Oran's Place

Happy day after Valentines Day!

I intended to post this yesterday, but the day just got away from me completely and in the end himself and I simply sat together to watch a few shows at the end of the day.  I was even gonna take the day off but I looked at my work calendar and realised that if I did that then all the conference calls arranged for Monday would simply be re-arranged for later on in the week which would simply increase the workload overall.  So in the end it was a normal day with the usual amounts of love and laughter but with extra cards and roses on top.

Above is a picture of my valentines day gift to himself, or part of it anyway.  I made a crochet heart for each day of the week.

In varying sizes and colours, different on each side...

Added the beaded tails.  Then crocheted different lengths of loops to make a

Bunch of Valentines Hearts

The credit for the hearts pattern goes to Art of Crochet by Teresa and the Youtube link to the on line tutorial is here.  There is a link to the written pattern under the Youtube video.

The idea for the bead decoration came from Lucy at Attic24 - her Christmas Bauble idea.

On a totally different topic the ladies on the Attic24 Ravelry group have been having a dicsussion about pattern copyright, pattern tweaking, pattern ownership etc which has been very interesting to follow.  On a personal note I do always try to give credit for patterns and yarn that I discuss on here and make it very clear that I am not passing patterns I have bought or found on line off as my own.  However, like all human beings I may forget sometimes and if its just a picture of something I made recently then I don't always see the need to go into details.

I was taught to knit, sew, crochet, embroider, cook, bake, wash and iron by my grandmother between the ages of four and eight.  She taught my two male cousins too.  I consider myself very fortunate in this and admit that I can look at a picture of finished item and usually work out how to make it pretty quickly.  However, personally I prefer to buy my patterns, where I can, because it saves time, and it keeps pattern makers employed so they come up with more lovely patterns for me to try. 

Like these from Gourmet Crochet  Aren't they just gorgeous and the two booklets cost me the grand sum of $16.  I am well thrilled with these little gems.

Of course the issue of vintage and out of print patterns is rather different and I am not sure where I stand on whether or not these patterns should be posted on the internet.  On the one hand it is great to make beautiful patterns available for people to try and to enjoy.  On the other hand are we stealing?  One assumes royalties on such patterns are no longer being paid so where is the harm?  Unlike reproducing a pattern from a book still in print from which the designer may be relying on royalty payments for their living.  Maybe I'm just over complicating the whole thing.  It was a very lively and interesting discussion that raised a lot of good points and tricky points and obvious points and points we folks just hadn't thought about at all. 

Well that's my Valentines Hearts and thinky thoughts entry for today!

Take care all.  Love O. xxx

Long time... no update

So it's half way through January 2011 and this is my first post of the year.  I intended to be so good this year and try to post at least once a week but it looks like I fell at the first hurdle.  Ah well, never mind.  the world won't end for lack of a blog update from me, that's for certain!

The picture above is one of my Christmas presents from himself.  I bought myself a swift in Autumn last year and for Christmas I was given the ball winder to accompany it.  I love love love love love it!  I gave himself a few links to try to get one but it was the lovely ladies at First 4 Yarns who helped him out and ensured that the winder was here in time to be in my stocking.  As you can see I have already put it to good use winding a dozen or so skeins of my gorgeous Natural Dye Studio Dazzle DK. A job that used to take hours is now done in a matter of minutes with no mess, tangling, swearing, and/or the general frustration that can accompany hand winding skein after skein for a blanket.

Another christmas present I received from himself was a 'Kindle.'  I had asked for it because holding bigger books, especially in bed, to read for any real length of time has become increasingly difficult.  However, a bit of investigating showed another splendid use for it.  All my dowloaded crochet patterns can be sent to the Kindle which means no more carrying around crumpled sheets of A4 that get torn and spilled on and lost.  Now I can send them to the Kindle and that's all I need to carry with me.

Splendid device!

Of course having gotten the Kindle I had to crochet myself a case for it didn't I...

Here it is on the sofa, along with my latest Cath Kidston catalogue.

In return for the above himself deserved something truly special and I think the completed blanket fitted the bill perfectly.

It's made from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in heathery colours suitable for a bloke!  And he loves it.  It has taken up permanent residence on the back of the sofa...

