Not lost, just a bit busy

Gosh, its been ages since I've been able to update the blog and I do feel a very poor correspondent.  Less interesting things than sewing and knitting are taking up all my energy at the moment and I can't seem to concentrate on anything else.  I hope that these things will eventually turn out to be positive and when they do (for I am certain they will one way or another) I will let you all know what's going on.  In the meantime, I have two posts in one, having finished the third silk shawl for my friend and, now that Christmas is over, am also able to show off my gift knitting at last.  So I have been doing something, just considerably fewer somethings than would normally be the case.  :)

So, first up, the shawl.  This is a SusannahIC design, Annis, which is available free from Knitty.com.  I think its the third version I've done of this pattern, but never in such posh yarn.  It knit up reasonably well, despite the fact that the silk and my winter hands didn't get on hugely well together and didn't take hugely long to do.  The yarn is from Knitwitches and is 100% swiss silk.  I've now knit two shawls, one large, one small, from this yarn and I've still got 50 grammes left to hand back to the recipient who asked me to knit these.  As she has now taken up lace knitting herself, I think she's planning to knit the rest up herself.  The yarn is very thin, I'd say its probably between lace and cobweb weight and I actually went down one needle size for the lace and two for the body of the latest shawlette.  This made it just right for going around my friend's neck which is how she plans to wear it.  I was very pleased to see she was wearing the previously knit silk shawl when we met up before christmas and she says she wears it constantly.  Now that's the kind of feedback I like for my knitting. 
And here are the photos:

And now, my main gift knitting.  I did some socks for Ruthie over on RuthieSews as well but forgot to photograph them, so this photo only shows my mum's gifts.  She was very pleased with them all.  Which is good as I'd been unsure about the whole, "knitting for a knitter" thing all the time I was making them.  However, she had claimed that she loves wearing socks but hates knitting them, so I set off, using some patterns from my current fave designer, VerybusyMonkey.

And here they all are.

The blue pair in the top left are knit from a cotton/wool/lycra mix and the pattern is Bernouille Socks.  Sadly the tweedy yarn hides the true beauty of the pattern, but the fact they are a more summery weight of yarn, and in a stretchy yarn, was seen as an advantage. 

Next up is the Paisley Sock in Cygnet sock yarn.  This was originally a basic lilac colour but I dyed it with black Wiltons (it appears on the line in the post relating to my friend and I's dying day in early September I believe).  I was rather pleased with how this one knitted up and although the photo's aren't fab, the pattern on this one isn't so well hidden by the yarn.

Then, bottom right is the Rufus sock, knit in Schoppelle Wolle Admiral Ombre.  This one came out the nicest I thought.  The yarn came out exactly like the pattern photo showed and the patterned stitches show well.  The sock leg ended up longer on these and this was deemed a "good feature" so now I know what may be required of future pairs.  The stitch pattern is actually a version of the Logwood Shawl that I posted about reasonably recently and thus was quite easy to do as I was already practiced at it from doing the edge of the shawl.

The yarns shown at bottom left were another part of her present.  I dyed these using Wiltons cake dyes.  Working from the left;

Pale pink 100% Alpaca Laceweight

Blue/pink/purplish variagated 100% Alpaca Laceweight.

Christmas red sock weight, 75% merino, 25% silk.  Dyed with Christmas red and it took a LOT of dye to get it to be that red. 

Blue/black variagated sock weight.  75% merino/25% silk.  This was painted using four shades of blue, then over painted with the same blues with black added, then one of the blues was darkened considerably with black and used to paint the darker parts.  Very pleased with how this one came out because it was one of those skeins that went really wrong, really early and I was able to rescue it and turn it into something decent.

Finally, the brown/orange/tan skein is the same 75/25 merino and silk sock yarn, this time dyed with six different browns and oranges.  The orange was Kool Aid actually as I haven't got an orange Wiltons.  It works fine to mix them and I've not had any problems.  Really, really loved how this one came out.  I plan to try to replicate this colourway for myself at some point. 

 

Next up, some simple socks for myself I think.  Sadly I don't have the time to take on anything larger right now, but hopefully that will change soon.  I really hope I can get back to sewing soon.  I'm missing it very much. 

Logwood Shawl

I am taking part in a knit along on Ravelry at the moment.  It runs from 01 October to 31 December and is being held in the Verybusymonkey group.  The intention is to knit gifts using Verybusymonkey patterns.  Of course they don't have to be gifts but most of my items have been and since I don't like to post photos of gifts until they've been given, those won't be on the blog until after Christmas.  This one though, this is for me.  A nice warm shawl to wear with my new down coat. The coat, bought at a huge reduction in TK Maxx is duck egg blue on one side and truffle brown on the other and is completely reversible. 

The yarn is dyed with Wiltons and Kool Aid and I designed the colourway specifically to go with the coat.  Originally this skein was brown at one end and turquoise at the other with a big section of cream in between.  However, it looked awful when I actually knitted it up.  The contrast between colours was too great.  So I unpicked what I'd done and overdyed the yarn again.  I am not totally certain what I overdyed it with, but I think it was one pack of Kool Aid Ice Blue Lemonade with some Teal Wiltons mixed into it and I think I dropped the entire skein into the dye bath, squished it around a bit and then cooked it on the basis that I couldn't make it worse. In fact its knitted up just the way I wanted it to, but I've no earthly clue how to replicate it should I wish to try it again. 

I think the colour is going to work with lots of things in the wardrobe so I can see this one getting a lot of wear.  The shawl is a crescent shape and I think that's going to be very practical for staying where its put.  It blocked out to a rather decent size, and took only one skein of yarn.  The body is knit first then the edging is knitted onto the live stitches.  I've never done this before and was afraid I'd mess it up but it was actually very,very easy.  And although the edging did seem to go on forever, I think that's more to do with the fact that I was picking it up and putting it down a great deal over a longer time period as its been my cover project whilst I've been gift knitting.  So I got a lot done on the other items, not so much on this one for quite a while.  There was a choice of two edgings, a wider and a narrower one. I had 60grammes of yarn left after the body was done, and so I chose the wider edging. I had only a tiny ball of yarn left at the end so it was very efficient on yarn.  I literally only have enough left to do contrast toe and heel on a pair of baby socks.

Like all the Verybusymonkey patterns I've knit so far, it was very easy to follow, and very easy to knit.  Her patterns tend to look a lot more difficult than they actually are, and her instructions are the best I've ever come across.

Is it a bird?? Is it a plane???

A friend showed me the most adorable little patchwork bird decoration she had made the other week and very generously shared the pattern for it ... it was all fat and squooshy and fabulously well done and crucially, it looked like an actual bird when she had made it.  I was foolish enough to think that I too could concoct some darling birds for my own christmas decorating needs.  I had visions of lots of these birds on my christmas tree or at the very least, ten or twelve of them along my mantlepiece.
However, crafting little stuffed things has never really been my forte.  Good at plenty of other things, but making realistic stuffed creatures isn't one of them. 

