Flying Saucer Socks

I had a knitting weekend last week. It was rather nice. On the Saturday my lovely friend had a house-warming barbecue in Perth and Kinross which was a convenient 20 minute drive from Knit Camp in Stirling. So, after a slow start, I dropped off the kids and husband at the party and headed off to knitting-ville.I won't dwell on the negative sides of Knit Camp as, to be honest, I knew I couldn't make any of the classes with the summer holidays on, so I just concentrated on the Market Place ;-) Although - my one (small) issue was that I paid in advance and was supposed to get a Goody Bag. I arrived late and there were none left. A disappointing start.

So the Market Place was lovely and I loved looking round the stalls. I picked up a yummy parcel from Natalie at The Yarn Yard. I also got to squish her lovely new lace yarn - crannog. (Also discussed here.) Boy is it squishy! I am looking forward to getting my hands on some when she has dyed up some more.

Also at the Market Place was Shilasdair - The Skye Yarn Company. I have looked at their site so many times and love it - but have never bought anything so it was lovely to see it in real life and I couldn't help but buy a lovely skein of their aran yarn in a deep red.

The lovely Vicki from Wild Fire Fibres was there. I have bought from her in the past and love her yarn. When I got to her stall she only seemed to have lilac left (I was there very late) so I just bought a couple of packs of DPNs from her.

What else did I buy? Oh bother - struggling to remember - I finally subscribed to Yarn Forward Magazine. I also bought a whole heap of buttons.

Oh - I know what else I bought - I went to the Knit 'n' Caboodle stall. I didn't realise it has recently been taken over by new people - and good luck to them. I bought some DPN tubes for sock projects which has come in very handy with my flying saucer - also bought from them. What on earth is a flying saucer? Well - it is a new sock yarn from Schoppel Wolle that is dyed as two threads so you get *identical* socks. The two threads are wound onto a core which spins - like a flying saucer... Check out this video to see it being unwound.

I have it in a pink/red/purple colourway. But - I am not winding mine in two balls and knitting from them. I am knitting two pairs of socks at the same time. Remember those needles I bought from Wild Fire and the DPN tubes I got - well they are all coming in very handy. I am basically knitting on 9 needles at the moment with one spare. It's fun - unwind a bit, knit a lot, swap sets, knit more, unwind a bit and so on.... I am loving it - just a plain vanilla sock (well two.) This means I may get my August socks done after all...

Oh - and then the other bit of the weekend. Well I went with Natalie (of Yarn Yard fame) to Glasgow to a lovely PicKnit organised by Antje from The Yarn Cake (a shop soon to open in Glasgow - squeeee). It was at the Botanics and it was a gloriously hot day. I was absolutely in awe as Ysolda was there (who I have seen a couple of times before) but also Ravelry's Jess and Casey. I was too shy to approach them but did have a quick conversation about Irn Bru with Casey. Hee. Seriously I was so shy in their presence. I had a ball!

Woolfest 2010

Finally I got to go to Woolfest yesterday.

What a day!!!  It was incredibly hot and by the time I arrived at the showground in Cockermouth it was already sweltering.  I staggered in with the spinning wheel (the Ashford Traditional) and took it straight to its new owner.  So now with some spending money in my pocket I headed straight for The Yarn Yard stall - of course!  I grabbed the red that I was buying for a friend and some yellow for her too and some red for me....

So now with the essentials sold and bought I could browse at will.  Wow - what an amazing show.  Stalls oozing with yarn and fibre of every colour and variety.  Spinning wheels in use all over the place.  Oh my - it was such fun.  There were sheep and llamas and angora rabbits and the cutest lambs.  So many familiar names from Ravelry, online stores and bloggers.  Lots of Ravelry badges to peep at as I brushed past people.

I was intrigued by a lovely Russian lady who was making the most amazing shawls and spinning super-fine yarn on a drop spindle.  I bought some cobweb lace yarn from her in the deepest of purples:

I got a bit carried away with the fibre and fell in love with a HUGE batt at the Wingham stall.  I have named it Jupiter because it sort of looks like the colour of Jupiter - hee.  See how big it is?  It's 80% Merino, 20% Silk.

I also bought some sock blockers - been thinking about getting some for a while - and now I am doing the 12 pairs in 12 months challenge I want a better way to display the socks.  Here they are with this months finished socks on:

I bought some plain white merino/silk - to ply with the large batt and some small felted brooches for the boys to give to their teachers tomorrow on their last day of term.  I got some sparkly fibre to play with too.  Then I sneaked back to the Yarn Yard stall and bought a skein of the new yummy sock yarn in a gorgeous dark blue/green - I think it looks like Black Watch.

After the show some of us met up in a pub in Cockermouth for a lovely meal and lots of hilarity and chat.  I'm definitely up for it again next year - but will have to stay over as it was exhausting doing it in a day.  I'll have to see if I can get someone to come with me next year.

Wunderknauel

A Wunderknauel is a ball of yarn full of gifts.

How does that work you may well ask - well you get some gifts together and a skein of wool and you wrap the presents up in the wool. The idea is that the intended then knits from the ball and gradually reveals the secrets hidden within. Such a fabulous idea don't you think.

I was involved in a swap with Ravelry and I was the luckiest person to receive mine first. So while others are still fretting about sending theirs, never mind receiving I had the luxury of my gift arriving super-early.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived...





Intreaguing huh?

The yarn is hand-dyed silk and a great shade of purple. Included were four suggested patterns - all lovely scarves and shawls. I decided to try one but it really did not suit the yarn so frogged back and settled on the gorgeous Cobweb Shawl. It really is a nice knit. As I am not a purl-lover I am making all the purl rows garter stitch - I'm still loving it though.





Now as you will have also seen from the picture above there is some weird stuff going on. I started to knit thinking I would be able to leave all the presents wrapped in the wool but as I progressed it was becoming harder and harder to do that - the yarn was getting caught on some of the objects inside. So I decided to unravel it. But - I was already knitting and didn't want to frog back - so I started to just go for it. Of course I got in a complete mess and at the moment have three mini sections of yarn that all need winding back into one ball before I can continue. Such a numpty. Oh well - you live and learn.

It does mean, however that I have released the presents. Here they are:






Lots of lovely things - tea, coffee and jewellery. No wonder the yarn kept getting snagged - all that lovely bling!

And finally.... here is a little sneak preview of the one I am sending - a small hint - it's a very Posh parcel....