And gets used every day.  If you ever want to make a luxury blanket for a special person then this yarn is the one to do it in.  It's so thick and soft and makes for a very very snuggly blanket.

I made a selection of other Christmas gifts for various people and some of Lucy's Christmas Baubles.

This is the first collage I've ever done and it isn't very good, but you get the general idea.  Anyway, himself is away visiting his folks this weekend so I have loads of hooky time all to myself.  Hopefully I will manage to update faster next time.  O. xx

Vacation...

This was the last rose in the garden, from an old old rose bush that really needs to be dug up, but I just can't bring myself to do it, when each year it produces a half a dozen beautiful, deep jewel toned, perfect roses.  *sigh*

So after the bank holiday health scare I am just over half way through my three week vacation and I have been thoroughly enjoying myself doing... very little.

 

This picture is of the nightdress case and coat hangers I made for my friend from Colombia.  She fell in love with the granny stripe blanket but there wasn't enough time to make a blanket and anyway it would have required a suitcase all to itself, so I made her a nightdress case and a couple of coverd coat hangers instead, using some left over yarn from the blanket so she still had all the pretty colours.

I lined it with some pale yellow cotton and used some of my polka dot buttons for the fastening.  Overall I was kinda pleased with the result.

I have also gotten a head start on the Christmas knitting and crochet... for which I am very pleased with myself.  One item is already completed and several others are well under way, including another granny stripe blanket but for himself this time in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK.  Stupidly expensive I know, and in shades that are not necessarily ones I would normally use but they are colours that himself likes, so that's all that matters.

 
I added a couple of mid-dark purple shades to the mix, to lift the colours a little and the result is exactly what I was looking for,  Lovely stripes in heathery shades that are not too bright and 'girly' and just right for a bloke!  :)

 
And of course being cashmerino the whole thing is lovely and soft and snuggly.

The hat is a Christmas present already completed for a friend of mine, knitted in some of the welsh mohair I got at Wonderwool there are some wrist warmers and a scarf to go with still to be finished.

I am planning to have the blanket and the hats and scarves done by the end of October if I can then I'm pretty much ahead of the game in terms of Christmas present stuff, which will please me immensely.

The weather here has been mixed over the first week and a half of the vacation and Phaolin has developed a limp again which means that adventuring out doors has been limited for both of us.  The sun is coming out now though and makes for lovely walking weather - except for the limp of course.  Not entirely sure quite what to do about it yet.  Instinct tells me to keep him quiet (yeah, try and keep him quiet) and let it get better of its own acoord, but the 'worried Mum' in me wants to rush to the vet, again.  *sigh*  He's a worrisome little monster in every way.  We're just getting over a series of broken nights, which we're putting down to teenage angst and insecurity.  I swear he has more moods and personality in two years than Callanish had in 13!

Yesterday we had a stroll up the lane...

 
In the sun... after the recent trauma it was a good for me as for the dogs... and I took pictures of a couple of the trees...

Because I liked them...

 
I've also had a couple of trips out to stock up on yarn.  I needed more Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino for the Christmas presents so on Monday a friend of mine from the Stitch 'n' Bitch went off to Port Talbot to the yarn shop there.  We had a truly splendid time, finished off with lunch in the coffee shop where we normally meet on a Wednesday evening.

Besides stocking up on the Debbie Bliss I also bought some Noro - Silk Garden Lite.  I know opinions about Noro vary but I wanted to try it for myself and so far I'm reasonably happy.  No it isn't the softest yarn in the world by a long shot but I have it on good authoirty that there ways of softening it during blocking and the long colour runs are ideal for shawls like this one started below...

Not the best display background and the shadows don't help but I'm only about a quarter done and there'll be better pictures later.  I just love the colour runs and I love this particular pattern. Seraphina's Shawl It's versatile, not too hard and very quick.  Once you've got the beginning sorted and all the increases happening in the right places.

Then yesterday I went for lunch in Llandeilo with another S'n'B friend and after an excellent burger and chips for lunch we went to the yarn shop there where I bought a whole bunch of fat quarters to do some patchwork with and then treated myself to a 17 shade rainbow of Sublime DK merino and cashmerino silk.  A truly excellent afternoon, gossiping and yarn buying.  Oh! and I bought a new handbag too, which I love almost as much as the yarn.

The yarn stash is growing out of control.  I really do need to put a stop to the buying and get a whole load more things made.

