Sat down at my work table this morning to get on with crocheting more swatches and realised that this week's clutter is all rather nicely colour-coordinated.
I say 'clutter' because I'm down to working in the last couple of inches of empty space at the edge of the table; I really must go put some of it away. Right now...
Liz and I had another stash trip to Stash Yarns yesterday. Enjoying their wonderful AC, we hung out and knitted with Nathalie, Nic, Jill and Dawn and petted lots of new yarns. Purely by accident, all six of us were knitting socks; three using dpns, two using two circulars and one using the magic loop technique on one long circular. If I'd been a good blogger remembered to shove my camera in my backpack before leaving home, there'd be lots of sock knitting pictures here. You'll have to make do with seeing what I brought home.
Above left: Addi bamboo circulars (recommended by Nathalie -- she loves them), a great book on shawl knitting, Crystal Palace Little Flowers in a purple, lavender and green colourway, Fleece Artist Merino Wool in, er, purples. To complete a colourful day, Liz brought back some sock yarn for me that she'd overdyed in beautiful berry colours (above right). The yarn originally came from a pot-luck kilo of Regia I bought from an eBay seller in Germany. I liked nine of the ten colours, but hated this one which was originally white with tiny splashes of pastel colours - there's a length of the original yarn attached to the label.
Jane over at yarnstorm has written a thought-provoking blog entry today. Go have a look...
...when Flossie takes to the bath.
I weighed the wrap this morning - it took just under 200g of yarn. I looked on Jamieson & Smith's website but they don't mention yardage for any of their yarns. The yarn I used feels similar in weight to Jamieson's Ultra 2ply laceweight which has 175m in a 25g ball.
In this weather, that's probably more than anyone wants to know ;-)
I've finally finished this piece of crochet that has been hanging around for, er, several years. Original intention was to make a triangular shawl; somewhere along the road, I changed my mind and undid the motifs, then joined them together again to make a rectangular wrap. It's so long ago that I can't even remember what I didn't like about the shawl! Needless to say, I'd joined the motifs and then run out of steam leaving the yarn ends dangling and the edging to deal with later.
I think I'm pleased with it, but I don't quite know what possessed me to make it in such a boring yarn! Usually, I like grey but the yarn looks really flat and dead in this colour. Anyway, the details:
Size 62 x 180cm
Yarn Jamieson and Smith's 2ply Shetland Lace Yarn in colour L54 (darkish grey) with a single stripe of bright purple in the edging. I'm not sure how much yarn I used; will weigh the wrap once it's dry.
I now have no more UFO's. On the needles are this (scroll down) - work has stopped until the weather gets cooler - and a pair of plain socks in Regia Mini Ringel. That's all; I feel very virtuous.
I go on (and on) about London being too hot in the summer - have a look at these temperatures. I'm beginning to feel positively chilly....
...and came home with some of this.
It's Iro, colour 54, found lurking at half price in the sale bins at Peter Jones. After I'd picked through the bins and rejected the skeins that were predominantly red and brown, I found enough similar skeins to knit some kind of jacket/big cardy. I like Iro better than most Noro yarns - it's nicer to knit with and has less twiggy bits in it than some of the other yarns - but I don't usually buy it at full price as it's way too expensive for the yardage. There were half-price skeins of Transitions in the sale as well, but the colours were very pale and didn't scream 'buy me'. Just as well, really. Oh, and I did remember to buy the buttons.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell began a day of commemoration for the victims of the 7 July bombings at King's Cross station memorial garden.
A quick rant. I bought a duvet cover and four pillowcases in the John Lewis sale; they arrived this morning.
Five polythene bags, five pieces of thick cardboard, five cardboard sleeves and five plastic boxes - a ridiculous amount of packaging for a few bits of fabric.