Stash Dash Week 1

So, just a quick little update today, since it's the end of week 1 of Stash Dash and I wanted to put everything in one place. At least, that was the plan... until I woke up this morning feeling utterly awful with the beginnings of a bug of some sort.

So I'll be throwing some quick pictures up here and then heading to the sofa to veg out with the new copy of Simply Crochet.

I've finished 2 things this week, both small bits of spinning from samples I've received with orders.

The first is 15m of chain plied Merino from Nunoco:

And the second was also chain plied, 39.5m of BFL/Silk in the Monster Mash colourway from Fondant Fibre - which was gloriously easy to spin.

Before:

After:

I actually really love this spun up! The red blobs have merged with the other colours to seem more brown, and the overall finished colour is kind of a field in spring - I love it!

The main crochet project I've been working on is a cushion cover for my parents:

The front has been finished for a while, I just finally got around to weaving in the ends last night, and I made a start on the panels for the back.

I kinda need to get this finished for the 8th June so that I can give it to my Mum, so I have extra motivation to get this finished :)

Meterage week 1:  54.5
Total meterage: 54.5/5000

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 :(

WIP Wednesday

Another WIP post this week - mostly because I seem to be in the kind of mood recently where I'm permanently distracted by new ideas, and so nothing gets finished!

For instance, I sat down yesterday evening with the intention of starting the swatching for a hexagon blanket... and promptly started the Snowdrop Shawl that I've been contemplating for the last couple of months!

The Babylonglegs yarn I'm using has been in my stash for a few months, bought on something of an impulse and put to one side when it first arrived as it was somewhat darker than expected. Still, it's lovely yarn, and every time I spotted it I was determined to make something with it... Likewise the Snowdrop Shawl has been in my Ravelry queue for several months, and flicking through my (surprisingly well maintained) queue last night, inspiration struck and I set off... glancing guiltily at the open instructions for hexagons that I was pushing aside!

Both yarns are 100% merino in the "Feel the Teal" and "Pie" colourways, and both are slightly variegated, although this is random and pretty subtle, meaning that (so far) there's no unsettling pooling of colour. The pattern calls for Aran weight yarn with a 6mm hook, and this is a 3 ply sock weight yarn, so I initially worked it on a 3mm hook, which gave a dense and quite firm fabric. So I frogged and started again on a 4mm hook, which gives more drape to the fabric, without it becoming lacy.

Also on my hook recently was the beginnings of a pair of cushion covers for my Mum - we're planning to trade so she can knit me some socks! However, I forgot to bring these back with me after my visit over the weekend, so I need to collect them at some point... meantime, have a slightly over-exposed picture I snagged at the weekend.

I've been pretty good on the spinning front however, as I focussed on just one project!

This is Spin City UK's Paintbox, in fibre form and part way through spinning. I wasn't too sure the first bit I span, mostly because there's a surprising amount of yellow in it, but it got considerably better as I progressed. I think this is going to end up chain plied, although the end product may depend on the yardage I get and how the finished yarn looks.

Still, it was affectionately nicknamed "Technicolour Yawn" by my Mum, and the name kinda stuck!

My next big, ongoing project is the Stash Dash 2014... which is actually more of several smaller projects *shrugs* but it gets the point across! So, basically this is a stash busting exercise organised by the Knit Girllls - the linky there goes to their Ravelry group, since that's the easiest way to find information on the Stash Dash and their podcasts.... which, by the way, are well worth watching! They're funny and informative, and possibly the best thing to crochet/spin along to!!

Anyway, the aim is to get through 5000 metres of yarn between 23rd May and 7th August - which I think someone calculated as 500 yards per week. It's a large amount... until you realise that they encourage you to bend the rules in your favour! So, anything that is a WIP before 23rd May, that you finish after this date, counts towards your total! So the three projects above totally count for my total yardage for the dash!!

Anyway, I'll be keeping a running tally of yardage etc through the summer, the same with my progress on the Tour de Fleece - which I'll ramble on about another time... since I think I've gone on long enough today!







(In a short side note - apologies if some of today's pictures are a little dark, it's tipping it down with rain at the moment! I'll replace them if/when I get the weather improves!)

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!

A weekend excursion...

Yes, I'm aware that this is almost a week past the point that it happened, but I've had one of those weeks where I've barely stopped rushing around like a madwoman!!

So, at the beginning of February, I was one of the few people lucky enough to get our requests into Lucy of Attic 24 whilst she still had places left on her March workshop (Lucy's post about it here).

I dragged myself out of my nice warm and cosy bed at 6am... on a Saturday!!!! I'm not a morning person at the best of times, but it always seems worse to be up at that time on a weekend for some reason!

Anyway, up I got and to the station I went. I could have driven, but jumping on a train meant that I could relax on the way there, do a little reading or crochet if I wanted to, and didn't have to fight my way through to a parking space!!

I headed up to Lucy's studio, which sits over the lovely Cooper's cafe. They make wonderful coffee, sell gorgeous tea cakes, and have the most amazing menu that I have ever seen in a cafe!!

Anyway, the purpose was, of course, the workshop for this lovely little fellow:

He's not completely finished, there's still some decoration to be done, but I grin like a loon every time I spot him on the back of my living room door!

Lucy was exactly as lovely and nice in person as she is when she writes on her blog, and the time absolutely flew by in a blur of crochet, chatter and really good pastries! I had an absolutely brilliant time, despite how tired I was Sunday, and it's definitely something I'd do again given a chance... I may or may not be stalking Lucy's blog for mention of future workshops...

Lucy was also kind enough to let us take random pictures around her studio (and I seriously want somewhere as cosy and pretty as that!!), so I present a pic-spam of my saturday...

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!