Jolly June Swap

IMG_0999, originally uploaded by Fizz14.

As part of the UK Random Acts of Kindness group on Ravelry, I received a parcel today from Maddy18 containing a cheeky chimp face pack, tiger pencil, ladybird keyring, monkey stitch markers, some sweety teeth & lips, 100g of gorgeous purple Bamboo cotton and best of all a handmade chimp lavender bag.

It is a bit bizarre receiving presents from someone you dont know or have never met but it's lovely at the same time. Like when a stranger gives you a cheery 'Hello' or a smile when you're out for a walk.

Ahoy there!

Having lost my knitting mojo when pregnant, it's back! My twins Sally and Tommy are now almost 16 weeks and I've taken advantage of my precious hour or so of me time before I go to bed at night to get back into my knitting.

Last year I started knitting Barnacle Bill from Simply Knitting and have sewn him up and finished all the twiddly bits. I didn't make the parrot as I didn't have any suitable colours.

How quick was that?

After posting the other day about where I was on the Ravelry waiting list, I got my invite this morning!

Have only had a quick look but have found out already it only supports photos from Flickr at the moment, though there are plans to include other photo sites I think. It's a wee bit of a pain as I tend to use photobucket. And you have to make sure your pictures are marked as public on Flickr or it can't load them up.

But apart from those minor things it looks like a great resource. Hope you don't have to wait too long if you're still on the list (yes you Bronte!)

Won't be long now!

Here's where I am on the Ravelry waiting list!

You signed up on June 18, 2007
You are #9789 on the list.
145 people are ahead of you in line.
17787 people are behind you in line.
34% of the list has been invited so far

How exciting, only 145 people in front of me.........poor 17787 who are behind me!

STASHATTACK

Wow that's a big gap between posts. A combination of not taking photos, can't be bothered writing and thinking there was nothing to report. However now I have so much to update I'll have to do it in more than one post. Lets look at the latest acquisitions.

Having reached my target of losing a stone I went daft buying yarn. These are some of the additions to my stash:

From the pink clockwise -

150g Merino pink superwash, 150g Blue face Leicester DK, 2 x Regia Sock Yarn, 2 skeins Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, 2 x Jamiesons Ultra, 2 x Rowan cotton 4 ply

AND

4 mini skeins of merino & alpaca from Hipknits. I also got a copy of their new Starstruck Shawl pattern to use up some lace weight silk I have.

AND

A prize from the lovely Bronte which I won simply by leaving a message on her blog to commemorate her 'blogiversary'. Its Malabrigo Purple Mystery and its even more purple in real life. I love it.

I also have 4 (count them) WIPs, which is unheard of. I like to complete something before starting the next project so I'm not quite sure how I got myself in such a state. More details of the 4 (4!!!) in the next post.

First Target reached!

I have met the first target on my self-imposed stash diet!

Way back in March I decided to not buy any more yarn until I lost two stone. Very quickly I re-assessed that target to one stone, to make it a bit more achievable. Which is just as well as it's taken me THREE MONTHS to lose my first stone. This last week I have had a bit of help as I enrolled in a trial programme at my local pharmacy, which involves going each week for five weeks, then fortnightly for the next ten. Lots of healthy eating advice and NO DIETS. I had my weigh-in this morning and had lost 3 kilograms which takes me nicely to my target.

So pass the credit card till I get me some yarn.......not quite. I have decided to wait till after my weigh-in next week to see that I have maintained the loss before allowing myself to make any purchases. It'll give me time to have a browse through my patterns and decided what i want to make next.

Knitting Lace Course

I went along last weekend to a Knitting Lace course at Twist Fibre Craft Studio, Newburgh, Fife.

I've never been to a knitting course or lesson before, I learned the basics from my Mum and Gran when I was wee and have picked up other techniques myself through books and the Internet. So I was feeling a bit apprehensive before going along - what if I was doing it all wrong?

There were only 3 of us doing the course which meant we were all able to get a good look at what our tutor was demonstrating. We knitted 3 different lace patterns over the two hours, changing yarn each time. There wasn't huge amounts of chat but when you're knitting lace you really have to concentrate.

The most important thing I got out of the course was that all this time I actually was doing it properly. Although I've not attempted any huge pieces of complicated lace, I've knitted lace in lots of patterns over the years, it's just that I didn't think of them as lace. The prospect of tackling a large shawl or stole doesn't faze me now!

I would highly recommend this workshop and it's worth going to Newburgh just to have a look in the Twist Fibre Shop. It's not the biggest but it is crammed full of loads of desirable yarn - Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Noro, Opal were the ones that jumped out at me but I'm sure they stock others too.

Two of the books I looked at during the workshop are definitely wish list items - Heirloom Knitting and Victorian Lace Today. Both very detailed with gorgeous patterns.

Secret Santa Parcel

The whole package unwrapped, originally uploaded by Fizz14.

Here's what I got from yunaleska
Yarn - 2 balls of Sirdar Click, 2 balls of Sirdar Luxury Soft 4 ply, 2 balls of Patons Sorbet.
Goodies - Mint chocloate, lip salve and notebooks.

Lovely!