Laura crochets

Shops updated

2010-05-04T17:05:00.000+01:00

I've done a little shop update today. On MISI there's some bright and fruity laceweight. On Folksy there are some sweet flowers: and some
fly agaric toadstools lurking in a bed of moss in the woods.

Folksy will probably have another small update later in the week.

After hideous insomnia last night (I seem to be becoming more prone to it again, after being insomnia-free for several years), I drank too much caffeine today and feel somewhat drained now. I'd better catch up on some sleep if I'm going to be fit for marathon election TV viewing on Thursday night!

Election crafting

2010-05-03T16:33:00.001+01:00

An Abstract Cat election line up:

left to right: laceweight BFL in Fire Festival, Superwash merino sock in Deep Blue, Superwash meinro sock in Jealous Sky, Silky baby alpaca laceweight in Lime 'n' Olives and BFL DK in Sunny.

If you're in the UK, you can't fail to have noticed we have a general election this week. Until the last couple of years I didn't have much interest in politics beyond issues I felt very strongly about (e.g. the environment, university tuition fees), but having left the relative shelter of academia, and knowing more people with direct involvement in politics has changed that.

Anyway, I am preparing for some marathon crafting on election night - with pizza, and wine, and hopefully cupcakes:

If you're planning a similar crafting/eating extravaganza (or planning marathon crafting to avoid the election), I have lots of yarn in stock whatever your colour (the above is a teeny sample) and lots of yarn if you're undecided, couldn't care less about politics or don't want anything with a political association. There's still time (just) to order if you want some election night crafting. This post has been about my Folksy shop, but there's also loads over on MISI.

And finally, I can't remember where I found this (probably http://www.icanhascheezburger.com , but lolcat of the moment:

The joys of spring

2010-04-29T12:01:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to convince myself that blogging gets easier with practice... but I'm not one for actually communicating. Most of the time I wander round in my own little bubble-world.

I haven't done as much crafting as I'd like to lately for a variety of reasons. I started and finished the lovely Lyra's Stole (Ravelry link) by Alison Collins using some of my Abstract Cat Bluefaced Leicester laceweight yarn. I modified it the pattern a little, and even though my interpretation is riddled with errors (not the pattern!) I love it. It was my 'TV watching' project and TV watching projects always end up messy with me. Also, I hate blocking things, so it's typically wiggly. All that said, I love the way it turned out:

I'm still working on my Eva's shawl in autumnal colours (AbCat BFL laceweight again). I think it's going to be huge, and I'm only about 70% through the yarn:

The bag at the bottom right is a 'Miya' bag from Nicsknots. It's very handy for storing wee projects, and I will be purchasing another when funds allow.

I'm also dabbling in some simple design. Often I start designing and then get put off for some reason or abandon projects, but this time I'm determined to finish this one. Using my Abstract Cat Silky Baby Alpaca laceweight (100g/800m, £14) I'm making a lacy scarf:

Please ignore the ripply chain - I'll try and sort it out when I block it. This started out as being a stole, but I seemed to lose my ability to count when I started it, and kept miscounting the starting chain, so I reduced it and am making a lacy scarf instead.

There has also been an exciting development: I will be selling my Abstract Cat yarns at UK Ravelry Day Marketplace at the University of Stirling on the 13th and 14th of August (as yet I'm not listed on the website). Neither my partner nor I drive, so we have to rely on public transport, and this is the yarny event closest to my home, so I'm very excited to be able to exhibit and sell here. It's gong to be nerve-wracking but hopefully a lot of fun!

Well, much as I loved the snow, I'm glad winter is over. Now, roll on warmer weather so I can wear t-shirts all the time! Lately my partner and I have been watching some great DVDs; we've got hooked on Mad Men and The Big Bang Theory. Love them!

Must try harder...

2010-01-20T08:34:00.000Z

I believe my New Year's resolution last year was to blog more often. It was also my NY resolution this year. Failed on both counts I think - not to mention being hopeless at responding to comments (partly my email provider's spam filter's fault - I keep telling it not to put Blogger responses in my spam, but will it listen?)

Anyway, there has been crochet. Lots of crochet, just only one finished project that's been sitting for a week waiting to be blocked. There has been snow, and although it's all gone bar a few patches of mucky compacted ice, the snow rather delayed dyeing activity. There has, finally, been dyeing, and provided the weather is reasonably bright today 'll be hitting the virtual shelves tomorrow.

Multicoloured

2009-11-25T12:41:00.000Z

I liek bright colours, al the more so at this time of year with the long hours of darkness that trigger my SAD, badly. :(

A few weeks ago I gathered up all my yarn scraps and started working on my never-ending granny-square afghan, using the aran to bulky weight yarns. By the time I decided it was big enough it was a good 6 foot square:

There's all sorts of yarn in there - Colinette Point 5, Patons Diploma Gold, unbranded mohair, mystery yarn... It's lovely and warm. I've now started on another using my sock to aran weight scraps, but this one will be smaller. More of a lap/TV watching blanket I think. I'm aiming for 4-5 feet square this time.

Of course I've been working on projects using my own, Abstract Cat yarn. This is the start of the Arrows stole by Annette Petavy. My version is being made using my Baby Alpaca laceweight (100g/800m). It's going to take a lot of blocking!:

I confess I haven't worked on this since I came back from holiday two months ago - the pattern starts from the middle, but uses the yarn doubled for the starting chain then splits off after the first row. In my ususal style, this means I've got the working yarn and the yarn for the other half tangled, and it'll need untangled before I can continue. I'm sure it'll be fabulous when it's finished. (One of the effects of my SAD is that it destroys my concentration, hence my enthusiasm for mindless projects like the blanket above.)

And another shawl... This time (another) Eva's Shawl by Milobo. I love this pattern, have done it in lace, sport and aran weights and am now doing it in British Bluefaced Leicester laceweight (800m/100g - the most similar colourway I have for sale in this yarn is Taconic). I'm a little further on with now than in the photo:

Sock yarn's not just for socks! I love Alpine Frost Scarf from Interweave Crochet. Again it's a pattern I've made several times in several yarn weights. I'm curretly working on it in Superwash Merino (100g/330m). It feels lovely. The skein I'm using had an accident in the dye-bath (i.e. I forgot about it, started looking at patchwork fabric online and eventually returned to the kitchen in time to hear sizzling - however the yarn seems unaffected):

And finally... socks! 75% British Bluefaced Leicester, 25% Nylon (100g/400m). This is the skein that inspired my Retro colourway, although the patterning will be different in the skeins for sale. The pattern is Ultimate Crochet Socks from Crochet Me:

A couple of weeks ago, my partner and I visited his grandmother. She no longer knits, and presented me with her knitting bag. It's been well taken care of or hardly used and obviously dates from several decades ago. I love it! Here is my cat Shiraz, with the bag in the background - you can just see part of the second granny square scrap afghan sticking out of it:

Finally, I would like to wish American readers a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am planning on finding a live internet stream of Macy's parade and settling down to watch it with crochet project and (many) mugs of tea!

Shameless shop self-promotion

2009-10-28T13:28:00.000Z

Recently I decided to change some of my product photographs. I'd been mulling over the skeined/reskeined photos thing since I started my MISI and Folksy shops. I originally wanted to include photos before and after reskeining in my listings but decided against it on the grounds of additional work and the fact that some yarn comes out of the dyebath looking, well, unkempt. This week I reread some for and against arguments for reskeining and decided that it would be a good idea to include pre-reskeining photos where appropriate. I only like to show my yarns looking their best. It does mean that in ideal cases you will see this:

and this:

but also this:

For some of the older yarns I've added pre-reskeining photos where I actually took them. The reason I reskein? I think most yarns look better once reskeined but it also lets me spot any mill problems (e.g. knots/joins/significant unspun sections) or dye problems (e.g. naked bits).

I've been trying out a few new yarns lately. My favourite has to be British Bluefaced Leicester laceweight (100g/800m). It's a beautifully soft and lofty yarn with a slight lustre and makes wonderful big, bouncy skeins:

I haven't tried crocheting with the British BFL yet but I'm sorely tempted to steal this skein instead of adding it to Sunday's update...

Thursday: Twelve Teal Treasures

2009-10-15T12:55:00.011+01:00

I spend far too much time browsing Folksy and MISI eyeing up beautiful things. So today I am sharing some of the things I love in one of my favourite colours: teal! (The photos are in mosaics so you need to click the links below to visit the shops/items.)

Row 1:
Lovebird bowl in teal blue by PrinceDesignUK - I love this range of sweet little lovebird bowls.
Teal spot doorstop by Charlotte Macey Textiles - This is neat and I wish I was the kind of clean domestic goddess that could have light coloured things in my house.
Teal and orange striped cat mini print from Illustrations by Amy Blackwell - I'm strangely drawn to this foxy-looking little feline. I also love this Christmas Card, the tone reminds me of one of the cats who lets me live here!

Row 2:
Cotton Kitchen Tea Towel from Taylor's Typographical Art Posters - a selection of kitchen words and fun fonts and with kitchen things. It's great.
Waiting White Cat Print from Eyeshoot Photography - Cat and teal. A perfect combination for me. It's also the kind of photo I always want to take but which never quite works for me.
Mosaic Dichroic Pendant Teal Greens from Mauri Ann - this is just gorgeous!

Row 1:
Lacy bird brooch in porcelain by PrinceDesignUK - I don't normally wear brooches, but this wee bird is so cute!
Nordic Blue Hares from Deebeale - I love Scandinavian-inspired designs, and this is just lovely.
Porcelain Pendant with Glass - Rainwater Craters from Seaurchin - I already own one of Seaurchin's pendants so I can testify to their loveliness. I adore the forms inspired by coral, octopus suckers and crater-forms.

Row 2:
Flower leather purse/wallet from oh!gosh - I wish I could justify buying this, but I just bought a new purse (wish I'd spotted this first)!
Plantlife screenprinted art from Summersville - I love this delightful print - her fabric looks great too!
Urban Bunny - blue from Treaclezoo - this is one of those bizarre but cute things I find myself drawn to, one of those "what's it for? I don't know but I like it!" things.

