Ooo Exploration Station!

I've ordered these 4 colours to make an exploration station shawl :) It's 3ply rather than 4ply but I've been told it's a very large shawl apparently so hopefully it should be ok. It's a 70% bamboo 30% cotton blend. These are just 99p for 50g (about 300m) on ebay.

This pattern has been on my to knit list for a while lol
Fondant fibre has had an awesome update and I want the Jack and Sally project bags lol and some yarn too of course lol
Happy Crafting!

Update: spinning, knitting and sunshine

I finally cast on second gothic lace cowl for myself :) this is felt fusion sw merino aran on 5mm needles.

I've prepped my next 100g fibre to spin, my first Kent Romney and the colour is kingfisher from fondant fibre, it came as a braid and I've split it in two then separated those two into 5 nests each. I'll likely thin these nests out more for spinning :)

I spun my last puni sample colour, malachite (merino/Shetland/yak blend) and I got 7.77m from about 5g

The puni sample selection comes with 6 colours, each of which is a different blend. My favourite two are toast and tusk :) I'd like a couple hundred grams of each of those :)

From left to right: amethyst, toast, tusk, forget me not, salsa and malachite. This is also the order I spun them and I think you can see a definite improvement (they are all singles).

I got a couple of rolags as a sample from fondant fibre with one of my past orders, these are the cinders colourway but I'm not sure the fibre content. 

I spun each rolag and wrapped the singles onto a toilet roll tube each.

I then put the tubes over the upside down chair legs in my front room and spun them in the opposite direction to make my first 2ply hand spun :) It's very inconsistent lol plying is not a natural talent lol but then neither is spinning :)

Top: 2ply 6.85m from 7g
Bottom: single ply 4.57m from 2.8g (left overs from one rolag)

We visited the ducks yesterday and saw the cygnet with it's parents, and some tiny new ducklings (but they didn't get close enough to get a decent picture).

Today we visited Townley Park with my grandma and Baz, my son absolutely loved the water pump, water wheel and sand. He then had a run around on a big open field. It was fun, but very hot and I got a rather red neck lol not bad sun burn but gotta be careful I don't get more sun on it or it'll get sore...sun cream is essential for me and I put some on but obviously not enough on my neck lol

All in all a busy few days with less knitting than I'd have liked lol I tried knitting in the car but it make me get headache very quickly.
Happy Crafting!

pink and purple hat

Another FO for stash dash, the foxes in socks catch up KAL, the geeky girls summertime KAL and the Brit-a-long with the Bakery Bears. The colours remind me of the Cheshire cat from Disneys Alice in Wonderland.

Happy Crafting!

Wallaby cardigan

I finished my first eligible item for the BritalongKAL with the Bakery Bears podcast :)
This is British acrylic yarn, the pattern is wallaby 8ply by tikki knits (Georgie Hallam). The wallaby cardigan is available in 4ply, 8ply and 10ply (sock, DK and aran weights) in the court of wallabies ebook.
The buttons are a bit wonky...ooops! But it closes and should keep a little one, a little warmer when the weather doesn't want to be warm :)

I'm planning to make my son a red aran weight one for after the summer :) 
Happy Crafting!

Sorry it's a little lengthy...mostly spinning, new beauties and a mini rant lol

I ordered some 70% bamboo 30% cotton (I don't know why but I thought it was DK, it's described as fingering but I'd say a thin one lol) 300m/50g and I got one ball of green, yellow and purple. It's really soft and a few balls could make a nice shawl :)

This is usually true, knitting is my chill out, but the problems I'm having with my sons new peadiatrician and his medication, even knitting didn't help one day; I just wanted to cry. I now have our GP and the school behind me so hoping the new guy will come to his senses...he expects a 4 year old to take sleeping tablets rather than medicine...as if! The excuse why he's not prescribing the liquid anymore is purely down to cost, which isn't good enough in my eyes. Yes it is expensive, approx £300 for 3 months supply I've discovered, but you can't change an autistic childs meds and think it'll be ok without having met the child. I can't crush tablets and put in food as he only eats 3 dry foods and won't put it in juice coz then he stops drinking and with how little he eats that is a big concern. Plus if he drinks less than an hour before bed he wets himself and that isn't fair on him. Just praying he realises that we all know my son and his needs whereas he hasn't met him yet (due to next week).

My prize form the Geeky Girls Knit podcast for the sheepy spring KAL arrived, a drop spindle and some silk hankies. 

My Harry Potter club box (from the yarn tree) arrived and is awesome! On the left is the Chocolate Frogs and Jelly Slugs sw merino/nylon/stellina sock weight yarn and on the right is the Hogwarts Express to Ravenclaw sw merino/bamboo sock weight yarn. Both are stunning (and 400m/100g), and the latter is so soft I'm amazed :) The boxes all got the first colourway but the second colourway was themed based on your Hogwarts house choice :)

The goodies with the Harry Potter club box were:
top left - Ravenclaw themed stitch markers
top right - Harry Potter rubber bracelet 
middle - (purple) wand
bottom left - small owl project bag (drawstring)
bottom right - Harry Potter chocolate bar and golden snitch badge

I pulled out an old sw merino/nylon fondant fibre sample and prepped it into smaller nests for pre drafting.

