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Picis are being added as and when. As the stash is knitted up, I try to log what has become of the yarn. 12th February 2007 I went to the Stitching and crafts show in Brighton over the weekend... I wasn't very impressed with the yarn and / or knitting offerings, but it was packed with enthusiastic crafters. I did find Kangaroo's stall and, tucked away at the back, some beautiful fine hand-dyed silks and wools. Purchases had to be made, particularly since I am into lace-knitting mode. Here's the haul:  Kaalund Yarns from Australia (how appropriate from 'Kangaroo'?) 1750m of 100% wool in 'wombat', pinky browns, very fine; 1500m of pure silk in 'Pacific' blues, greens and purples, from which I am swatching for a triangular shawl for D who has broken her arm and can't wear anything with sleeves; 1200m of pure silk in 'Wine', reds, mauves, greens. 8th July 06 The gap in reporting does not mean that I have not been acquiring yarn. It just means I have been too engaged in the vagaries of living to update this page ;- / Serious Stash Enhancement  As soon as I spread the haul on the massage table, Phoebe installed herself. Here she is modelling the lime-gold DK weight hemp at her paws (with some lime kid-silk I have left over from something else), the 1000 brown roses under her noble head and raven's wing propping up the 1000 brown roses pillow. Behind the raven's wing is the raspberry DK hemp. On the left you can just see the emerald green recycled banana fibre, which has since been transformed into a curly scarf. Behind her is some lovely fuchsia hemp from a previous stash haul. In front of that is the natural coloured hemp. Below are close-ups of the hand-painted hemp.    Here's a little peek at the DK sock yarn i got for chris - had to start, of course, and the recycled banana fibre. The latter feels like rough silk and is wonderfully knobbly. You don't want to knit anything with fiddly gauge with it :) It came out rather long as a scarf but I like the way it twists around itself. Pattern made up as I went along, as usual. 
Just one more of Phoebe laying a proprietorial paw on the gold-lime hemp, with the merino lace-weight just beyond.  This is how I blogged this particular stash haul from Woolfest in Cumbria. Serious Stash Enhancement I held fast because Woolfest turned out to be a supreme opportunity for Serious Stash Enhancement on the yarn front. Shall I start the tally? Here goes: First of all I was tempted by some lovely merino lace-weight yarn. 25 ish grams in hand-painted reds and mauves will make a beautiful cobwebby lace scarf. At the same stand, the Knitting and Crochet Guild, I found some addis to enhance my addis collection in 3.75mm, so that I can have more DK projects on the go at the same time. Then a little further on, 100 grams of creamiest, lightest cashmere in 4ply for a wider, longer, thicker scarf, also in lace, of course. So far so good, and at this stage I felt that I had been really restrained. A brief dally with Opal sock yarns produced some DK sock yarn for thicker mid-winter muckboot wear and some soft autumn browns in 4ply, both for DS1 Chris. And a couple of Opal sock patterns. Oh yes, and three skeins of lush green yarn made from recycled banana fibre. So nothing really wild, then. Lunchtime loomed and whilst Emily and Sue (I'll get to that bit later) went off for a bite to eat, I inadvertently turned the wrong way down an aisle in an 'I wonder where this leads to' sort of way, and behold, it did indeed lead to… The House Of Hemp!!! This wonderful emporium is worthy of several Exclamation Marks and Capital Letters. They were there in a small stand, but in all their glory, with hand-painted hemp skeins draped quite shamelessly over baskets and chairs, and festooning the walls of this little Aladin's cave, tempting, beckoning, seducing the unwary traveller onto the pointy rocks of rainbow after rainbow of colour and texture. To be honest, this particular traveller was not unwary in the least, and had indeed ventured so far north of home with the express intention of visiting the House of Hemp for just a little stash enhancement. However, prepared as I was to be excited and entertained, I was not ready for their hand-painted range. Having become accustomed to the beauty of the 'plain' expressions range, to the point where self-control was almost on the cards, it seemed suddenly as if the expressions range provided but a beautiful backdrop to the swathes and swathes of amazing luminous colour play in the hand-painted range. The stand was jam-packed all day, not only front to back, but top to bottom as well, with knitters and weavers both kneeling and on tip-toes. Different ones, that is. And different weavers and knitters, not just different knees and toes. Jane managed amazingly, waving her online card machine around in a desperate attempt to get a signal, with sighs of relief when customers offered cheques. OK, so you want to know what I bought? Well, in DK hemp I bagged an amazing 550gram skein of what Emily later described as 'raven's wing' blacks and greens, mutating magically into purples and reds. Imagine the underside of a raven's wing, with the light glinting off a rainbow of blacks - well, that's it. But that was not all. In the finer 2ply, 4ply equivalent I found the yummiest light reds floating into 1000 brown roses in another 550gram hank which I added to the pile. I actually intended, initially, to buy some lime golden DK but found the best colours in the finer weight, so bought 350 grams of that. And a couple of 50 gram hanks of rose red in DK for the asymmetrical reds jacket. Oh yes, and 550 grams of their undyed, a creamy stone colour, like dark flax. Ha. It only took an hour or so to get the exactly right combination of hemp for the ideal stash enhancement experience, an hour extremely well spent. And I love the way it all piled eventually into the beautiful House of Hemp bag, plain, so unassuming, with string (hemp?) handles, to be clutched lovingly to my side until death or disaster do us part. 31st July 05  Beautiful silk from Hip Knits. 