It goes without saying that everything here is now on my Christmas wish list!

All photos are from the sellers' own shops and are copyright to the individual designers. Please support these creative people!

Home again

2009-09-29T10:16:00.002+01:00

I arrived home from holiday on Friday, and in a fuzzy jet-lagged state loaded my holiday photos onto my computer. On Saturday morning I switched on my computer and realised something was badly wrong - no internet detected, and half the stuff in my Start menu missing... my hard disk had bitten the dust. My partner has acquired a new HD and pulled stuff off the old one for me (so far it seems I haven't lost anything vital, and I did back up most of my photos a few weeks ago), but I'm using the EeePC until he has time to set up the new hard disk. I'll be trying out Linux (Ubuntu), as it's three weeks until Windows 7 comes out (no point in buying XP or Vista in the meantime, especially as it's supposed to be much better), and my partner has three weeks to convert me to Linux permanently (it hasn't worked in the past). So shop updates have been delayed - it takes me twice as long to type on the Eee due to the tiny keyboard, have little image editing software and the weather's rubbish for taking photos.

The holiday was fantastic, apart from my partner getting heatstroke and fainting on the plane home. We will be complaining to the airline concerned. He recovered quickly but it should never have happened.

Since I visited my aunt when I was 10 years old I've wanted to make a patchwork quilt. Now I have a sewing machine I decided to take advantage of the fact that in the US fabric is between a quarter and half the price it is in the UK... so a marathon expedition to Joann was done, with a follow-up visit. I'm still annoyed I didn't get two of my favourite fabrics from there - at the time I rejected them as 'too expensive' but now I've been scouring the internet for a source of those exact fabrics that will ship to the UK.I feel bad about asking my aunt after she and her husband driving us around all over the place... I now have a fat-quarter obsession, and have found an eBay shop (in the US) selling reproduction 19th century prints. Even with shipping it works out as a good deal for me (provided I don't go over an amount that might attract a customs charge.

My aunt gave me a wonderful crafty thing - a cork with about 18 crochet hooks stuck in it. They're mostly very small hooks for lace making (with tiny hooks that are quite sharp, hence being stuck in a cork).Apparently an old lady of 90-odd died and my aunt was invited to pick something from her belongings. She thought the crochet hook cork was interesting and chose it, though she doesn't crochet and no longer knits so she thought I'd like it.

Actual non-shop-related content inside (as well as shop content, of course)

2009-09-04T17:27:00.004+01:00

I finally got round to doing some more sewing. I'm still rubbish, but I managed to take up the legs on a pair of pyjamas - I usually put up with too-long pyjama legs, but I've hardly worn these one because they're so so so long, and a pale colour - and I wanted a pair of 'cropped' PJs. Anyway, the legs are the same length even if the sewing is extremely squint. And with the bits I cut off I made a wee drawstring project bag, big enough for sock crochet or similar:

The yarn in the photo was dyed last year and was the inspiration for my 'Retro' colourway, currently for sale on Folksy - it's not identical but very similar. This ball of yarn will become socks, starting sometime in the next week. I realised after I'd finished the bag that I'd used the fabric upside down and had more upside-down cats than right-way-up cats. Oops. In the interests of recycling, the inside is lined with the fabric from a shopping bag that had a broken strap (and yes I could have fixed the bag but upcycling it was a far more appealing idea).

Shop content. Updates and such
My copper leaf necklace is in the MISI Autumn Gift Guide
Small steps, but I'm very happy about that.

It finally stopped raining so I got photos done and will do a small update hopefully over the weekend. I'm really being drawn to autumnal colours so here's a taster of a small but seasonal update (Folksy and MISI all mixed up together so you'll need to check what's where):

Holiday
On Saturday 12th September I'm heading off on holiday to visit family in the United States. I haven't been over for nine years, and haven't had a 'proper' holiday for seven years, so I'm feeling excited but apprehensive. Anyway, my shops will be closed from about 2pm on Thursday 10th until Sunday 27th September - by which time I'll hopefully have recovered from jet-lag.

New shop

2009-09-01T13:16:00.002+01:00

As of yesterday afternoon, my MISI shop is live. A small sample of what's available:

Shop update

2009-08-26T18:00:00.002+01:00

I've been busy rephotographing yarn and jewellery, and making more of course! Yarn updates will be a little slow for a while as I'm almost out of base yarn. Anyway, a taster of what I've put in my shop:

Lots of jewellery to be added, but since sunshine forms an integral part of my photographic 'studio' that won't happen until the weather gets better.

Hoping to get my MISI shop set up this weekend, but don't hold me to that!

I'm feeling bad because I haven't had time to play with my sewing machine. :(

New shop

2009-08-19T14:18:00.002+01:00

Some months ago, I decided to make stuff I could sell online. This was partly borne out of job-hunting frustration - nobody seems to want to employ a slightly neurotic but conscientious woman with three degrees. The low point was being interviewed for a job where it becams eobvious that the panel was not responsible for shortlisting; they were just there to read from a script and transcribe my answers. I may as well have been shut in a room with a list of questions and a tape recorder.

Anyway, after months of making, and almost as much time procrastinating I have started loading the shelves of Abstract Cat, my Folksy shop. I will open a shop on MISI soon too. I currently stock hand-dyed yarn and handmade jewellery, but will be stocking a wider raneg of products in the future. I ahven't set up international shipping yet, but unfortunately I can't sell to the USA or Canada due to insurance restrictions.

Here's a taster of items for sale, and things to come:

My logo got a little chopped up in the mosaic. Hmmm.

New toy

2009-08-19T13:53:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I bought a sewing machine. I hadn't used a sewing machine for 17 years, since Home Economics at school - an experience that totally put me off. Until now. I'm less than five feet tall, and sick of only being able to buy trousers that fit exactly (which is hard as I'm too short even for most 'petite' ranges), and too mean to pay someone to take trousers up for me. As ever I have a head full of crafty ideas and no way to execute them. After a lot of humming and hawing I bought this:

A Janome 419s. It's great. I'm still rubbish at sewing and it's going to take a lot of practice before I make any of my grand plans but I did manage to make this, a wee bag for storing buttons:

The seams are squint, and the best that can be said for it is that the fabric is pretty, and it's useable, certainly more useable than the pastel pink cushions we had to make at school.

Mooncup update
Female squickiness coming up!

I'm currently giving my Mooncup a trial for real. Maybe it's beginner's luck but it's going perfectly. I'm using additional protection while I get used to it but so far no leaks, no discomfort (other than usual period ickiness and mild cramping) and I actually feel cleaner. Emptying the Mooncup is frankly gross, but the yuckiness is over in a minute or two, and that two or three times a day is a vast improvement on five days of feeling disgusting continuously. It's not a procedure I'd like to perform in a public toilet though - I don't have the confidence to do that yet. The additional protection I'm using is the washable sanitary pads I bought before. I still think it's a shame to deliberately bleed on the pretty fabric, but that's what they're for.

Remember these?

2009-06-30T18:39:00.002+01:00

Well, I finally wrote up the pattern. I can't guarantee it's error free as I'm the only person that's tried it and it's written in a way I can understand. It's very quick and easy (took me less than an hour). I used Pencil Roving from The Yarn Yard but I'm not sure Natalie's doing Pencil Roving anymore, so you may need to substitute with another pencil roving. I think something like Colinette Point 5 or One Zero might be interesting, though maybe a little too thick and thin. The cafetiere cosy/French press cover is designed to fit the eight-cup Bodum cafetiere. A larger/smaller cafetiere will require significant pattern jiggery-pokery.

British crochet terminology used throughout

Version 1 - loops (orange in photo)

100g The Yarn Yard Pencil Roving
9mm crochet hook
sewing thread
2 1-inch(ish) diameter buttons
sewing needle that fits through holes in buttons.

ch. 25
row 1 - dc in second ch from hook and in each ch across (24 dc) ch.1 . turn.
rows 2-11 - Dc in each dc (24 dc) ch 1. turn
row 12 as row 2, but do not ch 1 at end of row. Turn
Shell edging - skip 1st dc. *3 tr in next dc. sk next dc, slip stitch in next dc, sk next dc (first shell made)* repeat from * to end of row, ending with a slip stitch in final stitch (6 shells made)
Work 1 dc in each stitch along 'short edge' of work (12 dcs)
As previous shell edging row.
Turn, work 1 dc into each stitch along short edge (12 dc). Fasten off.
At two equally spaced points on one short edge join in yarn, ch 9, rejoin with sl st to st where yarn joined - forms button loops.
Sew buttons on corresponding points on other short edge.

Version 2 - buttonholes (finished size approx. 30cm x 15cm) (blue/brown in photo)

ch. 29
row 1 - dc in second ch from hook and in each ch across (28 dc) ch.1 . turn.
rows 2-11 - Dc in each dc (28 dc) ch 1. turn
row 12 as row 2, but do not ch 1 at end of row. Turn
Shell edging - skip 1st dc. *3 tr in next dc. sk next dc, slip stitch in next dc, sk next dc (first shell made)* repeat from * to end of row, ending with a slip stitch in final stitch (7 shells made)
Along short edge, 3dc, ch 2, sk 2 dc, 2dc, ch 2, sk 2 dc, 3 dc
As previous shell edging row.
Dc along final short row. Fasten off.
Sew buttons on short edge at corresponding points to buttonholes on opposite short edge.

The journey (or, my sterilisation story)

2009-06-29T19:43:00.020+01:00

Non-crafting, very long, personal, me me me post.

Warning: this post deals with matters relating to female biology, including menstruation, and contains one photo (work-safe) that some may find icky. If you are squeamish, or don't wish to read about such things, please come back later when I'll have a crafting post or two. And thank you for visiting. :)

I am childfree, not childless. I don't want kids, never have done. I was always an odd child and I sought out adult company, and was horrified if I was expected to play with other children beyond my very small circle of friends. I have photos of me as a young child clearly trying to avoid being made to 'hold' my baby cousins. As a teenager, years before I entered a relationship, I became acutely aware that I could become pregnant, and wondered if having a relationship was worth the risk. At the age of 24 I entered my relationship, but one contraceptive failure/morning after pill event had me researching and then running to the family planning clinic for an Implanon implant. I had a hard time persuading the FP doctor that I wouldn't want to try to conceive in the next three years - "I'm in the first year of my PhD" did the trick.