Anyway, we have cleared up the leaves outside while it is dry and now I am going to go sit and crochet for a while. 

So I'll leave you with another picture of my fabulous 'last rose of Summer.'

Love O. xx

Done and Done!!!

The Granny Stripe Blanket a la Lucy is finally finished.  (Lucy has/will put the pattern in her side bar as usual, lovely generous person that she is as usual.)

And... I love it!

Here it is folded up on the rocking chair...

And again on the back of the couch...

And opened out on the bed.  Our bed is a king so it doesn't look quite as big as it seemed when I was crocheting that little piquet border!

And finally spread out over the couch in the big sitting room where it looks much bigger.

I made it as a car and picnic blanket because I thought, with it being acrylic, it would stand the washing better than the pure wool ones.  But... I think I may like it too much to just leave it in the 'dog wagon' all the time to get grubby.  Perhaps it will take up residence on one of the bean bags in the big sitting room.

So, I am very pleased with the way this one has come out, even if I do say so myself.

O. xxx

Off again!!

Stash sorting.  Getting there slowly...

So long time no update.  Life has been very busy and there just hasn't been time to write about everything.  I'm off to 'The Smoke' again tomorrow for work for a whole week.  *le sigh*  All good fun and all that and it's nice to see friends and colleagues from far away.  Last week I went up to the folks for a few days.  Father had a couple of large trout given to him by a fishing friend and they needed to be skinned and boned and turned into something the parents can eat.  So I made trout in cream, mustard and tarragon sauce.  We ate some and froze the rest. It was pretty delicious, if I do say so myself.

The combination of sunshine and rain means that the garden is growing out of control so after my trip to London we are going to try and get back on top of it again.  Sadly I am not one of life's natural little gardeners so it all tends to go in fits and starts when I'm in the mood.

Apart from work life is pretty good right now, so why am I waiting for the other shoe to drop?  No idea, but I definitely am. 

Anyway Phaolin is having an incredible moult right now.  I suspect it's the heat, but he's shedding clumps of white fur all over everywhere.  In the end I took to finger stripping him.  He doesn't really like it, but will tolerate it for a short while.  I managed a patch on his side about six inches square and, well you can see the result here...

Enough fur to make a mini Phaolin!  Anyone thinking of owning a pulling dog, you have been warned.

Being away next week means that work will have to stop on the 'granny stripe blanket.'  I amanged to get a fair bit done while I was up with the folks.

 

I'm liking it a lot, but I'm glad I got a second colour pack of the yarn.  I thought initially I was going to be able to complete using the one pack but I'm not so sure now.  Having the second pack already in the stash means I can either stop or keep going as I please.

I think I have finally got all the colours I want from "The Natural Dye Studio " for the triangle blanket and also they had some packs of mini skeins for sale on their site the other week and I bought enough to be able to get started on that fancy scarf pattern I got at Wonderwool.

So many projects and so little time. I also need to invest in a "ball winder" (stop sniggering!) I have over thrity sekins of yarn to wind before I can start the triangle blanket, and that isn't the only yarn I have that comes in skeins.  All the Welsh Yarn Company mohair for this year's christmas hats is in skeins too.

This week I have been rediscovering music that I haven't listened to for years, too.  A friend of my on LJ posted a video link to Jon and Vangelis' "Find My Way Home" and I realised I'd forgotten how much I liked their music so I did an iTunes trawl and found a load of great songs that I hadn't heard for years.  It dawned on me that it was probably because so much of that music was associated with my marriage but it shows kust how far I've come, when none of it brought back even remotely maudlin memories.  I am now able to view that part of my life with positive equanimity.  Fascinating how time softens things and memories that were once bitter-sweet become simply 'old memories.'  Guess it's me age :)

Anyway, I have everything ready to put into my suitcase tomorrow so I'm going to go have a relaxing Saturday.  Have a good weekend all, O. xxxxx

  

 
  

 

 

Summer Solstice

An excellent sunrise with Black Mountain, clove scented candles, sweetgrass and a peace pipe.  Pink Champagne poured over fresh stawberries.  Full English breakfast, served al fresco at the new picnic table. Probably the best solstice weather we've had for at least ten years.