I made three.  Three were enough.  And thus my grand plans have been reduced to a string of three "sort of" birds that can be put on the bannister in the living room. I'd bought six fat quarters of lovely fabric specially to make this flock of birds.  So I now have quite a bit of christmas themed fabric and will no doubt be looking for a christmas themed project to use them up on.  One that doesn't involve avians of any kind. 

And here are the "birds".  They aren't too bad from a distance, and they do look like birds of a kind, but they aren't the fat, lovely, well crafted birds that my friend produced.  I'm probably just being too picky and perfectionisic (if that is even a word, which I doubt) but I didn't feel they were my best work.

And in close up we have Mr Psychopath Bird with the red body and cream patterned wings... he looks as though he would kill you if you mention Christmas one more time. He also has a pointed head and a deformed tail, which might be why he is feeling a bit bad tempered. 









Tiny Clanger bird, who is cream with red wings.  For those of you unfamiliar with Clangers, I've included a picture of one.  I believe this might actually be Tiny Clanger him/herself.  For those not old enough to recall these creatures, they were a children's TV programme made by Oliver Postgate.  These knitted creatures communicated by whistling and lived in, and on, a planet which they shared with the Soup Dragon (a creature made from meccano).   I watched these things as a very small child and loved them.  Even now a certain kind of whistle will always make me think of these creatures.  However, it must be said that I had not particularly set out to create a christmas themed, Clanger-headed bird.  The close up of the other bird, Mr Lumpy Head, didn't come out right so is not included.  However, the description presumably gives you an adequate idea of his appearance in close up. 

 



Vogue Skirt ... again

Vogue 9959 to be precise, which seems to have had a few outings onto the cutting table this year.  To the extent that its tissue is rather in need of some supportive surgery to preserve it for the future.

This pattern is such a good, basic, straight skirt and whilst not the most flashy or exciting skirt, its perfect for the purpose intended.  In this case, the creation of a skirt to match my Marfy hand tailored jacket, turning it, I hope, into a super-smart suit which can be worn for important events... like job interviews.  I've always meant to make the left over fabric into a skirt to match the jacket, but it wasn't exciting, or urgent, so I didn't do it.  Except, its suddenly become much more urgent, so I've done it.  And here it is.  I'm afraid its not the best of photos.  Black not being hugely easy to photograph under artificial light. 

The fabric is black double crepe, from Rosenbergs.  I love this fabric, its fabulous to work with though it MUST have a press cloth on it at all times or else it gets shiny patches.  However, it just presses into shape like a dream and feels gorgeous on because it has that expensively heavy drape.  I have some bits left which I am keeping so I can try to use them in a garment that calls for multiple seamed sections.  I don't think I have enough left for anything that isn't pieced though.

Lining is cream duchess satin as I wanted something with weight and substance.  I think the way it presses so well could also translate into seating and  bagging in a skirt so the lining is a full length one and the lining weight is deliberately heavy to try to avoid such seating occurring.

Invisible zipper in the centre back.  I remembered to do a proper back vent this time, cut-on not sewn  as an afterthought, and I've even managed to attach the lining to the edges neatly (normally I cheat and do a lining that finishes above the vent).  This full lining should allow the skirt to move over my tights without sticking, crucially important when seating oneself at a job interview without having to readjust things.  Also carefully worked out; vent length.  I cut this longer than I could possibly need in the first instance and tacked the whole back seam up including the vent, for trying on, then let the vent out an inch at a time until I had a skirt I could walk comfortably in, but could also go upstairs without showing an inappropriate amount of leg, as advised by my mother, who trailed up the stairs after me to identify the optimum vent length.  Poor woman, the things she has to do for me.  The skirt length is  just below the knee.  This is perhaps not the most fashionable length but will ensure I don't show an inappropriate amount of leg when seated at interview.

I did apply a lovely petersham waist treatment to the skirt.  I spent ages carefully steaming  the petersham to shape and made a fabulous curved and well fitted band, applied it to the skirt, steamed it to make it lie flat and yes, you guessed it, the curve unsteamed and the skirt was then much too large. 
So that had to come off and a waistband went on. I've used an iron on waistband interfacing which has a sewn on stiffening band.  Fabulous stuff for formal skirts like this as it gives a marvellously crisp line to the edge of the waistband.  Finally, hemmed, hand finishing and a hook and bar closure on the waistband. 

So, I have a pink silk blouse with a tie neck which I think I could wear with this suit for interviews.  Also a grey silk with a convertible collar.  Two questions; 
1.  is a polo neck sweater (roll neck) too casual with the suit for an interview?  Should it be a shirt only?
2.  Should I make a white cotton shirt to wear for interview rather than the silk ones (or as an alternative). Would a white shirt with traditional shirt collar be better than the silk blouses? 

Silk Shawlette Number One

There has been a bit of a lull in blog posting in the SewYLD household.  The reason is a recent bad cold, which has gone but left me rather tired and with a persistently annoying cough that precludes long chats on the phone about sewing.  Which considering my chief sewing pal is knee deep in the planning stages for a new and exciting sewing project, is somewhat unfortunate timing. 

However, the cold didn't stop me from knitting and I do have multiple projects on the go which will start to filter onto the blog in due course (except the super secret one which is for a christmas gift).  I also have many plans for sewn items which should get underway once this cold has departed and left me with a brain that is able to think things out properly. 

Anyhoo, here be the latest project off the needles.  Calais Shawl by Judy Marples.  Its a really simple pattern with easy to memorise repeats.  I've made one before for myself and was wearing it at WoolFest, and it was this pattern that caused my BFF to request that I make her three lace weight items.  This is one of those requested items.   The yarn in question is a pure silk laceweight, a yarn I've never had the chance to work with before.  Ladies and gents, I commend to you, a good handcream, whatever works best for your hands, BEFORE you touch silk yarn.  Any tiny little bit of roughness will rub up this yarn very badly.  However, the end  result is a project of superb sheen and softness, and it blocks like a dream.  It almost lay down and blocked itself, growing far more than I had expected it to and thus producing a rather larger item than  anticipated.  The yarn is by Knitwitches and the colourway is Gumdrops I think, its a fabulous mix of blues and purples which my camera hasn't really done full justice to in the photos above.  In theory, I should have about 50 grams left of this for the second shawlette.  I have 75 grammes left.  And the shawlette in question measures a very respectable 1 metre 40 cm along its top edge and you can  see it will drape down quite a nice distance when worn as Twiggy wears it (and as my BFF intends to wear it).  It is possible that I might manage to get three shawls from this single skein which would be pretty fabulous.  It would also be rather nice if my own version of this pattern would deign to turn up from wherever its gone to hide.  I've mislaid it and considering its one of those colours that magically goes with almost anything you wear it with, I'm a bit peeved about is disappearance. 