Despite gaining three stone in weight (42 lb) within the first year of having the Implanon (I also started anti-depressants during that year, which contributed to the weight gain), my periods stopping and the reliability of the Implanon trumped the fat and misery. Was my depression also caused by the Implanon? I don't know.

I was finishing my MPhil (no longer a PhD sadly, due to circumstances largely beyond my control) when my Implanon was up for removal/renewal. We had decided two years previously that sterilisation was the best option, however with the stress, my on and off depression, an impending house move and knowing no-one would take me seriously if I asked to be sterilised because I was only 28, I went to student health and mumbled a request for my Implanon to be replaced. It duly was, and the weight I'd finally managed to lose in the third year of my previous Implanon went straight back on although I continued with the same diet and exercise regime.

A house move later and with rising weight, depression and anger, I decided that when the second Implanon 'ran out' I wasn't going to bottle out of asking for sterilisation. It took a lot of plucking up courage as I have several medical phobias thanks to previous bad experiences, some worse than others - the worst are needles, cannulae and loss of control, but I also have fears of gases, tubes and doctors . The coil also sets off a deep disgust reaction as in my mind it too closely resembles the fish hooks I desperately tried not to impale myself on as a fishing teenager. And having no children is a red flag for requesting sterilisation. My partner and I went to the GP to get the referral. Here I was really lucky and I wasn't patronised or told I'd change my mind. My pre-prepared ten minute monologue of my reasons for why I wanted sterilisation proved largely unnecessary as my GP said I seemed well informed and we had clearly thought it over in depth. Since this was so important, we were running out of time (6 weeks to end of Implanon), I had researched local NHS waiting lists (possibly a year) and we were able financially, we decided to go private. This confused my GP somewhat but I gave her the list of consultants at the Spire Hospital in Edinburgh, and she recommended one as 'very good' and 'socially, the nicest.' I couldn't believe it had been that easy as I've heard numerous stories of women pestering their GPs for years just to get a referral.

19 days later, I was sitting with my partner in the consultant's office explaining my reasons, providing a medical history etc., a phone call was made and I had a surgery date for the following week thanks to a cancellation! I spent the rest of the day in a state of disbelief, then the anxiety set in - firstly about undergoing surgery then about after effects of the anaesthetic. Thankfully a week wasn't much time to get stressed, and soon it was the big day.

I couldn't believe it was actually going to happen, even when I was shown to my room in the hospital. The anaesthetist put me at ease and certainly seemed to know what he was doing (my medical phobias have been enhanced in the past by painful cannulation and a physically painful, psychologically bad anaesthesia experience that ended in me becoming enraged and aggressive when I woke up, and still haunts me with nightmares and flashbacks). My surgery was scheduled for noon and the only delay was the consultant arriving late, racing into my room with the consent form, getting my signature then rushing off again.

And then it happened. Changed into undignified surgery gear (yeuch itchy paper underwear), led to the theatre ante-room (I refused to hold the nurse's hand - hate being touched by strangers), up on the table, felt like drowning in the gas, crying out, briefly (and feebly) struggling whilst my voice seemed to become detached from my body, heard someone shout 'someone from theatre!' then... hearing people talking, being aware of a slight ache in my lower abdomen, then at the feeling of a blood pressure cuff inflating my eyes popped open and I had a panic attack followed by feeling irritable but relieved. The mask and IV were removed and I was given a beaker of water. I immediately demanded to see my partner and was told that I'd be taken back to my room in a few minutes and could see him.

Sure enough I was taken back, and couldn't see him straight away. I'd been conned! "Where's Sam, I want Sam!" Of course he was promptly retrieved from the visitors' lounge. By this time I was shaking uncontrollably, especially my legs (I assume some side effect of the anaesthesia). I was very hungry and thirsty, so sandwiches, tea and water were brought. After about 30-45 minutes I'd stopped shaking, and having eaten felt much better. I got up, used the toilet and got dressed. By 3pm, the nurse and anaesthetist thought I was good to go and after the consultant approved my discharge at 3.45 I was heading home... until I fainted outside the hospital whilst waiting for my taxi. Sam got me back inside, nurses were summoned and I had a seat and glass of water. Taxi was reordered, although the nurses were hesitant at letting me go - it turned out the roads were congested with people heading to the Oasis concert at nearby Murrayfield Stadium.

The trip home proceeded without further incident and I was home by 5pm. I sat on the bed with the EeePC and managed to check my email and Facebook before falling asleep listening to Morphica (a former flatmate of mine is one of the 'voices' on some tracks). After pizza and a good night's sleep I felt much better. I had been equipped with loads of painkillers, but I didn't feel I needed them. I took the ibuprofen for the anti-inflammatory effect - almost because I felt obliged to. Then I sat and waited for the shoulder pain to begin (with this kind of surgery, the abdomen is often inflated with gas, and unless it's very well removed at the end of the surgery, it can irritate the diaphragm and cause shoulder pain), but it didn't. It was almost an anticlimax, although I'm glad I didn't experience it.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had a remarkably pain-free recovery. I did have some strange pains I wasn't expecting, and until day three post-op laughing was painful, then I got hayfever for only the third time in my life - and the sneezing, that was SORE!!! 13 days postoperatively I still get odd twinges which can be very painful, but mostly I'm pain free. Just have to be careful not to overdo things. I'm immensely relieved that despite my medical phobias, the experience hasn't exacerbated them as I've had no flashbacks or nightmares and I felt my phobias were handled sensitively. Sam noticed within two days that I seemed much happier in myself. I can't decide if this is because I no longer feel like I'm at war with my body, or because I confronted my phobias and had a positive outcome, or a mixture of the two. I have two incisions, one in my navel (see pic, ten days post-op, cunningly disguised as a vertical crease, right next to an actual crease - the faint right-left diagonal line is the loose end of the stitch) and one on my lower abdomen (no pic, that would be verging on pornography):

I could still be the unlucky one who has a failed procedure (1 in 200, to 1 in 500 depending on who you believe), but that's unlikely. I have no doubts I made the right decision. Of course, I was also very fortunate to be in a position where we could go private - but this also meant so much to me and I have had a terrible NHS experience in the past. Being sterilised is not an option to take lightly, particularly if you have any doubts, or the slightest inkling that you may want children in the future. Although type of procedure I had - laparoscopic sterilisation with Filshie clips - is reversible at a high cost as the NHS won't cover it, the chances of conceiving after a reversal are extremely variable, depending on damage to fallopian tubes, the age of the woman and so on.

The only hesitation I had in my mind about getting sterilised rather than getting another Implanon was:

The Return of the Period

Periods are yuck. I haven't had one in five years thanks to the Implanon. I was sent home from school several times as a teenager due to severe period pain (doubling up in pain, turning grey and almost fainting, having to be half-carried to the school nurse's office etc.). It settled down a bit in my early twenties, but periods are a source of nastiness for me, and together with the accompanying stomach upset it's all pretty grim.

However, with my post-sterilisation happiness level I have decided to take the plunge with a Mooncup and reuseable pads. Due to spotting after my surgery, I had to venture into the feminine hygiene section of Tesco for the first time in years, and it was just plain confusing - pads for thongs, regular pants and shorts, blue gel filled pads, with 'cotton', with 'silk', scented (?! That can't be good for the ladyparts)... - how it's changed in the last five years. I recycle, buy organic local and fair-trade, try to minimise packaging, grow my own veg as far as possible, compost etc. so I definitely shouldn't be using disposable sanitary products. I used to think mooncups and reuseables were disgusting, but now I'm willing to give it a go and thinking about it, disposable tampons and pads are horrid. My Mooncup and reuseable pads arrived in the post this morning and I'm impressed. The mooncup isn't as big and scary as I'd heard, and the pads are really nice - seems a shame to bleed all over them. I don't think it's smelly hippyish at all, though yes sometimes I think I was born in the wrong decade, and yes I sometimes smell of patchouli, so draw your own conclusions. But really... all that plastic and fibre ending up in landfill or the sea, plus the energy, resources, bleach etc used to make disposable sanitary wear; definitely time for a change. I'd much rather have a layer of nice fuzzy fabric next to my skin than that plasticky disposable stuff that gets hot, sticky, lumpy and scratchy.

Well done if you got to the end. I didn't intend this to be my memoirs, it just got longer and longer and longer... These are events as I interpreted them, and events around anaesthesia may differ slightly from my memories of them.

Don't ask me why the text formatting went wonky after the photo. I have no idea. Weirdness.

Several updates due after a long hiatus

2009-06-27T22:13:00.003+01:00

A crochet pattern, a non-crafting (but possibly quite personal) post and a crafting post are all overdue and will appear in the next couple of days.

More yarn dyeing

2009-04-28T17:32:00.003+01:00

I bought myself a big jar and had a go at dyeing mercerised cotton. I wanted sort-of peacock colours, and proceeded to pour in a variety of shades of blue, green and purple but was alarmed when my jar looked like this:

(Photo taken with flash - without flash it looked like a jar of black.) The yarn wasn't emerald green as the colour suggests, but a mid blue, with the dreaded pale spots (interestingly these were mainly purple). So the yarn got slung back in the jar with more blue dye:

This yielded a better result, though it killed the purple. The excess dye was a real pain to wash out - it never seemed to stop coming. Due to messy skeining round the back of chairs (no niddy noddy... yet), I would it into cakes as soon as it was dry:

But my 'cakes' were more like... donuts...?

Mercerised cotton, it seems, doesn't collapse so readily in on itself after being removed from the wall winder.

