I had such a great time at the show! I am exhausted and beaming, and happy and buzzy on it all. *grins*

It was wonderful to chat to so many lovely and interesting knitters. It was great to finally get my yarn out there and see what people thought of it. I just got to sit behind the stall all day and admire everyone in their knitted finery.

Oh it made me happy!

(A blurry-coz-I’-nervous shot of the stall just before the doors opened, being presided over by the lovely Lazulus who was an absolute star.)

Today I have been getting the shop back up and full of goodies. The 4ply is in stock for the first time, along with new colours in DK, Sock, and Lace weight. Various colour sold out at the show, but I’ll dye more of them soon. :)

THE SHOP IS NOW OPEN (AGAIN)!

I’m planning to write a proper post about the show in the next few of days, with links to a load of wonderful people that you should go check out…

(THE SOCKS!)

…however, given the response to the raspberry socks we showed off, I wanted to direct you to their creator: Thomasina Knits.

More when I’m not falling asleep into my keyboard. :)

I keep thinking it’s going to be more summer-y that it is. Half the time I’m right, and I’m boiling it jeans and a tee-shirt. However the other half of the time – like today – I get blasted with cold wind and I can’t shake it off. Thus I think I’m going to have to shut down the computer for the day, and have a hot bath while W is out digging up more of the allotment.

Then I plan to get in pajamas, and hand knit socks, and do some more work on the Tea and Biscuit socks,

 …and Tatami.

Today we are expected to get two months of rain, in one day. *I* am also expected to travel to london for dinner with in-laws and other family members, and then come home again. Meh. We shall see.

However there are chips baking in the oven, and it’s not cold, and there is work and knitting, and more work to be done, and then Tour de France footage to watch, and sisters to talk to via googletalk so I am feeling very content.

Shall we look at some knitting? I think we shall.

The Ruana is coming along, slowly but surely.  It’s wonderful, almost-mindless knitting (the only decision is what colour to knit next, and for how long), so it’s great for when I’m watching Tour coverage, or films or whatever. Plus I’m putting all these random balls and half balls to use.  I still think I’m only going to wear it around the house, but I’m fine with that. We have a number of blankets that get used like that, but we can always do with more – especially in the depths of winter, and I can’t see that changing any time soon.

I actually finished these blue-green socks, but the weather is so dreadful that you really can’t get a sense of the colour from the photo I took this morning. So last weeks photo will have to do, till the weather changes again for the better.

I’m wearing them now, and they’re stretchy, and very comfortable (even though it’s really a bit too warm for socks right now.)

Lastly I finished my pegbag. And gave it teeth. Actually I don’t have very much to say about it. I knit it in the round, and it’s a slipknit stitch, so it was pretty easy, and quick. I used a small trouser hanger that I bought from the local drycleaners as the hanger part, so that the whole thing wouldn’t be too huge, and then grafted the top stitches together with the hanger in place, so that it all magically comes together at the top, all neatly. So actually I’m pretty pleased with that.

And it got used yesterday. So – yeah it’s a success. But I don’t really like using thick cotton very much…

(oooh! lightening! THUNDER!!)  Maybe I should unplug my laptop while I go have lunch?

–

Hopefully next week I shall have more news about my business – it’s moving along now. :)

Scale Socks by Me

My Ravelry Post: here
Stitche Pattern: from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Yarns (sports weight – purple dot 1 skein
Needles: 3mm, and then 3.75mm for ankle upwards
Note: I am a toe-up sock person. In fact 99% of the time I’m a toe-up-both-socks-at-the-same-time person. Being sports weight these knitted up in no time.

Of course they’re completely unsuitable for July – yes it’s raining here in the UK but it’s also MUGGY, and so they’ve gone into the drawer, ready for when it starts getting chilly again.

Conclusion: I like them. I love the yarn – and the stitch held together well. (I’d like to knit another, finer pair, with a purl row between each vertical row of scales, which I think would look great.)

Currently I’m trying to knit up a number of dk/sports weight skeins into socks. This is not the season for it, but I’m loathed to buy more yarn until I do.

Plus there are knitting rules that I feel happy to stick to:

1. There is always a pair of socks on the go
2. There is always some lace and/or a shawl on the go (this will be the case of the forseeable future given the that Frost Flower Shawl is still only about 1/4 completed, and probably needs some more work putting into it).

And proving said rules, I already have another pair of socks on the go (and another fo to show, but I’ll leave that till next week), and I’m waiting for the shawl book my sister is bringing back, before I start my nannan’s shawl, since I’m still not 100% sure what pattern I’m going to use.

I’m stash busting like a crazy fool at the moment. I have PROMISED myself that I can’t spend the £30 John Lewis’ voucher I got from W’s dad and stepmum for christmas (CHRISTMAS! How restrained have *I* been?), or the £25 voucher from Stash that the lovely J gave me for my birthday, until I have used up a load of great wool from my stash. I have some lovely stuff – yarn i just *had* to buy, and to leave it in a drawer, waiting to be used just seems like a waste.

So more knitting. Less shopping.

The problem is, I’m down to thicker sock yarn, and all the patterns I really want to knit are 2.5mm needles, which just isn’t going to work. So I’ve got a few weeks of making my own patterns up and then I think I’ll treat myself to some Trekking XXL or something.

(I did fold a bit when J and I went to ‘I knit London‘ and at the very last minute i bought some Regia, stating – very firmly – that ‘sock yarn doesn’t count!’ – but really I’m just kidding myself at this point. – I was a salve, I tell you! just to get me over the hump!)

Anyways first up is something lovely handpainted yarn that W’s mum Bev (of the waistcoat fame) brought back from the US a year or so ago.

Cute huh? Kinda fish-scaly?

The pattern is very easy:

(multiples of 6 stitches)

Row 1: (Slip 1 stitch, k2, slip the slipped stitch over the two knitted stitches, k3), repeat to end

Row 2: (k1, yo, k4), repeat to end

Row 3: (k3, slip 1 stitch, k2, slip the slipped stitch over the two knitted stitches), repeat to end

Row 4: (k4, yo, k1), repeat to end

Add in your own favourite toe, heal and cuff and you’re away. Currently I’m half way up the leg and I’ve just shifted from 3mm to 3.75mm so that they will be a bit roomier at the cuff. I knit toe up, because that’s just how I roll (or something.)

So, good sturdy house socks – which is useful since all my other ones are in the wash, and there has been so much rain recently, that I just haven’t found a decent day to get the wool washing done. So I am handknitted-sockless until the weather breaks (for the better).