I spun some up on my new spindle form the Geeky Girls and it's a little thick and thin but not too bad, and went to bed happy :) I'm loving the colours (riff raff clourway).

I went into town and bought some buttons for the purple DK wallaby cardigan I'm knitting, 5p each for these purple fish eyes :)

I finished spinning the riff raff sample and got 24.68m of a single ply from about 17g

As soon as that was off I tried a puni sample on the same spindle, this one is called salsa from fondant fibre and is a merino/BFL/kid mohair blend (I found this one a little difficult as when I pre drafted some it tended to break away from the puni), I got 5.02m to about 4g

I'm over 2600m for stash dash 2015 :) I'm quite happy with that, only a couple more project and I'll have reached the 3000k goal, and may work towards the 5000k goal.
I've bought some red aran yarn from my LYS in the hopes of making my son a wallaby for after the summer. There's a bit of a sale on at the minute (all acrylic yarns and a bit of dish cloth cotton) so was tempted to buy some for my sons next wellie socks, and milos as well as charity knits :)
In other yarn addict news I've signed up to some more the yarn tree clubs :)
Happy Crafting!

Mostly spinning, knitting and a little heart lol

I finally, after months, I literally can't remember when I started this spin, though it was after a VKN with the FO and dye podcast.
Fibre is BFL/trilobal blend from fondant fibre (you're gonna see that name a lot this post lol) in the happenstance colourway, I got about 63m from 95g (I spun a small sample on my new spindle thinner).

Yesterday was fathers day here in the UK, this is always a little difficult for me; my dad died when I was 7 and I've mourned him and hero worshiped him (though I know he was far from perfect I was and still am a daddys girl) longer than I ever knew him, a lot longer. As well as this my sons dad isn't around for us to celebrate with, though that was his choice not fates. I have two step dads (though one isn't speaking to me at the minute lol), my mums second and third (both now divorced) husbands, so we visited the one speaking to us :) then went to my mums and proceeded to visit my grandad and my step grandad (but we call him by his name not a relative title lol) before having a yummy steak and chips with super creamy pepper corn sauce for tea at my mums. It was a nice and fairly busy day, so I was very proud of my boy for putting up with it all, he got a bit scratchy but over all he coped really well.

I spun a puni sample from fondant fibre on my new spindle, which I still can't decide if I like, the whirl gets close to popping off the end sometimes...it's a merino/silk blend in the forget me not colourway and I got 7.3m from about 4g.

I think my stash has gone beyond hoarding and into a serious addiction lol My sock yarn alone fills 3x 35l boxes, 2 shoe boxes and either 1 or 2 bags hanging in my wardrobe lol wait there are 2 bags, one sock blanks and the other skeins. Then I have boxes of: DK, aran, chunky and super chunky as well as acrylic yarns which aren't even in my ravelry stash lol and 45l boxes which hold my fibre haha

I finished my second cable hat form the double time ebook but my yarn is held single not double. It's slightly snug on me and a little loose on my son but either of us could wear it, though it may become a gift along the way lol this yarn claims to be aran but it's more like a thin DK as I use 3.75mm needles with it.

I spun another small fondant fibre sample, I'm not sponsored by Deb I promise lol I can't find a label for this one to know the colourway or base but it feels like her norboo fibre base and it's shades of pink, I got 10m to approx 7g.

I'm doing pretty well with stash dash, I'm over 2600m so I should reach the 3000k but not sure if I'll get as far as 5000k just see how I go.
I actually was at a loss as to what I wanted to cast on after finishing the hat lol not common for me lol but I decided on the wallaby cardigan in DK with a British acrylic yarn (Robin) so it can be included in the bakery bears Brit-a-long KAL. Projects must either be made using British yarn or a pattern by a British based designer to be eligible eg. Joeli's Kitchen designer lives in Britain but is from the USA but her designs are eligible :)
Happy Crafting!

Snap closure bag continued review

I've swapped project bags again to get more use of the the snap closure bag I'm testing for Kay of the bakery bears podcast.

The interfacing between the fabric seems to help keep the gaps between the snap together, so far I've had no problems with things falling out and am happy with it's use.
It's a good size for socks, mitts, hats, cowls and maybe baby knits too, not sure it'd fit a full shawl in but maybe a hitchhiker style one.
Overall I think it'll be a good new addition to her shop :)
Happy Crafting! 

Update: winter is coming, graze and mitts :)

I finished the Winter Is Coming shawl in time for the pinkhairgirl KAL :) it needs blocking but it's knit :)

I got my first graze box in 2 years lol I used to love the black pepper pop corn, hope I still do :)

I finished the hello, gorgeous fingerless mitts in time for the zkboundkal with sparklepunk on ravelry. The lace is pretty and these were intended for me but they're a little snug so likely to be gifted lol I'll make some for myself one day though lol

I used knit global sock yarn in the plum colourway on 2mm hiya hiya needles (2.5mm to cast on and off). 

