Woolgathering

The other day I mentioned that I had something to write about in that day’s mail. Finally I have time to do so.

I took part in a Swap-Bot swap recently - to swap a  Yarn Ball with two other players. The general idea is to  make a small ball of many lengths of assorted yarns, fibres, fabric strips, lace etc. See here.

The first yarn ball that arrived was amazing, and came complete with extra goodies like a bar of soap and some fibre clippings. The colours were all purples and jades and I loved it. This swap came from Dehbi

I unwound the ball to examine all the different goodness inside - here it is in a random heap.

Now, who would have though that this ball could have been bettered?

Well, here is yarn ball number two, from Shash. Cooler blues this time, with lots of ecru/grey/aqua. Both balls will go exceptionally well together.

But, hold on, this HUGE yarn ball was not all that I received.

The first thing that I saw when I opened my parcel was the lovely merino wool that I am presently knitting into Ambrosia socks.  Three skeins of DK sumptuousness! I was speechless.

My powers of speech continued to be eroded as I delved even further into my huge parcel…

More yarn! And just look at all that texture and cool blue-ness… but the parcel was not done with me yet!

I also found: a set of Pony wool needles, a CookieA knitting pattern, and a pair of the most wonderful glass buttons.

I love CookieA socks. In fact I have already stashed away several of her patterns - although I have only actually knit one pair (the Hedera) - fortunately not this particular one yet. This one is Flicker. Mingus is next on my list, and I will be using the Yarn Yard sock yarn in Rockpool for that, so Flickr is in the queue behind that now. Cookie’s socks are wonderfully engineered and very rewarding to knit. I am very keen to do an adapted Millicent - I love the foot styling, and a pair of the Gothic Spire socks too. I also have to confess to a yearning towards a pair of German Stocking as well!

Have a closer look at those buttons!

Not difficult to see why I was struck dumb by all this generosity, is it? I still don’t know quite what to say about it all.

The whole parcel was so thoughtfully colour-schemed and well put together in addition to being incredibly generous.

I am a  very fortunate woman, I say.

And, while we are catching up:

Some books that I didn’t blog about when they came my way recently. Two Elizabeth Zimmermans and a Yarn Harlot.

Knitters Almanac - for the Pi Shawl

Knitting Without Tears - for basic adaptable patterns

At Knit’s End - for the laughs

My current spinning… almost completed now, after spinning for an hour or two at the Farmers’ Market.

I hope to complete this at spinning group tomorrow - though I may leave it at home and cycle to the meeting if the weather holds up, in which case I’ll take the second Ambrosia sock with me.

Another try at capturing the subtlety of the “Peace” Yarn Yard lace merino yarn that I cast on the other day.

That’s me all caught up for now, I think.

I should probably note that I expect to use my yarn balls for freeform knitting, some time soon. Most likely under the guise of a PS3 “Water” project.

Isn’t this a fabulously colour coordinated post?

My copy of 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders has arrived.

Not exactly stuffed with desirability but one or three useful patterns for ‘is fiver - and the only way that I could get hold of the laceweight fingerless glove pattern. Later on, I’ll tackle some of the hats and mittens and felted projects, from handspun. They’ll make good items for bazaar sales.

I shan’t stop knitting the Slippery Socks, but I am certainly going to cast on some Alpaca Warmers, except I shall be using cashmere. Pink cashmere. Dusty pink cashmere. They are going to be gorgeous. But, oh my, 2mm needles!

The Arizona Quickstep sock is approaching the middle of the foot. It’s tedious work. Hard slog. Not at all inspiring. And it gives me cramped fingers. And I still don’t think that I have enough yarn. But I’ll keep going. Ah, so many sentences starting with a conjunction. Tsk. Though I understand that the practice is acceptable these days.

Aim for today: 1 cuff of a glove and no more, reach the toe on the sock (ha, ha!), fill my current bobbin of mohair/merino.

And now I have to go strip a duckling  before I have to throw it out. Leftover lunch today. We’ll make up for it by having a substantial tea. Yesterday at spinning, J gave me some of her eggs (she produces the best eggs in the world) freshly laid by her bantams - I shall poach them and we shall have them on Marmite toast. A feast!

Linkage: http://www.oneskeinwonders.com/

The library van manages to furnish me with some interesting reading these days. The fiction shelves leave much to be desired, but the creative soul is well catered for by the Orkney Libraries service.

This time around I have been delighted by a couple of books that I picked up in fairly arbitrary fashion, and I will be adding at least one of the current haul to my Amazon wishlist for permanent ownership.

Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments from Interweave Press has an extensive range of knitted motifs and borders that even the averagely inventive brain could deploy in a myriad ways. Many of the patterns are not to my personal taste but there are sufficient good ideas in there to make this book worth my while and I would quite like to have a copy. I particularly like the section of decorative ribbings and can see me stealing many of them for interest detail in otherwise average socks. I’d give this a three sheep rating, I think

Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas, again from Interweave Press, is a cracking little book full of advice on the art of felting knitted items. A range of useful patterns (bags, gloves, hats, slippers, cushions etc.) are simple enough to allow the inventive reader scope for enhancement and embellishment and will provide a springboard to individual designs once confidence levels have been raised. A five sheep  “must have” - for me, at least.

The third book I found to be interesting but less useful - it offered me no more than I had gained from my two day wet felting course last year. How to Make Felt by Anne Belgrave (Search press) has lots of clear step-by-step photographs and would be a good read for the felting virgin. I can’t say that I found it particularly inspirational; the designs shown held little appeal for me, apart from the lion head mask. The book failed generally to engage me but gets an honourable mention here because I recognise its value to the go-it-alone beginner. Worth one sheep, perhaps.

I must make a little sheepish icon…

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