Update: some card making :)

Knitting news!

Struggling a little with the reunion cushion but just doing 2 or 3 rounds at a time, had some trouble with miss twisting the cables and one round is out of line due to a little mistake with a borrowed stitch lol but I'm hoping it'll be finished in time :) the charts are still small but I've drawn lines in green every 10sts and it is helping a bit :)
The garter stitch version of the captured colours shawl is still on the needles but seem to have lost motivation sadly. It's beautiful but not sure if I'm keeping it or gifting it and had a little trouble with the cast off last time, just need to find time to pick up something with long rows again and get a move on.
My socks are growing, I'm on the gusset decreases of the second sock and loving them, the colour (big brown bear from Norah George yarns) is knitting up different to how I anticipated but it's beautiful :) 

Spinning news!

Fondant Fibre, the jazz club 2014, the maiden voyage colourway (the first shipment), this was 70% organic merino/15% bamboo/15% tussah silk, I spun 2 singles and plied them together to get, 196m from 100g

BFL humbug from (skybluepink-designs) Yarndale 2014, again a 2ply, I got 349m from 200g. One skein is 98g (170m) and one is 102g (179m) , so close to matching lol

Goodies!

Loads arrived all at once but some ordered a while ago lol
I got another skein of the autumn rainbow colourway, it's on a different base so they'll need to be used separately but still a stunning colourway :)

A while ago I saw this on the yarn tree facebook page and I loved it, the colours as well as the theme :) the skein is 75% sw merino/25% nylon 400m/100g, the bag is lined and zippered with a handle and a good size for socks/shawls or toys :)

My surprise sock box arrived, this one had the theme of the walking dead and included a sock size, zippered project bag, a stunning skein of sock yarn in the dibs is dibs colourway (I love this so much) on the 75% sw merino/25% nylon base and it came with some love heart sweets and a themed keyring :)

Other crafty news!
I had a play at stamping and using embossing powders at craft group last week. It was a lot of fun and I particularly loved the snowflake stamps and the glittery (I think it was called stardust) powder, and every time I used the heat tool and watched it activate it was awesome :)

I got a little inky but I didn't mind lol it was fun and different to my usual crafts.

I enjoyed it so much I actually went and bought a few stamps to have a play at home, minus the embossing powders lol I specifically wanted a stamp like my friends that says "winter wishes" and I had to buy a magazine to get one lol but I did lol so that is the inside message of my Yule time cards :) It felt kind of serendipitous as it was only available in the magazine and it was the last one in stock, I'd even looked online but couldn't find one so felt good to get it :) and it came as a set with the snow globe ones too :)

In other news...this week I tried my first pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks, and it was delicious :) and sent me a bit hyper lol I'm a little gutted they only offer them during October and I have to travel 5 miles or more to get one lol
Happy Crafting! 

Lots of finished projects!

Knitting news!
I finished the wasabi whale, knit using babylonglegs aran, this will be a Christmas present for my son :) his head's a bit bumpy lol but overall I'm happy with it.

I knit belfry the bat using felt fusion BFL aran and purple safety eyes...this is sooo cute :) my son isn't impressed though n says "night, night bat" lol

I also knit boo-yah using laxtons aran and the felt fusion for his mouth. This is also very cute :) but my son isn't bothered with it lol
All these toys are designed by the very talented Susan Claudino (aka noknitsherlock on instagram), her seamless construction is brilliant.

I cast on the Oldcastle hat in my handspun yarn (Countess ablaze, corriedale) but changed to stocking stitch before the crown decreases. This my son likes :)

I love my sparkly frankensocks, knit using 5 colourways from the yarn tree, who now has a ravelry group :)

I love these colourways so much, I'm a little sad to have used up some of them lol The colourways are; 

Bazinga (from the surprise sock box that had a big bang theory theme) 

The pumpkin, the witch and the graveyard (from the 2015 hallowe'en box)

Chocolate frogs and jelly slugs (from the Harry Potter box)

We're all mad here (from the Alice in wonderland box)

Slytherin (bought from her etsy store) 

I've cast on the right reunion cushion, hopefully for my uncle for xmas but I'm struggling a little with the charts, cable charts are not really one of my skills lol but I'm trying :)

Spinning news!
I started spinning some BFL humbug from yarndale 2014 (skybluepink-designs), I have 200g so I'll do 100g each as singles and ply them together, this is the first bobbin.

