Friday 16 December 2011

Birthday Bounty

I had some lovely presents for my birthday last weekend! I'm sure you'd like a look, wouldn't you?! My dear knitting pal Snoopydog really spoilt me. She gave me some Wensleydale fibre in shades of blue and purple, and a skein of Eden Cottage Titus 4 ply in the shade Damson. Yum!
birthday bounty 013
She also gave me a truly amazing needle organiser case. I've been lusting after one of these ever since I first spotted them in picperfic's Etsy shop. It will be wonderful to get all my needles organised, as I'm not sure exactly what needles I actually have. I'm sure that I've bought extra pairs when I needn't have! So there'll be no excuses now! I've bought fibre from picperfic in the past, and I have to say, the quality of the work on this needle case is second to none.
birthday bounty 014
There is so much space inside to organise everything - perfect!
birthday bounty 016
I'll show you what it looks like after I've put all my needles away! It's even got a handy little needle sizer on the zipper!
  birthday bounty 020
I also received two rather delicious skeins of Woolen Rabbit yarn from another dear knitting friend Kim. She too knows how much I love purple yarn! This yarn has cashmere in it and feels so soft. The colour is Simply Plum and it just glows.
birthday bounty 005
I know just how nice this yarn is to knit with because Kim sent me a skein of it way back in the Spring when we were swap partners in the first Fall in Full Color clubhouse swap. I have just finished knitting a pair of socks, Anne Hanson's Fishbone Gansey socks. Mr JK has taken a liking to them, so they are headed for his sock drawer. He will have very pampered tootsies! The photo doesn't show the pattern off very well - the light wasn't great for taking pictures.
Fishbone Gansey socks (1)
I've already got another pair of socks on the go - another plain vanilla pair for my friend Zena. The yarn is from the  Regia Design Line Erika Knight range. I like the colours in the stripes. 
Plain vanilla socks no4 WIP
I realised that I hadn't shown you my latest spinning efforts all finished. I started spinning the fibre at the end of the summer I think! Anyway, it's plied now, and all ready for knitting.
Alchemy Fibre Arts BFL
I can't believe I've only been spinning for just over a year! I've acquired a sizeable fibre stash (no surprises there I guess!), and I do find it very relaxing. I'm looking forward to being able to spin yarn for my first handspun socks next year! This was my first skein of handspun back in October last year!
my first handspun! (4)
And this is a closer look at my most recent skein.
Alchemy fibre arts BFL handspun (4)
Oh to have more hours in the day for yarny activities! Still, the school holidays begin today, so I'm hoping to have some time to play in between all the mince pie munching!! See you soon! xxx

8 comments:

joy said...

What beautiful yarns, happy birthday indeed. Your profile could almost be me, except I'm not a teacher, but I did work in a school as a science techie before I retired. I haven't done a lot of knitting this year, we are about to move house so hopefully next year it will be picked up and blogged about again.
Joy xx

Marion Starr said...

Happy birthday to you! You certainly received some great pressies... and your last homespun skein looks even better now it's finished.
Enjoy the holidays...

Marion
http://aussieknittingthreads.blogspot.com/

Lynne said...

What lovely pressies!! I LOVE the look of both the yarns, have you any plans for them yet?

Kat Jorgensen said...

Belated happy birthday wishes! Love seeing all of the goodies.

Wow, what a difference in your spinning. Great progress. : )

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm your newest follower. What gorgeous gifts - and Happy Birthday for last weekend! ... :0)

Northern Monkey said...

Gorgeous birthday goodies, you lucky thing! Looking forward to seeing what you create with them. Also that needle case is fantastic.

Anonymous said...

happy happy birthday to you!!
what a lovely lineup of gifties! can't wait to see the gorgeous things you create with them!
-melissa

Anonymous said...

Hi Helen...only just found the time to look at this! So happy you are pleased with your Needle Case! You're doing some lovely spinning!!