More knitting time at last!

Good afternoon! I'm celebrating the fact that I've finished writing my school reports! Unless you're a teacher, you won't appreciate the huge weight that has suddenly gone from my shoulders! So I've had a completely chilled-out weekend, indulging myself with plenty of knitting time. This weekend I was supposed to be going to Woolfest, but decided not to, partly because of the distance, and also with Knit Nation looming, I need to save my pennies!!

I have been rather lax in keeping up to date with my Innocent Smoothie hats. So I have ten to share with you now! Ooops! At least the campaign has been confirmed again for this year now, and I don't have to sneak into Sainsbury's and start yarn bombing the smoothie bottles!

I finished knitting the sock sample for my LYS. I knit rpm from Knitty, and I think it shows off the wonderful colour changes in the Noro yarn really well. I couldn't decide what size needles to use, so looked on Ravelry and went with the most popular choice - 2.5mm. That is thinner than the recommended needle size for the yarn, and the fabric has come out quite thick and dense. I think I might knit another plain sock on a larger size needle to see how different it feels.

I have been doing some test-knitting for Anne Hanson this week too. She's currently working on a lacy scarf, and I've loved the pattern ever since she first starting blogging about it. Until I received a copy of the pattern, I assumed that it was all cabled, but the pattern is done simply by decreasing. Anne is a genius! Here's how it's looking so far with three pattern repeats.

Can you see why I made the mistake of thinking it was cabled? It is such a pretty design. I'm using a skein of Fibre-Isle Kami Bison that I receieved in a swap from Cathy in Canada.

I've started working on my handspun Ishbel again today, and can't believe how simple I am finding it! It just shows how far my lace knitting skills have moved on in the last few weeks. I even had it as car knitting today. I'm whizzing through the charts, so should have a finished shawl to show you next week.

I received the most wonderful parcel this week from my dear friend Kim. We were swap partners for the first official swap in the Fall in Full Color Clubhouse, and hit it off straight away. We decided to do our own unofficial swap, and Kim's parcel arrived on Monday. Oh. My. Goodness. Where to begin?! Kim totally spoilt me with some absolutely beautiful yarns - Bugga, Briar Rose Sea Pearl, Spirit Trail, Periwinkle sheep, plus some BFL fibre to spin. As well as the yarn, there was plenty of chocolate, a pot of Woolen Rabbit handcream, some artisan soaps and some incredibly useful highlighter tape. In fact, I don't know how I've surived without it until now!!!! Just take a look at this little lot and drool!! Thank you so much Kim, you have been so generous.

Kim received my parcel on Friday, and she loved what I sent her too - some sparkly Posh yarn, a skein of Sokkusu merino and cashmere, and some yarn from Juno Fibre arts. Plus soaps, ceramic buttons and assorted chocolate and an introduction to Granny Wobbly's fudge!!

We have decided to do another swap later in the year, so I shall be on the lookout for some delicious yarns when I'm at Knit Nation. The second swap is now underway in the Clubhouse, and I've got my parcel all sorted out for my partner Melissa. I'll share it with you later.

It's less than a week now until the Tour de Fleece starts. I'm going to sort out some fibre in the next couple of days to set myself some sort of (hopefully achievable) spinning target. I'll pop back in the week and show you what I'm planning! See you soon! xxx