The colour ended up as variegated turquoise/blue. Not as bright as I would have liked (who says fibre reactive dyes work better on plant fibres - the dilutions were about the same as I used for the kettle-dyed sock yarn in the previous post). The yarn is currently being made into Elizabeth Myers' Feather Stole. Oh, and my hands haven't turned blue so maybe I'm just being paranoid about the amount of excess dye.

Finally, a real yarn cake (2-ply merino laceweight, dyed by me and in the previous post but one):

Wow!

2009-04-23T10:30:00.003+01:00

Overdying the skein that had naked patches worked, and I'm really pleased with the result.

Before:

After:

Admittedly I reskeined it in an effort to be a bit fancypants, and it's in two mini skeins now because I did something silly when I opened the knots holding the skein together. Anyway, I'm really pleased as the ugly naked patches are no more. I could get into this... Now I have to work out what to make with it.

Pssst.... could it be AN UPDATE?!

2009-04-21T17:59:00.004+01:00

Well, I promised one... eventually...

Quick rundown of recent projects (clicky for bigger pics):

Wavy Scarf using the Pink Waves Scarf pattern by Emily J. Miller. The Yarn is Posh Yarn Lei that I bought at Wonderwool Wales last year, I love the texture in this scarf and I think the yarn was perfect for the stormy sea feel.

Alpine Frost Scarf from the Winter 2008 issue of Interweave Crochet using one and a half skeins of Araucania Pomaire that I bought in HK Handknit's closing down sale last year (dunno what I'm going to do with the other one and a half skeins mind - they're the same colourway but very different from each other):

Christmas Barrel Scarf from a nineteenth century pattern for a mourning shawl. Why the name? Nearly every winter I re-read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. At the end of the book, when the trains start running after six months of being cut off the Ingalls family receive their Christmas barrel, complete with a turkey that has stayed frozen all winter due to the cold. One of the items in the barrel is

The most beautiful thing - a shawl made of silk! It is dove-coloured, with fine stripes of green and rose and black and the richest, deep fringe with all those colours shimmering in it.

Well, I took some liberties and found a merino/tencel blend from Krafty Koala and never mind that the mourning shawl pattern was from a good quarter-century earlier, I made my Christmas Barrel Shawl:

Ellie Cardigan from Inside Crochet Magazine for my cousin's 4 year old daughter (second cousin once removed? - the extended bits confuse me). I don't normally do kids' stuff and usually flick past such things in magazines with irritation, but this really caught my eye. Mine is a little lumpier than I would have liked, and I modified the pattern so each motif was crocheted to its neighbour as I went along as I couldn't bear the thought of sewing together 120 motifs. The yarn is James C. Brett Kool Kotton (utter bargain at about £1.20 a ball - I'm thinking of getting some for myself for the River Road pattern from the same magazine). Sorry about the fuzzy photo, I don't quite know what went wrong:

I never want to crochet another blimmin' circle again.

I also made a scarf for my mother's birthday but didn't photograph it. Although I got a new camera for my birthday (a Canon EOS 450D) I've been remarkably sloppy about photographing my projects. I'm trying to hold off on the startitis and get some projects I started ages ago finished. So I'm finishing two cardigans (one started last summer), and I will give my crocheted socks another go - I was put off when I started a top-down pattern, did the cuff and realised there was no way it would fit over my high instep! Then the yarn snapped when I was frogging it which made me very grunpy as it was self-striping.

There has also been yarn dying. Semi-solids seem to be the in-thing with indie dyers right now and I'm not in the mood for them! When I was looking for them before I couldn't find any I liked. I like semi-solids for more intricate things where a variegated/multicoloured yarn would kill the stitch pattern, but whilst I'm not a fan of clown-puke I do like different colours in my yarn. Oh, and I only like pastels for about two weeks in December - if I'm nuts enough to buy any they sit in my stash for months. I'm very pleased with these though:

The right hand one was kettle-dyed, but came out with naked patches so I overdyed it and gave it a good stir in the pot. Lo and behold it still had patches screaming "we'd rather go naked than wear dye." I took the photo and hummed and hawed before finally chucking it back into a pan of dye today. The naked bits are now grudgingly wearing dye whilst the rest of it has lovely rich tones of blue, green and a little purple. The conclusion is "we need a bigger pan." I love dying yarn and am trying to hold off ordering more undyed yarn, and blue and purple dye which I use more of than any other colour.

For once my yarn diet and food diet are going fairly well - 7lbs lost (and 28 to go...) and although the yarn isn't going down, it's not rising rapidly either (but like most dieters I have 'sock yarn doesn't count' moments) - and I've got several projects from stash in progress.

And finally, some pretty spring pansies (or more correctly, violas). I bought these a couple of years ago as annuals, but this is the third year they've flowered, and the ones in the photo are from a stray seed that's landed between the flagstones - and I couldn't bear to pull them up, especially as they're in far better condition than the original plant, which appears to be providing a feast for the resident slugs.

A few days turns into a few weeks...

2009-01-26T10:10:00.003Z

So much for blogging more frequently...

After all the crochet I did before Christmas (which was very well received and admired) I've been doing a lot less. This is partly because I've been working on new crafty projects, and hope that I may be able to open a Folksy/Misi/Coriandr shop. Etsy's too scary and I can't say much about what I'd like to do as it's in a rather drawn out embryonic stage at the moment, but Etsy's somewhat saturated with items similar to what I'm doing. Also I want the whole CPSIA hoo-ha to die down a bit - not that I'll be anywhere near ready to open shop before it comes in on February 10th. (CPSIA is a new Act being introduced in the US that is supposed to protect children from lead and pthalates, but which hasn't been thought out properly and could potentially put thousands of small businesses out of business. Although it wouldn't directly affect me as I'm not in the US and am bound by Scottish/UK law, it may potentially affect any US buyers of my products). Hmmm. I can't get on with my project as quickly as I'd like due to lack of funds to invest - so it's being drawn out rather painfully as I pay for things in bits and pieces - I've also been given a little help to buy things I need. And it could all come to nothing as I'm terribly underconfident.

Well, better get on. Prototypes won't make themselves! ;)

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T14:28:00.004Z

I think one of my resolutions should be to blog more. A big update should be coming in the next few days, as I have various crafty projects in progress, both crochet and non-crochet.

The 'yarn diet' is being reset, and a new rule introduced (moving the goalposts, if you like). From now on, only yarn that goes into 'stash' will be counted - i.e. yarn that's bough without a specific planned project in mind.

This was going to be a 'I liked the sunrise so much I bought the yarn' post, but guess what? I managed to delete both sunrise and yarn photos from my camera without putting them on my computer. *grump*

Gift projects a go-go

2008-11-28T11:57:00.002Z

First of all I must thank those of you who have commented on other entries. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I tell evil Yahoo mail, the replies always get chucked in the spam folder. Grrr. It also still annoys me that Blogger doesn't allow replies to replies so a conversation builds up. One of the major bad points of Blogger IMO.

Anyway, I've been working away feverishly on various projects. A few weeks ago I was told that my aunt had been diagnosed with cancer. On hearing that she was to have chemotherapy, my first thought was "she's having chemotherapy? During a New York winter? I must make a hat!" Well, the hat became a hat, handwarmers and scarf set made from Fyberspates Squishy Alpaca/BFL:

And so my uncle doesn't feel left out, I made him a cabled scarf from some Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in my stash:

I was already working on an idea for a Christmas present for my aunt and uncle; a little felted cushion made from New Lanark yarn. I finished that too, but I'm not entirely satisfied as I was hoping it would shrink more lengthwise than widthwise and become squarer than it did. I was also going to adorn the corners with pompoms and bells but I was underwhelmed by the pompom maker I bought, and frankly I'm too lazy to make pompoms the old fashioned way. I present my funny little overstuffed cushion:

A ribbed scarf for my partner's Dad for Christmas:

That's Patons Shadow Tweed, which is self-striping and works perfectly with the crocheted ribs. I'm tempted to make one for myself, in a different colour - I don't think orange/green/red stripes are really 'me.'

I finished the experimental cardigan I talked about in my last entry. It's a slightly odd shape (haven't quite mastered the art of modifications yet) and is a little too big, but on the whole I'm pleased. I might straighten out those buttons though. Photos pre-washing:

My latest experiments are in crocheting snowflakes from thread... lesson one: do not attempt to block snowflakes after wine consumption.

Progress

2008-11-03T10:51:00.003Z

Over the weekend I finished two projects. This is the first Christmas scarf done:

That turned out to be a £5 project. The yarn is Wendy Fusion in Cardaman (3.5 balls). The photos really don't do this justice - it looks so washed out, and what looks brown is actually a lovely auberginey-purple, and the creamy looking bits are actually pale purple. However I'm also not in the mood to photoshop the colours back to a more realistic representation.

Second project: One row lace cowl in Rowan Classic Baby Alpaca DK:

I got a bit carried away with this and used about 1.6 balls of yarn. I've sent my partner to John Lewis to get more so I can make handwarmers and a beanie/beret to match. This is definitely not a £10 project. And after using cheaper yarns recently (after some gritting of teeth before admitting they weren't so bad after all), this baby alpaca yarn feels like the softest yarn in the world... unfortunately it's also led me down the road to temptation.

As a counterpoint to my low-cost projects I am majorly lusting after some Qiviut (musk ox) yarn. For Christmas maybe. *dreams*

It was frosty here over the weekend. We saw this friendly chap round the corner from our flat:

And we have to have the obligatory frosty leaf photo:

I'm planning non-strenuous days today and tomorrow as I'm hoping to have a long night in front of the TV tomorrow night watching the US election coverage. I am considering an election night project - starting something early in the evening and seeing how far I get during the night. Of course, given how many mistakes I make when I'm tired this might be a bad plan...

