Woolfest stash!

I don't often post stash acquisitions on here, but will make an exception for my Woolfest haul! We ended up going to both days, and spectacularly failed to meet almost everyone I'd hoped to! The place was busy though, especially on the Friday. On Saturday we managed to get in to a number of stalls we couldn't see for people on the Friday :-) I'm sorry not to get to meet folks, I really am, it's so rare for me to have this kind of opportunity. Hopefully we will go next year, and maybe organise a mini meet-up too. I think leaving it to chance given the size of the venue, and the sheer numbers, isn't the best idea!

On to the yarn. First off, a three-pack of Caber from The Yarn Yard in a lovely silver-grey. Destined for a cardigan or sweater methinks.



Two skeins of the new Yarn Yard Kelpie laceweight cashmere. Beautiful stuff.



More YY laceweight, Gloaming:



The Yarn Yard Woolfest 2009 colourway in Toddy!



Lovely laceweight from Knitwitches - Lime Cordial in merino/silk (800m/100g), and Storm Clouds in organic water mill spun merino (1000m/100g):



The lime is destined for a cardigan, probably Paper Crane (unless I'm brave and do my own top-down creation!).

There was also some fibre from Wingham Wool Work, who also had a subscriber offer for a free jute bag which came in very handy for purchases.



This will be used for both felting and hopefully spinning. I already have a drop spindle from the Wool Clip, and after having seen people spindling, I now have a much better idea how it "works". There was so much lovely fibre around but I didn't want to buy lots until I know I can use it successfully.

There were some other bits and bobs, including some polystyrene foot forms(!) (ideas about making felted slippers and pixie shoes!), and a pair of sock blockers:



I also have some photos of the animals, which I'll save for my next post. I didn't take any of the stalls etc. as I wasn't at all sure it was the "done thing", and anyway I was too busy browsing to think about taking photos!

Woolfest or bust

This year will be my first visit to Woolfest (along with the Mr), I'm looking forward to it very much! I've wanted to go for the past couple of years but it has tended to coincide with holidays elsewhere.

We'll be visiting on the Friday, thankfully this is one fibre festival that is within reasonable driving distance for us (still 2 hours though!). I will be wearing my Ravelry badge with my Rav/blog name knittyinpink. Please feel free to say hello if you so wish (or indeed skedaddle in the opposite direction). If I spot any of my blog/Rav/forum pals I will do likewise, I am mostly depending upon name badges though!

My Tempest cardigan is currently pinned out and blocking, and may be finished in time for Friday. I may even wear it if the weather is on the cool side. I ended up frogging Ishbel though, as I had made some mistakes and after starting the wrong section and not realising until the centre of the row, it seemed the best thing to do. I really must try to knit lace in (a)daylight, and (b) peace and quiet. No TV! It's a pity to have to frog it this time, I don't have a problem with lace per se (and the charts for this are excellent), but do need to concentrate :-)

In lieu of knitting photos, here's a picture of one of my moth orchids, I love the pale yellow.

Of WIPs and knitting

I've been casting on for more projects as the mood takes me, most recently Tempest in this lovely Violet Green Socrates 4ply I originally bought for Shoalwater:



I'll have a WIP photo soon, as I only started this last night and am about 20 rows in to the back. It's a cardigan I've been wanting to make ever since I saw it, but I'm doing a non-striped version instead. There is plenty of the Seascape, and I love the colours without adding any toning stripes. Thanks are due to pictish for suggesting this as I hadn't considered this option before.

Shawl That Jazz is on a mini-hiatus, about half way through the first section. I generally like the colours in the yarn but have a small bee in my bonnet about the dark bottle-ish green elements. This is one of the very very few colours/shades I don't really like. That said I like it overall, and thankfully the rows are getting shorter!



I've also been working on Ishbel this week, heading towards starting the lace section. The WIP photo isn't terribly exciting but it's on Ravelry should you wish to see it. The red Eva is showing its semi-solid nature, when observed in daylight you can see quite a variation in depth of shade. More interesting than a true solid shade, I think.

There is also my first ever sock! I had to learn the long tail cast-on for this, having never bothered with it in the past. Once I watched the video on Knitting Help I "got" it, I do seem to learn much more readily from demos rather than pictures in books. It doesn't help that I can't often make out what goes where in the diagrams in books, despite how clearly they are drawn. Photos are easier, and I learned how to knit in the round with 2 circs from a very helpful tutorial I'd printed out (which now seems to have disappeared online). My "join" stitches are a little loose so far (not helped by plumping for plain stockinette for the main sock body!), but I'm getting there!



This is the yarn I dyed with Kool Aid a couple of weeks ago, I rather like how it is knitting up!