Bad Blogger

I have been one of those. I haven't really kept up to date, I have been super busy though. My job has been leaving me rather exhausted, but I am now reducing my volunteering time so i have more rest time, and rest time means more knitting!

I have also been to Dublin I will add, and there will be a couple of pics from that in a different post.

So, to the knitting content...

Mainly this will actually be a list of aquisitions, as I have had m first pay day and it was a big one so I have purchased some lovely stuff from it, have a little ogle!

Lots of pretty things! As you can see I have finally managed to get the second ball of Sublime I need to finish my Bella's Mittens, I will have warm hands when I walk to the bus in the morning!! Also I have some new notions (a chibi for my knitter needles, lots of point protectors because I seem to have lost my old ones) and lots of KnitPro. I am actually waiting for some more KnitPro to come in the post which i got in Dublin and which John is going to send to me when he remembers, I got some 7mm symphony tips and a 100cm 2.25mm symphony circ for magic looping socks. Here is a close up of the stuff pictured which I actually have now:

As you can see there is another fixed circ, this one is 2.75mm for magic looping socks, I am so glad I discovered the technique, I love it and will be using it a lot more then DPN's if I can help it!

Also there are some more interchangeable cables, in 80 and 100cm sizes, and also, and this one i found amazing and just had to have, a 10cm cable! I am not sure whether it will actually be useful or not, but it was cheap and I had to have it, I am sure I will find a use!

Now for the best things in those photos. Do you remember way back when i got my first pair of acrylic needles tips, the spectra tips in September? Well, those pink tips there are pink versions of the spectra tips called flair! they are fab! I got a 5.5 and 6mm pair for a couple of projects I have lined up and cannot wait to cast things on for them.

I am going to have a sort knitting interval now where I show you the two charity neck warmers I am working on, unfortunately I cant show the other things as they are christmas gifts and I know that my sister sometimes checks this, so charity will have to do.

I am now onto my third charity neck warmer as I mentioned before my trip to the land of the Irish, it currently looks something like this:

I am hoping for a nice waffle effect, It is my current traveling knitting for the bus, but as it takes a little more concentration it isn't going as fast as the rib one did, if I attempted this while half asleep I have a funny feeling I would make a few mistakes!

I also have a complete photo of the second neck warmer for you...

I cast on around 80 stitches and it does look really very small when it is sat on the desk but i have tried it on and the ribbing means it is super stretchy, I am thinking nice and snug against the cold wind.

A little Ravelry mention for a second, as I have mentioned before I am a member of the RAK group on there, and I am just popping a little progress picture up for a lovely lady who sent me lots of embroidery threads (as well as some milkybar buttons!)

As you can see I have wound a lot of the skeins, but there are still lots and lots more which are safely tucked into the drawer for when I run out of these ones, so hopefully there will be some occasional embroidery content on here! Though admittedly not until after christmas, I have far too much knitting to do.

Now back to acquisitions, this time of the fibrous kind.

When I was in Dublin me and John visited a lovely yarn shop called This Is Knit, the two little corner stores in the shopping center were lovely, filled with luxury and basic yarns, i got to touch some Tilli Thomas (around €30 a skein) and as well as some real Irish tweed. I spent my pennies (or rather cents) on something else though, the Dublin Dye Company's Merino Sock. This is yarn dyed by the owner of the store and it is incredibly soft, machine washable, and the most beautiful peach colour. I have decided to make the Hermione Everyday Socks from Ravelry with it when John has sent me my 2.25mm circ (I actually started and had to pull it out to leave)

My final bit of Yarn Porn (coined by Lime n Violet) is this:

This, is Malabrigo. I had heard of the amazing softness of Malabrigo and now I have experienced it first hand, it is unbelievably soft, perfect for John's sensitive chin and neck. I went for the worsted weight for the neck warmer so it is a bit chunky, it is really cold over there in Dublin so it should come in handy, and I went for an unusual colour called blue graphite, it looks black until the light shines on it and you see the deep blue shining in it, I am quite tempted to get a skein for myself. I wont be showing this knit up until it is finished because he checks this, but I cannot wait to start on it!