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.

The Inspirer

mmmmmmmmmmm quite a lot of this is true for a change

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

What's Your Personality Type?

The wanderer returns

Well after the most fabulous holiday I am back into the swing of things.

Cornwall was fantastic. We stopped at Get Knitted on the way down and that was a real treat, though they had lost the keys so we had to wait for over and hour and a half whilst they drove some all the way from Heathrow to Bristol. It was lovely seeing my laceweight on display, I felt all proud.

this is where we stopped in Par Sands, a great caravan site and really quiet at that time of year




there was a really nice cliff walk to the next bay along in Polperris where they served the best dinners



the gratuitious eden project shot



one of the very few shots I actually like of myself, probably because I am hidden by the boys



And finally something I never thought would happen in a million years as I am terrified of them



of course though now I am on the final lap for woolfest only three weeks left, but I have a load more yarn coming in, including a very special BFL Alpaca mix sock yarn which is so beautiful, but will promise only to keep a few hanks for myself

Cornwall here I come

I am off on my hols and I can't wait. A lovely trip down to Cornwall for 2 weeks ( with an overnight stop in Bristol, then past a certain Get Knitted on the way )

The kids are hyper I am hyper, the house is practically all packed in my suitcases, the parrots are all packed away to my mums so tomorrow morning we are gone.

The shop will still be open and orders can be placed but won't be sent untill after the 26th of May, The only problem being that once I get back I will think of nothing else apart from Woolfest and the daily count down will begin.

marvelous merino

I have been a busy bee, club yarns have all gone out, a little earlier than I thought they would, but I am really pleased with them.

I have been busy dyeing ready for woolfest, I have placed one of each of these in the shop as I must take the rest with me. the merino is just so beautiful I love it

happy hooker

well the woolfest wobbles are over, I am a happy bunny again and confident I will do my best. the merino I have been dyeing is so lovely it had to cheer me up, it is so sproingy ( is that a word? ) just by looking at it you fall in love with it. I will post some pics soon.

I have been wanting things to display, my creatures of the reef shawl is coming on holiday with me so hopefully I will be almost finished with that by the end of the two weeks. I have some socks, scarf, booties and hat, so I am in crochet mood. I am making up a good few squares to either display or use as a back drop depending on how many I can do.



these squares are made using this months club yarn, I love it, I really like the hints of pink here and there. I don't know what the other colours will be, I will just decide once these are done.

My etsy shop is going well http://etsy.com am making new friends and selling to america more. etsy has a lovely feel about it and I could trawl through all those shops hour after hour

woolfest wobbles

I am having major woolfest wobbles, panicking that I am not good enough to do it or that nobody will want to buy my yarns, it hasn't helped that I have seen the list of those there and there is some pretty impressive names in the hand dyeing market, fyberspates and the natural dye studio just to name a couple.

I am still not too sure how to lay out my stall, and still only dyed half of what I want to.

Then in the same breath I look at what I have dyed and I am so proud of them I practically beam. I think it is just the unknown and once I am there I will be fine.

Knitting has taken a back burner as I am spending all my spare time dyeing. The club yarns are ready for dyeing next week and sending out the week after, completely different to last months and that is just the way I wanted it.

busy busy busy

I have been so busy these last few days so an update is long overdue.

firstly last weekend I attended a crochet course at Wool in stockport and what a great course it was. the shop is a fantastic place and Aileen who owns is is a gem, she taught us well, really clear instructions and the patience of a saint. So this week I made this for a friend who is due her baby soon



Sam had to be in on the picture.

I have been up to my eyeballs in Harry Potter yarn aswell this week dyeing Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw yarn for the sock swap. I am a little dissapointed that no Slytherins have come forward, I quite fancied doing one of those so may have to just so I can make up a full set of them.

Here is the Gryffindor Yarn I dyed for Terri, she has started her sock now and I think it is looking really fab, but then again I am really biased



last and not least I opened up an Etsy shop aswell, I think it makes it a little easier for people in America to buy from me as there is no conversion to be done on their behalf.

www.brightdyes.etsy.com

the net is a lovely place

The very lovely Joy
sent me this the other day as a thankyou for lending her some addis so she could try out the socks on 2 circs method. I have met some really lovely people from the internet and I am always amazed by how nice and generous they are.

Due to popular demand I have had to reopen the sock club. It will not be with BFL yarns but with normal sock yarn of 75% wool and 25% polyamide. It will run along side the BFl club and will have the same colours dyed. the price will be £27 for a UK membership and £32 for orders going abroad.



