swapping yarn

Being a post-grad student, and needing some serious encouragement a few weeks ago to get me through the semester, I signed up for the Grad School Swap over on Ravelry.  I’d been disappointed with yarn swaps before, but this was a small group (postgrad students) and had a great theme: Green.  So I was in!

I had a great time putting together a parcel for my swappee (the lovely Lene from Denmark) – I love working to a theme, and I had loads of ideas.  I ended up going more for a green colour / British theme, rather than eco, but that’s just how it worked out.

My package arrived last week (from a blogless Linda in Germany), but I only just managed to get a photo.  I’m so thrilled with what I received, especially my first ever skein of Wollmeise!

I’d never seen Wollmeise before ‘in real life’, so now I get to see what all the fuss is about.  The colour is amazing (Pesto), a strong and vibrant green, and the yarn is spun differently to most sock yarns I’ve used.   I think I’ll be using this for something scarf-like  for a splash of colour in the winter.

I also received a few other goodies in the package, but the ‘consumables’ didn’t last long enough to be photographed!

getting out there

Finally, I handed in my uni assignment today (at 4pm to be precise).  Hurrah!  I’m free!  And just because I haven’t spent enough time staring at my computer, I decided it’s time to update the blog.

I did actually manage to leave the house for non-work purposes twice this week, and both happened to be knitting related.

Wednesday evening saw the long-awaited ‘Knitting from the top-down’ class at Socktopus, taught by the very lovely Jared Flood (Brooklyntweed).  Unfortunately it also coincided with the London tube strike, so the class was delayed an hour whilst we fought London traffic to get there.  Although I went there with the intention of learning more about top-down design (my very favourite method) I actually managed to learn Magic Loop as an unintended bonus.  There was more knitting than fan-girling, so no pics of Jared!

I do have a picture however to document the glorious sunshine that came out for  Worldwide Knit in Public Day yesterday.   I cast aside my essay for a few hours and joined in the London SnB Knit Crawl – the first chance I’d had to work on my current knitting project for ages (although I clearly wasn’t paying attention and had to rip back most of my work).

I won’t say too much about the afternoon, but I was very impressed with the design work that went in to these cupcakes:

I actually baked a giant batch of cupcakes tonight myself (surprisingly good, strawberries n’ cream), as I’ve been doing a bit of batch-baking as part of my Unicef fundraising.  I’m starting to get a little cupcaked-out; who knew that was possible?

happy happy raffle winners

What a great month it’s been, hearing from loads of lovely knitters, sending best wishes for the fundraising, and making donations to UNICEF.  So, today being the 1st of June, it was time to draw the winners.

I had no idea how exciting it would be to give away yarn (almost as exciting as being in with a chance of winning some, I expect!)  I’ve been so anxious to see who the winners would be.  I had such a horrendous day at work today, so I was pleased to come home and fire up the Random Number Generator.  Each entrant was allocated a number, in the order in which they donated.  Without any further ado, (because I know you’ve all just skipped ahead to the results anyway), the winners are:

Victoria

Sarah (I don’t have your email address, so please get in touch!)

Emilie

Leah

Congratulations to everyone who won yarn, and a massive, massive thank you to everyone who donated to UNICEF – I really do appreciate it.  Hmmm, I’ll have to get thinking about what yarny event to have next.

travelknitter’s guide to Edinburgh

I had such a wonderful time in Edinburgh last week for my mini-holiday, and the city really is as wonderful as everyone says.  I actually spent some time peering at the lettings listings in estate agents, dreaming of renting a flat with massive ceilings, living a new life in a city that’s completely accessible on foot.  And then I remembered that I don’t want to leave London just yet, so I ditched my relocation plans.  But I’ll be back for another visit!

Of course, there was knitting.  The four-and-a-half hour train journey from London gave me a good knitting opportunity, but there was more when I arrived:

McAree Brothers.  I’ve had fantastic service from their online store, so I thought it was only right that I visit their bricks and mortar shop.  Lots of very dependable yarns piled high, from the likes of Rowan, Sirdar etc, and a wall brimming with every type of knitting notion you could think of.  Oh, and the store was on the same street as my B&B – how handy was that?

Next knitting stop was the lovely K1 Yarns.  Actually, I went there twice; once to buy yarn, and then I went back for the Thursday night knit-in (um, and to buy more yarn!)  Sarah and the knitting regulars gave me a very warm welcome and helped me feel right at home.  (Secretly I was quite glad that Ysolda is currently travelling in the US, as I’m sure I would have been all awe-struck and shy like I was when I saw her last year in London).

The store fronts on to a very well-known street in the old town, so there were tourists streaming past, with several stopping to take photos.  Apparently a group of knitters equals a tourist spectacle!

This was the perfect place for some souvenir yarn shopping, so I snapped up some Fyberspates yarn (sock and laceweight) in K1 exclusive colourways.

