Pleasure and Pain

First the pleasure, this must be one of the best yarns I've ever knitted with - Knitwitches 4ply silk.

Pattern is a thin version of Vine Stitch Wrap from Vogue Shawls on the go.













Socks are finished....

Top of Jitterbug socks


An interesting pooling...





And on the bottom ....











Now my exam is in Bristol and I went yesterday to try and find the hotel - things that would have helped me included taking the address with me.. but I have more of an idea where it is now...

So while in Bristol I had to go to Get Knitted...


I think I have a problem, I was trying to use up sock wool, but due to the space in the stash I had to refill it...



Not sure what the top one is (unlabelled bargain!!)

Bottom is another bargain, thought the two Koigu would make for interesting socks...




Then some unlabelled cashmere jumped into my bag....







And look what I found in the conservatory whilst taking photos, some Colinette Parisenne that matches wonderfully - what do you think to this






And more sock.... the red from the bargain bin...



The others just wanted to cover my feet...



And the main reason for going shopping yesterday....

Addi Lace Needles .... get them quick, they are selling rather quickly !!!



And to help me decide on future foot length a sock guide...


And now I'm off.... I'm not sure when I will be back, I need to study...



Got to get all these into my head by 12 June....



I might be back before then, and if I am I will probably be making less sense than usual !!!







And a calming picture for you.

Water lilies on a non- raining Saturday Pond.

What I did last weekend.

Surprisingly it rained on Saturday...

So instead of another picture of grey clouds I went for the pond option....








But I did manage to cut the front grass, very badly and very quickly before it started to rain again....







Whilst inside I spun a yarn...

I got this at Ally Pally from the Finish people I cant remember the name of...

Depending on what I do tonight I might finish the rest of the 500g....





Then on Sunday I went to Wonderwool at Builth Wells.

I only took two photos, both from a high by car park....

Dogs running round the ring being watched by lots of people...




And the crowds in the distance...

It was a brilliant day - shouldn't have mown the grass on Saturday and gone then as well...
Didn't manage to look at many of the animals or get to the farmer's market or the food hall...

But I did spend a very enjoyable day in the Wool Shed...


I did come home with some brill stuff...

Firstly from the lovely Maylin, her own dyed goats...

Sorry about the photo, there is a bright multicolour and a blue/green mixture




Then from Knitwitches, three hanks of silk.

When I got home I took it round to show nextdoor neighbour, it nearly didn't get it back... and as it is her birthday this weekend I decided to knit her a quick scarf.
(pattern from Vogue Shawls on the go..)







And from the Coloured Sheep Society

Some interesting grey, cross bred sheep...





And a fleece of dirty Jacob Suffolk cross.

It is now clean and drying in the garden ( I hope it doesn't rain...)

I have spun a bit (patience not a strong point !)
It is a lovely spin, coming out in light grey with bit of dark brown and dark grey...

Will have to wait until the rest dries before this becomes the fibre of the spinning moment...

And my last purchase, I cant remember who this was from .. a mill in Wales, nice ladies who I keep meeting at shows...

It's dark brown and white batted and ready to spin.

And it will be my spinning for Woolfest...


It pays to talk... a stall holder offered to get me a special fleece for Woolfest... not saying more but his stand will be the first one I go to on the Friday morning !!

And Wooo Hooo for the first time in ages I don't believe my oil tank is leaking....

Sorry only one finished sock this week (and he is shy and wants to wait for his friend)
I did manage to finish the back and fronts of my cardi, sleeves soon...

Today I realized how much study I need to do before the end of June - two assignments and one exam... Think my time and motion needs addressing...

Grrrrr

My new replacement oil tank is leaking....

Mermaid is lost in transit - posted on 30 April and still not here....

My SP9 parcel from Kerry is still not here - posted on 17 January.....

but this and this did arrive today.... too many decisions on what to make next...

I've finished one sock since yesterday, going to start his partner later...
I think I'm getting to the stage where I might be able to knit something other than socks, I've got a shawl that is on the last chart waiting for me to concentrate, and a cardi that is crying out to be flat and not in ball form ....