£10 Projects and a rare stroke of genius (maybe)

2008-10-31T13:28:00.002Z

I've been doing quite well with my sub-£10 projects. I made the Mei-mei jacket, designed by Doris Chan from Paton's Washed Haze Aran (total project cost £4.14). I found the instructions a bit confusing because you have to jump back and forth constantly. Luckily this yarn appeared to be indestructible and I was able to rip it back multiple times. In the end I messed up the front shaping and ended up with a shrug that fits like some kind of weird frontless bra:

I also made a Top-down Round Yoke Cardigan from a big ball of £6.50 acrylic/wool blend (in reality this is a blue-green heathery colour, not grey. Grey is a practical colour, but not all of my clothes are grey. Also, this is pre-washing, and teh sides are the same length):

Although it's not very flattering and the sleeves a little lumpy (my fault, not a pattern problem) it is really comfy and I wear it a lot. As soon as I finished it I decided I wanted to make another in a 'nicer' yarn.

I also have several other £10 Project Projects in the pipeline. Various online discount wool shops have been doing well out of me. Well, I really need some new jumpers.

A rare stroke of genius (or maybe merely sheer foolishness...)

I love the Northern Dreams pullover in the current issue of Interweave Crochet. However it's way out of my price range unless I use cheap yarn. I also like this Cardigan/top ensemble from Marks and Spencer, although I think it would look better with a round yoke rather than raglan shaping. As I said, I also wanted to make another Top Down Round Yoke Cardigan... TA-DA!!! A plan is hatched! I hope this flash of inspiration doesn't turn out to be a moment of utter stupidity... Watch this space...

Yarn labelling fail

2008-10-04T16:18:00.003+01:00

I think they meant approximately (~) 1350m, not plus or minus (±) 1350m:

Although it would be excellent for the yarn diet, I'd be pretty ticked off if it turned out that I'd received -1350m of yarn and the corresponding amount of yarn had vanished from my stash.

It's 100% extra fine merino Lane Borgosesia Baruffa Cashwool, a bargainous £8.95 from Pavi Yarns, and therefore part if the £10 Project Project. It's going to be a shawl when it grows up.

Also arriving in the post today was some Mama Ocllo Alpaca Lace from Knit n Caboodle. My two skeins cost a total of £6.90, so also part of £10PP. It's going to be a scarf:

And that's my yarn binge for this week.

Recently finished, The £10 Project Project and a decision

2008-10-02T09:55:00.003+01:00

Yay, more completed items:

Luna Lovegood scarf by Pinkleo, done in Artesano Alpaca 100% Alpaca DK:

Seduction scarf by Chickenbetty, done in Fyberspates BFL Aran. I made this scatf longer and narrower due to the yarn being so thick. I'm definitely going to do more of these, but maybe in DK weight yarn.

Crocus Bud Shawl done in Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 in colour EF. This yarn is gorgeous but scratchy, and didn't soften much after two washes. I think I need to buy some Eucalan.

I think I have a major case of startitis at the moment, but it would be quite nice if I finished some of the projects that have been sitting in my project pile for the last few weeks/months.

I've also been trying my hand at broomstick crochet, and am currently making two scarves. This one is using The Yarn Yard Lochan in Froglet:

I love the yarn, I love the pattern, but just now I'm not sure about the two together. We'll see how it turns out.

The £10 Project Project

Since my 'yarn diet' hasn't being going swimmingly I am embarking on a new scheme to control my yarn buying. I am currently aiming to crochet from stash, and not spend more than £10 on each project (unless it's something very special). For the sake of simplicity, I will have a $20 limit on Etsy purchases (I know that $20 is currently more than £10, but I want to keep it simple). However, this means it's retty much goodbye Etsy, hello Kemp's. Admittedly, now that some big expenses are out of the way, I've ordered yarn for several sub-£10 projects (including laceweight which is going to send that yarn diet number soaring upwards)... I'm admittedly a yarn snob, although there are many reasons why I dislike acrylic. Anyway, here is the first £10 project:

A string bag, made from Stylecraft Kon-Tiki - £5.97 spent on materials, but only about £4.18 actually used.

Although I don't know if we'll be celebrating Christmas this year, I do have a couple of ideas - two presents can be made from stash, and another with about £9 of yarn.

A Decision

A while ago I did some dyeing. I dyed this sock yarn:

Now I want to do something with it and am undecided. I'm not sure how much there actually is (somewhere between 400m and 800m, probably between 600m and 800m) so it needs to be a fairly open ended project, must be crochet and must have a simple stitch pattern or else the colours will just kill it. I'm thinking maybe an Eva's Shawl... I have already warned my partner that he is going to help me wind the yarn into a ball as he is more patient with knots and tangles than I am, and this yarn has many knots and tangles!

Abandonblog

2008-09-17T11:54:00.005+01:00

I will return with a proper post soon. To be honest I haven't done much spinning or crocheting recently, though I'm starting to get back into crocheting now - I think it must be that autumnal feeling in the air.

In the meantime, the photos of our 25 mile cycle ride can be found here.

I'm also skint (it's the time of year when a heap of expenses come in - TV license, insurance, course fees etc.) so I've mostly been crocheting from stash, which might make that number on the top right go down a little. I also joined a bookswapping website - Read it Swap it which has amplified my love of reading as well as the amount of money I give the Post Office.

To finish, a couple of projects I've finished over the summer:

This is the Spring Ripple Scarf by Angela Best, crocheted in Noro Kureyon Sock. That stuff is gorgeous but feels like string. It softened up a bit after washing but I'm not sure if it's next-to-skin-soft. I love self-striping yarn - I like watching the colours change.

This is the Sweet Pea Shawl by Amie Hirtes, from The Happy Hooker, done in Rowan All Seasons Cotton. I originally started using this yarn for a top, but it's basically expensive dishcloth cotton and it just wasn't working, plus I didn't have enough of it. I think it works far better in this shawl.

A post with no craft content at all

2008-07-14T14:07:00.004+01:00

Yesterday we went for our longest cycle ride so far, a 15 mile round trip on the Hillend Loch Cycle Path. We set out late so we didn't do the whole thing. Review from The Guardian here. I really hope we get good weather this weekend so we can do the Bathgate to Caldercruix (and back) ride. It's too bad this path will be closing next month for the reconstruction of the railway.

Sculpture Trail part 1

Clicky for bigger versions...

Bzz bzz Bee on a creeping thistle:

Through the keyhole...

This is one of the sculptures on the NCN route 75 Hillend Loch Cycle Path, and is by Jeremy Cunningham. It's representative of the gateway between the urban and rural areas.

Tower by Paul Matosic

Another sculpture on NCN 75. It's based on the Fibionacci Sequence.

Marsh thistle

This was very spiky!

Glacial deposits

There were lots of these along one section. We suspect they'd been found nearby and moved out of the fields so they formed 'scenery'

Glacial foxgloves?

We saw this huge foxglove growing around these glacial boulders.

And close up:

Bamboo

This was a surprise. Rampant bamboo, or bamboo-like woody grass. Bamboo, a well-known native plant of West Lothian.

Common spotted orchids:

and closer

Bog cotton:

Wildflowers:

Reclaimed...

This was next to a former colliery. It's a coal bing covered in new growth. West Lothian has a lot of dead mining industry, and there are coal and oil shale bings everywhere. The oil shale bings tend to remain stubbornly bright red and vegetation-free, but the only obvious evidence that this was no random hillock were the worn bits with coal remains.

Bothie by Stefanie Bourne

Oh dear, this sculpture hasn't aged well, in fact there's not much left of it.

Bay Willowherb

This is close to where we live. Can you guess what it is yet...?

Does this help?

Still not got it?

It's the Bathgate Face by Lumir Soukup and lots of local schoolchildren. The measurements of the faces of over a thousand local schoolchildren were taken and the averages used. Apparently it's the largest communal portait in Europe. You can read about the project here.

We also saw lots of butterflies. The path was really busy with cyclists, walkers and dog-walkers. It's just unfortunate that some of the dog walkers think it's okay to let their dogs runs around uncontrolled on a cycle path and then look confused when cyclists try to get past, giving the dog(s) a wide berth. On the way out it was mostly flat with a very gentle uphill, so on the way back we had lots of easy cycling and frewheeling. OH got to test out the very high gears on his bike, and has thanked me for making him get a bike as he's really enjoying it now. Hopefully we'll get to do the rest of the Sculpture trail next weekend or the weekend after, before it's all torn up for the railway.

Where has summer gone...

2008-07-10T13:25:00.004+01:00

It's been so gloomy the last day or two I can hardly stay awake. If it's like this tomorrow I'll need to plug in my light box. I hope it's nice at the weekend as I really want to get out on my bike.

I've been carding the fleece I bought at Woolfest:

I'm going very slowly - I had to look up videos on Youtube before I properly 'got it' but Susan MacNiven's video was excellent:

Carding's definitely not a TV watching activity; the gentle brushing noise is too distracting.

I have also been designing, and made a cafetiere cosy out of Pencil Roving from The Yarn Yard:

That's a standard 8-cup/1 litre Bodum, and the cosy used a bit less than one 100g skein of pencil roving (I had enough left over for a matching mug mat). I'll post the pattern once I've got it figured out properly. I'm having a bit of a problem with the wording of how to attach the buttons and button loops. A diagram might be better.

I have been continuing my decluttering of life efforts. On Saturday I will be taking about 60 books and 15 CDs to the Help the Aged shop. I've had most of the books on Green Metropolis but some of them had been on there for over a year without selling, so it's time for them to go. I'm almost but not quite past the keeping certain books because they make me look well-read problem, and only keeping the enjoyable/useful books. Unfortunately, deep in my brain is a thought process that tells me that decluttering isn't simplifying or downsizing, it's just making room for more stuff and therefore it's okay to go straight onto Green Metropolis or Amazon Marketplace (or trawl the charity shops for that matter). In my head I'm also constantly mentally rearranging the furniture to see how we could fit more bookcases in, and yarn stash storage.

Woolfest (and blissful weekend)

2008-06-30T16:50:00.003+01:00

On Friday, OH and I got up very early (5.30am - I don't do early mornings) to make our way to Cockermouth for Woolfest. On the way we saw... wind turbines!

I've always had a fascination for wind turbines. I think they look graceful and hypnotic. I might feel differently if I lived near one that gave off a lot of flicker, of course.

