Wild Fire Fibres is Launched!

Woohoo!

My brand spaking new shop is here, and it's at http://wildfirefibres.etsy.com ! I'm really happy with it, and am really addicted to dyeing yarn now!

Here's what I've been busy doing, ready for the shop.

Disco Feet sock yarn:

Giddyhop! Sock yarn (from the song "my boy lollipop (do-do do do), you make my heart go giddyhop (do-do do do)")

Pablo sock yarn:

Thor sock yarn (has come out more greeny than I was aiming for though):

Raven sock yarn (slightly redder than the laceweight I did):

And I'm sewing some accessories, such as this sparkly black DPN pouch.

So to all of you who have bought from me in the past, a really big thankyou for inspiring me to keep going and come up with new ideas. I hope you all enjoy my new shop, I'm really proud of it and hope you guys like it too!

Now I need to get back to my poor, neglected knitting!

Relaunch Update - Updated!

Slight problem....

I currently live at home in Lancashire, but still have my flat on a lease in Dundee, as my contract is til July.. so I'm paying for a flat I don't live in until I find a new tenant for it. Well I got a phone call today from a lass who is very interested.. so tomorrow (Thurs) I'm driving up to Dundee, to show her round on Friday, and I'm driving home Friday afternoon.

Sooooo shop relaunch is going to have to wait. I'll try and do it on Friday evening if I can, otherwise it will be Monday! It's just typical that the past couple of weeks I've been quietly doing stuff, then when it all comes together something crops up to mess it all up!

Fingers crossed this lass will take my flat anyway! I'll keep you posted when I get back, and thankyou for the support so far, I know it's cheesey but it does mean a lot, and is very encouraging!

~ Vik

28.02.2008 - Scrap all the above. My landlord has really screwed me over (to cut a long story short!), so no going to Dundee, and the shop will be opening tomorrow as planned!

SoHo Hat and lots of yarn!

I don't seem to have done much knitting this past week or so for some reason. Well I'm working towards the relaunch of my shop, on Friday (29th Feb - thanks Pixie for pointing that out :) ). I'm really excited about it and am enjoying the dyeing and making SO much!

I've also joined the gym, this is my third week, going every day except Sundays. I'm enjoying it and my fitness is rapidly improving. I'm very strong but have no stamina at all, and get out of breath worryingly quickly. So an hour a day, doing 30 mins cardio and 30 mins weights, and my breathlessness has greatly improved already :)

Anyway. I did knit this hat last week, and have barely taken it off ever since. It's so warm and snuggly and just loose enough that I don't get hat hair!

I made myself a DPN pouch using a vintage dress I got a few years ago from a charity shop. How's that for recycling!

And I'm doing my blue socks, which I semi-artfully photographed with the yarn in it's bowl and the DPN pouch. It's parter is on the needles and I'm just almost on the heel. I love this colourway!

And here's what I've been *really* busy doing.. dyeing up lots of yarn.

Laceweigh cashsilk in Starlet:

Laceweight cashsilk in Wild Crow (yes it's just black but it took 5 days of soaking to get it to go a solid black!):

Laceweight cashsilk in forget me Not:

Laceweight cashsilk in Wildly Indifferent. It's purple with black bits, this photo isn't terribly good.

Sock yarn in Wild Tiger:

Sock yarn in Wild Forest:

Sock yarn in my signature colourway (that sounds so much posher than the actual concept of it), Wild Fire:

And finally, sock yarn in Untitled:

There's quite a few more to come too, as I'm waiting for just one more order of sock yarn. I can't tell you how much I enjoy dyeing, it's just brilliant. You can be so experimental with it.

My WIPs are - blue socks, and a pair of legwarmers that I'm designing as I knit them. They're just simple cables really, but are in DK pure Alpaca... *droooool*. Pics will follow, I promise!

I'll do an update on Friday when I relaunch myself as Wild Fire Fibres, I'm really excited about it *looks sheepish*.

More FO's!

Well I finally got to block my Epic Forest Canopy! I was away for a few days so blocked it on my bedroom floor. Strangely, the spikes aren't there! I did the pattern right but there just aren't any spikes.. it's really weird. I have to say I don't really care, I'm really happy with it, it's huge and lovely to snuggle into :)

Here it is lounging on Cedrus, our huge pine tree.



You can see the size of it more here. It's longer than my full arm span and reaches past my bum!


I loved the KidSilk Night to knit with and am really enamoured with this colour. It's a dusky blue.

I also finished my first endpapers. They're my first fairisle, and there's one mistake if you look closely ;) according to Liz from SnB these are done in Sanquhar style, not fairisle. I can't dispute or agree as I really have no idea!

Anyway, I'm really happy with them, and considering I forgot to check my needle size (I think they looked about 2.75mm), they've come out a perfect fit.. incredibly. I'll use the needle guage next time though.

They are for mum, and didn't take long at all, so I have a pair planned for me too. I found the colourwork a lot less of a challenge than I expected and was able to do it while watching the TV.

No it's not the beach. It's some arty looking part of our garden (the rest of the garden's been dug up by the dogs).

