Moving..

I've moved!!!

For various reasons, I've moved blog. If you pm me I can tell you why (it's nothing terribly exciting). It's partly because blogger bugs me!

Come and find me at http://monkeyfeet.wordpress.com/ :)

And see things like this:

My first sewing, WIPs and new yarns!

Phew, it's taken me ages to do all this post, now for the writing.

Well it's been another hectic week!

First of all, I made my first sewing project. I've always been into sewing, but never properly. I had the idea that it would really enhance my shop if I could put in some bags and cool stuff that I've sewn, but first I need to learn to do it properly! So I bought the kit for this bag off etsy. Basically you got the material, handles and interfacing, along with the pattern and instructions. BUT.. the instructions were really hard to follow, I think they'd been translated from a different language. So, I got a big sewing book to help me instead. I ended up not following the pattern either!

So here's my tote bag, it's quite big, will comfortable hold my knitting, purse, book, phone, keys etc.







My sewing's not 100%, and I had a zillion ends to weave in, so seeing as it's just for me, I decided to knot them and cut some of them, some are woven in though.

Above you can see a skein of yarn in the pocket. I've since attached a couple of cute badges, and I'm going to put a button on the pocket.

Looking inside you'll see the messy part of my sewing - the handles. The knitting and book were down at the bottom so I've pulled them up so you can see the size a bit better.

So, what is the knitting in the bag?

It's this - my upstairs stole. I'm on my 5th repeat now, it's growing quite quickly, and I'm really happy with it.

And what was that book?

It was Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith..

I've finished the first Lotus Lace sock! I'm really, really happy with it. It's a fantastic fit and looks great, so I can't wait to make the second one - no more SSS for me!!

My Godfather got me a funky felted pen.. how cool is this??

And I'm very, very slowly spinning up this beautiful merino/soy silk roving. Spindling doesn't really do it for me I have to say!

Here we go -

This is what I keep it it:

I've been dyeing a lot this week too. First of all I did some BFL aran, in Strawberry Dreams, and Pablo.

Oh, but then I got these in the post... Blue Jeans handspun from Bordertart on Ravelry.

Copacabana, also from bordertart:

And SkeinQueen, can't remember the name, but it's lambswool, angora and cashmere, and oh so soft!
I swapped the above three for my yarns, so my stash now looks like this:

Measly looking, but you'd be amazed at how much there actually is on that shelf! Plus it's all so beautiful :)

Here's the big box of yarn (this is all my hand dyed not stash!!):

Here are the lovely, squishy new alpaca sock yarns.. they dyed up really nicely and the colours really blended.

I think they'd make fantastic lace projects as well as socks.

Pablo:

Cairngorm:

Autumn:

Blueberry Muffin:

Kelp:

Holly:

Inca:

Fresh Berries:

Ocean view:

You'll have to ignore the horendous quality of this image. I put it together in paintshop, and somewhere between uploading it to photobucket and uploading it here the quality went awful :(

It's Bambino - my new sock yarn, which is 80% merino, 20% bamboo. It's unblievably soft and squishy, I can't stop feeling it!

The worst one seems to be the middle top one, if you want to see it it's in my photobucket, and in my etsy of course. I was going to uploads them individually but my post would have taken all week to write and read!

So top-bottom, left-right - Kelp, Holly, Blueberry Muffin, Sweetheart, Duffel, Buttercup, Inca, Fresh Berries, and Tor.

I uploaded three close ups so you can actually see them!

Here's Holly:

Tor:

Duffel:

Here's a gratituous puppy photo to break up the yarn photos..

It's a hard knock life eh!

And finally, here are the BFL sock yarns, I've not put all of them here - just the new ones. The ones you can't see are Inca, Autumn and a few others!

Here's a really bright version of Holly:

Bonnie:

Deep Sea Diving:

Sweetheart kettle dyed with some purple:


And that's all for now!!

I'm onto the second of my plain purple socks, nearly on the heel. Am going to OH's for a few days so I'll probably finish it while I'm there, so I've wound up my Socks that Rock yarn ready to cast on a pair of plain sock in that.

There's also the stole, which I'm hoping I might finish in about ten days (I usually do half or a whole repeat at a time cause I'm strange like that). And the Lotus Lace socks, which I'm sure I'll get done quickly because I love them so much! I can see another pair or two in my future! The next patterned socks will be Pixie's Pablo socks but in the cotton sock yarn I got at Woolfest.

I'd better go - so much to do, so little time!

Woolfest.. in a gazillion photos!

Woolfest was awesome! I had a lovely time, met quite a few Ravelers and then afterwards we had fish n chips in Keswick, and a dog walk in the rain around the lake. It was a lovely day!

We didn't get there til 1pm, so first we scouted around checking it all out (we being me and mum). I loved seeing the animals. Some of my favourites were the Wensleydale sheep, angora bunny, and the alpacas. I seem to have a thing for animals with funny hair/flecces.


