pattern

005

These were a fun project to make. Lucy picked the pattern and a colour, then I chose the yarn and knit the socks. The lace is easy to memorize and quite pretty, and it was good to get lots of practice in cabling without a cable needle. And the round toe was interesting! I'm going to have to put one on a pair of socks for me and see how I like the feel of it.

I also finished another gift yesterday. Only two more gifts to go!

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Teeny tiny stitches...

I'm hemming tablecloths for the reenactment society. Good, because hemming goes really quickly compared to knitting. Bad, because it's miles and miles of itty-bitty little stitches, white on white. Yes, I could make bigger stitches, but these are for high table for an event in the spring and I want them to look perfect!

Thursday 12 November 2009

A wee bit more shopping

Just realised I'd never posted my haul from the Knitting and Stiching Show! Or in fact blogged about it at all - oops!

I was unexpectedly able to attend this year, which meant that my shopping budget was rather limited. I think I did a good job of being restrained. Only three needlework things and the obligatory chocolate for my spouse. (It's his reward for cooing over yarn and FOs and not complaining about the shopping!)

Two kits were the main focus this year. First, a knitting kit that I've been lusting over ever since I laid eyes on it a few years ago - Sanquhar gloves. I've chosen mulberry as my colour and a pale grey for the neutral contrast. If you can't see from the photo, these are stranded laceweight gloves knitted on 1.5mm needles. I may be mad, but they will be gorgeous once they are made up!

Second, a beautiful kit to make a goldwork holiday ornament. I've wanted to learn goldwork for a long time, but the materials cost has always put me off - especially since I might end up not liking the technique. A small kit for something pretty is perfect. The designer does a range of goldwork kits, but this ornament series are designed as teaching tools. Thus, they've got small areas of most of the usual techniques used with precious metals. And the kits come in silver, too!

The weekend wasn't all shopping, though. A very dear Ravelry friend, SD, had come over from Iceland to visit the show and she came over to have dinner with us. It was lovely to get to meet her in person after years of online correspondence, and we had a fab evening of spinning and gossiping and delicious food. SD was after a spinning lesson, so I gathered my paltry skills and taught what I knew. It seems to have taken, as she's been spinning up a storm since returning home!

Generous soul that she is, SD also brought me some beautiful gifts. Bags of Icelandic fleece and yarn (hello, felted slipper-socks!), some mystery roving in stunning shades of sea glass green, and a treasure of a gift. This is handdyed spinning fiber done by another Posh Knitter, who has his own online fiber shop. SD gave me her double batch of one of his club offerings because it's my favourite colours. Needless to say, I was a bit blown away!

Friday 6 November 2009

My eyes are square, I cannot see...

No, wait, it's just that I've been looking at squares too long. :)

The blanket is finally done. Done, done, done, up on Ravelry and packed safely away to wait for Christmas. My box of holiday gifts is getting quite full! I also finished the knitting of another project this morning, but it needs blocking to be truly done. And then it can go into the box of holding too...

In among the gifts, I have actually been knitting something for me. It's a very special something - a hat made out of my very first skein of handspun yarn.
Fishbel 005
It's particularly entertaining for me, because in it I see evidence of my spinnerly progress. The mauve stripe is my first skein. It's a 2-ply. The watermelon stripes on either side are later spinning, my first 3-ply to be precise. My singles were enough thinner at that point that the 2-ply and the 3-ply are exactly the same gauge. It's heavy, it's going to be warm, and it looks reasonable enough that one of my knitting buddies thought it was a commercial thick-and-thin yesterday. Why yes, I was pleased about that, why do you ask?!