In which real life catches up with me...

Although not in quite such a sinister way as that title makes it sound!

It just been a busy few weeks - both with work and with my social life... which, apparently, isn't dead! Or maybe it's the walking undead... I'm not entirely sure!

Anyway, it's all culminated in a dramatic case of start-itis! I seriously keep getting part way through something and then having a brilliant idea for something else which I decide to start immediately. I think this is where knitters have slightly more restrictions than crocheters - a knitter has a finite number of needles (unless you go out and buy more, and I see podcasts where people do that) whereas a crocheter can just stick a stitch marker into the working loop and take that hook over to another project!

This week's new starter was inspired by my WIP from a couple of weeks ago... which is totally still a WIP!

Yes, it's another Snowdrop Shawl! This one with a variation that was inspired by Martina Behm's Brickless shawl - and seriously, there are 2 things that inspire me to try knitting: making my own socks, and Martina's design page on ravelry!

So, I inserted a couple of rows of a lace effect every few solid rows - I was unsure the first few repeats, but I have to say that I do love it.

One thing I don't love so much? The yarn!

It's Drops Delight, which is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon (intended for socks) and is fulled singles, in the purple/turquoise colourway. I've worked with Drops yarn before - I adore their Alpaca, which is soft and generally lovely to work with.

This became the bane of my life within the first half ball! It's squeaky, which I've never encountered with a wool before, but the main issue is the thickness - it varies from wire-thin to super-bulky thick over a relatively small space. 

Please excuse the lighting - this was taken at about half eleven at night.  But that *points upwards* is not even the worst bit I came across. I didn't get a photo of the worst one because I was too busy cursing and cleaning up bits of fibre as the yarn drafted apart in my hands! 

I shall be finishing the project - not least because I have three balls of yarn that I do not want rattling around in my stash any longer than absolutely necessary. But I suspect this may be offered out to friends/family who will appreciate that this looks pretty without remembering the hassles that were involved in making it.

My other thing recently has been stash building... which I have now officially (mostly) stopped since I am saving for a wheel! *does a happy dance* I headed over to Shunklies studio a few weeks ago with some other ladies from Ravelry for a fun-filled day of playing with fibre. We learned to wet felt, how best to use a drum carder and I got to play on a couple of spinning wheel, which was my main aim for the day.

Aaaaand I may have spent a ridiculous amount of time since then considering wheels and costs and which has the most benefits over the others. I think I've settled on one I prefer over the others, but it all does depend on how much it costs to get my car through its MOT next week!

So.... just a few of my stash additions... although at least two of them are specifically for the Tour de Fleece in July!

Which is really just another reason to buy a wheel - think how much I could get done for the TdF, and stash dash...

Speaking of, Stash Dash 2014 starts tomorrow, and all my current WIPs (assuming I get them finished in time) count towards the total! My very quick guesstimate yesterday, assuming I get certain projects finished and manage my minimum on a spindle for the TdF, puts me at just over 3.5K... only another 1.5K to find :(

My Indie Yarn problem continues...

Yet more gorgeous parcels made their way through the post to me this weekend courtesy of Etsy!

The first was this gorgeous pink/red/purple yarn from Marley Yarns, its a 4 ply sock yarn (75% merino and 25% nylon) in the Parrot 4 colour way.

Unlike the last set of yarns that insisted on being brighter in real life than in photos, this one is slightly darker in person.  It also is one that was bought for a specific reason!

My other purchase was from TheNakedSkein / Frankenskein Yarns on Etsy.

The first is a 100% Superwash BFL 4-ply yarn in medium green:

The other is a collection of mini-skeins in a rainbow of colours, which is 50% merino and 50% tencel - this is arguably the squishiest of the yarns bought so far, and its a mix of fibres that I'd definitely consider buying for other projects!

All of these yummy yarns are for use (at some point in the hopefully near future) in this:

Image copyright Heidi Bears

Since I really can't afford to buy several different colours of yarn for this one, unless I make it in Stylecraft that will give a much larger finished project, I figured that a smaller set of coloured yarns, some variegated yarn and a set of green for the body would be a good compromise!

In which I am incapable of self-restraint...

...at least, I am when it comes to shiny new yarn!! Though in my (somewhat patchy) defense, most of it was purchased with a definite project in mind! 

My new-found obsession is indie yarns! I think it started when I was reading Stitched Together's Blog and saw her lovely pictures of hand dyed and hand spun yarns. While I realise that I don't have the time to learn another new craft (no matter how wonderful spinning my own yarn sounds), it's much easier to buy a few very nice new yarns and to support independent crafters.

It's also, of course, more expensive *cough*

Anyway, off I wandered to various links and to Etsy, and back I came eventually with my bank account several pounds lighter and several very nice parcels due to arrive over a week or two!

These are the lovely, squishy, shiny, gorgeously yarns that have arrived so far! 

Anyway, the first two to arrive were Babylonglegs semi-solid sock yarns, which are 3-ply 100% merino in the "Pie" and "Feel the Teal" colourways:

If I'm honest, these give me ever so slightly mixed feelings: they're both wonderfully soft, really rather pretty and I do love them... but they look much brighter in pictures than in real life. I've discovered similar problems with some of the others looking more green in person than in pictures, though I suspect that might just be the way my eyes work - everyone sees colours differently after all.

These are the only one's I bought with no real project in mind, although considering how soft they feel I think at least one of them will have to become a scarf... maybe both of them in a houndstooth pattern since they're both blue based.

The second yummy parcel I got to open (seriously, Wednesday was like my birthday considering the number of exciting parcels I got to open) was from Jelliebean Yarns on Etsy - the Stardust Sock Yarn in the Peacocks colourway. This is 75% merino, 20% nylon and 5% brilliantly sparkly silver thread. 

This was bought for my current on-the-go small-ish project - the Elise Shawl. This has been in my queue for ages, I've just been debating over a suitable yarn to use. It was a little hard to photograph - mostly because it started raining as I was taking pictures of stuff, but also because this is going to need pretty heavy blocking once it's finished.  

The final parcel that arrived the other day was this scrummy yarn from Artist's Palette Yarns.

This is the Smoothie Sock yarn in the "Walk in the Downs" colourway - it's 75% merino and 25% nylon, and is a wonderful mass of greens, yellows and blues. This is actually intended for socks!! Since my knitting is laughable I've been hunting through crochet patterns, and this is the one I've singled out so far... though it may change at some point before I start.

All of my stash yarns and my planned projects are linked through my Ravelry profile... and there will no doubt be another gleeful post like this when my other parcels arrive!