Mama Mia!

Mr Josiekitten and I went to see Mama Mia last night. What a brilliant feel-good film! We had to sing along very quietly, as no one else in the cinema was joining in! It gave us a much needed dose of Greece too. We normally have a week on a Greek island, but haven't been yet this year. And just to be a little self-indulgent, here are a few Greek holiday photos! Enjoy!

Great Excitement!

There was much cheering in the household this morning when the post came! Why? Well, because this arrived!

I booked my ticket in March, and can't quite believe that next week I shall be on my way to London to see the Yarn Harlot in person! My train tickets are all ready, and I have an impressive browsing/shopping list!! What excitement! More to follow after the event, of course!

Squishy Parcels!

I have to confess to having been a little bit naughty and self-indulgent this week! I ordered some yarn from WildFireFibres. It was so hard to choose, but eventually I limited myself to 4 skeins of sock yarn! Vikki's service was excellent and the postie came this morning. He somehow managed to get the parcel through the catflap. I'm not entirely sure how, as the cats need a magnet on their collar to get in! Maybe it's essential part of a postie's kit, a magnet?! Anyway, I opened the parcel and found these four delicious skeins inside.

They are, from left to right, Fresh Berries (80% merino wool and 20% bamboo), Wild Flowers (80% merino wool and 20% bamboo), Cairngorm (90% alpaca and 10% nylon) and Holly (90% alpaca and 10% nylon). They are all absolutely gorgeous, the colours are stunning. I'm not sure yet quite what sort of socks they will become. At the moment, the yarn is sat on my desk, within fondling distance, but will be removed later today and added to my stash. I'm not yet prepared to admit just how large my stash of sock yarn is, but if I say that in my next life, I'm coming back as a millipede, that might give you some clue!

And as if one squishy parcel wasn't enough, the postie also managed to get another one through the letter box! This time, a parcel from Angel Yarns. I ordered some Opal sock yarn to make a pair of Tiger Feet socks for Norm, my Canadian cousin. His house is full of animal skins from all his travels, so I thought it would be fun to make him some socks to blend in! And also in the parcel, as I was ordering one ball, I thought, well - may as well make the most of this postage I'm paying here, I ordered some Kaalund Enchante silk yarn in Guava. I used this yarn to make a scarf for my secret swap partner on Angel Yarns earlier in the year, and loved it. And it was in the sale, so it was a bargain really! You'll be able to see all these yarns in my stash on Ravelry, just as soon as I work out how to put a link in!

Dublin Bay Socks

I cast on some Dublin Bay socks last night using August's Sock Club Yarn from the Natural Dye Studio. It's Nino yarn, 100% merino wool, and the colourway was inspired by locally growing flowers and herbs.

This is how they are looking so far. The yarn is lovely. I treated myself to a 3 month membership of the Natural Dye Studio Sock Club, and this is the 2nd lot of yarn I have received. I will probably renew my membership for another 3 months, and then maybe try another sock club.

Because I have had problems with patterned socks and sizing before (I had to frog my Jaywalkers and Monkeys!), I am using the stitch pattern of the Dublin Bay socks with my bog-standard know-it-will-fit-me Violet Green sock generator pattern. I might try and do a different heel - I will have to see how the mood takes me when I actually get to that point!

My first post!

Well, I have been promising myself that I will start a blog all summer long, and it has got to the last week of the summer holidays, with school looming, before I have done anything about it! I seem to be very good at spending lots of time reading other people's blogs, looking at Ravelry and Angel Yarns, and generally amusing myself with all things woolly! However, at least things are up and running (or sort of!), even if I can't work out yet how to add all the things to the blog that I want to!