And we're live!

The KraftyKoala online shop of woolly wonderfulness is go! The main website is still under construction, but due to popular demand, the shop is a gogo!




Tell all your friends!

Spot the difference....

Before, pissed at crimbo, and after, 9 weeks into Cambridge...

Which Tarot Card Are You?

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

On being proactive!

This week, I have been mostly being organised!

Ok, so I was forced into it a little, afterall, the newly aquired stash couldn't live in bags forever now could it. Until yesterday, my stash lived in 2 large underbed storage boxes at the top of the cellar steps, and had spread out into a spacebag under the spare bed, a blanket box in the front room, and many, many bags kicking around here and there. Something had to be done, I had no idea what was where.

We have a set of bookshelves in the front room, they are a corner unit, bookcase and cd tower that doesnt have room for all the cds, and they come from Ikea. We've been wanting an extra cd tower to match for eons, but they never have it in the Warrington store when we go, so i've gotten into the habit of checking the website every couple of weeks to see if it's in stock, and low and behold, yesterday it was!

So, I was umming and ahhing about whether to pop to Ikea and pick the cd tower up, when I had a moment of total brainwaveyness. I could get some of the shelf and bucket storage the boys have in the playroom to go at the top of the cellar steps to home my stash! Hell, I was so pleased with my idea I even measured to make sure it would fit, and it would, so I got it! The measuring bit is important because the ever doubting Stuart asked me if i'd measured it before getting it fully expecting me to say no so he could berate me. And I had, so neeerrrrrrr to you Stu!

So, I built it, then I went through the house collecting stash, sorting it and putting it into ziplock bags to deter the moths, something i've been meaning to do forever, and now it's contained to the storage unit and the blanket box (which in fairness is only half full and also has WIP's in and a multitude of bags in).

Voila! Proud much Gemma?



Please note, the two big buckets on the right are shop stuff (pah hah! shop, where's that then! I promise, pictures pending, it's almost done) the top one is dyed and ready to go, the bottom one is undyed loveliness.

Actually, the bottom bucket is a little emptier now, because...

This is for my mum, and it's called Autumn Leaves, and if she doesn't want it, i'm having it, I love it!

She wants to knit a shawl she's seen somewhere, and she was faffing around about the wool she would use for it (the pattern calls for Elann alpaca worsted or some such thing). She decided she wanted it 'autumn leaves' colours, so I said i'd do some for her, she can have it for mothers day. It's upstairs drying and I really can't wait to reskein it. I'm going to do some more I think and have it as an offered colourway in the shop as i'm sooooo chuffed with how the colours came out.

Anything else to report..... nope don't think so. Ooooh, it's SnB tonight, hoping Andrea the wanderer will make it.

Skipped North!

I'm home!!!

What an awesome weekend, I knitted, chatted, shopped, knitted some more, had a go at spinning and boullion crochet, did a bit more knitting, and....... I didn't eat anything!!!

Met a few people from my blogroll, and a few more people i'll add to my blogroll as soon as I find their blogs!

Met lots of people who bought more wool than me, so that was a bonus, I felt almost virtuous!

So, here it is, the SkipNorth stash....

Let's break it down into more manageable segments...

This was my big buy, 1kg of Twilleys Freedom Spirit (Air I do believe), total bargain at £29.99, going to knit me a big wrap around cardigan with it I think.

Sock yarn, 500g of purply, greeny, bluey loveliness, 100g of camo coloured, 100g of Regia 6ply and 100g of Regia Stretch which I started a simple toe up sock with on the coach on sunday (my shawl is at a complicated bit, i'd have messed it up!)


300g of space dyed DK in bluey purply tones which I think I may use to make another forest canopy for me!



60g of Fiddlesticks laceweight merino/silk, beautiful! And a totally unrelated Surina 5mm crochet hook which is also beautiful.

500g of blues spaced dyed DK to be shared between the mummys, i'd keep it but there's more chance of them knitting something for the boys than of me doing it, selfish knitter that I am!

And finally, about 800g of fibre to spin. The coloured is rainbow merino/silk, the big bag of white is bluefaced leicester I may have a go at dyeing, and the smaller white bag is bluefaced leicester / silk. Yummy, it still smells like sheep! Baaaaaaaa!

I had a really, really, really, great weekend, thanks to Alex and Nic for organising such a fun event, I loved it.

Now, i've come home to a complete tip of a house, so i'd best get to tidying and stop fondling all the new yarn and fibre!

Fame at last!

I am not a good blogger lately, in my defense, it's been manic around here!

So, fame? Well, fleeting fame, but woolly fame none the less! Yes, I got a mention on Lixie's PodCast, see, there's my name! It's more the hat than me really, but it is a really lovely hat! And I got lots of hits this week as a result so I should give the new visitors something to read really, so hello!

Right, so as this is a knitting blog, let us talk about the knitting!

There is just no way on earth to get a good picture of this shawl as it is (in progress). It's on the longest cords I have for my knitpicks, 60" and its still bunched up. And I haven't finished the second ball of eight yet, its going to be a monster! At the moment I have 534 stitches on the needles, and i'm on round 90. It takes me an age to go all the way round, but it's going to be worth it, it's so soft and lovely.

That is all i'm knitting at the moment, although I have some nice Sublime that I may see if I can turn into a nice top I saw in Interweave Knits Spring which I snapped up as soon as I saw it in Borders.

The main knitting news is that this time next week i'll be at SkipNorth! Woo hoo! Muchly exciting. Haven't reconciled the Cambridge Diet with that yet, but i'll muddle through no doubt!

And while we're talking about the Cambridge Diet..... Here is what my weightloss looks like in monetary terms, £1 per lb lost.

Not bad huh! There's £45 quid there, £38 is from doing Cambridge for 7 weeks, £7 is from my half arsed attempt before christmas. I was going to take it to SkipNorth and use it to buy yarn, but I think i'll just buy yarn anyway and use the money to buy a really lovely dress or something when I reach goal (when there will be around £110 in there).

Also related to the weightloss is this lovely piece of magnificence.

This is my Trollbead bracelet that Stu got me for Valentines day (obviously can't have any choccy!). He got me the bracelet, the lace lock, and the blue armadillo bead. The fashion stripe bead is for my first stone, the silver kitten bead is for the second stone, and the red fire bead if for the third stone. The giraffes are a gift to myself because I saw them on a website and just fell in love with them, and its 2 giraffes intertwined which coincidently was what was on the Valentines card I got for Stu. Fate I do believe!

So the other big news was that the boys were baptised last week at our church. It was a really lovely day, Nina came over from Germany to be Leo's (Fairy)Godmother, and my parents came up on the train to stay for the weekend. The day itself went really well, both boys were so well behaved and the reception afterwards was great. AND, I didn't eat a single thing all weekend. Get me!

Anyway, here's a piccy before I bid you farewell! I shall try and blog before SkipNorth, otherwise, i'll see you there!