Yarn porn!

As promised, I have a couple of photos.
I planned on having more, but it seems that I've lost my camera-fu, and with it the ability to take a photo that isn't juuuuust a fraction blurry and only fit to be discarded.

Knitty city tempted me like a harlot. It was only 3 blocks from my hotel, and the lovely people working there were so lovely that I made more than one trip. I staged this photo, which I think many knitters will appreciate the sentiment in.


That "come to bed with me" look that only sexy yarn can give

That bag was from visit one. By the time I got home and unpacked, I was left with this lovely pile of goodies:



Even though OH had been there and witnessed the large amounts of S.E.X. I had been having, there was still a bit of an effort expended in getting my inner knitter not to shout out "Oh, this old yarn? I've had that for ages!"

I like my stash. I really do. It's not the largest stash in the world by any stretch of the imagination. It's not even the largest stash in Belfast. The main problem with yarn is not the weight, it's the mass. Even the lightest, fluffiest alpaca ends up demanding an en-suite bathroom and a bigger tv after a while. Every time I even fondle yarn - even my own stash yarn - the sheer volume that even a few kilos creates both surprises and scares me. "A few" being the technical term for any amount of yarn that isn't actually enough to open a store with.

In one of those bizarre turns, as I wrote the paragraph above, the light in the house completely faded, and it was only when I turned on the lights, that I realised

IT'S SNOWING!!!

Not enough for anything resembling snowballs, but still! I feel suddenly that all my shivering and sticking to the electric fire is justified.

I'll attempt to take photos, but I can barely feel my fingers right now, so even if I manage to hold the camera, it may look like I was trying to break the world jumping jack record.

Seeing as I've been naughty today - nothing new there really - I should get some actual work done. The morning was mostly spend moaning about the weather and wrestling with MS Word. On the plus side, the wedding invitations are now ready to print, as template, font and exact wording and placement of words has been decided. They are not printing, however, as the printer doesn't like the lovely paper that I bought. Typical. I should really give the printer a name that reflects its personality - fickle, whining, and adament that it needs more paper and/or ink when there is clearly plenty left.

Best suggestion for a name in the comments gets a prize!
Funny stories attached to suggested names are encouraged :)

Back to spreadsheets so. Urgh...

Faster kittycat, kill kill!

Stitch and Bitch today, and not a teal sock in sight.

No, I haven't actually managed to fix the thing. The thought of frogging it makes me want to cry or throw up or both. I was not built for picking up close on a hundred 2mm stitches in dark yarn. Not without lots of chocolate.

Work on the baby outfit has progressed well since last post. Hat is done, and shrug is going to be done tonight, I hope.



I've picked up the stitches for the ribbing, and it's going well so far. Will be bringing it with me to Starbucks, where I hope to get the ribbing finished, and the stitching started. Optimistic, aren't I?

Some yarn may or may not have arrived in the post today.....




On that note, I'm gonna go and grab some food, as I have yet to eat today, and somehow I don't think that 15 caramel machiatos and 4 slices of lemon cake counts as a balanced diet.

Take that, DPNS!!!

Of course, last night being the utterly bloggable moment that it was, I forgot my camera. I am teh dumB.

Well, I am blonde!

I am also now the proud owner of not one, but 2 sets of these babies

Addi Turbos! One set of 3.25mms, for that delectable sock yarn from the Natural Dye Studio that I have in my stash, and another set of 2.5mms, cos there's nothing quite like leaping in at the deep end.

We had been instructed to bring "scrap yarn" to get started on, which I did. Unfortunately, I hit a large problem, in the form of Jacqui and Lisa, the owners of This Is Knit. They were just so damn nice, and so enthusiastic about everything knitting related, that it blew me away. It took every ounce of self-restraint not to melt my credit card, and give myself a 2 year long knitting list, based on their recommendations.

I know that we knitters have a special bond. One that breaks down all walls and sense of shyness as soon as that stranger sitting beside you on the bus pulls out some yarn. It's one of the reasons I love my hobby so much.

Within about 2 seconds of arriving in the door last night and introducing myself, I had a cup of blackcurrant tea in my hands, and was wittering on about the new Debbie Bliss yarns that are in. (Which are, by the way, amazing when knitted up.)

As I walked around, squishing and fondling their stock, I resisted the urge to buy the yarn I plan on making a Clapotis from this summer. I stopped myself hovering by their shop mannequin, which was draped with the Noro Butterfly cardigan (another item on my to-knit list now).

With all of this self restraint, I felt I deserved a little reward. So I popped a ball of sock yarn up on the counter. It's teal, which is a good colour for my planned fathers day socks.




