Sunday 6 March 2011

Rolling onwards ......

I can't believe it's Sunday afternoon already! The weekend has whooshed by, and I haven't done anywhere near all of what I wanted to! I've been busy working on the pattern I'm test knitting for Anne Hanson, over at Knitspot. The pattern is for a scarf called Monkey Bread (I'm not entirely sure why!) and it is made out of the most Delicious, Luxurious, Sumptuous, 'Died and Gone to Yarn Heaven' yarn you could ever imagine!! I can quite honestly say that I have never felt such a soft yarn before. It comes from Great Northern Yarns, and is 70% mink and 30% cashmere. Anne very kindly arranged for me to have some yarn to try out the pattern, and I was thrilled when 2 skeins of Deep Forest Green arrived in the post. The scarf is really simple to knit, with some relaxed cables. I'm making the narrower version, but will probably add more to the length, because I have plenty of yarn! I'm almost (but not quite) wanting the cold weather to hang about, just so that I can wrap myself up in it! There's a hat pattern too, and I think that I'll be ordering some more yarn to make myself one for next winter. A perfect noggin-warmer!!

Monkey Bread scarf WIP (2)

I've also been spinning again! I used some fibre that I bought from the IKnit day in London a couple of years ago. It's 100% superwash BFL from the Skein Queen, in the colourway Pink Lady Apple. Now they happen to be one of my favourite varieties of apple, although I don't buy them very often. Sweet and juicy, and just like the colours in the fibre. It really is the perfect name! I split the fibre and spun each half, before plying them together. I'm working on getting enough twist into the fibre, and obviously need a little more, as I had a couple of breaks whilst plying. But I'm really pleased with the yarn, and love how the colours have worked out!

Pink Lady Apple Handspun

Talking of spinning, I've been playing around a little bit with some of my handspun from last week! I have this seed of an idea for a project, so I did some swatching and calculating, and have cast on! I hope that I have enough yarn! I won't give any more away at the moment, but hopefully next week, I'll be able to do a 'ta-dah!' post!!! Here's a sneak preview ....

knitting a rainbow WIP 002

I took part in a 'Favourite Things' swap on Ravelry recently. You had to send some of your favourite things (both knitting and non-knitting) to your partner. I was in a three-way swap with Shelby and Nancy. I received a fabulous parcel from Shelby last week.

favourite things swap parcel from Shelby 007

In my parcel there was a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn, in wonderful shades of green, some handmade chocolates, a sheep soap, a fantastic box with little compartments for all your knitting notions, some stitch markers and some Chibi needles. Wow! How lucky am I?! Do you want a closer look at those chocolates?! I can't believe they've crossed the Atlantic, they still look perfect!

favourite things swap parcel from Shelby 008

What would be your favourite things to go into a swap parcel? I'd love to know! See you soon! xx

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11 comments:

  1. Jennyff6 March 2011 at 17:47

    You have been totally and enviably spoilt, knitting with mink and cashmere, receiving all those lovely gifts, excellent. My perfect swap parcel would always contain the kind of things yours did, plus maybe some nice cards and coloured pens or an engrossing paperback from an undiscovered author. I don't ask for much do I.

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  2. faith766 March 2011 at 17:52

    Well my favourite things would be a silver and pearl stone charm bracelet, cath kidson hand cream - smells simply divine and some debbie bliss cashmerino aran wool oh and to top off with a nice chocolate Wispa bar.

    By the way love the colours in all the yarns featured - absolutely lovely.

    Leah x

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  3. Clicky Needles6 March 2011 at 17:58

    Love the colours in the spinning.

    I'd like more time as well as all the lovely things you got.

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  4. Lynne6 March 2011 at 19:50

    Ohh, yarn with mink in it!! I may have just added that yarn site to my favourites. ;)

    Your handspun is beautiful, the colours are gorgeous. And those choccies look delicious!

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  5. snoopydogknits6 March 2011 at 20:05

    Wow! What a lovely swap goft! The Ane Hanson scarf yarn looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous. Have a good week. Ros x

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  6. Northern Monkey6 March 2011 at 20:20

    Those chocolates are beautiful, almost too pretty to eat...almost.

    Hmmm...my favourite things... yarn from Laughing Yaffle, definitely, old fashioned boiled sweets and something that smells lovely from Lush I think.

    Your spinning looks great and that scarf pattern is very pretty.

    Hope you have a great week.

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  7. Kathy6 March 2011 at 20:30

    That's a lovely swap gift ... my goodness. As always i love the colours in your post ... especially the idea of Pink Lady wool. They're my favourite apples too.
    xxx

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  8. Anonymous6 March 2011 at 21:40

    The yarn sounds gorgeous!

    Re spinning - which ratio are you using to spin? The higher (smaller) ratios will put more spin into your singles whilst you still treadle and draft at the same speed. And they make plying much quicker!

    The swap parcel looks lovely - the notions box is something I keep meaning to buy, and the locking stitch markers are really useful, I use mine lots. The chocolates look yummy too!

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  9. Anonymous6 March 2011 at 23:04

    Brilliant swap Josiekitten! And the scarf is fabulous - I loe the colour and your description of the yarn makes it sound like something kinda desirable - yes? Looking forward to the "ta-dah"

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  10. Kathy7 March 2011 at 22:57

    do you all have monkey bread in the UK? It very vaguely looks like the balls that would make up monkey bread. that's the only thing i can think of. Using that yarn must be divine.

    That is quite the favorites package! Wow! In my package would be yarn, some type of mint chocolate or blackcurrant sweet, perhaps some wine or liquer(not sure how you'd ship that), and a good mystery novel, preferably from a UK author (Susanna Gregory, MC Beaton, &c). Oh, and maybe some bath stuff... like a bubble bath.
    I had a "dream night" last night - read a book whilst drinking wine in a bubble bath. Heaven! I've debated knitting a washcloth in the tub... I saw it in a book once and the image has always amused me.

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  11. melissa10 March 2011 at 23:36

    oh wow - i've never even heard of mink yarn! i can't imagine how soft it must be. and what a lovely color!

    speaking of lovely colors - ooooooh your handspun is knitting up like a dream!
    you're making me want to learn to spin!!

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Thank so much for leaving me a message. I hope you enjoyed your visit into my little woolly corner of the world! xxx