Lots of stash, not much knitting!

All of the above sock yarns have been bought or swapped for my sock blanket. It's so nice to get your hands on so much stash and know exactly what project it's for! The best thing is that when I've bought a ball, I know that I will get more yarn from it. What I mean is that from each 50g ball I get 5 10g mini balls. 1 goes into my blanket, 4 are for swaps. So I get 5 different sock yarn mini balls from one 50 g ball. It's a great way of satisfying my addiction to sock yarn!

The blanket is growing slowly, will post a pic when I've got to 50 squares!

Of course, now that I've cast on for the Apres Surf Hoodie, the blankie is going even more slowly! I'm really enjoying this knit so far:

It's going to be a lovely hoodie, so feminine and pretty. Really not my usual style but it will be nice to wear something light & airy on summer evenings. The RYC Cashcotton is yummy, very soft, especially surprising considering the cotton content. And I love the colour, such a pretty blue.

You would think that I would be knitting like fury with such lovely projects on the go, wouldn't you? Well I would but things keep distracting me! I ordered a copy of Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'Knitters Alamanac' which is keeping me amused. I've never read any of her books before but I think I need to buy more as I really would like to be able to have the courage to make pattern mods which EZ really encourages.

And, of course, then there's the distraction that is the mighty Ravelry!

When I'm not swapping yarns or posting on the forums, I'm looking at so many beautiful projects that I lose track of time and the knitting lies beside me looking forlorn. Last night was worse than usual! I'd read that the Ravelry shop was about to open and I wasn't going to miss out!!

Fast forward 3 hours and many thousands of F5 presses later....I was lucky enough to get in quickly as one of 5 test shoppers to try out the checkout process before the shop went live!! I was SO excited as I managed to order one of the very few Tote bags in stock, a Ravelry pin and a T-shirt! I then spent the next two hours worrying that I'd missed out due to a hiccough in the checkout but it appears that all is well and my goodies are on their way!! Woo Hoo!!

So no, not a lot of knitting has been done....but there has been lots of stash enhancement going on! It's hard to say which of these two activities I enjoy most - what about you?

Blogiversary!!

Happy Blogiversary Woolly Tales!

Yep, it's a whole year since I started my blog. Funnily enough, I had completely forgotten til I got a comment earlier reminding me! And rather conveniently I have spent rather a large amount of money of yarny type stuff today so at least I have an excuse!

So Jomps & I have had the last 2 days off and being the bad parents that we are, we still sent Pickle to Nursery. We just felt that we both desperately needed some adult time, just the two of us. I think the last time we had any of that was when she was just a bump.

We've got loads done round the house (funny how having a little person around generates so much more to do but eats all the time you have to do it all in!) and then had a fabulous lunch out today and a wander round the shops. It was SO nice to leave the house without the buggy, clean nappies and a drink/snack for Pickle!

Anyway, I know you want to see what I bought!

Well, the other day Interweave Knits arrived through the letterbox. It was my second edition since I subscribed and I wsa a bit disappointed with the Spring issue. However, the summer issue is fabulous. Plenty of patterns that I like and am capable of knitting.

I have been itching to start a new project so today was the day! I bought 10 balls of RYC Cashcotton 4 Ply in a pretty pale bluey turquoise to cast on the Apres Surf Hoodie. This is definately the most I have ever spent on a project but I just love the pattern and the yarn feels fantastic, soft yet practical. There is a lovely sheen to it and gives such a crisp stitch definition.

I am even swatching! I figure that if I'm going to spend nigh on 50 quid on yarn, the finished article better fit!

I also bought Knit Today to read over a Latte. I like it better than Simply Knitting but the patterns are pretty horrid! I won't be buying it again!


The best bit of having no buggy with us is that we could wander around the charity shops. Usually we can't fit in! So I searched for some yarn bargains but no luck. However I scored well in a new Oxfam book shop:


The Rowan Babies book does have some cute patterns in it and both of these are in mint condition for only £1.99 each... bargain!

I had sort of thought of running a contest for my blogiversary but I don't think I've got anything you lot might want! So you'll just have to make do with my ramblings and the promise that I will continue to bore you all senseless over the next year! Thank you for all your lovely comments and friendship over the last 12 months. xx