The next shawl pattern for this yarn has been chosen and approved but I may not cast that on for a week or two.  It is going to be Annis by SusannahIC, which I have knit before.  However, the pattern has nupps, which I truly detest knitting, so these are to be replaced by beads... not only will this mean I don't have to do the nupps, but it will also provide a little weight to the shawlette at the edges to allow it to drape nicely. 

Posh Yarn Club

Some of you may recall that I got a Posh Yarn Random Club subscription for my Christmas present last year. I'm aware I've not really said much about it so far.  I showed off the first shipment  here and the finished item made from them here but was very remiss in posting the second batch of yarn, and have now received the third batch, so thought I'd show these later four off together. 

These two pink and purple beauties are both the Betsy yarn base, which is Blue Faced Leicester, Silk and Cashmere.  Lovely and squooshy and most likely destined to become shawls, probably patterns from my new favourite knitwear designer, Verybusymonkey.  The plain pink (which is not entirely plain, being hand dyed) is called Celebrate the Good Times and the variagated is called First Impressions. 

Then we have my latest and final shipment; two contrasing skeins.  Both are in the yarn base Hannah, which is Merino, Cashmere and nylon. And its super squooshy.  The dark one is called "100 lines", and the grey one is called "I can't stand the rain".  The latter being an ideal name for a yarn that is going to live in Yorkshire.  The grey has been immediately earmarked for one of my new Verybusymonkey patterns, the Coast Starlight shawl.  I am currently studying the pattern to try to work out if I can place beads on the edging since anything named after starlight should have sparkly bits on it in my view. 

I do love Posh Yarns.  The yarn bases are always of the highest quality and the dying is truly fabulous.  It is one of my favourite yarn companies to deal with too.  The owners of the company, Dee and Tony go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that everyone gets a superb service and Tony, who does the dying, has such skill with colour.  Mind you, Posh yarn is not easy to get.  There is a very unseemly scramble for yarn every Sunday night, and the yarn sells out within minutes (sometimes seconds, as I found to my cost when trying to snag a particularly luscious laceweight earlier this year). 

Decorated Hoodie

Whilst rooting about in the stash looking for fabrics to make children's clothes for Christmas presents, I found a decent sized remnant of  lovely poly/cotton brushed backed sweatshirting fabric in a dusty wine colour.  I've had it a couple of years and it was a gift from Ruth over at SewRuthie.  Since there was enough to make me a hoodie, the kids dipped out and I used it to make my TNT Burda hoodie pattern.  (BWOF 11/2006 No. 124)

As always with a hoodie project, I fell foul of the need for ribbing, which I never seem to have in the colourway I want to use.  I had navy, black and red in stash but really wanted to trim this with grey.  Once again Remnants from Ruthie came to the rescue.  A small piece of cotton stretch knit fabric (donated at the same time as the sweatshirting) was used to make the trim.  Its not very authentic, but it seems to have worked reasonably well.  In hindsight, I should have made the bottom welt shorter as its not got a lot of recovery, but its wearable as it is.

I wanted a bit of embroidery on the back section.  I didn't have anything I liked on my embroidery module so I bought a new design from EmbroideryLibrary. Its a Damask design, I think it was called Royal Rose and was actually slightly too large for my hoop.  Because of course I didn't think of the size of the hoop when purchasing, only of the size of the design I wanted on my hoodie. Sadly the two didn't really coincide so I had to downsize the design a little bit.  This is very easy to do on my machine; just turn a dial and ask it to recalculate the stitches once its the size you want it to be on the screen.  I told it to be just a hair smaller than the maximum the hoop would take.

I'm not all that experienced at getting my embroidery to come out exactly where I want it so I cheated a bit.  I cut out all the pieces except the back section, then worked out where the grain was, and the middle of the remaining section of fabric, hooped the entire piece, and stitched out my design in the exact centre of the remaining fabric.  Only once the design was on the fabric did I cut my back piece, which allowed me to ensure I had the design exactly centred on the pattern piece and low enough so it could be seen if the hood was down.

I am very pleased with my embroidered hoodie and very inspired by the ease with which the embroidery stitched out on the thick knit.  It did need two layers of stabiliser due to the soft fur on the back.  Using only one layer led to the embroidery stretching out the knit and sinking in.  I had to stop the machine part way through the embroidery and push extra pieces of stabiliser under the hoop very carefully so it had a bit more support.  The test run I did was on less furry fabric and it didn't sink in the same way.   I did see two very lovely designs at Urban Threads that would look good on future hoodies so this may not be the last you see of my embroidery module's skills in relation to garments. 

The zip was a pig to put in but I got there in the end.  Not by any means perfect but its operational and passes the ten yard test.    The topstitching was also a pig, mainly because I thought it would be a good idea to try to topstitch the thick seams with the same embroidery thread I'd used for the design on the back.  Believe me, not a good idea. 

So there we have it; one new hoodie.  Perfect for autumn and winter...which is great, because its starting to get cooler now, and the nights are drawing in. 

An Experiment in Practicality

Another skirt, but this time, a bit of an experiment.  I've thought about making a  waterproof skirt for a year or two but I've never actually got around to making  it up.  The two pairs of waterproof trousers I made last year (or the year before, I forget) weren't the success I had hoped they would be but I think I know where they need improving, and that's on the list of things to be tackled this year.

Currently there are some skirts I can't wear to work because they won't travel in the rucksack and/or won't roll up so they can be worn inside the waterproof trousers easily.   Also, if it starts to rain half way home, there is no such thing as quickly slithering into a pair of waterproof trousers whilst retaining any shred of dignity.  However, I hope that a skirt can be kept in the rucksack, and theoretically should be able to be stepped into and zipped on over my existing clothes.  I've made it long enough that I should be able to tuck trousers into my socks to keep the hems clean, and long enough to cover most of my skirts.  I've made the waist and hips extra large and put on very wide belt loops which are longer than the waistband is deep, to accommodate a variety of belts and allow the skirt to be belted on over a variety of weights of garment as well as hopefully being reasonably easy to get into and out of in a hurry.  The large waist also means that for longer than average skirts, I can leave it unbelted and it will drop to sit on my hip bones, giving an extra three inches of hem coverage if required.  The waistband overlap has an oversized press stud to close it instead of the more usual hook and bar or button.   In the photo I am wearing it over the top of a reasonably wide A line denim skirt.   Please excuse the bare feet.  Its rather warm in Yorkshire today, and I'm making the most of this rare-ish event. 

