Yarn neutral stash

Did I mention I was on a strict yarn diet? As anyone with any experience of dieting knows, a reduction in size results when the output exceeds the input. If the input exceeds the output then the size increases. Should the input equal the output then the status quo is maintained or, as I like to think of it, we have a neutral position. So my personal yarn trading scheme means that so long as the output is equal to (or greater than) the input then I have a yarn neutral stash.




Input last month (after my return from overseas because obviously, holiday stash doesn't count):


1 skein Knitabulous Silken thread "Little Boy Blue

1 skein Lush yarn lace weight "Cider"




Output:


1 skein Knitabulous merino sock yarn (Travelling woman - now stalled)

2 part balls Grignasco Baby merino (Cranford mitts)

1 skein Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Winterberry (destashed)

1 skein Knittery 8 ply DK: Silk Merino Mountain Berry (destashed)

1 skein Liberty D Quixote Persephone (destashed)

4 balls Rowan Kid Silk Night Thunder (destashed)




With the first phase of the stash reallocation project scheduled for later this month, I am hopeful of maintaining a yarn neutral status - because I can resist everything except temptation!

Oops! I did it again......

Ran out of yarn, that is.

You will have observed that there has been a dearth of knitting activity since I got back from my trip. I decided that the Knitabulous Merino sock yarn that had been trying to become Boteh was, in fact, wanting to be a (ravlink) Travelling-Woman shawl. So I cast it on and all was going well. Until I came to cast off and, forty stitches short of the end of the row, I've run out of yarn.

I'm not sure that I'm all that enamoured of the shape as it seems rather shallow and wide, although I guess that blocking would improve it. I have a few options:

1. See if anyone has a few metres of the yarn to spare



2. Throw myself on Ailsa's mercy



3. Add a border in a contrasting colour (this has some appeal)



4. Frog it

If I were to knit this again I would increase the plain section and possibly knit it in a simple lacy stitch. And I think that it is probably better knit in a silkier yarn although it does show off the colours of this yarn quite beautifully.

Bobb's present

Whenever I go to the UK I visit Harrods. I can't stand the shop but it does have an excellent Pet Department and we always bring back a present (or two) for Bobb. Bobb is a Kelpie / Ridgeback cross with a smattering of German Shepherd. We got him from the RSPCA eleven years ago and he is a highly intelligent, much loved member of the family.

So last Saturday I took him some of his presents (the rest are being saved for Christmas so I can't mention them here).

It's from Sniffany's, of course.

He finally found the squeaky bit.

More yarn

I have to confess that there was some yarn acquisition on my recent trip in addition to that mentioned earlier. And here it is:

I paid a visit to the LYS close to where my daughter lives. Avicraft is tucked away in a row of shops some distance from the main town centre. The shops are generally individually owned and not the major shopping chains which gives the area a more local feel. I had a lovely time chatting to Sharon and browsing through the yarns. I bought some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK which was on sale and hard to resist. It will be a cardi for my daughter.

During the many shopping trips in the quest for the Mother of the Groom outfit, I found myself in various branches of JohnLewis. John Lewis is a great department store and I love the way the floors are set out. Each store has a good haberdashery - don't you love that word? - department with a wide range of Rowan, Noro, Debbie Bliss and Aracaunia yarns. There were probably others but they were the ones I noticed most. I bought some Rowan Silky Tweed and some Wendy Happy bamboo blend sock wool.

I also succumbed to the Posh yarn online sale frenzy and scored (from left to right) some Esme merino sock yarn, Diana silk & merino lace weight and Miranda alpaca, silk and cashmere cobweb laceweight.

And now I am on a strict yarn diet but relishing planning projects to utilise all this yarn!

The Wedding

Here I am with my partner Rob ready to go to the wedding

With my son the Groom!

It was a lovely day. The ceremony was beautiful. I cried as the bride walked down the aisle. She looked stunningly beautiful but my son's face was so full of love, happiness and pride that I was just moved to tears. The first hymn was Praise My Soul the King of Heaven which was my father's favourite - I could hardly sing the first verse!

The church looked amazing! The flowers were stunning and so plentiful that I'm sure that there can't have been a spare bloom in the South of England.

And here are the happy couple at the reception.

Today's the day!

The wedding party had a lovely meal at the Ivy restuarant last night to kick off the nuptials. Today the sun is shining, I finally have all the components of my outfit and we are about to go and get dressed up for the ceremony.

We are staying at NumberSixteen - which calls itself a temple to sophistication! I may never leave!

At last - some yarn shopping

I took myself off to London for the day last week. It takes about 20 minutes on the train which was full of family groups heading up to the big smoke. There were many adults standing and not one child (or parent of a child) offered up their seat. I know I sound like a grumpy old woman but that would not have happened when I (or my children) were young.

Having checked out several stores in an unsuccessful quest for shoes for the wedding I decided that it was time to go yarn shopping! So it was a quick trip on the Tube to Islington and Loop. I had a lovely browse there and was very taken with some Wagtails yarn. Which is, of course, from Queensland so I didn't think it made sense to buy some on this occasion. But definitely a future purchase. So what did I buy? Left to right is Jitterbug from Colinette, sumptuous Malabrigo Silky Merino and Alchemy merino.

Next I got on a bus heading for Waterloo and iKnit. All was going well and I was having a lovely chat to the lady next to me about sock knitting when the bus ground to a halt and it was clear that we weren't going any further. The road ahead was cordoned off by police and other emergency services because of a suspicious package. The traffic was at a complete standstill and buildings were about to be evacuated so I headed off to walk across Waterloo Bridge. I guess this is an everyday occurence in London - everyone just shrugged, got off the buses and out of taxis and continued their journeys on foot. I wonder how Sydneysiders would react?

I finally got to iKnit and had a lovely time browsing and chatting to the shop assistant who was very friendly and interested in the sock that she could see poking out of my bag.

The haul here included two skeins of Manos Silk blend and some seriously lovely Cherry Tree Hill Suri semi solid. Also some square DPNs.

On the knitting front there has been little progress. The sock that was the subject of discussion at iKnit has been frogged for the fourth time. I can't quite work out what I want to knit and am somewhat hampered by the fact that all my needles are back in Sydney.

The wedding is next Saturday and so next week will be busy with final preparations, meeting the bride's parents, and then the big day itself.