I recieved a custom dye order today, somebody is taking part in the Harry Potter sock swap and their partner is in Gryffindor so she asked me to do the house colours, the yarn will knit up in stripes of about 5 - 6 stitches wide. I loved dyeing this and look forward to the pictures of it knit up.

club yarn a go go

The first installment of the club yarn has left the building. I was quite sad to see them go. I really hope that they are loved by everyone as much as I love them, there is a little something in every parcel aswell.

I also recieved another 5 kilos of pure merino 4ply today that I can't wait to start playing with, but I need my new swift to arrive first as it all requires winding into hanks before I can play with it.

childs play

I love this one, I hesitiated whilst dyeing thinking it may look a little too garish even for my eyes, but in reality I am very pleased with it.

I am in full woolfest mode now, I have even ordered myself a new swift so that will cut my winding time by half which has to be a good thing.

The new wools are listed in my shop, I may aswell be selling them rather than just keeping them in a box untill the end of June. I can always dye more, right?

This months club yarns will be sent out on Tuesday so those of you who are waiting it will be with you very soon.

getting ready for woolfest

Time is a plodding on and I really had a good talking to myself about getting on with my Woolfest wool, here is the first 2 kilos worth, I am dyeing 5 hanks of each colour and hoping that will be enough, I have never done anything like this before so am just kinda hoping that I neither take too much or too little. I am working on taking roughly 25 kilos.

10 kilos of sock yarn
5 kilos of pure bfl sock yarn
5 kilos of beautiful pure merino luxury sock yarn
the rest will be a mixture of bfl double knit, laceweight and bfl nylon sock yarn

wow just writing it down makes it sound like such a lot, but I will get it all done, the next problem will be how to transport it there with hubby, kids and tent in tow.

get knitted

http://getknitted.com

finally I can shout about it. if you look down the left hand bar you will see where all that laceweight went. I am so thrilled about it, it feels great to see it in what I see as the best yarn shop in the country. I am hoping now that I can convince the hubby that we need to stop off in Bristol on route to Cornwall in May, just so I can see it sitting there on display.

This months club yarn is all dyed and is drying, I am just glad I dyed one for myself. It is my 9th wedding anniversary this week so I used my wedding flowers as inspiration, they will be posted out either saturday or next tuesday.

We made our Easter Bonnet yesterday for the easter fair on the park next monday, we always go rolling our eggs, they did 90% of it themselves I just did the stapelling. I highly doubt they will win any prizes but for a 3 and 2 year old I think it is fab.

7 parks walk

A few of us from my local Childrens Centre decided that we would take part in the 7 parks walk around Preston yesterday. It takes in the biggest 7 parks and covers 13 miles. We collected some sponsermoney for the Baby Beat appeal for our maternity hospital http://www.babybeat.co.uk/

Here we are at the start

looking all refreshed and raring to go

this one is about 10 miles in and is on the docklands

Miller Park about half a mile away from the end, it really is a lovely park and it is where we had out wedding pictures taken

and of course at the end well worn out and ready for a good radox bath


with a very big thanks to the Crafty yarns and threads ladies and Mershys work friends we raised about £60, I will let you know the full total when we have all combined our totals.

pictures of the plot and socks

I have to thank my grandparents for a lot of the hard work, they have been fantastic this last year or two whilst the kids were too young for me to spend too long down there. we had another great planting spree over the weekend with asparagus going in, as well as peas, purple sprouting brocolli. The spuds will go in as soon as I am sure the last frost has passed.

These are finished just in time for my 7 parks walk on Sunday


they are artesano alpaca humming bird, 6ply, they are really soft and lovely, a real treat for my feet

allotment dreams

it is that time of year again when I get all vegged out, I spend my days wondering what I can grow this year at the allotment, how can I win the war against the demon rabbits and slugs. The boys are very interested this year and insist on throwing seeds all over the place and whilst my back was turned they dug up my freshly moved strawberry plants.

I have just bought 2 new blackcurrant bushes and another goosegog bush. I will take my camera down next time and show all how pretty it is looking especially as now my shed is the right way around again ( it suffered considerably in the bad winds a few weeks ago and landed on its roof )

Knitting is painfully slow, I must finish my dk alpaca socks for Sunday, the shawl has increased 1 full row.
I have however just spent a long time winding 2kgs of wool into balls for a good friend.

my mind is also turning to woolfest more and more, the plan is to dye 25 kilos I am about 6 down now, I just don't know where time goes.