Sunday 19 April 2009

Confession time!

I've had a small spending splurge this weekend. Mr Josiekitten and I had tickets to go and see Riverdance down in Ipswich yesterday. We decided to make a day of it, and visit Aldeburgh first. It was then that I had an idea - the Natural Dye Studio is very close to Aldeburgh! Can you guess what happened next?! I contacted Amanda who said that she'd be there dyeing in the morning, so off we went! It was great - baskets full of her delicious skeins of yarn. I succumbed to the following.....

NDS splurge!

From left to right, the first is a skein of Mirage, in Wisteria. It's a merino/tencel mix, and the tencel gives it a lovely sheen. I think it's destined to become a shawl - maybe another Ishbel (says she, having not even finished the first one yet!) In the middle are a set of 10 mini skeins. I was like a child in a sweet shop, not knowing which colourways to choose. I'm hoping to use these to make a Cassia crochet mobius scarf. And the third skein is Dazzle, in Sweet Pea. This is a sock yarn using wool from the British Blue Faced Leicester sheep. It is so, so soft, and is going to make some lovely socks.

Amanda showed me the dyeing room - it was very interesting to see the natural dyes that she uses. She must work incredibly hard, right through the year, to keep up with the demand. I love the subtle colours that she produces, and will be treating myself to another membership of the Sock Club once my stash is a little smaller! Here's a taster of what I saw....


NDS

Then we headed off to Aldeburgh and ate fish and chips on the beach. It was a gloriously sunny day, and I had to make sure that the seagulls didn't pinch any of my lunch!

Gulls

I managed to get some 'car-knitting' done, on Michael's summery stripy socks, and they should be done in the next few days. I've also finished my April sock challenge pair, and have to say that I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I used the Circle socks pattern, and it's worked so well with the yarn. Take a look!


April circle socks

I'm desperately trying to finish some baby things before term starts tomorrow. I just have a toy to complete, but it's a bit fiddly. I think I'd better go and get on with it now!

1 comment:

snoopydogknits said...

Love love love the socks! You've inspired me to knit some as my May sock challenge socks. What fabulous photos too! Natural Dye Studio looks like a fab place to visit. I won't mention your little purchases!!!!!! LOL XX