The second bobbin of BFL humbug singles started. I'm enjoying spinning this, it's still inconsistent but overall it seems thinner than some of my previous handspun attempts lol

Goodies!

I took part in a socks and shawls (or other neck related knits) in the owl about yarn ravelry group, and although I didn't win she sent me a sweet little prize of worldy stitch markers and a mini skein :)

Some lovely friends got me these gorjuss goodies a wile ago and I've only just seen them, so sweet and I love them :) one may become a notions pouch :)

I also received a beautiful skein of Norah George yarn, gifted by the super generous Natalie (of the knatters knits podcast) in the big brown bear colourway, that I'd been liking a lot :) it's really hard to capture the colour with my camera but it's so lovely :) I'm making Hermione's everyday socks.

Happy Crafting!

Update: a little of everything

Knitting news!
I finished these socks for my niece, my first time used regia yarn, but it knit up well and was softer than I'd anticipated, though granted not as soft as the indie dyed I get lots of lol I made a mistake on the first heel, went too far but it's still wearable, just a small ridge on the base of the heel, but not noticeable when wearing them. I amended the heel on the second sock so it doesn't have the ridge.

A close up of the colours, I really liked these, and love that I've intentionally mismatched the stripes :) I used 2mm addi circulars to knit them.

I cast on a second pair of frankensocks, these ones are from my left over the yarn tree yarns on her sparkle base :) I'll try remember to list all the colourways I use with the finished object :)

I'm still working on the garter stitch version of the captured colours shawl, I did the test knit for it and it's now available on ravelry by stitched together. I'm yet to test gauge for an up coming gift knit and have multiple knitting plans but seem to be on a go slow right now. I need to knit faster, my stash is ever growing lol I've pulled out a few older skeins to knit up next, other then one of the new goodies (below) which will be for my son :)
Spinning news!
I finished the Wenselydale/Gotland, I got 122m from 101g of a 2ply. It's a fairly rustic yarn for sure but I liked trying a new to me fibre.

I also spun some rolags on my wheel for the first time, I got 179m from 122g of a 2ply, the fibre was BFL/silk from fondant fibre in the owlet colourway. I really liked spinning from the rolags, I still have over and under spun areas but I didn't have to pre prepare the fibre like I do for braids etc.

I started spinning an oldish fibre from my stash, this is maiden voyage, a colourway from the jazz club in 2014, it's 70% organic merino/15% bamboo/15% tussah silk, I feel like I got this slightly thinner than other fibres I've spun but I'll have to wait till I ply it to know for sure.

I really like how these colours worked together, small and longer blocks of colours with bits of barber polling even in the singles, if I was brave I'd navajo ply it but I'm not brave so an interesting 2ply it shall have to make lol

I also started spinning some BFL humbug fibre from Yarndale 2014, I have 200g of it so I'm hoping to get a decentish yardage :)

I've pulled out a few fibres to spin next, and by a few I'm talking a bag full lol they're older stash so I want to spin them before I get into all my newer fibres haha it's going ok but I keep eyeing up new ones lol
Goodies!
My autumn box arrived from the yarn tree, and it is exquisite, the autumn rainbow colourway is seriously stunning and I love the leaf bag clip (or clasp marker), but also, it means I have the third seasonal wine glass :) I love these and the set will be so pretty when winter joins the others in my cupboard lol I love that this one has a pumpkin on it :)

I saw this octopus themed yarn online and I went a bit crazy lol it's dyed to look like an octopus and it's on one of my favourite bases, I love a high twist yarn :)

So I may have gone a bit nuts lol but my aim is to make another octopus toy for my son, this time with octopus yarn, adorable lol and myself maybe a hat and cowl or something, I had to have something octopusy too lol I also love the cute cephalopod clasp markers you get with each skein :) these are from mothy and the squid, a new to me dyer, but one with a gorgeous selection of yarns to keep my eye on :)

Sorry it's been so long again since my last update, I seem to be either tired or busy (while seemingly getting nothing done) of late. My son is struggling the moment which means I am too, he's got two wobbly teeth and his first big tooth breaking trough, but he can't explain and doesn't understand so just keeping an eye on them and trying to deal with is moodiness.
Happy Crafting!