There was actually lots more to my week than knitting, but it did rain rather alot, so getting photos was tricky!  Here are a few snaps of my week wandering the streets of Edinburgh:

Scottish hardiness: don't let a spot of rain spoil your picnic!

yarn raffle update

A huge thanks to those of you who have made a donation to UNICEF – I’m aiming to raise a massive £3500, so every contribution helps!

If you were thinking about entering the raffle, there are only a few days left, so now is your chance.  Right now, your odds of winning are looking remarkably good, so this could be a particularly lucky donation to charity.  Who wouldn’t feel good about supporting supporting children in need AND getting your hands on some yummy yarn?

One of the prizes (see previous post) is a skein of A Swell Yarn Shop Duets Skinny Sock yarn.  It’s a fabulous base yarn, but maybe blue just isn’t your colour.  So, in the interests of maximum satisfaction, the winner of the Skinny Sock can actually choose their favourite colourway from my entire Skinny Sock stash:

Want to win?  Just make a donation over at my UNICEF page, and then leave a comment here to let me know you’ve donated, and you’ll go in to the draw at the end of the month.  Keep your fingers crossed!

multi-crafting

Although very little actual knitting got done, last weekend was in fact very crafty.

Friday night saw dozens of knitters descend on the Socktopus Socktoshop for an evening of Mad Knitters’ Charity Bingo.  There was wine, there were cupcakes, and there were knitters: I knew I was in for a fun night!

I realised that I’ve never actually played bingo before, but luckily the wine didn’t prevent me from grasping the rules.  Despite having a lucky red ‘dabber’, I just didn’t have the winning numbers:

Not to worry; lots of money was raised for MSF and a great evening was had.  I was too busy trying to win a game that I failed to take pictures of the evening, but you can get a good flavour of the night with pictures over at Alice’s blog.

Continuing the craft theme, I went to the Festival of Living Crafts at Hatfield House the following day (even with a heavy head).  It was quite a rare treat to go to a craft fair without being a knitting volunteer, so I made the most of being a regular visitor, and spent a few hours learning a new craft: papermaking!

I spent a fabulous morning learning how to make paper, guided by the lovely and very generous Jonathan.  In that short space of time I learnt loads of techniques: laminating, embossing, and adding all sorts of lovely natural inclusions.  Super simple instructions:

Mix in a bit of this and a bit of that, mush it all together in a big vat of water…

after straining and forming the paper,  press out all the liquid,  preferably with an audience of small children…

and ta-da!  Brand-new, recycled, completely unique paper.  I tried a range of techniques with each piece…

Look – it’s a tree!  And flowers!  And bits of yarn!

Papermaking blends very nicely with other textile crafts, as various yarns and fibres can be included in the paper – we played around with denim, cotton, bits of old rope, upholstery fabric… and even some regular old paper.  My head’s buzzing with loads of ideas now for incorporating all sorts of yarn and fibre.

Why can’t I just focus on actually just finishing knitting something?

yarn carnage

It’s a long weekend here, and long weekends mean two things: the weather turns rubbish; and somehow I manage to waste so much time on some ridiculous venture that I achieve nothing useful all weekend, and may as well have been at work.

True to form, the cold weather has returned, and I spent many many hours on Sunday night and Monday morning trying to retrieve a very very bad yarn situation.

It all revolved around a skein of Posh Yarn Cecilia in a medium cool green colour, a recent purchase from a destasher on eBay.  I completely fell in love with this yarn once I saw the sample knit of Dark Red Pretties from A Stitch in Time, which uses the most beautiful red.  I was happy to finally get my hands on some, as I can’t face the Posh Yarn update frenzy to buy some direct from the website.

Sadly the yarn was in a far from pristine condition when I got it, and looked as if someone had spilled their dinner on it or something equally disgusting.  No problem, just gave it a quick soak in cool water, and hung it up to dry for a day or so.

I didn’t think to check if the skein was tied properly.  Turns out, it wasn’t.  The strands of yarn looked a bit squiggly and unruly after the wash, so I set about re-skeining it.

Oh dear.  Cobweb laceweight cashmere/silk is delicate stuff.  It’s light, it’s soft, and it loves to stick to itself.  Every time I touched the yarn it got worse, until I ended up with a gigantic pile of yarn ramen.  It was horrendous.  My flatmate came home, shook her head, and said that I must be incredibly patient.  Well, I’m not, and I absolutely hate untangling yarn.   So I took the scissors to it.

Uh-oh.  I’d hoped that cutting through the really tangly outside bits would leave me with a nice neat section of yarn to work with.  Nope.  Once I started trying to remove all the bits I’d sliced and diced, the rest of the yarn just kept tangling.  It was wasn’t playing fair.  Every few minutes or so I considered just throwing the whole lot in the bin, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  It’s hand-dyed!  It’s cashmere and silk! I couldn’t let it just go to waste.

It was in such a state that I finally gave up at 2am, and tried again in the morning.  Half a day went by before I managed to salvage something of the yarn.  After untold hours (I refuse to count just how many; it would make me cry) I finally reached the end.