I didn't think of everything.  It would be very much improved by the addition of a box pleat at the front to give extra walking ease.  This version was made from a remnant and there was only just enough fabric to cut the A line garment and have enough spare for belt loops and waistband.  If this version works, I will make another with a  box pleat.

The pattern for the skirt was the lining pieces from a Marfy pleated A line skirt.  The front (which later became the back) was cut on the fold but with the seam allowance included (adding ten eighths to the front piece).  The side seams were cut a quarter inch wider and the curve for the waist partially removed to straighten the garment and add ease at the hips.  It could do with a touch more in the hips I think.  The back, now front, was cut with the correct seam allowance on the center but an extra half inch on the side seams, again tapering straight to give a larger waist/hip area.
All seams were sewn at half an inch to add a bit more ease, and then finger pressed to one side and top stitched down with two lines of stitching (like jeans) to try to make the seams a touch more likely to turn the water.  I've not taped the seams but if it works, I can always do that to a future version.

The zipper is a centred application and now appears at center front, having been planned in the back, but of course that would require my belt to buckle at the back.  Doh!!!   Next time I'll do a fly zipper with a fly shield to help with water/wind proofing. 

Waistband is two inches deep, with over sized belt loops.  These actually go over the top of the waistband and down the back, to be fixed in the inner waistband.  Because I forgot to do a two piece waistband and I hate belt loops sewn to the reverse of the top of the waistband. 

Skirt the Third

And not quite final.  I have one more cut out ready to go, but its not a pencil skirt. 

Here is skirt three.  The pattern is Vogue 9959 which I think is probably out of print since I've had it for ages.  I think its one of the earliest patterns I ever purchased.  Its just a very long straight skirt pattern with a choice of side split, back split or a wrap over view.   As I am not anywhere near the height that Vogue believes people to be, I have shortened the skirt significantly.  The original is about ankle length, not a good length on a short person.  Or certainly not on this particular short person.   The fabric is a very lightweight corduroy, a remnant from Abakhan Fabrics acquired on my last trip and purchased specifically to work with the cardigan shown in the photo.  Which really does need a damp down and a run through the tumble drier to see if I can smallify it a bit more. 

I've added a vent facing finish to the walking vent at the back, and I've mitred it reasonably neatly on the inside.  Of course I forgot to actually cut the vent facings with the skirt and had to add them on afterwards.  It was at about this point that I recalled why I don't sew with corduroy.  Its a bear to press.  Just horrible.  I used brown paper to try to keep the seam allowances from making a mark on the face side, but with only limited effect. 

Also, the invisible zipper walked when I sewed it and had to be removed and re-sewn twice. Between the disobedient zipper and the the annoying pressing issues, I was very glad to get this thing done.  I rather like the end result, but this project has spawned a new expletive; "buggery, bastardy thing". 

I will mainly be wearing this skirt with knee length boots, a neutral top and either this cardigan or a jacket for work.  However, it will also work with a thick sweater to wear at weekends or lounging around in the evenings.  Please excuse the super thick socks just seen in the photo.  The camera battery was on its last legs and  the indoor shot I took didn't come out so I ran outside with the camera to take another photo before the battery died but in my rush, didn't put on any suitable footwear. 

More Dye results

Hopefully you aren't sick of the sight of my dyed yarns yet.  This is the last batch for a while as the huge, enormous, humungous pile of planned projects, both knitted and sewn, is starting to alarm me.  I had a spare evening when I was too tired to knit or sew about a month or so ago.  I decided to match stash yarns to patterns and put them into bags, then to match fabrics to patterns for sewing and put them in a crate.  This was a mistake.  I've been panicking about the sheer number of projects planned ever since.  And I want to do them all, I really do, but next week I have to go back to work and I won't have nearly as much time to sew and knit.  So it all feels a bit overwhelming. I'm trying to calmly complete the things I've started and  I am making headway on that; a gift knitting item was completed today, as were two pairs of leggings that only needed coverhemming, and a skirt had its button sewed on (it had only been in the workroom for a month waiting for this to be done).   Making new and pretty yarns didn't help the whole "getting the project list down" thing.  I tell you, I'm my own  worst enemy.  I need to win the lottery so I can stay home all day and work on my projects.   

But enough of my project panics.  Here are the pretty yarns created yesterday during my dying day with a friend.   Mine were all dyed with Wiltons food colouring.   Some of hers were done using non-toxic acid dyes. 

From left to right: 
75% merino/25% silk sock yarn dyed with brown, harvest gold (golden yellow with a touch of leaf green) and ivory.  The dyes were painted on using a decorators brush.

75% merino/25% nylon sock yarn.  The brown is Wiltons, the turquoise/teal is three packs of blue Kool Aid with some teal Wiltons mixed in to darken the mixture.  The dyes were mixed in two jam jars and the skein ends pushed into the jars, with the middle bit hanging between and left bare.  I was a bit worried I'd burn the bit that was left hanging out but it seemed to work OK. 

The middle skein was lilac Cygnet 4 ply sock yarn unravelled from a cardigan that didn't work well.  This was dyed with black Wiltons, and was just pushed into the dye bath.  I hadn't used enough water so not all the yarn took the colour.  The deep aubergine shade is really lovely and the flashes of undyed/partially dyed yarn really please me.

The leftmost pinkish red skein is another merino/silk mix yarn and was painted with christmas red, rose, hot pink (rose with a touch of red) and mulberry (christmas red with a touch of royal blue).

The last skein on the right was an accident.  I didn't put enough water in the dye bath when trying to make a solid dark red and I think I used too much vinegar.  The yarn that went in the bath first took all the dye and it was exhausted before I could push the rest into the bath.  So I have a raspberry ripple skein instead of a red one.  Very pretty, but it just goes to show that all my dying is a happy accident.  Its a lot of fun, but I couldn't be relied on to produce an actual planned colour. 

I didn't get a photo of my friend's completed yarns, but she made a fabulous dark purple shading to a deep raspberry (intended to be four shades of purple/red but it ran together accidentally in the dye bath), a variagated red, purple and pink which was  a second attempt at a striped yarn in purple and red, but some of the dye came out after it was cooked leading to one end going pink and she hates pink with a passion.  So one of her grandaughters will be getting a very flashy hat and sock set for Christmas I think.  Both those were using her acid dyes, one  was set in the microwave, and one was done on the stove top.  She also dyed a brown and yellow skein, using the same
Wiltons dyes as I did, but using a small brush and choosing to use a much larger amount of the harvest gold dye compared to the brown and ivory.  She named her colourway banoffee pie.

These are just as they came out of the dye baths, hung to dry.  I am expecting that when I reskein them they will look even nicer.   But I've not had time to do that yet.  I did wind the bulk dying I did at the weekend into yarn cakes ready to knit from, and was really pleased with how they looked. 

