Almost Done

This is sock 2 of my sockapalooza 4 socks.

My very very very late sockapalooza 4 socks. Thank goodness I have an understanding pal.

Theoretically, I should only have 14 rounds left to do, but I screwed up 6 rounds ago and it's come back to bite me.

This second sock has been very much the terrible two. I've screwed it up so many times it's just not even funny any more. It's even more annoying because the first one was so easy and quick, even though I was ill at the time. I guess the second time I got ill I got different germs. Germs that stopped me from being able to knit.

Bad germs. No biscuit.

Anyway, I'm off to I Knit London tonight for film night, in the hope that a little Hot Fuzz takes the pain of tinking away.

Wavy Warmth

I went to SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas earlier this year, and while I was there, I was lucky enough to be able to visit Hill Country Weavers (not just once, but twice!), and amongst my haul of goodies I bought two balls of Berocco Ultra Alpaca with the intention of making a nice cuddly wrap.

Amazingly, for me, the result was actually a nice cuddly wrap (as opposed to buying yarn for a project, having it languish in stash hotel for months then doing something else entirely with it) and the yarn was so lovely that I started working on it almost as soon as I got home.

I came up with a stripe pattern that went:

5 rows teal 3 rows purple 1 row teal 3 rows purple 5 rows teal

then reversed the colour bands

Luckily for me, I had just enough yarn to make it work and finished it over Easter, on a visit to my boyfriend's parents.

I so desperately wanted to finish it so I could wear it down there, envisioning a nice crisp spring walk along the beach wearing it, that I crocheted the whole 5 hour journey from London to Devon, complete with over the ear LED light so I could continue in the dark. Whenever we drew up next to another car, I kept getting funny looks. Can't imagine why.

It hasn't had much use this year, but I dug it out this morning because it's been such miserable weather here, and this is just the thing for a horrible grey day.

Some Assembly Required

Back at work and it's predictably manic.

Rushing to try and get my already late sockapalooza socks done and on their way halfway across the world to my very patient and understanding sock pal.

Couldn't resist taking a photo of this little guy when I made a visit to Vauxhall City Farm yesterday.

We went there, because we thought my 11 month old niece would get a kick out of seeing the animals. Predictably, she slept through the whole thing, even when right next to this guy's friend, who was loud and proud to be a black sheep.

Handspun Merino Yarn

Every time I go to the Handweavers Studio I find myself with a basket full of their little bundles of merino top.

They're ickle (only 20g each), but they're cheap (50p each), fabulously soft and easy to spin, and so with a few in shades of red, I made this yarn.

I was aiming for DK to Aran weight singles, and I mostly got there, although it's a bit more thick and thin that I'd have liked.

It came out at 198 yards using half the fibre from each bundle, so hopefully I should have enough to make a nice wrap to chase away the evil air conditioning gremlins that make my desk freezing, no matter what the weather outside.

Corespun Kid Mohair

I was introduced to the joys of corespinning by Ruth when she brought a whole pile of her handspun yarn with her to Angelknits one night.

I was totally fascinated by some corespun kid mohair she'd spun, and Ruth being Ruth, she told me how she'd done it.

When I was at Ally Pally in October, I spotted some kid mohair that I thought would be perfect for giving it a go, and so after a bit of trial and error, I had a skein of corespun kid mohair.

That skein isn't this skein. It went to Nikki as part of her birthday present. This skein has sat on the wheel since November, cruelly neglected while my life took an amazing turn for the better (and busier).

Now it's off the wheel and a lot happier, and unfortunately, no photo can do the colour or softness justice.

It's 70 yards of pure squishy heaven.

The best bit is that I have enough fiber and yarn for a another skein of this.

Handspun Yarn

Two things I haven't done in a while, in one post.

Firstly, I haven't blogged for ages. There are a number of reasons for this, but they're not important now.

Secondly, I haven't done any spinning for a while, and I was really missing it. The alchemy of turning fluff into yarn (and then, into fabric) delights me so much.

Having been ill for a few weeks now, and on my own over the weekend while my other half was away at a friend's stag do, I was a bit lacking in the old delight, so what better way to spend a weekend than spinning in front of the TV.

First up I had to clear a couple of bobbins, but after having a bit of a practice I dug out the very special roving that was sent to me last year by my knittboard secret spinning pal.

She was so fabulously generous that it left me completely speechless, and went above and beyond the call of secret pal duty when I was going through a really difficult period in my life.

I have to say, spinning this roving was about the easiest spinning I've ever done, and I'm so pleased with the results.

I got about 206 yards of fingering weight singles out of 50g of roving, which should be enough for me to make a lacy scarf with.

Until then, I'm just going to pet it a bit more, because it's so very pretty.