I have the day off to enjoy at my leisure and Wimbledon starts this afternoon.  I ordered two new packs of yarn yesterday from two of my favourite suppliers and the granny stripe blanket is coming along nicely.  Progress slowed a little when I got back to work full time, but there's no rush.

The spare room is sorted for now.  I can finally get at all my stash and the yarn I bought at Wonderwool is now safely boxed and out of the big sitting room much to the relief of himself, and me to be honest.  I am still short of some pale green variegated from the Natural Dye Studio for the triangle blanket and they just don't seem to be doing any, but I have plenty to keep me going with the granny stripe and then the blanket for the mock Lloyed Loom chair I bought for the bedroom.

 
Well it is now far too hot for me to sit outside and we got a free trial for week against our old EverQuest accounts so I will leave you with a couple more pics.

Brothers lying in the yard in the sun...

 

The grand old man, he's fifteen now, if he were human he'd be a hundred!

 

MERRY SOLSTICE ALL

O. xxxxxx

Sunday...

Began with a bagel and cream cheese!  Yum!  I really should never be allowed to visit New York, bagels and cream cheese for breakfast will do nothing to assist with any kind of diet.

After that I took myself off to Dunelm to buy cushion innards.  I love love love that shop. Besides the cushion innards I also bought two new tape measures while I was there.  My capacity to lose tape measures is tuly extraordinary.  I have no idea where they vanish to.  Personally I think they disappear through wormholes in space to some weird alien tape measureland.  Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Also in the shipping was the new yarn basket pictured above for the Stylecraft Special DK, some lemon yarn, because I thought it might make nice doll hair, some wooden coathangers that I intend to make covers for, 2 cintronella candles in little pink buckets and two pink tea light lanterns and this...

I have wanted a chair like this for ages.  My Mother has a 'real one' in their bedroom but steadfastly refuses to get all my hints about wanting to bring it home with me so when I saw this chair I had to have it.  I will probably do it up a la Lucy at Attic24 of course.  (That is if I ever find the still missing sewing machine.)  And then it can reside in the bedroom where I will enjoy using it.  So, so happy with it especially for less than twenty quid.

I made a wonderful and so easy lemon sauce to go with my Sunday chicken which I ate whilst watching Rafael Nadal give Robin Soderling a lesson in how to play tennis at the French Open final.  That young man really is such a delicious guilty pleasure.  :)

And of course there is this...

My granny stripe blanket is coming along nicely and I am loving the colours.  They aren't easy and I don't have the greatest colour sense in the world so there have been one or two hiccups along the way but I am very happy with it so far.  It is also decidedly snuggly, much to my surprise.

In other crochet news I decided to call a halt to my Rowan Handknit Cotton ripple.  I loved that yarn so much when I bought it and I had such great plans for it, but knowing that so many of the really vibrant colours are no longer available seem to have really taken the delight out of using it.  Silly I know, but I can't help the way I feel. However, when I put it over the back of the leather couch in the big sitting room I couldn't help but smile.

It seems I have stopped at exactly the right size and it brightens up the leather couch and protcects the wall behind.  It is also big enough to be a lap-ghan if needed.  Now, seeing it in situ so to speak, it makes me very happy.  I just wish the light in the big sitting room was better so I could get better pictures.

Well I hope everyone had a good weekend and I think it is time for a glass of wine and some more crochet.  Love O. xx   

Yarn!!!!

Aren't they gorgeous?

Don't you just love it when there's a scrumptious yarn delivery with everything you ordered.  Over at the Attic24 Ravelry group the wonderful Lucy and other group members have been discussing the merits or otherwise of acrylic yarn.  Natrual fibre yarns are truly wonderful in both look and feel and absolutely lovely to work with, but the maintenance and more improtantly the cost can make them difficult to justify when we all have other calls on our hard earned cash.  Eg the yarn I have been buying from The Natural Dye Studio comes in at £12.50 per 100g skein which makes the cost of my intended afghan £260.00 for yarn alone.  And... the Biggan Merino for the monster rainbow ripple has already cost over £300.00 in yarn.  This makes crocheting afghans and blankets an expensive hobby to say the least.  So we have been discussing the pros and cons of using the cheaper acrylic yarns, especially for more practical blanketsd for camping and caravaning.  Over in the US they have the most fabulous acrylics, lovely and soft and 'non-squeaky' Microspun is one of my favourites and of course there is Cascade 220, which I have never used but which I intend to try.  But the problem here is that by the time an acrylic yarn has been shipped over one way or another it is no longer cheap!  So what do we have here at home in the UK, well we have this...