Skirt the Second

My second remnant pencil skirt.  This one is made from a small piece of heavy stretch cotton and lycra jersey which was left over from some leggings. 

Since it is so very stretchy, I just cut the front of my self drafted skirt out twice, for the piece that would become the back section I just added a touch extra when cutting at the side seams so that the side seams would lie in the correct place.   There is no closure, its a pull on skirt.  I didn't sew the back darts, which also helped to allow the side seams to lie in the right place.  It has a narrow waistband through which I've run some elastic.  Because it was a fitted/shaped skirt pattern I don't have much gathering in the  waistband, making it quite smooth fitting and very comfortable.  The hem was stuck up with Steam-A-Seam, and then sewn on the sewing machine using its special super stretch stitch.  The skirt is photographed as part of a coordinated outfit for once.  I'm so bad at remembering to do  that, and I really should do it more often.  I wore this outfit today to go shopping and it was super comfy.  The top has been orphaned once already (I've had it for years) and the skirt will give it a new lease of life.  The pink fleece thing is also a purchased one, and I finished the outfit with riding boots.  Very comfortable outfit and just right for shopping.  The skirt will probably get quite a lot of wear for work as it looks smart but feels super soft and isn't restricting at all. 

I have a third skirt cut out and the edges overlocked but haven't got any further than that with it.  I also had a dig around the stash this morning before I went out and found a further "this is so small I can't imagine I will be able to get a garment out of it" remnant, which may become a fourth pencil skirt.  And then, I think perhaps I will have enough pencil skirts and I might turn my hand  to some other kind of garment.  I might even get around to turning the overlocker over to cover hem so I can finish off last week's project. 

Sometimes..... things just work out right

You set out to do one thing, and it doesn't work out, but the result is better than you could ever have hoped. 

I have plans with my friend later in the week to dye some yarns but we decided to just dye small lots on that occasion.  Since I really wanted to have a go at making a matched set of bulk skeins for a large sweater project, I decided to do that today in between sewing a skirt. The yarn is blue faced leicester double knitting weight from Woolyknits.  I had a kilo of yarn, and I dyed it all with a particular pattern in mind for the finished yarn, a very complicated cabled dress with a removable roll neck collar.  And I really wanted purple as my current purple sweater is on its last legs, chiefly because I virtually lived in it for three winters in a row. 

And voila... this is the result, or at least some of it. 


This was almost an entire pot of violet Wiltons cake dye.  There was maybe a teaspoon or so out of the pot from previous dying events. 

I followed a different set of instructions this time since there was such a lot of yarn to dye at once.  I split the yarn into 100g (ish) skeins and dyed five at one time in my very largest jam pan.  The dye was measured super carefully into a jug so I knew exactly how much liquid dye I had.  For each dye bath I used exactly half the dye solution, together with 7.5 pints of water. 

The dye bath was made up cool in the jam pan and then half of yarn added to the pan which was heated up to 150 degrees F and simmered there for ten minutes without any vinegar.   I used a jam thermometer to ensure I had the exactly correct temperature and could replicate the exact environment for the second batch.
 
After the ten minute simmer, the vinegar was added.  I used a quarter cup measure of vinegar to each 100g of yarn and I added it slowly, around the edges of the dye bath, and stirred as I added.  I held the yarn away from the vinegar solution with a slotted spoon as you have to be very careful not to get the vinegar directly onto the yarn or it will drive the dye in unevenly.   The dye didn't look like it was taking during the ten minute simmer.  However, once the vinegar went in, the dye leapt into the yarn, the dye bath cleared markedly and, in this particular case, I think the vinegar may have broken the colour (I couldn't have done this if I'd set out to of course) so it took up the constituent colours of the dye at different rates.  Also, I believe I had too much yarn in the dye bath at once so that the vinegar fixer didn't have room to move about enough and the yarn in the middle of the pile got very little dye fixing.  I did stir but I didn't want to felt the yarn and by this time I was raising the water temperature for the final setting of the dye.   Once the vinegar is in, the dye bath is heated to about 170-180F and held there until the dye exhausts.  Which it did in about ten minutes each time for this batch. 

The dyed yarn is left in the exhausted dye bath until cool, or at least cool enough to handle since I have very little patience and had to keep poking and prodding at it. 

Then I washed the first lot and hung it out to dry whilst I tried to replicate the dye on the second batch.  I am very pleased with the match between the dye lots.  They are hung in the photo so that  the first set are on the line  at the back, and the ones at the front are the second dye lot.  I think they are pretty close.

Its not what I set out to achieve, colour-wise, I was aiming for a solid bright purple.  However, I really love it.  I actually spent quite some time a while back trying to achieve this very effect on a skein of sock yarn and failed miserably on that occasion. 

It won't work at all for the pattern I was going to use the yarn for. BUT it will work fabulously for another Swirl cardigan and that may turn out to be more useful in terms of wearability than the dress I was planning, and will take much less time to knit.  So as soon as my yarn is dry I'll be winding it up into cakes and swatching to see if I can get gauge for a swirl.  And because I am so pleased with it, here are a couple of detail shots of one of the skeins so you can see the true loveliness of the colours. Also, because for once, my photos came out quite nicely.   The top one taken in sunlight on my white patio table (note the very cute cut out flowers) and the lower one is taken on the path in the garden, also in sunlight.

Stash Augmentation

I've added to the fabric and bead stash today.  There was both a quilt and a yarn show today in my home town and I attended both events, coming away with two lengths of fabric and four packs of beads.  I was very good and didn't come back with any yarn at all (though I was tempted by some very luscious purple alpaca and some lime green merino).  I also managed to ignore the siren call of a rather fine jelly roll pack in red, black and white prints though the only reason I left it behind was because I really do have an extraordinary number of projects in the works and certainly don't have the time for making a quilt as well.  So I felt reasonably virtuous, or at least not too greedy.

The beads were very reasonable.  I think they are mainly size 11 beads with maybe some 14's in there,  so possibly a bit small for adding to knitting, though I must admit I was hoping to perform some sort of a miracle and use them for super fine laceweight, if I can work out how to get them onto the yarn.   Mixed in are some feature beads and sequins and I think some of the feature beads may become some sets of super light stitch markers for use when knitting lace. 