Next finished project - Unbiased from Knitty. Excellent yarn, it's the sari silk, and it's ace to knit with, though somewhat challenging as it has no 'give' whatsoever. I loved watching the colours though. (I'm easy to please like that).

It's not as deep as I'd have liked - I might pick up the edging and knit a few rows to deepen it.

I'm giong to line it, hopefully with some pale gold coloured satiny stuff.



And I've been busy dyeing again, my favourite few skeins look like this:

And finally.. the sky has looked like it's on fire the past few nights. It's stunning. I just love the really cold, crisp, sunny days.

Sooo my WIPs are all new and fresh! I've got my blue socks on the go. I'm not a fast sock knitter as I keep them just for TV and travelling knitting really. I've just cast on a black Hanami in loony boony (aka Baruffa Cashwool Lane Borgosesia). No beads for me! I've only done the first garter stitch rows anyway, so nothing to show really.

I've also cast on for a hat in DB SoHo, in the beautiful lilac and blue colourway. I've no idea what I'm doing with reagrds to how many sts to cast on, etc. So it's entirely guesswork and may get frogged a few times before success occurs. I've got a whole load of hats to knit up so should get my bum in gear!

On other notes, I'm writing up my first ever CV! I've always talked my way into jobs but have finally realised I should write up a CV. It's mind numbing...

Been tagged...

No pics here! I've been tagged.. so here we go, five boring facts about me:

1. I'm addicted to blackberry and elderflower instant tea (from Whittards). Sadly it isn't natural, but it is very nice!

2. I have 2 stones to try and lose! I've joined my local gym and am watching the calories and fat I eat, and already feel fitter and better! Yey!

3. I'm hat ethe feeling of rubber. It gives me the heebiejeebies and makes my skin crawl. Specially the rubber on my toothbrush.

4. When I was 16 I went and got 8 ear peircings and a nose peircing all at once, while I was on my school lunch break. I really wanted my tongue pierced for some reason, but never did it!

5. I have a collection of about 30 stolen beer glasses, I also collect stamps (but haven't attended to my albums for a couple of years).

Over the Rainbow!

Just a wee update.. I've not got much knitting done somehow, the Unbiased is in progress, as is the blue sock, and I've got the yarn and stuff ready to start a nice black Hanami.

My hands and arms, and in fact my legs, ankles, kneecaps etc are all rather painful, having been ripped to near-shreds by Holly. Mum's taken lots of pics, which I will nick and post up soon!

So when she's sleeping I've been creeping into the kitchen and doing some dying. My dying mojo is really good at the mo.

Here's a wee taster of what I've been doing. It will be in the shop soon, but not yet! (It's v fine 2 ply cash-silk)

It's unbelievably soft and shiny, perfect for potential nekkid stash diving.

I made these as well:

Soooo Ooh I jsut remembered, I'm doing my endpapers too, I'm on the second one and it's going well, surprisingly fast when I actually get round to it. I'm slightly disappointed that I'm getting bored of them already! I thought the fairisle would be a real challenge and it's kind of not :s

The other thing I should add is that after a lot of thought, I've decided that Viking Knits really doesn't reflect me and what I make, and that perhaps I should have come up with a better name. It was a play on my name really. Anyway, I'm heading towards a relaunch with a better name, and a fresh new inventory of luxurious yarns, some custom vintage needles, and possibly a few sewn projects, plus of course gazillions of stitch markers! I will keep you posted, and it won't be anything sudden as I really need to come up with something that reflects me and my ideas.

That was a lecture eh! I'm off to do some knitting, sculpting, dying, sewing.....

Finally Finished! Four FO's!

I'm a happy bunny... I've finished the WIP's I wanted to finish in Jan. That being this hoodie to start with, modelled here by the sexy Johnny Depp. I know his body doesn't match his tanned face, he just has a severe tan line that's all ;)

Anyway, it's done in Drops Ice (half cotton, half acrylic), on 9mm needles, the pattern being from www.scandinavianknittingdesign.com It looks infinitely better on Mr Depp than it did when it was on the needles! I thought it was going to be hideous but it's pretty good!

Oops, had a hair cut. Well I'm sur eyou'll believe me that it really is Johnny, seeing as the top photo is clearly real. ;)

I also fiiiinally finished... an *epic* forest canopy! I spent about a month on it before Christmas, put it down, and have just spent another month on it. It's really big. Much bigger than it appeared on the needles.. in fact unblocked it's about 3 feet wide. I haven't yet found anywhere to block it that the dogs won't stand on it so it'll have to wait! It's lovely and big and snuggly though!

I've also finished this gnome.. he's for my Godfather.

And my Booga Bag, the first of a few I expect. Only took about ten days or so of TV knitting while watching episodes of Prison Break., which was not particularly relaxing. ^^

Below it's relaxing and enjoying the weather (ha!). That being hailstones you can see.

And finally but not least, this is our new addition:

Holly. Ten weeks old and unbelievably cute and waggy and licky and lovely :D

WIPs - (just cast on) - Unbiased from Knitty, socks for me, endpapers V1.0 (I'm on the second one). And the next decision is which lace project to cast on next! I'm thinking Hanami in my black loony boony....