I bypassed the Tofutsies, while a waiting classmate was sucked in by their softness and lovely colourways. I grinned as she made jokes about not being able to leave it behind, despite telling herself that she was not going to buy more yarn this week.
She handed over her credit card, while I quietly added a ball of soft apple coloured baby cashmerino to my little pile on the counter. It will make a baby hat, I justified to myself, and a late present for OH's sister.

Yeah, that's it. Presents. Yarn can always be justified if it's being used to make presents for other people. See, I'm not a yarn ho. I'm a kind and giving person....

I went back to the Opal again, but didn't add another ball to the growing pile, as I remembered my small splurge on Tuesday (was that only on Tuesday? I could have sworn..) Suddenly, karma bit me on the ass for laughing at Tofutsies girl.

Two words.

Shepherd sock.



How I didn't strip down and roll around the floor in it, I'll never know.
It is some of the most delicious yarn ever. Ever.

Next minute, I'm sitting on a bean bag, more tea in hand, and there seems to be a shopping bag beside me. Further examination reveals the 2 addi's, the ball of Opal, my nice creen cashmerino and 2 skeins of shepherd sock in Mountain Creek! Another poke and I find some of this


10% discount? I'll take it in yarn, apparently!!!

So on to the knitting.
The casting on took me more time than any cast on in my life, as the funny yarn-related stories had already started, and I kept laughing til I lost count.

Magic loop rocks my socks.
Literally.

It makes perfect sense to my brain and fingers, which dpns never did.
After a few minutes of being all thumbs, I cast on again, for my first sock, with plenty of encouragement from our noble leaders. By the time the class wrapped up, I had finished the ribbing. I broke out the needles again on the bus home, and knitted away as easily as if I had 2 straight needles. At this rate, I'll have something actually resembling a sock and not just a sweat band by the time I break out the camera again!

No more porcupine wrestling for me.

No siree Bob.

That proverbial silver lining

Before I even get into the madness that is going to be my end of month..

I got a phonecall from my mother a few minutes ago, to say that my father had opened his eyes. Just for a few seconds, but still.

To most people, even those seriously ill in hospital, the act of opening eyes is second nature. For my dad, however, it's the equivilant of climbing Everest. It's the first time in almost 6 weeks that we've seen him open his eyes. He's finally starting to come around. I don't know whether I want to cry and throw up, or run out into the street and hug every-damn-person in the world.

The next few days are gonna be interesting, and exhausting. I'm heading to Cork this evening, and will be back in Dublin on Sunday. Then, dear readers, the move is on!
This girl is heading to Belfast!

Sure, it's only for 3 days this week, and I'll be going up at the crack of dawn with a couple of changes of clothing, my laptop and some yarn, but still.
Oh, and did I mention that my house is a leisurely stroll from Jean's Wool Shop? I managed to connect with the Stitch N Bitchers over the last week as well, so in a couple of weeks, I'll be heading to a meetup.

There shall be many, many, many photos and so much yarn porn that your google will block me! Or that's the plan.

In spite of going to vote last night, and the vast amounts of stress I found myself under in general, I still managed to get the first repeat on my wrap done. It's a very simple design, but I think it will look well.

For once, I exercised some restraint when getting into something new (A lacework shawl? In mohair?!) so didn't go for some of the more challenging patterns. I do have to make 2 of these after all, and quite quickly, so the chances of me being reduced to a sobbing wreck need to be kept to a minimum.

Ok, next post will have lots of photo's, I promise!
Please don't get too bored with me in the meantime!


Have a great weekend everyone, wherever it takes you.

Hrmmm....

Well it appears that my darling other half took those useful connect-camera-to-pc cables to Belfast with him when he moved the pc. So I lugged my laptop home for pretty much zero result last night.

I did find a handy pic of the yarn I'm using for the cardigan though, just to inject a little colour in here - ain't I thinky?


It's Twilleys of Stamford. Spirit in Air. Gorgeous, gorgeous yarn to knit with. So much so that 2 of the 4 scarves I knitted as Christmas gifts were made from it. Different colourways, though. Can't have us all in matching knits. Far too Brady Bunch for my liking. The yarn itself is so soft, it feels like clouds. Or how I imagine that clouds would feel, if I were 5 again and hadn't reached that bit in the science book yet.

In other news, my dad is still in hospital. The chest infection is refusing to go without a fight, which is completely killing his recovery time.
Still, we knew our mantra for this month would be "baby steps", and we have to remember that.

Wedding bands have been picked and quoted for, and will be ordered tomorrow.
I must admit to being more than a little excited about that.
They match my engagement ring, which is a bonus, considering I have teeeeny fingers and thought it would be a nightmare to get something that fitted and that we both liked.
Here's my one:


Pretty, no?