600g in all, not sure what to do with it.  Rather lovely silk I acquired on ebay for a song. 300g. Also bought some deep bordeau and lilac, 200g each.  Only 100g of the aubergine lace weight baby alpaca, but 175g of the Rowan kid silk in amethyst (plenty enough for a sweater) and 200g of the 4ply deep red.  16 skeins of pink silk, very fine 4ply, acquired on ebay. Toria is having a lace scarf from this, but that will take up no more than 3 skeins.  23rd May 04
This is the most gorgeous yarn from Ford Barton which I snapped up at the Country Living Fair at the Design Centre Islington, way back in... February? 300g in all of finest, most beautiful Wensleydale, with the crunchy wool feeling of just off the sheep and natural dyes. Will be fab for a baby jumper, maybe. Same weight as the old Rowan designer double knit, 22 - 24 sts per 4".  23rd May 04
Here are the alpaca fine yarns I picked up on ebay last month. BMS (British Mohair Spinners) 70% alpaca, 30% pure new wool. Yummy and fine to knit, 30sts per 4". I love 4ply. Maybe that's why I love knitting socks. Rachie (my massage therapist) and Meg (her girlfriend) are going to get socks from this, with very discrete pearls (Rache) and beads (Meg). Proper dress socks. As in white tie dress socks for formal wear. Then it will be something for me. Here's a close-up of 'grape'. It's a bit bright in the pici. I really needed to desaturate.  red 1000g Meghan's crocodile scale scarfspring green 1000g grape 500g Rachie's birthday scarf mulberry 500g rust 500g deeper green 500g nutmeg 500g old gold 500g clear gold 500g  23rd May 04
Just a little something I acquired on ebay. It's 4ply (fine, as in sock yarn) and I fancy combining it with another 4ply for a jacket. There are some lovely blues and green running through the rust. Sounds and is odd. 500g.  23rd May 04
Ooooooooh, this is such a lovely yarn. It is a mixture of alpaca and mohair, and you can feel both in it. It knits up to about a DK, 4mm needles, 20sts per 10cm / 4", and I am still salivating at the thought of it. 1100g, so plenty for a jumper or a jacket. The colour is the most melting light toffee beige ever...  23rd May 04
I found this in the depths of my stash, must be at least 15 years old, but in very good condition, having been wrapped well. I don't really know what to do with this, because it is chunky. That means 5.5mm needles or even larger. However, there are 900 g of it, and it is Rowan Fox Tweed. Lovely yarn, just too thick. What on earth can I do with it?  23rd May 04
Here's something else I found at the same time. Double Knit, so more hopeful. This is Hayfield Natural Wool. Doesn't say which particular breed, but it does feel like staight-off-the-sheep wool. 500g in cream. 1200 yards / 1100 meters, 22 sts to 4". What an odd amount to buy. Maybe it was in my Kaffe Fassett days. It does feel rather lovely.  23rd May 04
Another ebay purchase. I see a mohairy scarf to go with my grey winter coat. Very good quality mohair, and 500g of it. Maybe several scarves as presents.  23rd May 04
This is lovely stuff. A viscose / mohair blend from Schachmayr. I got 1700 m of it (1000 g) and it would actually knit up well with the toffee alpaca / mohair (drool) or even the chenille below if I planned for change in tension. Hmmm. Double knit, 22 sts to 4" or thereabouts. One moebius scarf came from this, requiring 4 balls. Look here under the heading 'Two moebius scarves with Jamtart'.  23rd May 04
And here is the chenille. Old gold sueded chenille, mixture of cotton and acrylic. It is unbelievably sumptuous. Knits to about 18sts and 28 rows per 4" / 10cm, and is still tugging at my heart strings, even if I have to use 4.5mm needles. I am crocheting a throw for the drawing room from this. It seems to go on and on...  23rd May 04
The lighter one of these I found in the back of a stash I had forgotten about (an old linen basket). The darker I acquired on ebay recently. They are both cotton, the dark salmon is soft, the lighter is crisper. I see baby bankets emerging. Double knit, the usual 22sts per 4". In fact, Melanie's Baby benefited from the soft cotton. Scroll right down to see it.  14th March 04
A friend found these and snapped them up for me - which I think is an amazing feat for someone who doesn't knit! 100% pure gorgeous wool. Glossy, silky yarns that glide seductively through the fingers. 500g of purple aran weight (medium) and 500g of fuchsia DK (light). Yum. One moebius scarf came from the purple yarn. Look here under the heading 'Two moebius scarves with Jamtart'.  22nd January 04
