This the bag I filled with goodies, but what did it contain by the end of the day??????
Tah-dah............(click on any of the pictures for a close-up!)
Five hanks of Colinette Iona to make Cherie Amour
Some cute buttons from Injabulo
3 hanks of Manos Silk Blend
3 skeins of KnitWitches sock yarn and 1 of Natural Dye Studio merino sock yarn
KnitWitches silk laceweight (600m) and KnitWitches cashmere laceweight (1000m)
See that grey spotty alpaca at the back?
Yep, this one. His name is Mingle.......
and his fleece is partly responsible for this. 6 balls of WhyNot Alpaca from Sedburgh, Cumbria, to make the Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits magazine Winter 2007.
We went up to Cumbria on Friday but it was a bit too late to go into Woolfest and have enough time. We did go to the site to have a look and the first person we saw was Chris, dashing out the door. She was empty handed but informed us that her car was already stuffed to the brim!
We checked into the hotel and then had a lovely Italian meal that evening.
On Saturday we "did" Woolfest. I wasn't sure what to expect, but basically it was a big livestock building where everyone had set up their stalls. Yarn stalls, spinning stalls selling wheels and paraphernalia, live animals at one end including sheep, alpacas and rabbits. The Angora rabbits were hilarious, I didn't realise they had such pointy up ears.
There were plenty of stall holders whose names I recognised, and many I didn't and there were loads of ravelry badges being displayed. I bumped into J, Beryl and Chris from the knitting group, but didn't manage to spot Mel, she was probably buried in fleece!!
I bought all the stuff above (not the animals though) and Colin bought me a swift and ball winder stick (but I don't know about them until my birthday!).
The ladies of KnitWitches were very chatty and recommended an Indian restaurant that they had been to so that evening we went there. And they were there too. And Amanda from Natural Dye Studio was staying in our hotel so we saw them at breakfast.
I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend that part of Cumbria for a stay, as we went off to the coast to have a look and it was very run-down and bleak. Such a shame because the Lakes part is lovely.
Since we got back I finished my Vegas Sands cowl. I have made it quite tall and it fits snugly so it is going to be very warm in the cold weather.
Can you spot the one (not) deliberate mistake?
Talking of mistakes I have had an absolute disaster. I finished Colin's jumper as you know and had partly sewn it up when I asked him to try it on "just to see". Well, the sleeves were about 6 inches too long and the cotton was stretching so it was pulling the shoulders down making it worse. I decided to shorten the sleeve from the cuff but the first one wouldn't unravel. I decided to take the sleeves off and frog and re-knit them. But, when I went to take the sleeve that I had sewn on off, I cut the wrong thread and a hole started growing in the BACK of the jumper. So the upshot is that I now have a lovely full bag of balls of cotton and NO JUMPER!!!! I had to frog the lot!!! I will not be making it again, certainly not in the cotton, it just hung off Colin like a sack, ulgh. I think it is now destined to be a selection of string shopping bags.
But on a lighter note, I have started the Gathered Pullover and the alpaca is GORGEOUS!!!!
4 comments:
Thanks for the Woolfest update and photos of your wonderful yarn buys (not that I'm jealous or anything, you know...)!
I looked at the 'spot the mistake' photo, and it took me ages to find it! I really wouldn't worry about it...
Bad luck with Colin's jumper: some things are just not destined to be!
Oh, what fun! It sounds like heaven! Those alpaca look funny all shorn, don't they? So now you must be set for wool for the next, what, 2 months? I mean, it's not as though you knit like the wind or anything!
I end up feelin really slow when it comes to your "spot the mistake" photos. I never have enough time to come close to finding your (nonexistent) error. I agree, nothing obvious, in any case.
So sorry to hear of Colin's jumper, what a sequence of events. I'm always curious about knitting with cotton, having heard a few tales such as yours. Hope the string bags are lovely. ;)
OH yes, as I was quickly scrolling to be sure I was reading the post closest to the last one I read, I caught a glimpse of that rabbit--thought for a moment you had adopted another pet!
I'm so envious - both of the opportunity to meet so many blog and internet knitters and of course all that yarn in the flesh!
At least you made the decision to frog - there's nothing worse than having a big mistake fo and not being sure whether to try and fix it or not. And it's absolutely the worst when you're undoing a seam and it turns out to be the jumper itself.
I love the little Angora rabbit.
Love your Vegas Sands! The colors look so great with the stitches... I bet it's a yummy-to-wear come winter!
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