The fabrics both came from Rosenbergs.  I can't tell you how fabulous this man's fabric stall is.  You have to experience it to really appreciate it.  He had some totally amazing fabrics including two or three really stunning large scale prints on a silky base that would have made THE most stunning evening dresses.  Since I have nowhere to wear evening dresses, I wasn't able to adopt any.  However, I did adopt these two very lovely shirting fabrics.  The plain white is a really heavy stretch cotton sateen which could be used for a dress or shirt, and the striped is a linen/cotton/lycra mix. I don't think the photo does the stripy one justice. There are silver shiny stripes in it and its not printed it is completely woven. Superb quality, both of them and both are destined to become fitted shirts, possibly fulfilling their destiny as early as next week, since mum got two Liberty-esque cotton prints for shirts, also from Rosenbergs,  so we may well have a shirt sewing day later this week if we get chance and I don't decide to begin the mad project this week. 

 And for those of you who were trying to guess my mad mystery project; sorry guys, no one guessed right yet.  

Lilac Lace Shawl

Another finished knitted object, Ann Holvey's Cable and Lace Summer Shawl (available on Ravelry though I got mine at Woolfest).    It is knit in Knitwitches Baby Alpaca and Silk laceweight yarn in an almost but not quite solid lilac shade.
The beads are amethyst with silver lining, size 8, and I used almost three packs (30g) on the shawl.

The main body, which would appear to be the most difficult part of the whole endeavour, went well but the ends, which are a very easy pattern repeat,  drove me to distraction. 
 
I should point out that the problems are not related to the pattern, which was very well written and perfectly easy to follow. I evidently had my idiot head on for the latter part of the knitting process and made various stupid errors that were totally avoidable if I'd only used my brain for its correct purpose. 

Also, the soft fluffiness of the alpaca did not play well with those lovely cobweb ends, which require stitches to be dropped to make those ladders.  In a fluffy yarn, especially a fluffy yarn that has been unpicked SIX times, stitches don't run, they don't even saunter, they just sit there waiting for you to free them from their fluffy chains.  Each end took an entire evening with a blunt needle to carefully free each stitch, on each row, on every one of those ladders.  Somewhat frustrating work, though ideal as a task whilst watching a film.

Operator error and lack of knowledge and experience led to multiple unpicking sessions on the end sections, though I managed to knit the more complicated body very easily and without any unpicking at all.  For some reason I had decided that a simple stitch pattern required no stitch markers and no lifelines.... it all went so much better once I decided to use these key pieces of equipment. 

So, with multiple lifelines in place, and with a needle that was positively bristling with stitch markers, I managed to knit two small, very unassuming looking scarf ends but I can't say I enjoyed the experience. 

Drop stitch detailing has now entered my knitting hate list, going straight in at number one faster than a Duran Duran single in the eighties, and instantly displacing the despised and hated bobble, which had occupied number one for the last ten years.  


I am rather proud of the finished item though,and I think all the angst has been worth it.  Hopefully the recipient will be pleased with it. 

Finished

Amazingly I managed to finish two things.  The green cardigan and the dress I cut out about a month ago and never got around to sewing.

First the cardigan.  Rather disappointed with the fit.   The deep ribbed hem is supposed to start above my waist(two or three inches higher than it is here) and fit neatly and tightly around the waist, pinching in to give an hourglass effect.   The sleeves are supposed to be the same length as my arms, and the buttons aren't supposed to gape like that.  It wasn't too bad until I washed and blocked it, then it grew like Topsy.   I think I read somewhere that superwash yarns (which this one is) will grow with blocking but a stint in the tumble drier will shrink them back up again.  However, I've not dared try it out yet. 

The yarn was lovely to knit with and I like the subtlety of the variation of colours in the yarn.  I didn't alternate skeins the way you are supposed to with hand dyed yarns, and you can't tell.  Though of course, Posh Yarn isn't just any old hand dye.  I wasn't sure about the colour initially, its not my usual colour at all, but it seems to work OK with my skin tone and I have several garments to wear with the cardigan so it will probably get plenty of wear, though it will obviously get rather more wear if I can figure out how to smallify it just a touch.

And next, the dress.  Again, not perfect.  But certainly I think I've got this pattern 95% perfected and I think its going to be wearable.  This version is slightly too tight in the hips, that's why the back view has that delightful wrinkle at the waist.   This could be the pattern, or it might be inaccurate cutting and piecing.  The fabric was not the most obedient and the overlock finish curled up a bit, which might have inadvertently led to inaccurate seam allowances being sewn. 
The facings didn't go in very easily, but they are in and they don't peek out for publicity, which I often have issues with.

I need to scoop out the armholes just a tad more at the front for comfort.  Though I can wear this as it is, it would be better with a touch more room.  When I was trying this on I started to wonder whether the facings themselves might not be partly to blame for my problems with uncomfortable sleeveless armholes.  The facing/staystitching/seam allowance/understitching all add up to quite a structured, hard-edged finish at the armhole.  I suddenly wondered whether all that bulk/structure was what was causing the discomfort because there is absolutely no give in the fabric at all.  On the next page of my sewing manual, after the instructions I was following for my facing application, were instructions for making a bias strip facing for the armholes.  I don't think I've ever used that method but it seems that it might be softer and therefore less likely to cause discomfort in wear.  So for the next version of this dress pattern, I shall try that finish for the armholes and sew the whole dress with half inch seam allowances which will add a bit of extra ease to the dress all around.   The fabric is from Abhakan Fabrics in Preston, from the bargain bin.  I bought five small pieces of the same fabric and the pattern actually goes the other way, I cut across the width (hem and top to the selvages).    I have a piece left which is just big enough to make a child's dress or perhaps a summer skirt if carefully cut. 

 I hadn't had chance to step away from it until I saw the photos and I'm really pleased with the way the floral pattern bands have fallen above and below the bust, and just below the waist in that way.  Although obviously I made efforts to match the pattern, the fabric width had dictated where on the fabric I could place my pieces to get the length in and I hadn't consciously set out to get this effect, though had I set out for any sort of an effect, this is the one I would have chosen. 

Next on the list of things to get finished: turquoise baby socks, and the ends of my best mate's laceweight scarf. 

Also coming up soon, hopefully some new sewing projects.  I think my sewing mojo is on its way back to me.... but I don't want to startle it and make it run away so when it tells me what is going to be made next, I'll follow its suggestion. 

Challenge Part Three....

It is surely better to have tried and failed, than not to have tried at all. 

My cardigan is nowhere near finished and the deadline has come and gone.  I think I could have tried harder actually.  It might have been finished if I hadn't read an entire novel last Sunday instead of knitting.    But I did enjoy the novel, and I didn't want to knit last Sunday. 

I've dropped several stitches this evening because I was watching the closing ceremony whilst wearing my glasses since I couldn't see the telly clearly without them.  Sadly with the glasses in place, I can't see my knitting so stitches fell off between the needles and on one occasion were not noticed until the stitch had run down quite  a way, which took some time to fix.

I knit a very neat neckband this afternoon, pulling in the too wide neckband very successfully.... too successfully, it was so small it didn't meet around my neck and the over large back section was wrinkled.  So that had to be pulled out again. 