Found in Liberty's of London on our 'day off' 19th January. Half price! Couldn't resist. And why should I? In this snuggly little collection of Jaeger Aqua 100% soft, shiny cotton are 1000g of Pistachio, 500g of Seville and 500g of Grape.  30th December 03. Onyx and peacock mohair (70% mohair, 30% pure wool), 10 skeins each (80m) from Brown Sheep Co. One skein of pure silk in a mix of delicious colours from my friend Roo. I may do something with onyx and peacock but I am beginning to see a lovely liason with the alpaca below. In which case the onyx and the alpaca and the silk will come together and I shall be looking for something to meld with the peacock mohair - it is much greenier than the pici allows. Pure alpaca in a dusty violet tone, not as blue as in the pici. 18 50g balls, 95m. Rather thicker than double knit, would knit it on 4.5mm needles. More like aran. Will go very beautifully with the onyx mohair and the mixed silk above. I'm thinking of 'Luscious' in Sally Melville's Knitting Experience Book 2 with a stocking stitch jacket in onyx mohair with garter stitch ridges in the silk and alpaca.Luscious has indeed been finished, and I am left with 8.5 balls of this. Scarf to go with Luscious?  Pure wool in a delicious raspberry. Loads of it in medium weight, about 3.75mm needles. In the pici the strands look as if they have lumped together, but they haven't - it's gorgeous. There is enough for a sweater and some left over. I am considering the long-sleeved ribby top in Sally Melville's Knitting Experience Book 2, purely because I need a warmish top that is fairly close-fitting, and I like the raglan look on this one. Fine weight DK cotton, 700g in a creamy coffee colour with beads in a deeper brown. This will turn into a 3/4 or long-sleeved dressy top. 
Medium weight cottons in mid blue - 700g and variegated coffee-and-cream colours, 1000g. The blue will become a sleeveless top and the variegated was supposed to become a 3/4 sleeved top - but I fancy the long-sleeved ribby again. All pure wools, mostly rowan. The original idea for this collection (all left over from vast quantities of kids' jumpers over the years) was the 'Stripy' of which there is a little showing under the pile. However, I am fed up with Stripy, but I can see cat blankets in Vivian Hoxbro style. Yum.Yes, a cat blanket indeed. Look here  Sock yarn! In the drawer it's all German Regia or Socka from Martina. I see 12 pairs in there! Around the sides are some rather sorry looking English wools... the blue/green is Rown 4ply botany, the others are a plain 75% wool 25% nylon mix, but not terribly inspiring. They must have been cheap, or somat...In the meantime I've knitted up socks in the third yarn from the back on the right hand side of the drawer and I've started the back left yarn for some more.  Silkstones! What a rave from the grave! I must have enough here for ... something. Er... how about... I give up. It's lovely yarn though. Underwear? Does anyone have a pattern for fine gauge cami-knickers and top?
 Rowan wool / cotton. Now this is lovely stuff. And I may just have some grey to add to it from Mike's cable jumper. If I ever want to see grey yarn again, that is. There's cream in there from cricket sweaters and quite a bit of blues and coffees which I picked up in sales. I envisage an intarsia / fairisle sweater along the lines of the Kaffe Fassett 'Provence' jacket in the new British knitting mag, whose name I've promptly forgotten.  This is Patricia Roberts woolybear fine wool (4ply) left over from some rather dinky sweaters I knitted when I was in my early tenties, involving strawberries and impossible fairisles. The sweaters have gone to the great mothproof trunk in the sky, but there is still a little yarn left over. I've palled it with - gasp - acrylic with a touch (15%!) of mohair left over from a brilliant school cardi I knitted for Toz when she was 7 or 8. The school uniform called for grey and green, so, being Cruickshanks, we went for black and white gingham and green doc martins. The cardi set it off beautifully. So much more stylish than grey... Anyhow, all I can see for this is an odd scarf, which may be fun to knit as an inbetweeny project. We are getting odder and odder here... these are my odd reds and greens, beautiful, silky, sumptuous yarns I have picked up over the years, and I haven't a clue what to do with them. See the variegated balls left over from a Kaffe Fassett 'Poppies' sweater about three hundred years ago. Maybe I could pal some of the greens with the peacock mohair above... or maybe not. Short bow-tie scarves? I appear to have a large amount of medium weight cotton. On the left are the creams and whites with a little black, on the right all the other colours. The creams may well turn up as a long scarf - what on earth do I do with the other colours? And how did the ball of variegated whites (more Kaffe Fassett intarsia) get in there? That belongs in the above pici with the 'odds'. Just above the deep red at the bottom I can spy a lovely gold I used for a 'bear's paw' pattern cardigan for Toria when she was 4 or 5. She looked sooooooo sweet in it!
 Beautiful, beautiful fine hemp in dusty violet (400g) and coffee (300g). There should be enough there for one sleeveless and one long-sleeved top. This yarn goes a loooooong way. It's from the House of Hemp. The cream is a superb cotton which I pall'd up with a rayon yarn in coffeeish colours. No ideas there yet but the yarn is lovely. |