We also saw a giant sheep!

Once inside we saw lots of useful fibre-producing animals. We especially liked a rather determined angora goat that wasn't sure what to make of the very leggy, long-necked not-a-sheep in the neighbouring pen (it was an alpaca). I intended to take photos but between general overwhelmedness and shyness about asking stallholders if I could do so, I didn't. I met a couple of Ravellers, saw plenty more but was too chicken to speak to them, and I also met Natalie from The Yarn Yard and Mr Yarn Yard, and Amanda from The Natural Dye Studio. I was really pleased about this as Natalie lives not far from me, and desite several half-formed plans to meet up, it had never happened. And I'd missed Amanda at Wonderwool and spoke to Mr Dye Studio instead. Also I participated in this:

94 of the squares with circles inside were made by me.

OH and I sampled ewe's milk ice cream (delicious), attended a sheep-shearing demonstration (fascinating) and looked at lots and lots of yarn and fibre (tiring).

I spent... rather a lot of money, but didn't buy anything I hadn't intended to (so no 'what was I thinking' moments). My purchases in full:

In this photograph are the following items:

Unofficial 'I Ravelled at Woolfest 2008' bag

guanaco fibre

angora (rabbit) fibre

sheepy fibres - Hebridean, Shetland, BFL, Wensleydale, Gotland, North Ronaldsay (when little bags/bundles of fibre are £1.50-£2.50 each it's very easy to go in to pick 'n' mix mode)

fibre, a batt and some 'Lochan' (merino and tencel) yarn from The Yarn Yard (plus Natalie kindly gave me a book on crocheted socks that she didn't need)

self-striping yarn from Fyberspates

various 4-ply and DK yarns from The Natural Dye Studio

a raw BFL fleece (the smallest one I could find as I had to carry it home on the train)

a pair of small handcarders from Hedgehog Equipment

an Ethan Jakob Greensleeves Spindle

Last photos - (some of) my BFL fleece and my new spindle, which is indeed a thing of beauty (and wonderful to spin with - so much better than my cute but chunky spindle I bought at Wonderwool):

The things I regret not buying are alpaca fleece/roving, more from The Yarn Yard - the stall was really busy, recycled sari silk, hemp yarn (I got confused by the types of yarn not being marked on the yarn)... If I had another £50 and another hour of time (actually I could have had another 20 minutes if I hadn't misread the bus timetable and we ended up munching on a Gregg's pastry and getting very wet at the bus stop in Cockermouth). We were both shattered and after dinner at the Carlisle Pizza Express we were tucked up in bed and asleep by 10.30pm. We got home early on Saturday afternoon, and again had an earlyish night.

I've sorted and washed about a third of the fleece - the rest requires further sorting before I wash it. The cats love the smell of lanolin/sheep as they both spent a lot of time in the bathroom yesterday when I was soaking the fleece.

Yesterday we were starting to feel a bit less tired so went out for a ride on our new bikes - yes the last week has been expensive but we don't do 'holidays' as such so bikes and Woolfest were our summer treats. As it was our first proper bike ride and I haven't ridden a bike for about ten years we went for a shortish ride of about seven miles. We would have gone further but it started raining hard, and not wiching to overdo it or get soaked we came home. Of course it had stopped raining and was drying up rapidly by the time we got home.

After such a fab weekend it was a total downer that my anxiety kicked in with a vengeance last night.

My yarn, let me show you it...

2008-06-24T10:08:00.002+01:00

(AKA The Okay, The Bad and The Ugly)

Made from merino roving I bought at Wonderwool. It varies between DK and super bulky I'd say. Hmmm.... art yarn, 15 metres of it. Oh well, my spinning abilities can only get better.

A kind Raveller sent me some raw Suffolk fleece in a Karma swap. Florrie cat is obsessed with it and both cats have decided it smells very interesting and sheepy. Before and after washing:

I've combed the half that I've washed and started spinning it - very slowly. It's so much harder than using pre-prepared roving.

Woolfest on Friday... I've got to look up all the logistics of getting to Carlisle bus station fro the railway station, getting from Cockermouth Main Street to Woolfest (I know there's a shuttle bus but it depends how it ties in with our bus from Carlisle), where our hotel in Carlisle is etc. I'm trying to mke a list for Woolfest so I don't get overwhelmed and buy too much, or buy the wrong things.

Oh well, since everyone else seems to be doing it...

2008-06-18T14:42:00.002+01:00

You Are An ISTJ

The Duty Fulfiller

You are responsible, reliable, and hardworking - you get the job done.

You prefer productive hobbies, like woodworking or knittings.

Quiet and serious, you are well prepared for whatever life hands you.

Conservative and down-to-earth, you hardly ever do anything crazy.

In love, you are loyal and honest. If you commit yourself to someone, then you're fully committed.

For you, love is something that happens naturally. And you don't need romantic gestures to feel loved.

At work, you remember details well and are happy to take on any responsibility.

You would make a great business executive, accountant, or lawyer.

How you see yourself: Decisive, stable, and dependable

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, conservative, and egotistical

What's Your Personality Type?

Actually I tend to vary between different types depending on my mood. I always get the I though... redoing the quiz and changing the answers for the questions I dithered over I get:

You Are An ISFJ

The Nurturer

You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal.

A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways.

In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music.

You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for.

In love, you express your emotions through actions.

Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well!

At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time.

You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.

How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

What's Your Personality Type?

Absent Without Leave

2008-06-04T16:15:00.004+01:00

A long overdue update. I won't bore you with all the details, but there has been...

dyeing:

The little rose that was a bud for a day and a flower for eight hours:

and then the whole thing died - it hadn't rooted and had obviously used every last scrap of energy to make that tiny (1 inch across) rose.

Overtwisted and tentative attempts at spinning:

A delicious cheese fondue:

A bargainous pile of books thanks to the Christian Aid Book Sale:

(That little lot cost the grand total of £10.50.

More secondhand books (from Oxfam this time) and yarn (that's Fyberspates Faery Wool on top):

Those books were all brand new both in the sense of unread and very recently published. I wonder if there's a bookshop giving that shop a weekly donation or something.

I also love the Virago Modern Classics limited editions with their designer (and very feminine covers. I already have some of them in paperback, but I acquired these two (Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield), and A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark is next on my radar:

A secondhand oriental bag (from Armstrong's Vintage Emporium:

which makes a wonderful crochet hook roll:

Actual crocheting has been mostly for a blanket project for Amanda at The Natural Dye Studio which has a time limit so I haven't been doing much of my own stuff. I have frogged my Garden Party Wrap (designed by Kim Guzman) as I was using Aurora from The Yarn Yard and although the pattern is great and the yarn is great, the result was somewhat... fussy to say the least. I think a plainer yarn (I wish I had the hard-to-find Noro laceweight that the original design is done in) for the pattern, and a plainer pattern for the yarn.

Here ends the overlong and overdue update.

Dye-stained hands

2008-05-07T17:11:00.003+01:00

I have ordered a Procion dye starter kit and a selection of undyed yarns. Hopefully it'll arrive before the weekend and Sunday will be devoted to the production of colourful yarny goodness. And mess.

This comes after the success of our food colouring dye extravaganza a couple of months ago, involving Supercook food colouring (20p a bottle in Tesco), lots of white vinegar and a variety of pale coloured cheap yarns from John Lewis, resulting in this:

(As a point of interest at the way different fibres take up dye, the two yarns on the left were done using the same combination and dilutions of dye but the left one is wool and the right is silk.)

I'm a little apprehensive at using 'real' dyes from mess and safety perspectives. Food colouring just felt like playing at dyeing. The thing I'm most worried about: spilling dye on the laminate flooring. We rent. I'm sure I'll come up with some way of protecting the floor - opened out binbags and lots of newspaper? I'm glad I finally ordered a dyeing kit as I've wanted to try this for a while but it kept getting shoved down the list of yarny priorities, I intended buying a kit at Wonderwool, but didn't. I'm skint now.

Woolfest here I come

2008-05-01T13:46:00.003+01:00

It looks like I'm going to Woolfest. OH didn't take much pursuading. I think it was the mention of 'alpaca' and 'rare breed sheep' that did it. I've said that if we're going we'll need to book the hotel soon, like by the end of the weekend. There are no cheap train tickets to Carlisle, so it doesn't matter when we book the train.

The amethyst chips I ordered for the Arachne's Tears scarf I'm making from Interweave Crochet arrived today. They're a bit big but they were the smallest ones I could find as most of the bead websites I looked at didn't state a size. They're very pretty and match perfectly but I also have more than I need. Now I just need to buy some purple thread at the weekend and finish the scarf.

I've realised I have far too many WIPs. I must try and get the ones that won't take much effort to finish finished.

Wonderwool

2008-04-29T13:41:00.005+01:00

3 skeins Posh Yarn Eva 2-ply in variegated bright green
2 skeins Posh Yarn Eva 4-ply in bright tuquoise/green
1 skein Posh Yarn Lei in a bluish colour
4 skeins Knitting 4 Fun linen/cotton blend in lilac
3 skeins The Natural Dye Studio DK in Barcelona (BFL Dazzle DK), Scots Pine (BFL Dazzle DK) and Deep Delft (Alpaca/silk DK) for my blanket project
drop spindle
flick carder
merino roving in dark red and two shades of purple
a half bottle of Penderyn single malt for OH

Nelli and I had a great time being seduced by beautiful, soft yarns. Among Nelli's purchases was this marvellously luminous sock yarn:

I was so overwhelmed by yarn and colours and Nelli breaking into The Llama Song every time we passed a stall marked 'alpaca' that I neglected to take any photos. Nelli and I purchased drop spindles with a view to becoming expert spinners. "How hard can it be?" we thought and off we went... well *ahem*. Let's just say the first thing I did when I got off the train in Edinburgh yesterday was go to Waterstones and buy a book on spinning. OH thinks he's got it sussed and we're going to have another go at it tonight.

