What I bought at Ally Pally and other yarn confessions........

Well just confessions about other purchases made at Ally Pally that weren't necessarily yarn! But some of them were. Although I spent the weekend on both the Socktopus and Laughing hens stand you didn't think I wasn't going to get some shopping in did you. Of course not that's what the Thursday was for with a couple of little top ups on the Saturday and Sunday for good measure.
I didn't think I really had bought that much until I got the camera out to take a few pics to stick up on the blog. So here they are................

First up a bit of cashmere and some camel and silk from Knitwitches. Beautiful and soft. The cashmere is to knit socks for my FIL for christmas.



I am going to knit the top they had on display with this yarn. Just love those colours.



This is actually a sample skien and doesn't really count as it was given to me by Robynn. I really love the colours in this one too. In fact I did try and kidnapp this skein at her open house session just before Ally Pally.



I thought I might give this a bit of a go on the novice spinner front. It is some finnish wool. Pretty colours again. Just a very small amount to try.



Well at £2.50 I thought it was worth it to try spinning some different classes. I hope Diane is going to be running one on blends in the not too distant future.



Same thing here, and if you dip your hand in the bag it is so soft.


This again doesn't really count as it was given to me by Jenny from Fyberspates. A bit of left over Merino. Well I can tell you now it has been spinning up very nicely and I may even have a skein to prove it very soon.



This was also some leftovers scooped up from off the floor of the Laughing hens stand at the end of the Sunday when tidying up. Andy told me to take it away with me. Who am I to argue. Anyway it has produced a lovely 205 grm DK weight skein and I have just the project for it but I can't say any more at the moment on that one it's a secret.




This is just a little of what I got in my £10 bargain bag from Hipknits which included two, yes two skeins of sock weight cashmere yarn. Hurray!





Pattern tamers, one set from Robynn and one set from Alice. I bought one set for myself and one set for my mum for her birthday.



Ahh yes now this was all Ling's fault. She told me where the stand was so I made a quick purchase before the show opened on the Sunday morning. I have now used these to dye yarn for my SeSaSoSwa. Posts later on that after it is finished.



Now again these don't count as purchases as such as they were what I was allowed to choose from the lovely Alice for working the day on the Socktopus stand.



The Jenalou bag is perfect for my bosworth midi and a bit of fibre - yep the stuff from Jenny is spinning up nicely.





This I was so pleased about because I missed out at the Iknit day as I was so busy selling raffle tickets or sending everyone in to the Yarnharlot talk.



Just look at those colours. Definately what you would find in a socktopus garden. John dyed these exclusively for Alice.



Oh and a bit more fibre from Pigeon Roof studios.



Beads, I have to confess there are quite a few more of these but you have done well if you have managed to get this far down the page.



So as I said a bit of a bigger haul than I first thought! Who says I'm addicted?

Playing yarn shops at Ally Pally....................

Gosh this seems such a long time ago now and I have been so behind on my posting recently it has been quite criminal. I thought I might catch up in half term but no such luck.

Anyway Ally Pally for me this year was a little different from the last two as this year was the first year my knitting was on display on a total of four different stands and I also got to play yarn shops on two. I have to say I had such a fantastic time. I had all the fun without all the responsibility. I just hope I get invited back to help next year too.

So first the knitting: well there were items on, Purlescence, Yarnforward, Socktopus and Laughing Hens. Yarnforward I have already blogged about so I won't bore you any further with that and if you haven't read already you can always go and look at my post on the diary of a magazine knitter, and I promise not to mention the cables again!

I had also knitted up a few samples for Robynn in her yarns and also lent a few additionals of things I had bought and knitted up from her over the past year. It was lovely to see my work on display and overhear people talking about it. I brought my Lady gloves onto the socktopus stand and the fog sweater made its way over to Andy on Laughing hens as it has been knitted from the lovely Rooster yarn (now in 3 new colours too).

So here they are:









The other jumper in Rooster next to The Fog sweater is Robynn's Twist and Shout from Knitty fall.

So the Saturday I was a Socktopod and here is just a snapshot of what we got up to......

















These are the little mini socks we were all knitting up while we were on the stand. I now know how to do a short row heel and have sorted out why I was still getting holes. I have since done three short row heels. They were to go over the little sock needle guages that Alice sells.

Sunday I was a Laughing Hen helping out Andy, Mr Bluefaced.com himself. That was loads of fun too. I got to spend lots of time enabling others!





At the end of the day when we had to start packing up and we were piling yarn into boxes all I wanted to do was jump into it!

I had a great time and it was fun meeting so many people that I had met on Ravelry, especially those who had made a special effort to come over and say hello because I had said where I would be each day.

For a little princess....................................

Everyone around me had either just had babies or is about to have babies in the next 6 months. This is providing ample knitting opportunities and I am already planning projects. But here is one little jumper that I knitted over the summer for my friends little girl which I have to say I just love. I will be knitting another one of these in a larger size for my own niece.





I love this yarn too. It is Rooster Almerino DK which I bought earlier in the year and it just knits up wonderfully. There is going to be a lot more of this yarn available very soon too at Laughing Hens. Why not come and pop by the stand on the Sunday at Ally Pally as guess what, I am helping out there.

There is something so satisfying about knitting for little ones, I think for me after the other projects I was knitting over the summer the ability to finish it in such a short time really was the motivation. I really like this design too and would love to see and adult sweater with this construction. As always my new knitpicks came into their own when it came to picking up all the stitches around the neck.