As promised, the shiny...

So, knitting has been going on... I have two FOs but only one with photos at the moment... (the photo above doesn't embiggen, but the blocking shots do, and it's worth it...)

Aeolian Priestess Shawl

Yarn: hand-dyed by Wibbo (Christmas present); base yarn Patons 2-ply merino laceweight, dyed in colour High Priestess, 100 grammes (used 96 grammes)

Needles: 3.5mm

Beads: size 6 irridescent purple blend, about 1200 (85 grammes)

Finished size: 64" across the top by 28" deep

Started April 10, 2009; finished April 29, 2009...

Pretty, isn't it? The yarn was lovely to knit with and blocked out very well; I was glad I'd used the larger beads because it gave real weight... I even didn't mind the nupps too much once I'd started...!

Let's have a slightly better look at those nupps... Mmm. Shiny.

At least it's not a sleeve

This weekend, the knitting in prospect consisted of two purple (second) sleeves. I have been making fairly remarkable progress on St Brigid since I learned cabling without a cable needle from Gwen at the Weird Knitting Class - I didn't think it would make that much difference - but it does!

This is despite having to be quite obsessive about keeping my place in the increases while reading 3 cable charts...

And this is purple sleeve #2, from Primrose Path. This is great train and bus knitting - there's a bit of pattern at the bottom of the sleeve and then just 3x2 ribbing for the rest...

So anyway; it was all sleeves, all purple, all the time; so I thought I'd like another project on the go, and I haven't knitted much lace since Christmas - one shoulder-shawl, to be precise. And I love the Aeolian shawl from this time's Knitty (despite it containing my personal nemesis, the nupp). So I dug out the yarn I thought I'd use, and some beads I'd toddled up to Covent Garden to get; and took them out in the garden to photograph; and only at that point did I realise what colour I was intending to use.

Yeah.

(The yarn, by the way, is 2-ply laceweight dyed by Wibbo in a colour she called High Priestess, and was a Christmas present...)

So I stared thoughtfully at my shoes, wondering whether knitting three purple objects simultaneously was insane...

I guess that's my answer then. I'll be casting on later. So I'll be knitting a purple Primrose Path, a Purple St B in a colour called Pagan, and a purple Priestess shawl... the alliteration just kills me.

A purple patch

After all that talk about how my basic colour choices are changing; I've reverted to type...

I finished these on my week off at the end of August; on the way back from hunting elephants in Norwich with Rosie, actually. And I still haven't blogged that. But I finished these socks just before the train got into Ely, and had half an hour to wait, so I dug the other one out of the bag, put them on, photographed them, took them off again, put my shoes back on... and the woman on the bench next to me didn't turn a hair. The Yarn Harlot talked about this phenomenon on Saturday, but my most extreme experience with it is represented by this photo and this post. Two women and a small child lying on a blanket on the Backs, waving their sock-clad feet at King's College Chapel and being photographed; and not one single person of the many who passed asked what we were doing. OK, Cambridge is quite a strange place at the best of times, but you'd think basic curiosity would have motivated someone... Follow the link to the post for Anne's free pattern. (Actually, Anne, I've just realised that your socks were rightfully mine - they match the sweater I was wearing there terrifically well...)

Back to these socks though.

Pattern is Firestarter, from Yarnissima (a free pattern, worked toe-up like Yarnissima's others).

Yarn is Socks that Rock lightweight, May's club yarn from the Rockin' Sock Club

Needles 2.25mm

On Sunday, I intended to spend the whole day writing my management assignment - I've been doing a course at work which has been 12 full-day courses over the last 7 months, and finishes off with a 3,200 word assessment; which is due in on the 19th. I sat there, and sat there, and couldn't think of a thing to write for hours. So I thought maybe some theta brainwaves were called for (you had to be there on Saturday, you really did), and I couldn't even concentrate to knit, which was just weird, frankly; so I got the spinning wheel out, and picked up some purple roving I dyed in August with the odds and ends from Jan's birthday present, and followed Samuraiknitter's brilliant instructions for dealing with roving, and made something which looks more like actual yarn than anything I've made on this wheel so far. Pics follow:

Not perfect, as you can see... about chunky weight, 133g and 100m; but I'm ridiculously proud of it. So proud that it deserves a tryout on the Tranquil Face, despite his current marjoram haircut.

I have the impression that if he could talk, he'd be saying "Duuuuude"...

And I woke up at about 4am on Monday morning with three of the eight answers to the questions in draft in my head; which just proves this theta business works. (And has no sense of timing - today I finally managed to write these ones up...)

I came, I saw, I spent; I offer a prize...