 
Isn't it just wonderful... Stylecraft Special DK with a really lovely range or colours that aren't quite as neon as the Robin and the yarn itself is much softer than other acrylics.

Now I just have to get my riple finished so I can get started on using this!!

Love O. xxxx   

Thank-you, journeying, wips

I just had to post this picture of my magnolia tree with all its lovely blooms.  Isn't it just absolutely fabulous?  I've been able to look at it from my bedroom window every morning for the last couple of weeks.  This pic was taken  week or so ago when it was in all its blooming glory.  It's fading now, but the azaleas are all out, in their incredible pink floweriness so I don't feel too sad.

Anyway, first of all I would like to say thank you for the concern and good wishes after my fall.  I am recovering okay now, although the knee is still bruised and swollen and painful in certain places.  At least now I am walking reasonably well again.  I took Phaolin along the bridle path at the weekend, the first time since the fall and it was okay.  We had a couple of moments and I cut about half a mile off the walk but we did it and I felt much better afterwards.  All this recovery of course is very timely as I have to journey north to visit the folks tomorrow.  I had planned to go back end of the week as usual but they are both ill and have been for a week now and father is struggling so I am going earlier to do the usual, fill the freezer, clear any ironing backlog etc.  *sigh*  At least going during the working week means I will miss all the religious stuff at the weekend.  I plan to return home on Friday afternoon.  Bad time for driving I know but I'm back in 'the smoke' next week for a visit from one of the US CIOs and I want to get a couple of days peace at home before being away again.  Think I'm gonna have to change the timing on the parental visits as they keep coinciding with work travels and I hate hate hate hate hate being away from home.  Absolutely hate it.

On other fronts I've managed to be quite busy...

The Rico Creative Cotton that I bought at Wonderwool is turning into a ripple cushion cover.

 
The colours are really gorgeous and they go together rather well.  I am experimenting with this cushion and making an envelope style.  Its a new departure for me because I usually make a front and a back and join them together so making it all in one piece feels kinda weird.  It will be interesting to see the outcome.

I decided while I was movement challenged that I had far far too much cheap acrylic DK toy yarn in all the old Robin colours.  I do knit toys still, quite a lot of them, for the hospice etc but I bought the yarn wholesale and it is taking up almost the entire drawer space in the front porch and needs to get used.  I can always get Robin DK on the market in town and some of the new colours are much better now.  So... what to do with all this not so soft acrylic yarn in rather neon shades.  I spent a day thinking about it and then inspiration struck after an hour or so sculling around Flickr.  I spend a small fortune on cheap fleecy throws for the couch in the small sitting room so that Phaolin can sit on it with his Dad without getting mud, and general dogginess all over the actual couch covers.  I buy the fleece ones because they are easy to wash and tumble dry.  Wouldn't it be much nicer to have lovely home made crochet covers sometimes instead, made from equally washable acrylic yarn.  And... why not hark back to the seventies and make a granny blanket in brightly coloured squares surrounded by black borders or white borders... like so...

I thought I would hate it, but actually I love it.  Really really love it.  This is the one I will take up to the parents to work on while father watches endless sport on TV.  I am making it in sections because I want to try and make it big enough to cover the entire couch rather than having to use one blanket for the seat and back and one for each of the arms.  Will see how it goes.  If I get fed up of the squares I can always make a pair of ripples for the arms or even a pair of huge grannies.  I have to admit I'm enjoying this project far more than I thought I would.

I also got a lovely delivery of some Drops Paris yarn that I love love love love love to bits.  The colours are fabulous so I set about some hexagons because I've always fancied a hexagon blanket but never ever got around to making one.

I am totally besotted with this yarn.  Sooo many people give it a bad press for being too splitty to work with, but I've hardly had a problem at all and the colours are to die for.  I actually prefer them to the Rico.  However, although it isn't obvious on the picture I have a definite tension problem with these hexagons so unless it is corrected by blocking they will have to be frogged and redone :(  I don't mind too much because the yarn is lovely and not silly money and I have plenty of it.