Here is the progress made by the end of the challenge.  It may not be done, but I've made a staggering amount of progress today.  I knit the last third of the ribbed band and all of that sleeve today.  The sleeve was done entirely this evening and is almost at the point where I can start the rib.  Its going to have a deep ribbed cuff to match the waist ribbing. 

Challenge Part Two

OK.  I had a long post about my cardigan challenge and Blogger ate it.  Its too late at night to resurrect it, so here it is in a nutshell.

The cardigan went wrong.  I didn't like the pleats and the saddle shoulders didn't look very nice on me.  Not a fault with the pattern.  Lovely pattern but it didn't suit my figure.

Unpicked the cardigan, and cast on a plain, roundish necked, cardigan with waist shaping based on maths worked out by me.  Maths isn't my thing. 

Gauge swatches lie.

Gauge measurements on the project appear to lie also.

The maths says this cardigan should be waist length by now.  I tried it on.  It isn't.  I've already done three sets of waist shaping... which I suppose is now ribcage shaping. 
This may work out fine for my figure shape.... Or it might not.

The project is not making me keen to work on it.  Indeed this evening I had a choice between cleaning the kitchen and knitting my cardigan... I chose to clean the kitchen. 

I don't like knitting to a deadline, it takes all the joy out of the project.

Stocking stitch is very boring to knit.

This project feels like wading through quicksand.

It is actually possible to fall asleep whilst knitting, and apparently to continue to knit for several stitches before stabbing yourself accidentally and waking yourself up.

This is the cardigan so far.  Not nearly as long as it should be, though the neckline is larger than it ought to be and it may be slightly wider than desirable. 

 I don't recall previous versions being quite so agressively keen on curling up at the edges.  This may be an issue that will need to be addressed in the near future. 

Ravellenic Games Challenge

Ravelry is running the most amazing event to coincide with the Olympic games in London, the Ravellenic Games.  You cast on during the opening ceremony for a project which will challenge you.  This allows beginners to take part as well as the really seasoned knitters.  The item must be completed by midnight on the day of the closing ceremony.  Everyone casts on during the opening ceremony so you have knitters from across the world all casting on a new project at the same moment.  Ravelry provides a nifty little timezone calculator so you can ensure you are casting on at just the right time.  I must admit as I cast on I thought of all the other people casting on in other countries and wondered how they felt about the challenge they had set themselves and about being part of a huge community doing something together. 

I am a member of TeamPosh and am knitting a cardigan, in fabulous Posh yarn of course.  The yarn is called Journeys' End and is Posh Yarn Megan, which is Blue Faced Leicester.  Its such a fabulous wool, springy and soft and luscious and as always with Posh, the colour is fabulous.  I got it as my first installment of the Posh Yarn  Club 2012, at least I got two of the three skeins.  Mum got the same yarn and donated one skein for my cardigan project, which was very kind of her.  Now I will admit, green really isn't my colour normally, and Army green has negative associations for me, however, this has a depth of colour and a subtle variagation with shades of gold and brown in the yarn which makes it very pretty and the colour seems to work with my skin tone a lot better than I expected it to.  I'm not sure the photo does it justice.  Hopefully the charm of the yarn will show itself once the cardigan starts to grow. 

The pattern is Same, Same but Different by Fallmasche, and is a contiguous version of her very popular Walnuss pattern.  It has saddle shoulders, pleats on the shoulders, sides and sleeve cuffs, and I am hoping its going to come out reasonably closely fitted.  I will probably add an extra set of waist decreases as this is where I usually need a bit of help with the fit of cardigans.  I would imagine I will have to lengthen the body as well, but the best thing about contiguous is it can be tried on as I go along, so it should hopefully be reasonably simple to monitor progress and adjust as required.

I am not certain that I can complete the cardigan in the timescale, but will have a darn good go.

This is the first eighteen rows, knitted whilst I was watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

I stayed up to watch almost all of the ceremony, surprising myself by how interesting and moving I found it.  I don't think I've ever watched one before. I tend to think the main advantages of sport are found in participating rather than sitting on the sofa watching it.  However, I am in awe of athletes (or anyone else for that matter) who are so dedicated and work so hard, giving up so much to be the best they can be, and the atmosphere must have been amazing in the arena.   To see the athletes so proudly walking around the arena, the culmination of so much hard work, self-denial and effort, was truly humbling.  

Summer Dress

Now the blocks are done I wanted to see how well they worked so I've drafted a summer dress using my hip length block.  This is the block I worked from.   The darts have only been partially cut out to keep the block stable, and  the rest of the dart lines have been marked with a line of holes punched with a blunt sewing needle which will hopefully allow me to mark the dart lines reasonably easily when using the block for further designs. 

I started with what I thought would be the easiest style; a shift dress.  All I had to do was extend the hip length sloper, and cut it apart on the lines, which you should be able to see running between the darts,  add seam allowances, and voila.  Things were less straightforward however, thanks to a visit from the stupid fairy. 

Things I should have thought of before I cut the fabric:

Ease - I should have added some.  Both design and wearing ease.

Hem width - I should have checked I would be able to walk normally in it.

Facings - Forgot to draft any and then ran out of fabric so I couldn't have cut them out anyway.

Shoulder seams - should be placed together to see if they make a smooth curve around the armhole before cutting the garment and finding it has a pointed "sleevelet" at the shoulder seam. 

Pride comes before a fall - there is a reason why all the books tell you to cut it out in muslin first.  Even if you drafted it to your measurements. Especially if you only own two lengths of fabric that are suitable for making dresses. 

Note to Self;  this is about the tenth time you have tried to make a shift dress.  You hate yourself in them.  You do NOT look like Audrey Hepburn.  You will never look like Audrey Hepburn.  You do, however, look like a very poorly dressed drag queen.  Seriously, just stop with the shift dresses. 

And thus, my dress was consigned to the bin, unphotographed and unmourned, except for the fact that I had wasted one of the two suitable lengths of dress weight cotton in my stash.

Cue round Two.  A copy of a flared, A line dress from an out of print Vogue pattern.  This is the dress I was copying.

The fabric is Liberty Lawn and it was one of my very earliest sewing adventures.   It came out too large, something I only discovered when I tried it on for the first time .... at the hemming stage! I was going to wear the dress to a friend's wedding, didn't have anything else to wear and made the dreadful discovery the day before the wedding.  Mum rode to the rescue with some judicious darts and despite the back fitting really badly, I've worn it every summer for the last sixteen years.  No one seems to notice the poor fit, nor that the dress isn't the latest style.   People see the fabric and all flaws are forgiven.  Possibly there is a lesson in that somewhere.