Thanks for all the help of foot sizes, I decided to ask my Rowanette Exchange victim to measure their foot.... I'm not sure if she reads this or not, so I wont be sharing them until she has received them....

And now I'm going to eat beef stew & dumplings with some rice pudding to follow....

I wonder if it will be dry enough to mow the grass tomorrow..... or shall I just let it grow under my feet....

Raining socks

It has been raining, so much that my pond is overflowing, the fish dont like the extra water and have been hiding at the bottom...
This was an interesting cloud from a few days ago - looks like someone swinging from the bottom....


Anyone with cats will tell you that there are days when you shouldn't try and take photos....
No sooner had a put the socks down he was there.... after several throws on the floor I did manage a cat free photo....



Jaywalkers in Opal ( i think, ball band long gone...)

This is the truer colour.
And it is the last pair of Jaywalkers I'm doing, I've decided I dont like the pattern that much...

And these are toe up, very strange wool, no repeats on colour..
I was knitting from the inside of the ball and kept on pulling loads out just to see if I could get back to the orange of the first toe... still no sign of it... oh well just one of those things, good job I dont do matching ;-)

And finally the last pair since my last post.

Top down this time, Nickerjac colour Bruised Ego.

And I think I've got enough left to do a short toe up pair...





Things I have learnt this week:

I can do a crochet provisional cast on and manage to undo later - this has taken a few attempts but now sorted !!

My stash reduction of sock yarn isn't going as well as it should be, I've worked out I can get two pairs out of most of my hanks....

Sock knitting is good when you cant concentrate....

There are five stages of dying and anything between 3 and 7 stages of grieving. Thankfully I got my assignment done in time, just the exam in a month and then I can stop thinking of depressing things....

I dont get that many strange looks when I ask people at keep fit if I can measure the length of their feet... Please can someone tell me what length a size 39 is ? I'm a bit confused on this, size 5 & size 6 were both coming out as 9 inches, and I dont think my feet have grown ....


And hopefully my head will be back to it's usual state soon (all that listening to death and grieving was not good...) If anyone is expecting emails from me they will be there at some point soon...

And to cheer me up I'm going to Wonderwool on Sunday and meeting up with two of the most enabling people I know... I have a feeling that my lack of buying yarn might change, but if you do see us please dont encourage them too much....

London

On Saturday I got up too early and managed to get to London without much of a problem. An interesting train route, Hereford, Worcester, Evesham, Oxford, Reading and then finally London. (On the way back I was more direct changed at Newport and the train seemed to go faster...)

And this is where I ended up...
A wool shop with wine and lots of blue squares....





And this is the result of a tired person trying to sew up river squares whilst drinking wine...

I managed to get a wave....

So I unpicked and removed the extra square ....

If you are near Vauxhall and have some spare time before Saturday I'm sure they would love some help sewing some of the rest together....


Look out for the news next Saturday, hopefully there will mention of the River.





And opposite I knit London is a garden

For someone who forgot her camera some picture of pretty plants











An interesting bench, I dont think I'd like to sit on it ;-)










And my first attempt at toe up socks using Wendy Knits pattern.

And for the timings it takes one sock for the return journey to London....

My cousin was on a jury in Liverpool, when asked how long the suspect was missing from a pub the reply was 'one pint', the judge was not familiar with the concept.....




Thanks for your kind thoughts on Tina, the christening was yesterday and granny has promised me some photos.

And now I've worked out how long it takes to knit socks I'm going to try and reduce my stash before I buy anymore... If it wasn't for Wonderwool Wales and Woolfest coming up I would be getting myself worried, I've been in three wool shops recently and come out without buying any yarn.... I'm not on stashalong just being un-naturally good !!

The tank assessor is coming this week, so I should get a new oil tank and then the smell of escaping oil should reduce.....

And now my books are calling me, in the next month I have two assignments due and one exam...