Happy Crafting!

Snap bag first impressions review

I'm testing a new type of project bag for Kay of the Bakery Bears podcast, she has some designs available on ravelry too, including the handbrake cowl which is raising money for cancer research. 
The project bag was pleasantly wrapped in blue crepe paper and pretty tape, with a small note attached :)

The bag itself is approx 12" long x 6" deep x 4"wide (the wedge) in a vibrant mixed dog print fabric.

It's handle is in the same contrasting fabric as the interior with a bakery bears badge.

The contrasting fabric inside is fun and colourful bone print.

The snaps are green (which matches the fabric really well) and are neatly fitted in, and the stitching is very neat and straight too.

The inside snaps are also fitted nice and smoothly and make that fun sound when you open them too :)

I put my fingerless mitts project in, it's holding 100g sock yarn, a few needle sizes, the pattern and my row counter.

It closes neatly and smoothly and could just open one or two snaps to feed yarn through instead of opening fully every time.

I used it on an outing to a local cafe and it stood well and fed the yarn through fine.

I'm enjoying it and think it would be great for socks, mitts, hats or other small projects. I'll review again when I've used it for a while.
Happy Crafting!

Life Lines!

I mentioned how thankful I was for life lines online recently and thought I might demonstrate how and why I find them useful.
I use them in a variety of projects as I'm not great at fixing mistakes, especially in lace or cables, basically if it's not stocking stitch I'm stumped lol
I use them in socks after the cuff, after each pattern repeat (if doing lace/cables), before the heel, after the heel, after the gusset (if doing heel flap and gusset), and before the toe decreases. I find these specific points good for life lines as they are places something changes and so if I drop a stitch early in the leg and don't know how to fix it (if it's not stocking stitch) I can rip to the cuff and start again, the same goes for the other places, I once messed up a heel and panicked till I remembered my life line would stop me needing to unravel the whole thing lol Unfortunately the time I used the wrong needle size I hadn't used a life line and ripped back a whole half sock and started again lol
I use them in shawls after each section or if not built using sections every inch or two depending on number of stitches on the needles. This comes in helpful with shawls like the trillian every inch or two and the hitchhiker every couple ridges, and the demon enough for her shawl after each lace repeat, but on the eleventh hour shawl with short rows I'd have wondered where to put them if the pattern itself wasn't broken up into sections. For a basic triangular shawl, if it is alternating between a pattern and garter or stocking stitch I'd do it before each section but if it's all garter stitch and increases just try to remember every couple inches to save frogging all your hard work.
Note: I can't fix increases, decreases, yarn overs etc either lol 
I use them on mitts after the cuff (if lace/cabled hand), and each pattern repeat (if lace/cabled) or before the thumb incase a mistake is made in the thumb gusset. I don't tend to after the thumb but there is no reason you couldn't if worried :)
I don't tend to use them on hats but sometimes do if they have quite a bit of patterning in them, same with cowls etc. For example I insert a life line after every lace repeat on the gothic lace cowl but don't tend to in the honey cowl or handbrake cowl.
I hope this was helpful :)
Happy Crafting! 

Test Knit - Demon Enough For Her

I finished the test knit, the pattern changed it's original name (had a design discussion with Lisa and she's thinking up a new design with the original name) to Demon Enough For Her shawl. It was a new construction for me and fun to knit. The lace was interesting but not too challenging, though I'd not have been able to do it at a knit n natter group with the distractions :) I used a lifeline after each repeat incase I made a mistake it was easy to drop back and start that repeat again. The picking up stitches had me nervous but was in fact quite easy the way it's done for this pattern, and neat too :)

I only gave it a mild blocking so the lace isn't as stretched out on mine as it is on some.

My son had it on one morning while waiting for the school bus :)

I used fondant fibre merino/nylon sock yarn (in the orange gradient colourway) with 2.75mm needles (I'm a loose knitter).
Happy Crafting!

Update: yarn club, spinning, knitting and KALs

I've bought this cardigan pattern (tully), cute and you know me and a coupon code lol and who doesn't love tikki knits designs :)

My second PenguinSoup (the firefly club) shipment arrived, Jayne Cobb self striping sock to look like his cunning hat :) along with a set of stitch markers in colours to represent a selection of the main characters :)

I knit a cabled hat, I needed something easy to cast on for traveling to my theory test and this was it, from the double time ebook by Joeli's Kitchen but with heavier yarn held single not double on 3.75mm

I have this fibre on my old spindle and thought I'd try a small sample of it on my new spindle, BFL/trilobal called happenstance by fondant fibre, I used 3.5g and got approx 8.2m

And some new needles arrived today, strange to get a delivery on a Sunday, but it meant I could cast on the Winter Is Coming shawl, in the hopes of finishing for the Pink Hair Girl KAL next weekend, if not it still counts for stash dash at least and depending on timing the Foxes In Socks catch up KAL. Yarn was a sock blank from countess ablaze, which I caked up.

I passed my theory test, such a relief, I don't do well in test conditions, and the graphics for the hazard awareness section gave me a mega headache.
Happy Crafting!