The problem with Wonderwool was that we got to the 'I want one of everything' stage and decided to stop. Of course there are lots of things I regret not buying, but thank goodness for the internet - I can still acquire my dying kit and undyed yarn and Fyberspates yarn.

The problem with going to Wonderwool is that now I really want to go to Woolfest - the more you have the more you want. Woolfest is much closer to me geographically but it takes about five hours to get to Cockermouth using public transport. Realistically we'd have to stay for a couple of nights in Penrith which would make for an expensive trip.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the metreage of yarn I bought will not be being added to my yarn non-diet tracker!

Tomorrow, Wales

2008-04-24T15:43:00.002+01:00

Early start tomorrow. Urgh I hate early starts, and hate long train journeys even more but hopefully Saturdy's fun will make it worthwhile. I've narrowed down the crochet projects I'm taking with to four (two scarves and two stoles/shawls) and initially laid out about a weeks worth of clothes but then discovered that most don't fit any more, which definitely helps with narrowing it down to three days of clothing. I'm still deciding what books to take for on-train reading. I started with eleven and have narrowed it down to five so far but that's still too many.

Ho hum. Not much else doing so I'll leave you with 'Shiraz squashes a hat' and 'The lazy cat's guide to scratching post use' respectively.

Learning from experience

2008-04-20T20:51:00.003+01:00

I have learned two valuable lessons this evening:

1. Never ever leave a swift with a half-wound ball of yarn unattended, not even for a second, if there is a cat around. I have had both 2-ply and 3-ply snapped this evening as a consequence of briefly leaving my swift.

2. Never underestimate the value of understanding partners and their miraculous yarn-untangling abilities.

Why diets don't work...

2008-04-20T14:11:00.008+01:00

Points at four figure number on right hand side. Admittedly this is because I've developed something of a taste for laceweight and sock/fingering weight yarns lately which makes it very easy to vastly increase the metreage of stash for relatively little money. I appear to be going to Wonderwool next weekend, as a kind friend invited me to stay with her and OH bought me the train ticket. I have been trying to be very good and cut right back on unnecessary spending so I can make the most of my trip. It was all going so well until I had to go into Edinburgh and buy a birthday present. That bit was fine, and I spent exactly the amount of money I intended etc. but it broke my non-shopping habit. This is what happened over the last few days:

They weren't all full price, that would be really silly. The fact that there is chick lit in that pile (I loathe chick lit) says something about my state of mind lately. I only read chick lit when I'm not feeling great mentally and physically. Of course, if I throw it down in frustration part way through I'll know I'm not actually as bad as I think. After a lot of deliberation about whether I could wait or not, I booked a hair cut for this week but the hair salon I go to has put its rates up. So that's another chunk out of the Wonderwool budget.

And why diets don't work...? Because everything should be in moderation, and in my case certainly, denying myself things or severely restricting them only makes me want more than I would have had I not tried to restrict them. Forbidding things only makes them more attractive. It's the same with food. Although I generally eat reasonably healthily, Ravelry and it's goddamn cake () icon has made me crave fondant fancies and Victoria sponge with buttercream icing.

I thought the Violas I bought last year were supposed to be annuals, but my garden currently has these:

It must be all the wonderful bokashi compost we made. The flowerbed does look a bit odd with bits of eggshell in amongst the plants. I see Gemini Knits has some handpainted yarn in a 'Winter Pansies' colourway. Ooo, I must resist temptation.

I have just finished my Thirds scarf in Posh Yarn Helena in 'Kingfisher'. Hopefully I have enought yarn leftover to make a lacy pair of wristwarmers. It's drying after a light wash, but here is a sneak preview of it pre-washing:

OH is in Switzerland this week, at CERN for a conference/meeting (his departure was accompanied by stress from him and floods of tears and wailing from me, as per usual). It doesn't start until tomorrow but I heard mutterings about 'meeting up for beer and food'. OH will be home on Friday, but he'll get back after I've left to catch the train to Wales, so I won't see him until next Monday which will be the longest time we've ever been apart :,( I've learned that the best way to deal with this situation is to keep as busy as possible. Last year when he went to Switzerland I cleaned the whole house. I'm not sure I wnat to do that again - I'm not a naturally clean and tidy person and I don't think my skin has forgiven me yet. I have lots of yarn to wind into balls as there are two projects I want to get started to take to Wales with me - I find it impossible to sit and watch TV now without crocheting at the same time.

Round-up (very pic heavy!)

2008-04-06T15:55:00.004+01:00

It's been a bit of a tough week, interspersed with priods of insanity (not in a good way). This morning we got up to this outside the window.

(I wish I could have posted a nice photo of snow-laden trees and hillside, but no such luck as we live on a soul-less, vegetation-free new development). It's all melted now. Winters aren't what they used to be. This is my Granny's house in about 1991

(Sorry for the poor image quality - it's a scan of a rather kinked negative.)

Today I located my copy of Mrs Beeton in one of the boxes in the garage - 1992 updated edition, bought for a fiver in the Waterstone's sale a few years ago. My OH proceeded to be immensely amused by her (or rather the editorial board's, nowadays,) advice on choosing wine, laying tables and suchlike.

I also potted some cuttings my mother sent me from the roe that grew below my bedroom window at her (old) house. Roses have always disappointed me with their showiness, but frequent lack of scent. However the rose below my bedroom window was the most fragrant I have ever experienced, so I requested cuttings. Two of the five had had it thanks to being at the mercy of Royal Mail for three days. I would have preferred to use organic rooting compound, but they needed potting fast and I couldn't get organic locally so Baby Bio Roota it had to be. I just hope they take.

I started my blanket kit a few days ago. It's very satisfying since every square is like a mini accomplishment, and I'm being very disciplined about sewing in the ends as I go. These were the first two squares. I'm up to about six now.

I made a quick scarf from some handspun I bought from Daniela Kloppmann FeltStudio. I really liked the way it turned out, but it's made me desperately want to order a drop spindle and some roving/batts.

I appear to have acquired some sock yarn. I already have lots of sock yarn, but most of it is from Indie dyers such as The Yarn Yard and Posh Yarn and obviously far too beautiful to be used for socks. I don't understand the fascination for making socks - socks are functional and most of mine are plain or have flowers or other patterns on, and socks are hidden and get worn out. They're not on display, and special socks invariably lose their partners (probably to the drainage pipe of the washing machine, where they may may cause a blockage months later as they gather a protective armour of soap-scummy slime). Also, socks cost £3 for five pairs in M&S even if they are in boring black. Anyway, 'don't knock it till you've tried it' as they say, and I have acquired some Regia Sock Yarn, Kaffe Fassett Design Line in Landscape Caribbean from John Lewis even though I did get pounced on by a sales assistant who decided that I didn't look like a JL customer with my unwashed, unbrushed hair and scruffy fleece - as I said it's been a tough week (I don't shop in JL's yarn dept very often because of the recent increase in pouncing). Maybe I'll be converted to making socks yet. I just need to find a pattern that will fit my tiny feet, and good free crochet sock patterns are harder to come by in the first place, let alone for my midget feet.

Treasures

2008-04-02T14:52:00.005+01:00

I ordered a blanket subscription.

Last night I finished the ruffley scarf of nightmares. I forced myself to sit and finish it as it was becoming an anxiety trigger:

(Link to pattern is in a previous post)

I've been sorting more of my stuff. To cut a long story short, my mother has moved 'down south' as we call it, or to fuckinglondon as I think of it. In a great hurry I had to pack up my stuff and am only now actually sorting what I want to keep. I've got the aran jumper my Granny knitted for me about 15 years ago (okay I'll need to lose about 30lbs in weight before it could be considered 'flattering'). I've put another dozen books on Green Metropolis and have brought my shawl upstairs (I've finally been deemed responsible enough to have it):

I believe I was given this shawl as a baby, apparently by an old woman who lived in an electricity-less cottage above Dunkeld, and dyed and wove yarns into shawls. I've always liked this shawl, but as a teenager I was not allowed to have it to drape over the end of my bed. I still find this insulting - I was a very unrebellious teenager. I had Laura Ashley bedlinen and wallpaper and I much preferred to go fishing with my Dad, do cross-stitch or sit in my room programming my computer than go out drinking or have friends round (well okay, I guess it was an unconventional rebellion). I'm currently wearing the shawl although it's a bit too warm. I've got that many crocheted shawls planned I decided I'd better see if I could actually wear one. I like it but I can't help feeling 30 going on 73. I've been trying to find out about the shawl, so far unsuccessfully. The label says "This is an exclusive Cally Cottage Product Handwoven and Dyed Dunkeld Scotland." I assumed it was made of wool but I'm not convinced - it's some kind of loopy boucle yarn, but feels almost artificial. I'm reluctant to chop off a bit of the fringe to do a 'burn test' to work out the fibre even though it wouldn't show as the fringe has a very handmade all-different-lengths look to it. Smell is no guide - it smells like my mother's linen cupboard where it's been stored for the last umpteen years.

Oh goodness

2008-04-01T15:35:00.004+01:00

My Bessie's Blanket Starter Kit has just arrived from The Natural Dye Studio (a full week after it was posted, bloody Royal Mail. That's bumped the yarn metreage up a bit. I'm super-impressed with the contents of the blanket kit though and am resisting the urge to order a 3-month subscription until I've got at least a few squares done. Ooo, I can't wait to get started.

Blargh

2008-04-01T14:23:00.003+01:00

Well, as you can see, the Yarn Diet has been a failure so far. I have several projects nearish completion which should help, but yarn in the mail outweighs the yarn in use. Oops. Unburdening in other areas of my life has been slightly more successful - today I have listed another 45 books on GreenMetropolis bringing my total to over 200. Unfortunately most of the books I've added are either obscure textbooks or books that there are many copies of already on there.

We had my OH's parents visiting for most of the last week, and I have almost finished 'reclaiming the house' having removed/thrown away/tidied the random things left lying around. I have still to remove the meat products from the fridge (we're mostly veggie). I wonder if the 80p in the bathroom was some kind of housekeeping tip...? One of our recipe books is missing, and I have my suspicions.