Finally, at the weekend I managed to get started on this...

Lovely Lucy Lavender made from the pattern created by Flutterby Patch.  Isn't she a total cutie?  I love her already and I will have to give her away next week :(  Guess I can always make myself another one!  How I wish I'd had children then maybe I'd have lots of grand children by now to make lovely toys for.  Anyway, she's nearly done, just the back of the dress and the apron to go, Oh, and the straps for the shoes.

Well that's about all from Oran's Place today.  Hopefully I'll have time for a visit between travelling jaunts over the weekend.  Take care.  O. xxxxxxxx
 

Sunday 's Wonderwool! Is everybody 'appy...

Yer bet yer life we are!!

 

Misty mountain was, well, misty when I set off yesterday morning with my oversized Cath Kidston tote and a big smile for my day out at this year's Wonderwool over at the Royal Welsh showground in Builth Wells.  Himself made me a bacon sandwich for breakfast and then packed me a couple of ham, marmite, and tomato rolls for my lunch.  It's about an hour and half's drive to Builth Wells, through lovely countryside and I'd arranged to meet up with three friends from the Stitch 'n' Bitch in Llandeilo at 9.30, so I off I went a few minutes after 8.45 looking forward to a good day out.  Fortunately himself'd managed to locate one of the back seats for the car and safely installed it in it's rightful place, so after meeting up at the designated spot in Llandeilo my friends and I were able to journey on together in my car.  (To explain about the car seats... The car was bought primarily for transporting himself, me and the dogs, so we usually remove 2 of the three back seats to allow the dogs plenty of space to be comfortable in the back.  Ergo, three human passengers equals needing to find at least one of said back seats to allow everoyone to travel safely and in relative comfort.)

The journey over the mountains was both pretty and absolutely hilarious.  Ten minutes in I realised that all was not well with my undergarments when my not inconsiderable frontage seemed to be travelling via resting on the steering wheel as opposed to being neately packaged out front in their usual place.  A bit of judicious wriggling confirmed that we needed a short stop while I refastened the shoulder-boulder-holder in order to ensure correct movement of the steering wheel and a more comfortable ride pour moi.  This would have been much easier to accomplish if my friend had not piped up from the back with her musings on what we would tell the police officer if we couldn't find a lay-by and had to stop roadside on the narrow country roads while I made the necessary adjustments.  Fortunately an appropriate stopping place came along a few minutes later and any embarrassing explanations were avoided, thank goodness.  Driving along we took in the beautiful scenery and continued our laughter right up until we parked in the show ground car park.  I think we might have stopped laughing for about 2 minutes while we got out of the car but we soon started up again at the sight of our friend and her 'funky shopping trolley.'  Although, as she rightly points out in her own Ravelry post, we were far more envous than laughing at the end of the day when our bags were heavy and hers was on wheels!

The show itself was excellent.  Many, many exhibitors with truly scrumpleecious yarn and fibre to tempt us into spending our limited budgets.  (scrumpleecious = word invented by Enid Blyton, a concatenation of scrumptious and delicious). 

I began light with a couple of skeins of Artist Palette sock yarn and some of the latest more vibrant shades of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino.  But then I saw a delux set of Knit Pro circulars with 15% off the regular price, so they had to be bought, didn't they?  *nods head* Yes they did, they HAD to be bought, okay?  Good. 

Moving on I found a stand displaying a fabulous tea pot cosy with pom poms on top.  I have been looking for a good teapot cosy patterns for a whle now. Sadly the pattern is not yet written out, but the lady had some gorgeous maple knitting needles with painted wooden ends so I bought a couple of pairs of those.

Aren't they pretty?  I know, I know, do I really NEED another pair of 4.0mm and 3.5mm needles?  YES!  Especially when they're a pretty as these ones.  After all I do knit a lot of DK so... so?  *glares formidably at nay sayers*

Moving swiftly on I was tempted by a couple of balls of Noro.  I've never used Noro before so these are an experimental buy to see how I get on with them.  The yarn isn't cheap and I have heaps of impulse bought 'mistake' yarn that may never get used so I was being good, *nods*

After that I continued my wanderings and was quite restrained, until I found a lady with buttons to die for.