These guys, the Wensleydales, are the cool kids of the animal world. Look how chilled they are. They almost look stoned. (All my pics are enlargable btw - I recommend zooming in at the hair)

Check out this bunny! Isn't he cute, and rockin and tufty!

And look at the alpacas - definitely punks of the animal world. I like the ones that are black and have white bits in the tufts on the top of their heads, but there weren't any here. These are just as cool though. The hair do's kind of a bit 80's, specially with the clipped body.

Ok, enough of the animals, now to the shopping. I've been stashbusting for 6 months, as I've proudly told just about everybody. And saving up for a few months too.

So I started with... buttons! I love buttons, beads and little bits and bobs that are interesting.
I got horn ones, slate ones, pretty ones, geometric style ones..

I got some fibre, it's merino/silk from Wigham wool work. It's actually bright purple in real life, but I can't get my camera to pick up purple today, annoyingly.

This is from DT Craft & Design - it's 50% angora, 50% kid mohair, it's a DK weight, I'm going to use it for a lace project - possibly Ice Queen. Oh I'll probably dye it first though.

This is lana grossa cotton blend sock yarn. It's remarkably similar (but not as bright) as my Kelp! Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try.

I got these from the chorley market lady who was there. She had lots of rowan kidsilk haze/night, and I really wanted to get loads as it was half price, but I just got these two. They're kind of dark plum coloured. I was a little peeved that she sneaked in some acrylic nasties (I do have acrylic, but Woolfest isn't really the place I don't think). And her hubby was kind of touting for business which was annoying (I ignored him). But I got a bargain anyway so can't complain!!

Ok, more fro DT Craft & Design, who were really friendly and had loads of good stuff. This one is laceweight, handspun silk and goat down. It's a bit weird actually. It's quite hard and very shiny. It makes a gorgeous shawl though, there's 500 yards so I'll dye it and make something nice :)



This is Natural Dye Studio laceweight alpaca - it's SO lush. Again, I think there's about 600 yards (from memory - could be wrong) - so I'll make something really nice with it :)

I met Amanda and her hubby and they were really friendly and interesting to talk to.

I also met Jen, of fyberspates fame. She was really lovely and her yarns were so delicious. I liked the casual lay out of her stall, and the shawls she'd knitted from her yarns which gave me a good idea of what I could do with a skein or two.

I got this laceweight silk, which I'm hoping to use for my first doily. I can't remember how many yards she said are in it, so I'll have to check.

It was intersting how Amanda (NDS), Jen (Fyberspates) and me (plus a few others you'll know of!) all use the same supplier for our base yarns (we have some different but the main ones are hte same), and our styles of dyeing are so different. That's really cool.

I got this from Jen too, it's DK weight silk, with good yardage (again, I've forgotton how much). Im' not sure what I'll do with it. Maybe save it til I can afford another skein then make something.

I got this - Colinette Jitterbug - how cool is the pink!


It says easy care, but in small print says hand wash - argh! So I don't know if I can put it in on a 30 degree wash or not.
I got colinette point 5 too, to go with my other skein, which is plum coloured. I'm thinking of saving up for one more skein and doing a felted bag.

That's all from Woolfest for this year! It'll keep me busy for months anyway :)

If you've never been to Woolfest, I can't recommend it enough. It's traditional but has fashion too, and is really down to earth.

Now onto WIPs and stuff! I crocheted this last week - it's a shoulder bag. I made it up as I went along, hence the dodgy shape. I do like it though, and need to line it.

I crocheted this small bowl using DB SoHo too. The rocks you see in the top and on the left on top are actually both pieces of lava from Iceland, which I picked up (I'm sad like that).


This is my TV knitting - it's bright purple in real life! It's going slowly seeing as I rarely watch TV, but I'm on the second one anyway.




Here's my Upstairs Stole - it's a quick, simple knit, and I like it! It's not a challenge, so quite relaxing. It's Rowan kidsilk haze in natural - I'm wondering if I should dye it pale lilac, but I might leave it.
And Here's my Lotus Lace socks, from Kai - a great pattern, it's easy to follow, simple enough to do while mid conversation, but complicated enough to keep you interested. It's going fast because I'm one of those peeple who likes to do a whole repeat at a time, and each repeat's 10 rows, so it's coming on quickly!



I'm really pleased with Delle, which is my own yarn. It's been spiral striping, then on the heel I got little stripes, and now I think it's going to pool down the foot. I'm going to try and match the second one the same. It's a bit lighter than the pics actually.

And that's all for now! I'm crocheting coasters using the remaining ball of SoHo, for my MIL to be. My stash shelf, though pitiful compared to some may be *nudges Kate*, is stuffed full of yummy yarn again :)

OH I nearly forgot - at woolfest I picked up some great yarn from my supplier! I got a kilo each of alpaca sock yarn, bamboo blend sock yarn, and the usual (but so soft!) BFL sock yarn. I also got bamboo fibre, milk fibre and silk hankies :) so will be busy dyeing next week.