All Aboard! All Aboard!

2008-03-25T10:16:00.005Z

This pretty much describes the state of my yarn diet at the moment. Due to family problems (if I was feeling lighthearted about it I'd just say 'argh! mothers!' but it's all a bit much) I've been on the verge of a panic attack constantly for the last week or two, not sleeping properly, eating and drinking too much, and... spectacularly bingeing on yarn online this weekend. Most of it has a planned use, so it's not quite mindless buying yarn for the sake of it. Of course, I'd have to have a life expectancy of 217 at my current rate of planning projects. As for the anxiety and waking up having panic attacks I think I'll need to arrange my Discman next to the bed with a nice soothing CD in it that I can listen to when I can't sleep. Unfortunately Rescue Remedy has no effect whatsoever on me.

I finished my Boteh Scarf in The Yarn Yard Bamboo 'Miniskirt':

I was a bit worried when I started out as the merino/bamboo blend has an odd, slightly stiff texture, but for this scarf it worked really well as it gave it a little more structure and made it less floppy (especially once I'd done the border round it). It needs blocked still as it's a little curly in some corners. I'm pleased with how it came out, despite the colour being uncharacteristically feminine.

I've got my old Canon camera up and running again - I'd been using a lighter weight Kodak but it tended to make the edges of photos, have an odd colour balance and a hopeless flash, but it's also more intuitive and has a better screen. The Canon is bigger and heavier, and only 4 Megapixels, but takes better photos as it has better optics. It's just hard to see if things are in focus due to the small screen - this is irritating in macro mode.

Nrom...nrom... nrom...

2008-03-21T18:06:00.009Z

Not a crochet post. A brownie post:

Made to Yogic Knitter's recipe. Very yummy they are too.

A photo entitled 'Slotted Spoon':

Florriezilla takes on slotted spoon:

/random.

My general crochet plan for this weekend is to get two projects finished (I actually have three that shouldn't take much work) and also finish one of a pair of amigurumi owlets I'm making for my OH's mother. I am on the verge of caving... I feel the need to make a blanket

Yarn diet system

2008-03-20T08:03:00.007Z

A new item has appeared in my sidebar. This will be my yarn diet tracker. It starts at zero. When I buy yarn, the metreage will be added, when i use up yarn the metreage will be deducted. It's not ideal since it doesn't take finances into account (and a hank of 1200m laceweight from Etsy generally costs less than three hanks of Colinette Point 5 but adds a lot more metreage). So, negative numbers are generally good as they represent a cutting down of my stash and/or using yarn faster than I'm buying it, and positive numbers are bad since they represent an accumulation. Yarns I am gifted don't count and partial balls will be estimated.

A swift update

2008-03-19T21:39:00.003Z

Winding from my swift was a great success. Using a cardboard loo roll tube as a makeshift nostepinne was less so. I might stick to the cannonball method for things I'm going to use immediately. Florrie-cat watched the process with some interest with her head tilted to one side, but made only a couple of moves to grab the moving yarn.

Oh and I slipped earlier, but only a little. Tomorrow will see the creation of some kind of system for keeping track of yarn loss and gain in my yarn fast/diet/use-it-up efforts.

It's HEEEERE!

2008-03-19T16:27:00.002Z

My swift ('scuse the mess):

Test run tonight.

I'm in serious danger of going off the 'yarn fast' in a big way. I've figure out what I want to do with a couple of yarns in my stash, and guess what?... these projects require more yarn. And for one of them, the seller only has one left (but I want the same thing in two other colour ways for two other as yet undefined potential projects). Maybe one wouldn't hurt... ack, my resolve is slipping. I'm also tempted by some yarn I've been deliberating over for a month or two.

A very long WIP picture post

2008-03-17T10:05:00.007Z

I took the plunge. I've ordered a swift. That mini poncho thing I posted a picture of the other day is wonderful for wearing round the house - it's not flattering but it's snuggly and cosy and warm.

I have several/too many works in progress. Part of the point of this post is to try and motivate myself to finish the projects that are almost there before I start any new projects. I haven't got myself set up to take arty photos on a white background so you'll have to put up with the Ikea table (and occasional cat intrusion).

First, we have the Cold Shoulder capelet (from The Happy Hooker). This is so close to being finished. All it needs is the pompoms on the ends of the ties, but I'm procrastinating about that, partly because I have to wind the mohair into a ball first. The yarn is a random, apparently unbranded mohair I bought on sale from Stash Fine Yarns

Second we have my alpaca stars scarf made from purple Garnstudio DROPS Alpaca - both pattern and yarn available from Scandinavian Knitting Designs. This one is kind of hibernating at the moment as I found it took a bit of concentration, and I tend to get interrupted a lot so it became stressful.

This is a meshy scarf in Mirasol Hacho. The pattern is called Monika. I'm struggling to finish this as I've found it difficult to do since I had a nightmare about it when I had a cold a few weeks ago. I've only got a row of edging to do around it now.

I started this sleeveless cardigan (or vest if you're American) in January with the intention of wearing it in cold weather. I whizzed through the back part, but the pattern (the Denim Vest from the Lion Brand website) is one of those ones that gives you half the pattern fro the fornt and tells you to reverse it for the other half. This has put me off a bit, as has the fact that it's going to be too small (and I'm doing it in Icelandic Lopi which felts really easily so it's not going to be very washable). If I lose the weight I want to this year it might fit next winter. The other problem is that now Lopi is just too warm to work with. It's great when the weather's cold and it's like crocheting with a wee blanket on my lap, but now it's a little warm.

My Eva shawl, also from a link from Ravelry. I'm doing this one with a merino laceweight yarn from YarnAddict Yarns. I love this yarn, and the shawl is going well, though I've got to the point where each rown is taking 40 minutes (I folded the edges over in the photo to get it all in). It looks a lot less blotchy in reality - my camera has an annoying tendency to overemphasise blue. I'm sure I can adjust the colour balance but I have no idea how (apart from in Photoshop).

Boteh scarf from an old copy of Interweave Crochet. Another project I'm really enjoying - I'm doing it in a wool/bamboo sock weight yarn from The Yarn Yard.

And finally, a flowery scarf in Fyberspates Scrumptious Chunky. The pattern is another one I found the link for on Ravelry. It's called Anne and is available as a cheap pdf download. This is another project I'm really enjoying.

Thanks!

2008-03-14T16:10:00.002Z

Thanks for the yarn swift suggestions. The ones on Posh Yarns and Get Knitted both look lovely so that's definitely something to think about in the next week or two. I don't mind winding smallish hanks into balls (like about 350m or less), it's the ones upwards of about 500m that test my patience.

One thing that's irritating me already with Blogger is the inability to reply directly to comments so a thread/conversation builds up. I am reading, and do appreciate all the helpful comments I've had so far.

So much for yarn diet

2008-03-14T10:41:00.002Z

I may have slipped, shall we say, in the last few days. Cutting down on yarn buying evidently isn't working, so I am now attempting a yarn fast. No yarn until Saturday 22nd (see, I really am addicted). Baby steps... if I manage that then I'll attempt a longer fast - until May 1st would be a reasonable time to make a dent in my stash. We will see. I also know from experience that restricting my consumption tends to result in a binge later, so we shall see.

I am considering getting an umbrella swift. I have no patience when it comes to winding from a skein to a ball, and as my new thing is laceweight (therefore reeeaaaalllly long lengths of yarn) I think it might be a good idea. Of course, cost is an issue and I don't want to order from the US and be thumped by customs charges.

Not for fat days

2008-03-11T10:43:00.003Z

I've had four balled-up skeins of Colinette Point 5 in Florentina languishing in my stash for months - I ordered it with the intention of making a scarf but when it arrived it was a bit pink and just a bit much really (the problem with ordering Colinette blind is that you don't know exactly what the colours will be like). I finally turned it into a capelet from this pattern:

On Ravelry there are lots of comments about how you should never make a sweater from Point 5 unless it's for a skinny person. The same holds true for capelets. Picture a tea-cosy on a watermelon. You get the idea. My partner says it's 'cute' which roughly translates as 'it's nice but I'm not sure about it on you'. Never mind. I really didn't know what to do with that yarn and I am trying to lose weight, so one day it might actually be less rounding.

Last Saturday I gave in and bought some Orkney Angora in Fawn:

I'm going to use it doubled and make the Mei-mei mini-cardi from the cover of Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan.

I am attempting a yarn diet and trying to use up some of my stash before buying more. With my birthday last week I went a bit mad, and my queue of planned projects is getting silly. I have a few 'unallocated' yarns in my stash so I'm trying to find patterns for them.

So I gave in...

2008-03-07T13:03:00.000Z

and got a Blogger account where I can waffle about my various crochet projects, past, present, future and imaginary, as well as yarn-lust.

This morning some lovely Emerald Apple Cobweb Kid Mohair Lace dropped through the letterbox this morning from The Natural Dye Studio. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but 800 yards of mohair gives me plenty of possibilities.

I also put in a substantial order to Scandinavian Knitting Design this morning, but it's enough yarn for four projects (but it does mean I'll be making one of them with yarn less than a fifth of the cost of the recommended yarns). I tried to order last night but their online shopping cart was wonky - it kept doubling the quantities of some of the items in my cart and then when I got to the checkout it kept insisting I'd incorrectly filled in the address form. This morning, it was still doing odd things with quatities but the checkout was working at least.

The justification for all this yarn? It was my birthday on Monday (and it was a semi-significant one).

I am cross with Flickr. It's only showing me random photos. This has been going on since yesterday so there's no point in uploading any of my photos at the moment as they won't show up on my Ravelry account. It also means I can't see other peoples photos of projects on Ravelry - of course this may be a good thing otherwise I might be 'inspired' to order more yarn. Right now I'm looking for a justification/project to buy some Orkney Angora for.

I'm feeling a desire to do some more dying after our successful experiments with Supercook food colouring (21p a bottle from Tesco), but I have an Open University assessment coming up and ought to spend Sunday afternoon getting on top of my OU workload instead of making a colourful mess.