Monday, January 05, 2009

happy new yarn!

yarnpile
Well, it's that time of year again... the John Lewis yarnsale.... I braved the Trafford Centre along with approximately 10,000 other people and seem to have fallen headfirst into a big pile of RYC Cashsoft DK. I'm hoping this'll do for a Deep V argyle vest. Now I have conquered my steekfear. It's not 100% wool but if I machine sew rather than crochet the steeks I'm thinking it should be ok. I think I would also prefer it to have a slightly shallower V, so some tinkering may be required.

the sock yarn! it burns!
I'm also quite excited about doing something with this rather lovely hand-dyed sock yarn that Santa brought me (in the guise of Cat... thankyou!). Look at that fiery handsomeness to warm you up on a cold winter's day. I'm thinking it might like to be the Herringbone Rib Socks in the latest Interweave...

So many plans. I am ploughing enthusiastically through the Riding to Avalon hoodie so I can put some into action. One torso down, two sleeves, one hood, and lots of finishing to go!

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Saturday, January 03, 2009

the year in yarn



It's the RubbishReview of the Year! Some stuff I have knitted/crocheted/cross-stitched in 2008:

1. monkey socks, 2. dragon, 3. donkey kong cross-stitch valentines card closeup, 4. butterfly cardie, 5. stripy noro scarf, 6. woolly childhood, 7. easy baby booties, 8. stripy earflap hat, 9. rainbow booties, 10. newborn slipstitch hat the second, 11. newborn slipstitch hat, 12. elephant, 13. rainy day hat, 14. highland schottische kilt socks, 15. blanket of many browns, 16. tweedy earflap hat, 17. baby norgi, 18. big shoes

The last one is a pair of Christine's stay on baby booties, whipped up speedily before we went away for Christmas to a Very Cold Place. The pattern suggests making them in four ply, which I did, but they both fell apart from overuse and became too small after about 2 weeks of my large-footed offspring's life. So I boldly made a pair in aran-weight Wensleydale longwool.

They go nicely with the woolly childhood that I made him. There is tons of room in these on my 5 month old. (Mr. Rubbishknitter drily remarked that our son would still be wearing them when he went to university). But they still stay on, and keep the feet warm. Good old Christine, whoever she is/was.

Wishing everyone a happy, knitty 2009!

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