Over time I attacked that poor Vogue pattern several times, trying to make it fit but since I hadn't traced it, the original became such a nightmare of tissue additions, cryptic notes and multiple coloured lines that it was impossible to rescue and had to be thrown away. 
This copy is just an homage really.  The original has armhole princess lines whilst my copy has shoulder princess seams, the original has a bit more flare in the skirt and a wider and squarer neckline.  Though I suspect the squared neckline owes more to a set of darts placed to avoid sight of my breakfast when I leaned forward, than to any plan on the part of the pattern designer. 
Things I should have thought about before I cut the fabric, since it would seem that the stupid fairy was still very much in residence;

Shoulder princess seams are supposed to meet at the shoulder, ideally somewhere around the middle of the shoulder.  They are not supposed to be massively off-set.   If you notice this error on muslin one, it is probably best to alter the pattern before you cut out muslin two. 

If the bodice doesn't fit nicely in the shift dress version, it isn't going to magically look fabulous in the flared version.
If your original shift dress pattern was much too tight in the hips and gave you the appearance of an overstuffed sausage, its probably best to add ease BEFORE you do anything else.  Just because its got lots of flare in the hem, doesn't mean it has lots of room in the hips.  You saw this when you drew the pattern out.  You still went ahead and drew the pattern with the flare starting one and a half inches below the waist. Oddly enough, just about at the point where the whole overstuffed sausage thing was starting to happen.  You were very surprised when your bottom failed to fit comfortably into your dress.  Why was this?     
And so it was that muslin two was consigned to the bin, unphotographed because I forgot to do it and mourned mainly because I'd used the only remaining piece of suitable fabric in the stash. 

Cue work on muslin three,which was constructed in a sheet procured, it would appear, from Stains R Us.  Such disgusting fabric naturally ensured a result that needed only minimal tweaking.  

And here is the almost finished muslin, with the tweaks pinned into it. 

 The red facings were from muslin two.  There seemed no point creating a new set when I'd already cut those out.  The red zipper was purchased, of course, for muslin two.

The dress doesn't pull across the back when its on me.  Twiggy has oddly cast arms and they have an effect on how fitted garments show on her. 

You can see where the side seams have been pinned in a bit to rectify gaping on the armholes.
I think if you look closely you can see the pin lines for re-drawing the armholes to stop them from chafing the front of my arms, and the front seams have been taken in a little under the bust to give a more flattering silhouette.  The shoulder princess seams now meet over the shoulder and extra ease has been added to the side seams below the waist, one eighth of an inch to each piece (and boy was that a fun amount to stick to the side of the tissue pieces). 

I am planning the purchase of some nice but not overly expensive fabric to try and make this in a wearable form.  Hopefully I won't find yet another undiscovered fault.  

Can any of you see anything that needs to be fixed? 

Spring Greens

Just finished these socks tonight and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.  The pattern is Cadence by Verybusymonkey (available on Ravelry) and the yarn is 75% merino/25% nylon from YarnUndyed which I dyed up using Wiltons Cake Dyes.

The dye was painted onto the yarn using a decorators paint brush and applying dark dye at one end then progressively paler dye as I went along until the last bit was almost, but not quite white.  It looked just how I planned (not always the case) and actually knit up the way I expected/planned it to. 

The pattern was much easier than it looks and both yarn and pattern were a dream to knit up.  I thoroughly enjoyed the project and plan to wear my very, very bright socks at every opportunity.  The lace pattern reminded me of very young ferns just opening and seemed an ideal pairing with the yarn as soon as I saw the pattern on Ravelry.

I had a really decent amount of yarn left over at the end of the project so the yarn evidently goes quite a long way.  Another partial skein for my stripy sock breeding project. 

Woolfest 2012

I was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to attend Woolfest, held at Cockermouth in Cumbria today.   I jumped at the chance since it not only involved wool, and  a day off work, but also a whole day spent with my closest friend,  talking about knitting, and having a really good catch up with each other's lives.   The journey took two hours each way so we had plenty of time to chat and then had four hours at the show (which felt like about two hours as the time just flew by).  We had a truly fabulous time wandering about petting the yarns and deciding what we would bring home with us.  I seem to have infected her with my desire to dye anything that stands still long enough and we are planning a dying day later in the year.  She has bought some acid dyes with built in fixatives (so much easier than messing around with soda and salt)  and I have both the Kool Aid and the Wiltons cake dyes so we can have a truly fabulous time when we get chance to have a play. 

Somehow the purchase of the dyes seemed to set a tone for the day and we both came back with mainly naked sheep products.  So I now have lots and lots of yarn available for my dying activities.
Two 500 gram hanks of blue faced leicester (BFL) aran and two 500 gram hanks of BFL double knitting (between us we bought the stall's entire stock of BFL in both weights!!!).  These will become sweaters and there will be left overs for smaller projects.

Three skeins of 75% merino/25% silk sock weight, we went halves on a five skein pack and for some reason I ended up with the third skein. 

At Bluefaced they were selling off skeins that weren't labelled at three for £10. When we got back to the stall ready to purchase (having gone round the entire show first to ensure we chose just the right things), it was quite quiet so the owner helped us work out what the yarns were.   I got two skeins of merino aran  and four skeins of sock weight superwash merino.  The aran will be dyed and used as a contrast colour with some black merino aran left from a previous project.  The sock weight will become a cardigan or sweater since its superwash so can be machine washed.  The fourth skein is for socks, which I will wash in the machine BEFORE I trust the cardigan to the machine. 
My dear friend, with very patient digging, unearthed six matched skeins of alpaca and silk double knit.  A truly fabulous bargain for £20.   

And here is the scale of the undyed mountain. 

But I didn't stop there:  I got some undyed alpaca in a divine dark brown.   This is a 100 gram skein of 4 ply weight and it is about the softest yarn I have ever felt in my life, with a wonderful sheen to it.  This will probably become a shawl because I cannot imagine a better mood enhancer than to have this fabulously soft cloud of scrumptiousness around my neck. 

Finally, one skein of coloured sock yarn came home with me. (Even though I do have the mountain of sock yarn already mentioned above and a few others in stash).  This is Araucania Ranco Multy which reminds me of Monet's paintings and will probably become socks. 

 My friend fell in love with two skeins of laceweight and a stole pattern.  I have been commissioned to knit up the stole in one skein and two shawlettes in the other since despite being the most accomplished knitter I know, possessing the gift of perfect tension AND being as fast as lightning, charts and lace yarns aren't her thing though she loves the end results.  Both skeins are seriously gorgeous so its not exactly going to be a hardship to knit these up and in any case I'd do anything for her.   No photos of these yarns, but I'll post the items as I make them.  I am planning to cast on for the stole as soon as my current project is cast off and hopefully will get the yarns wound into cakes this weekend.