lace garland shawl

I bought the yarn for this at Harrogate knitting and stitching show last year, I over dyed it as it needed more purple in it.

the pattern is from shawls and scarves the best of knitters magazines



here is a size reference my nearly 4 year old



and Sam showing how lovely it looks on


my dilemma is though is can I display it at Woolfest? I have dyed it but it is not with the wool that I sell even though it can be made using wool that I sell.

mystery stole swatch

I am very pleased, I am not doing beads as I am not a beady person, I am using my BFL laceweight and 3.25mm addi lace needles, the needles are devine, I am in love with them, much better than any other needle I have used.

So hopefully when I get back and unpack I will be raring to go.

4 days to go

and the excitement is building.

I have another kilo of lace in the pots, I did another kilo of Merino yesterday, tomorrow is all labelling, Sunday is price signs and notices day, monday I must fix the trailer. I don't want it falling apart on me like it did last year and the nice men of the ASMA had to rescue us, Tuesday we have a dental hygenist talking to us at the local childrens centre, the afternoon will be packing and finally Wednesday monring we will be off off and away.

On another note a lot of you know that I am training to become a breastfeeding counsellor with the ABM, I have just handed in module 7 for marking which means only one more to go and I am fully qualified, it has only taken me 2 and a half years to do it. I have really struggled with some of it but am feeling very proud of myself for getting this far.

7 days till blast off

this time next week I will be sat in my tent wondering what on earth I have let myself in for, I am so excited it is unbareable. here is my progress so far and this is only a small snippet


what me and mum are wearing so you will be able to spot us a mile away

a taste of Merino 4ply

a little bit of Alpaca BFL 4 ply

a smidgen of Laceweight BFL

and a touch of sock yarn
as I said this is only a small portion of what I am taking, there are boxes all over the place full of lovely luciousness.

regarding the mystery stole CJ helped me decide that Turquoise is the way to go. I just need the time element of it now

mystery stole

I am quite excited I am joining in with the mystery stole by Pink Lemon Twistthe theme this year is black and white, but I am not a black and white kinda girl so I am tempted with a solid colour and turquoise is screaming at me.

I have a load of undyed laceweight BFL. I may just have to start it in undyed and maybe dye it once it is finished. there is a beaded option, but I think I may give them a miss, mainly because the boys love beads and would hate for them to get a hold of a few and eat them.

I have almost finished the woolfest dyeing, still a lot of labelling and a few notices to be made, but we are getting there. I do still have about 8 hanks of Alpaca BFL left so if anybody does want some please e-mail me, it is priced at £10 a hank plus postage.

15 days

only 15 days untill I head up to the lakes, my front room is looking more like a yarn shop, with baskets all over the place not including the boxes full aswell. I have all my stand sorted out, I bought all the covers yesterday and some really beautiful fabric.

These next two weeks are going to fly by.

BFL Alpaca

your first glimpse at the BFL Alpaca sock yarn, it feels so soft and knits up beautifully, I can see some lovely shawls, scarves and socks being made with this.

I have done a tally up today of what is dyed and what is to dye. so far there is just over 20 kilos dyed with just under 10 to go. My passes arrived yesterday, makes it seem all the more real somehow.

On a more personal note we have applied to have the house extended, we want a two storey extension which will give us a proper sized kitchen with dining room, and we are keeping it as a three bedroom upstairs but making them proper double bedrooms rather than the tiny box rooms we have now. The planning officer came around today to check on us and touch wood so far we have no objections. there shouldn't be as every other house around here is extended in some way. I just can't wait to get started. I know it is going to be hard work having it done but it will be well worth it. We should here around the 9th of July so keep your fingers crossed

26 days untill Woolfest

the title says it all really, only 26 days to go.

I have been dyeing and making up crochet kits today, each kit will contain 250g of aran BFL wool in 5 colours which is more than enough to make a crochet blanket measuring 60x60cm or you could knit a lovely blanket with it. I also started on my new Alpaca/BFL sock yarn which is just so lovely. I am getting really quite excited about it now.

I am half way through the Club yarns now aswell so they will be sent out next monday.

Secret Summer Santa

we have had a secret summer santa swap on the crafty yards and threads forum, and Santa delivered at my house today, and it was just the most fantastic pressie ever.


this is the project bag it arrived in, a really great size with a good size pocket for my bits and pieces

700g of sirdar Spree, I had never felt this yarn before and it feels great

a friendship magnet, some green tea and some foot scrubs

hand made sock bag, hand made dish cloth and felt sock book mark, lovely kitty purse and great sheep keyring

a very clever row counter made with the most beautiful beads

and my favourite is a hand embroidered gardening hat with the words head gardner and some flowers on it.
my lovely santa had also included a print out of a garnstudio crochet pattern, she had bought me a shawl and sock pattern and put it on a CD with some of her favourite patterns.

I feel like the luckiest girl around, the gifts were perfect ( even made me cry, with tears of joy of course )

after much searching my Santa was the lovely Franney, I can't thank her enough.