You know it's true.....

The Stash Junkie

Sooooooo, let's talk stash!

First off, I would still be pretending I didn't have a lot of stash and that the boxes bursting in the hall didn't really exist, if it wasn't for Sarah.....

She catalogued all hers, and so out of curiousity, I did the same.

This is what it looked like when I gathered it from around the house and piled it up. Hmmmm. Not as little as i'd thought...



Ok, so first off we have some sock yarn. I fully intend to knit socks one day, and when I get round to it, well, i'm going to need some yarn aren't I!!


This is Anchor Magic cotton, I bought a couple of balls on Ebay, learned it was discontinued and then made it my mission to buy lots more, for posterity you understand...



This is my mass accumulation of various types of Sirdar. There's a lot of Snuggly there because i'm a mummy who really does want to knit things for her offspring, but scarf patterns on the internet distract me easily...

Some pure wool, from left to right :- Aran for dyeing, 4ply lambswool for dyeing, Wendy vintage 100% wool, Rowan spun 4ply, DK BFL for dyeing.

Hand-dyed loveliness, the 3 balls along the top are koolaid dyed by me aran weight BFL, there's also some nice dk and 4ply hand dyed from Ebay, and along the bottom, which really does deserve a whole picture of its own, 8oz of gorgeous, soft, shiny lace weight hand dyed merino from Cherry Tree Hill. *drool*

Fashion yarns, mostly feathery type stuff for making scarves, all bargains from The Works and Wilkinsons. It would have been rude not to!

The good stuff, a.k.a the yarn most likely to bankrupt me at any given time! We have 19 balls of Debbie Bliss cotton DK, 2 of Rowan Calmer, 7 Rowan Tapestry, Noro Kureyon, Noro Silk Garden and 6 SWTC Karaoke (earmarked for another clapotis for me!)

Some odds and sods of cotton which will probably become dishcloths, facecloths etc.

And finally some bits and bobs of acrylics that my MIL passed on to me, and honestly, if someone offers you stash enhancement, you jump at the chance!

So there, that'll be why i'm a Stash Junkie then! Hubby had a look earlier and nearly had a turn, he has banned me from buying any more yarn, ever!

In other news, It was my birthday last tuesday, the big 28. In 2 years i'll be 30! That's scary. The Cherry Tree Hill merino was a birthday present from my boys, bless 'em! I also got a Nintendo DS which is a wonderful bit of kit, and a Creative Zen MP3 player which is blue and cute and wonderful. It has 30gb of memory which will take me forever to fill!

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary, 3 years!

Stu has got man flu and is laying on the sofa moaning and groaning a lot whilst we watch the Lost Finale. Finale my ass! More unanswered questions now than ever!

I took my clapotis to stitch n bitch last week, this weekend it goes to mum. I finished off a cardigan for baby Harry (pics tomorrow probably), and now i'm using some of the Sirdar to make a jumper for Leo. Also halfway through a secret project which is fun!

Think that's everything!

Can anyone who knits almost entirely for other people really be evil....

You Are 50% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

I......love....it......

Just a quickie, tea cooking, but had to say, it's done!

Ok - So now the geeky bit -

Pattern - Clapotis from Knitty Fall 2004 Issue
Needles - Addi Bamboo 5mm, kindly loaned by Sarah because I ordered the wrong size
Yarn - SWTC Oasis soysilk yarn in Napa Valley shade
Time to complete - About 18 days give or take

It was a nice easy pattern to follow, dropping stitches is great, feels soooo wrong but soooo good simultaniously. The yarn is lovely to knit with, had one naff ball which had several joins in it towards the end and wasn't wound brilliantly, but it drapes beautifully and is so soft.

I think I shall knit me one too. So there.

It's alive....ALIVE!!!

Growing isn't it! I'm really happy with how it's looking, it's so soft and drapey, feels lovely. It's no longer a surprise present since Thomas decided to describe it to my mum on the phone in great detail. Foiled!

I bought some yarn to make one for me when this one is done, naughty Gemma. I will finish the bag off before I start it though, promise! And I need to finish the collar on the cardigan I made for Leo that won't fit him now, I'm going to give it to baby Harry when we see them on the 23rd.

I've got three pieces of writing to do before this years OU course is finished. I think I'll crack on with the next one due in a minute, I'm feeling slightly inspired so I should make the most of it really shouldn't I.

Just a quick shout out to Joelle, fellow student from Preston Stitch n Bitch @ Borders. Her blog can be found here! I'm thinking of her because she's another 'Problem like Maria' fan and I'm watching tonight's semi final as I type. Joelle is abandoning us to go back to uni in a couple of weeks so that's a bit of a bummer, still, when she comes back at crimbo I'm fully expecting to see her wearing hand knitted hat, gloves, scarf, legwarmers and carrying a handknitted bag!

We're going to Wales on Monday for a few days in a caravan park, hoorah!

And now to my assignment, wish me luck!

Clapotis-itis

Shame on me, no blogging for ten days, tsk tsk tsk!

Busy girl i've been, picked up my lovely new car from the inlaws (thankyou thankyou thankyou), spent the weekend with my parents down south where we attended the fete-worse-than-death as is tradition. Thomas seemed to enjoy it this year, he ran in the under 5's race and didnt finish last despite stopping halfway down the track and turning round to look for me!

Wednesday just gone I took the new car on it's first big jaunt down to Hinckley to meet up with the MO crowd at Lotties house. We had a lovely time, the boys were on their best behaviour, and Lottie was a marvel, feeding all 20 kids with sarnies and all 12 adults with homemade soup, bread and cakes. It was a lovely day. Thankyou Lottie!

And now for the knitting.....

Well first you should visit Sarah's blog to see whats been made from the koolaid bfl from my last blog... fabby aint they!!

And my knitting? Well, i'm still chugging along with my Cable Bag...

By my reckoning i've got about 5cm of cableing left to finish before I do the top bit of garter stitch where the buttons go, then it's handles and done! Yay.

And also on the needles is...... Clapotis!!!!!

I am becoming addicted to knitting this little beauty, it's a present for my mum knitted from here, with SWTC Oasis in Napa Valley instead of the suggested yarn, mainly because Lorna's Laces is a bit beyond my budget at the moment, and it's an expensive yarn to frog when it starts going wrong, which lets face it, it's bound to!

I've also knitted a dishcloth which was fun, but I think I managed to leave at Lotties. Oops. Thomas was using it as a blanket for Po, but really, I knitted it with Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, like i'd wash dishes with it!

Stitch and Bitch was fun again this week, really relaxing there now and looking forward to it every week.

Knitting rules!

Oh, and I won a competition on MO yesterday too, some cool recycled stationary! Hoorah!

Have a good weekend!