 

Aren't they absolutely scrummy?  I love them to bits.  Like sweeties in a sweetie shop.  It's a good job I bought a new vintage button tin the other week.  As you can see in the picture I also bought some pretty new stitch markers for both crochet and knitting.  You can never have too many stitch markers, ever.

After the buttons I wandered further and discoverd that I could do a diploma in crochet.  What a cool idea, so I picked up the leaflet to have look further into it.  Apparently there's no time limit which is excellent for those of us that earn our living outside the fibre arena as it means we can work when we want to and fit in around our 'real lives.'   This makes me much more inclined to take the plunge and spend the money.

Wandering further brought me to The Natural Dye Studio stand where I was truly entranced, not only by the yarn but by the patterns.  I restrained myself.  I bought 2 patterns and 3 skeins of yarn.  I was good, I really really was.  Honest!

By now it was time to meet up with my friends again for lunch so I went to our designated meeting spot and sat down to eat my yummy rolls and swap stories and admire our booty.

So far, I had only done the one hall and there was a second one still to go, so fortified by ham, marmite and tomato I set out into the other hall with still half my budget left in my purse.

This hall had sheep, honest to god real sheep.  Beautiful, fabulous, wonderful, sheep.  You can see them in the first pic above and again here...

 
Aren't they wonderful?  Don't you just want to pick them up and take them home with you?  And it got better, way way way better, because it didn't just have sheep.  Oh no!  It had goats too.  Marvellous, wonderful, fabulous goats.

  
Isn't he magnificent?  Don't you just love him? WANT! WANT! WANT!

Many people are surprised to discover that mohair yarn comes from goats, like him.  Yarn  like this... 
 

Hand dyed into these luscious shades that give me all sorts of splendid ideas.  The lady has a shop in Llandovery, so I think I shall be making my way there very soon, very soon indeed.

I have to admit that at this point the old bones were beginning to get a little weary, but I kept on trucking, only one half of this hall left to go and I found some beautiful hand dyed 100% merino so I picked up a couple of skeins.  Had to, they were called 'Winter Solstice' there was no way I could leave a yarn called Winter Solstice behind could I?  I mean, we're pagans, and himself's business was called 'Solstice' so they had to come home didn't they?  *nods emphatically*

Now, I still had some budget left to spend.  I know, no one was holding a gun to my head forcing me to spend all of it, but I had a pattern for a blanket from those lovely people at The Natural Dye Studio didn't I.  I mean come on it's a blanket pattern.  It needs 1800gms of mixed yarn.  I had budget left and what's more, they had a credit card machine... I could buy 10 x 100gm skeins and get started could't I?  With the 2 I already had that made 12 in total.  I only need 6 more which I can get on line next week so... yeah, you guessed it... Off I trotted back to the stand to buy 10 more delicious skeins and they gave me one for free!  Lovely lovely people.

It was only at this point I remembered the yarn I had actually been planning to buy and I hadn't even seen it.  I returned to the lovely ladies at First 4 Yarns and there it was on it's own stand in the corner.  So I bought a dozen colours of the Rico Creative 100% cotton.  Fabulous bright colours, in aran weight cotton.  Not sure yet whether it will be a ripple or hexes or squares but the colours are gorgeous and I can't wait to get started on something.

After that I really had had enough.  I still had money left..\o/ go me, but no energy to even think about fibres, and yarn weights and colour palettes, so I bought a drink, phoned himself and sat down to wait for my friends.

In the car on the way home our discussion ranged from politics to work, to religion and family and was as funny as it had been on the way there.  At one point I was laughing so much I could barely drive the car, but we all arrived back in Llandeilo safe and sound after a truly splendid day out!

So here it is...

My Wonderwool booty part 1

 Yarn starting from the left.... Winter Solstice 100% Merino, Artist palette sock yarn, Peaches 'n' Creme cotton. 

 
In the basket... Noro, Rico Creative 100% cotton, Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. Knit Pro circular needles, and lovely little Kaffe Fassett cotton bag for transporting crochet hooks and scissors etc around.

 
Wonderwool Booty part 2

 

The Natrual Dye Studio... unforunately when I took this picture I had lost much of the light so the yarn is not looking as bright as it is in real life.

 

So there you have it... Wonderwool 2010... and a good time was had by all.  Now I have to work, all that yarn has to be paid for somehow.  Love O. xxxxx