Ally Pally again! Most of the summer was spent in job-limbo, so it's amazing to realise that it's autumn again... This was forcibly brought home to me as I left the village before it was properly light this morning...





I have no idea what I did to make it look as if there's ectoplasm in this picture, but it's quite creepy, anyway. I had to leave this early because the rail maintenance people are Fiddling with the Track every weekend till the end of the year, and Ally Pally became a train, a bus, a train, another train and another bus each way...


Undeterred, I got there just after 9:30 and found to my delight that they were letting people in to the box office and the Palm Court; don't think I've ever been there before the doors opened before! Talked to a nice lady from Toronto in the queue - she was here on business but had decided to come all four days... Did my usual with the catalogue and ringed the suppliers I wanted to see. There were an amazing number of yarn places again - I thought this was the best selection yet although I know opinions have differed...


I bumped into several people on the way round, including Debbie, who used to teach pottery at Chesterton, and who I seem to bump into every year without fail despite us both varying our days, and despite our living only a few miles apart the rest of the time and never meeting... Also Emily, from the KTog group, at the very first stand... And more expectedly, Gill, who had Cheryl Potter with her on the Cherry Tree Hill stand; and an extremely elegant haircut...

At the Relax and Knit area, Yvonne had just been given a birthday present by Sue - the most gorgeous velvet bag with a hinge closure...




I meant to go back and say hi-and-goodbye, but ran out of energy after about four hours and made my way home! Having been the other side of the counter, exhibiting with Fibrefusion or volunteering on Relax and Knit, for the last few years, I'd forgotten how tiring shopping (which I generally avoid like the plague these days, unless there's yarn involved) and chatting, and things, actually are when there are so few places to sit down and take stock!

So - the damage...

As ever, the first stall I saw was Colinette, next to the doors to the corridor; this skein of Jitterbug whined to come home with me, so I let it. The colour is Slate, and it's actually quite a lot greyer and less lilac than this - while being a lot more attractive than the colour on the Colinette site... I think I'm probably going to turn it into these which appeared on Mim's blog last night...

There were some other delightfully squooshy yarns around, too; this, for instance, from the extremely nice lady at Touch Yarns - I was looking for yarn for Anne at the time and this hopped into the bag with it... It's 100% merino 4-ply, and I think it's probably not robust enough for socks; I'm thinking about a scarf or small shawl in a simple lace pattern (there's 455 yards)...

I went by RKM Wools - I see Rosie has some Lang Mille Colori on her blog so they must have had some somewhere, but I didn't spot it (although I only saw two of their stalls and they had three last year); I did, however, pick up this for the princely sum of £2.50 a ball. Silver Thaw, this is (colour 13)...

Surprisingly, this is the only really purple thing I got this year. I did fondle quite a lot of purply things, though.. And had a lovely conversation with the ladies at Knit n Caboodle about knitters and their involvement with the colour purple. They tried to entice me to buy purple needles, but I have a very similar set from Jan... They were great, though. And have purple carrier bags...

I picked up this DK sock yarn for the next Baby Surprise Jacket (they were also doing the pattern); and these, which may be useful once I start commuting with my sock projects! I saw something similar on the Yarn Harlot's blog last year but I think that one was metal... as I may have to put my bag through an X-Ray on the way into work in the morning, these reinforced cardboard ones look like a better idea... Once I've got something on DPNs I'll try them out and take photos...

There were also needles. Pretty, pretty needles. Lantern Moon needles... Rosewood Lantern Moon needles... Ickle baby 2mm, 5" Lantern Moon needles... This isn't the first time I've bought needles from LM, just the first time I've bought them for me... It'a a ridiculous sum for five cocktail sticks, but they're delightful... And will live in the little bag when not in use - I learned my lesson with the tiny Brittany ones...

And roving! I see all this pretty spinning on people's blogs done with pre-dyed roving... Fyberspates had some lovely stuff...

And so did these people from Finland - yes; it really is that bright... If it's too eye-watering, I have large quantities of plain Jacob fleece and some dark brown fleece to tone it down; but I have a feeling I'll be using it as is. Any hints and tips from the spinners are welcome...

And now to the prize.

My first post was about Ally Pally two years ago, and the blog's birthday is on Friday. I know there are people who read this and don't comment, and I'd love to know who you are; so as encouragement, leave me a comment about anything at all between now and the end of Friday (midnight BST), and I'll pull a name out of the hat - the winner gets a 100g skein of hand-dyed sock yarn (base yarn is undyed Trekking) in a colour of her/his choosing, either custom-dyed or a colourway from the shop.