Wibbo's Words

Pass the bucket

The gushing twaddle you find in most of the US yarn companies' newsletters makes me gag. This fine example is from today's Berrocco KnitBits...

Just what is a recessionista? New York Times writer Natasha Singer defines this resourceful individual as a “style maven on a budget.” In today's economy, fashion devotees ride out lean times by turning to diffusion lines, consignment boutiques or auction websites. Knitters are natural born recessionistas who can easily reinvent their wardrobes without emptying their wallets.

Colourful

 

A new orchid,

 

some of the results of a dyeing day with Blogless Linda (beelindi on ravelry)

 

and a new sock on the needles (yarn dyed by Liz - seriously bright but gorgeous).

Dry, with added sun

 

Less than an hour later, we have blue sky and sunshine. I'm feeling changeable like the weather...

Wet, wet, wet

Sunset obsessive reporting, part two...

Thanks to the Help Desk* at Typepad, I can show you the rest of the sunset pictures that should have been uploaded with the previous post

 

 

 

and yesterday's sunset which was even more spectacular. All photos are straight out of the camera (apart from lowering the res) and the colours really were that lurid in Real Life.

 

You may have noticed that I have a bit of a thing about sunsets...

*Typepad's techies are easy to contact, really helpful and don't keep you hanging around for days waiting for an answer. I'm impressed.

Sunset obsessive reporting...

There is knitting going on aplenty at Wibbo Towers but I can't blog about it as it's all, shush, Christmas knitting. 'Nuff said.

I have shareable eye candy though; tonight's sunset.

 

There would have been more photos, but Typepad is being a f***** today...

Pay it Forward

This Pay It Forward exchange was started in May by Amber. I received my Pay it Forward gift from Suemoon on Saturday;

now it's my turn to pass it on.

The Pay it Forward exchange works like this - I'll make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this blog post asking to join this exchange. I've no idea what the gifts will be, when I'll make them or when they'll be sent out, but I promise to do this during the next three months.

In return, the three winners pay it forward by making the same promise on their blogs.

Staying at home today

Not only is it the 13th, but there's a full moon tonight. Superstitious? Moi?

November

I like winter as a time of year, but this month is too remembrance-heavy to feel comfortable. It's 41 years today since my dad died, aged 58. I treasure his wartime journal, written between 1943 and 1945 in various RAF camps throughout France, Italy and Egypt (he used a small loose-leaf notebook, presumably the Forties equivalent of a slim Filofax) and posted it home in chunks to my mum in Yorkshire.

  

 

 

The last entry in his journal reads 'Good news tonight & today. Russians in Berlin. Forces, US & Russians, only 25 kilometres apart on Dresden front.'

It sends a shiver down my spine...

Safari trophies

I ignored my yarn hunter/killer instincts and I was restrained, very restrained...

 

A skein of Schaefer Anne (lovely yarn, one of my favourites) from Sussex Yorkie on the swap stall,

 

a gorgeously soft cashmere cowl knitted by Annie of Up Knit Creek (it's actually black, but neither my camera or photo software can cope with the colour)

 

 

and one of Mike's yarn bowls (he's snorkel on ravely) with a beautiful speckled blue and white glaze. I fancy doing some two-colour knitting (haven't knitted more than one colour-per-row since I was a teenager) and the bowl is ideal as it's got two yarn feeder slots. The bowl's bigger than it looks in the photos - that's a 100g ball of sock yarn sitting inside it.

I won a raffle prize of two craft books (I never win things usually; I'm not counting that half gallon plastic container of dry sherry c1976) and Suemoon brought me a Pay it Forward* gift - one of her super duper sock bags.

 

I chose the colour - it goes perfectly with my new yarn.

* More about Pay it Forward in the next post or so, including the chance to win a gift and pay something forward yourself...

Knitters are the best, especially when they're on safari

The Knitting Safari was a lovely fun day! Knitters came from far and wide (well, Tyne & Wear and Cambridge are pretty far apart, geographically speaking) and they nattered, workshopped, drank tea, ate cake, knitted, bought luscious yarn and fibre, swapped stash and gave generously of their time, money and expertise.

A few glimpses of the day (if you don't want to wade through my waffling, there's a Flickr set).

 

Liz took this as we were waiting with my yarn near Hove Town Hall for the number 2 bus to Woodingdean. I'm trying not to look too much like a bag lady, hence the slightly sheepish grin.

 

 

Wibbo's Works shared a stand with Annie of Up Knit Creek. That's her skulking in the background wearing an awfully nice waistcoat...

 

I never believe folks when they tell me that I wave my hands around when I'm talking. Wrong - here's the living proof. The nicely restrained hands on the left belong to Steph.

There was a lot of concentration going on in the workshop area (you know who you are); bossing things along were Suemoon and Glittrgirl.

 

  

And there was a fair amount of hilarity too.

 

There was hand dyed and hand spun yarn, fibre, sock blanks, dyes, ceramic yarn bowls and all manner of other lovely knitterly things, not to mention spinning demos and a raffle that raised over £145 for Suemoon's Walk the Walk breast cancer awareness fund. Oh, and there was cake. Lots of cake.

Stash enhancement and other goodies anon...

Remembrance Sunday

Private Arthur John Peckett, Royal Leicestershire Regiment

 

born 11 December 1889 in March, Cambridgeshire, died 1916 in France.

In common with thousands of other British soldiers of the Great War, the date of death and last resting place of my grandfather are unknown.

Psst! Wanna winna shawl?

 

 

Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl knitted in Trekking XXL; one of tomorrow's raffle prizes.

No horizon

 

Will I fall off the edge of the world if I go beyond the railings?

You know you're tired when...

...you notice that your hand and brain aren't quite on the same wavelength.

 

I'm labelling yarn to take to the Brighton Knitting Safari on Saturday. Here's a quick preview of some of the sock yarn colours

 

 

along with a reminder to bring cash and chequebooks with you as there won't be any credit/debit card facilities in the hall.