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.

In a Prickle.......................................

So here is one of my more recent finished items which if you are going to Ally Pally this week you will be able to go and view on the Purlescence stand.











This is actually an adult scarf but I modelled it on a 7 year old and she loves it.



Robynn asked me to knit this up over the summer to show how the Prickly pattern by designer Huan Hue Chye works out in some of the lovely Jenspun mohair yarn that she stocks.







This has to be one of the softest mohair yarns that I have knit with. Prickle is a mobieus scarf that is knit in the round using the Cat Bohordi mobieus Cast on. Easy once you know how and finally learn how to count the stitches. I finally worked out when knitting this particular scarf why I had so many problems before with the length they turned out. Anyway I have solved the problem and I will now be able to more on to many more mobieus scarves knowing that I finally have the correct amount of stitches.



This little scarf is very cleverly designed as, not only do you knit a lacey mobeius strip you then knit a lacey border which you use to bind off the stitches on the mobeius. Now this all may sound a little complicated but actually it is very simple and reasonably quick to complete. I think a couple more of these may feature in my christmas gift knitting.

I blocked..................

I blocked, I blocked, yes I really blocked.



Yes I finally had a go at proper blocking. I finished this SeaVines Vest when I was on holiday in Turkey just after Easter but have put off blocking it because I will be totally honest I didn't know what I was doing. I am so in love with it. It has come out so well and I am converted. All I need now is the proper blocking mats, wires, and pins. You may notice that I have used my ironing board and my ever trusty iron is lurking in the background in case it was a total disaster and I had to revert back to my previous method. One iron and a damp towel!





Note: This was a kit from my sister for my birthday bought at Purlescence and is Fleeceartist Sea wool. The colour is Beet.

What is Robynn showcasing..........?

Have you been over to Robynn's Purlescence site recently? If you have you may have seen her show case this month, if you haven't, well you need to get straight over there and have a look.
Amongst the goodies is a fantastic hat kit from Oldmaidenaunt and it is worth it alone for the most fabulous stitch markers / hat charms ever. Back in February Robynn asked if I would mind doing a little test knit on a kit that she was thinking of stocking. And always happy to oblige I said yes and took home the little bundle.



The first thing that I noticed was the most beautiful strawberry stitch markers, which you actually knit up into the hat for decoration if you can bare to part with them. My one regret was returning them with the hat.





It was a very quick and easy knit with instructions for both knitting in the round as well as on straight needles. The pattern for the hat is neatly wrapped around the two handspun skeins of yarn.



Individually they knit up like this...



..... but in this pattern you knit both the skeins changing every couple of rounds to creat this effect.





Isn't it just gorgeous?

You can buy kits from Robynn here.

I have to say I am definately considering the Afternoon Coffe and spoons one. The colours are delicious and the stitch markers even more so.

Actually I want Robynn to source and stock these markers as I would buy tons and tons of them as they are just so, so pretty.