I still had a giant ball of yarn carnage:

But at least I had some usable yarn too.  Compared to the noodley scraps it doesn’t look like much, but I saved 77g of the 100g skein.

Considering that a big chunk of my long weekend was devoted to this squiggly mess, I’m not sure it was quite worth it.   I definitely won’t be wanting to knit with it for some time, that’s for certain.

win yarn!

I’m having a yarn raffle!

As I mentioned recently, next April I will be setting off of a charity trek in Peru, raising funds in aid of UNICEF.  As part of this mission, I’m aiming to raise a considerable £3500, so even though the trip is nearly a year away, I need to get started early!  I have lots of “real-life” fundraising events planned (I spent last Sunday doing a car boot sale) but it seems sensible to make use of my little blog for some online fundraising as well.

I had considered doing an eBay auction, as these can raise quite a bit of money, and eBay allows free listings for charity.  However the downside of that approach is that only the highest bidder (the person with the most money) gets the yarn.  And I want everyone to have a chance to get yarn!

So here I have a lovely collection of yarn (all from my stash, stored in a clean, fresh, smoke free home) for you to win.

Here are the goodies:

One skein of Sundara Fingering Silky Merino, in the exclusive Seasons Club colour of The Life Aquatic (this skein was traded from a fellow club member). 150g of gorgeous 50/50 silk merino yarn.  My favourite Sundara yarn base.

Two skeins of Sarah’s Yarns 100% Pure Luxury DK Cashmere, colourway Red Mahogany.  This stuff is so lovely and soft!  2oz/200 yards each.

One skein of A Swell Yarn Shop Skinny Duet Sock yarn, 475 yards of hand-dyed merino.  Unnamed colourway, in light blue, periwinkle, lavender and purple.  Purple contrasting skein for heels and toes.  Sadly the Skinny sock yarn is now extinct, but it’s my favourite so I stocked up!

One skein of A Swell Yarn Shop Middy Duet Sock Yarn, 450 yards of hand-dyed merino.  The colourway is called Ocean Swells, and it’s the perfect name for it: shades of dark grey with a deep inky contrasting skein.

(there may also be more yarn prizes added, so be sure to check back).

To get a raffle entry:

Simply make a donation to UNICEF on my sponsorship page, and then leave a comment on this post to tell me that you’ve donated.  (Make sure I have email details to contact you).  Each donation of £4 or more gets you one entry, or three entries for £10.  First person’s name drawn will get their pick, and second / third / fourth winners will get to choose from the remaining yarns etc.  Simple?

For international yarnies: you’re welcome to enter this raffle too, and I’m happy to post yarn to wherever you live.

Entries close at the end of May.

Good luck!

perfect saturday

The sun has finally come out here in London (for now) and I spent a fantastic Saturday afternoon this weekend with Woollystuff enjoying it.  The afternoon had all the elements of perfection:

A trip to Broadway Market, one of my absolute favourite markets in London (not that I’ve been to them all, but I’m working my way through the list!).  Every stall is fantastic, filled with local produce and hand crafted goodness – no sign of imported tat here.  After an initial mooch around the market, we sat in the park, scoffing yummy spinach borek, and working on our knitting.  I’ve just about finished the front of my vintage top, so hopefully photos won’t be too far away.

After lunch it was back to the market for dessert:

I bought the most delicious rum & raisin fudge from this stall.  It should come with a health warning, it was so delicious.  I’ll definitely be back for more.

We had a rummage through Fabrications, but I managed to come away without any additional purchases.  I was very excited to see however that they are now stocking the fabulous Hungry Girls’ Cookbook.  Melbourne handmade goods are taking over the world!

The afternoon then finished with a glass of white wine in the sunshine.  How often do such perfect Saturdays come along?

travel plans

I may not be blogging much lately, but there’s still lots of knitting going on (just slow progress) and quite a bit of travel planning going on.

Next month I’m heading up to Edinburgh for five days, and I’m incredibly excited!  I’ve never even set foot in Scotland before, so this will be a great treat.  I’m catching the train, and was considering the Caledonian Sleeper up to Scotland, as I love any excuse for a train adventure.   Unfortunately there don’t seem to be any particularly cheap deals on at the moment, so I’m doing the trip in daylight hours.  It cuts in to my trip a bit, but the scenery should be fantastic.

My other travel planning is a bit more extensive – three of my workmates and I are fundraising for UNICEF by doing a sponsored walk to Machu Picchu (yes, the one in Peru).  This will be a massive challenge – without being disrespectful to my dear colleagues, none of us are in particularly great shape and we all seem to have more ailments than you can poke a stick at.  We have just under a year to get some sort of level of fitness, and to raise the whopping £14,000  target.  That’s kind of terrifying, but it seems a bit more manageable if I focus on the £3500 that I plan to raise myself.  There will be lots of opportunities for my blog readers to score yarn in the process, so keep an eye on my blog over the coming months.