knit nation

(above: the Wollmeise stand, before it all got devoured by a swarm of yarnlocusts)

Oh yes, last weekend was knitting festival time!!!1!!1! Like Glastonbury, sort of, but with more cardigans. It's taken me a week to recover from the excitement.

Highlights of the day included:

• Marvelling at the Habu stall. So many beautifully arranged cones of colourful tweedy yarn, I didn't want to ruin the display by buying any. There was a great selection of unusual yarn, silk / stainless steel blends, and paper! (All fun and games until it rains.)
  


• Scoring some beautiful Crannog from the Yarn Yard. I went crazy and got a cardigansworth, probably for Laika, but I haven't 100% decided.


• Finding this cute project bag in the same fabric as my recently acquired needle case
  


• Inadvertently wandering across Ysolda's twitter feed. It was Cara who noticed this - she recognised my Tempest cardigan! (the red one)


• Winning a Knit nation mug! Here it is being modelled by a good strong brew.
  


• Relaxing in the cafe with knitting, cake and gentle yarnbanter.
  


• Last, but very much not least - meeting the very lovely Kate Blackburn, who not only put up with my yarn-based witterings for most of the day, she met me at the station, navigated me to the correct place, and gave me gifts of yarn and cake. Thankyou so much!

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japan love

If you were wondering, we raised over £400 at Purl City on Wednesday for the British Red Cross Japanese tsunami appeal!

And a jolly fine time was had by all. I did lots of knitting, chatting to friends, won some ace prezzies and had wasabi peas and sake for my tea. What more can one possibly want from an evening?

There was a raffle in which I won this ball of Noro Kureyon sock, in nice restful natural shades of green. And a book of amigurumi robots! How good is that? Such as this handsome devil. I'm going to be all over this just as soon as I've reminded myself how crochet patterns work.


There was also a closed bid auction, in which I managed to get my hands on this very lovely Noro hat knitted by Vikki. Beautiful sunsetty colours - rubbishknitterjunior is very taken with it.


Thanks to the organisers for the yarny treats and a fun night out!

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wild fire fibres trunk show

There will follow a small and probably quite welcome interlude in The Saga of the Cardigan to show you some pretty pictures of the Wild Fire Fibres trunk show at Purl City Yarns!

Wild Fire Fibres is the yarny adventures of Salford's finest handspinner, indie dyer, designer, mindbogglingly intricate lacy shawl knitter, pompom lover and all round thoroughly bloody lovely lady Vikki. She's been rather busy of late preparing a selection of very beautiful handcrafted woolly treats for all our recreational delight. I wandered down to the welcoming glow of Purl City after work on Wednesday to squish them on your behalf.

There was a dizzying selection of colours, fibres and weights. Difficult to know where to begin really.

This picture shows the handspun at the front. Some breathtakingly gorgeous skeins, all so different in character. Some shiny, some sparkly, some fluffy, some glittery, prethreaded with beads. There is handdyed sock weight in the middle, and at the back, shawl lovers were in paradise with all the luxurious lacey goodness. I particularly love the Pegasus alpaca/silk blend, with its metallic shininess. And the Angora laceweight, which is spun tightly enough to minimise shedding whilst still obviously being as soft as the sneeze of a baby unicorn falling into thistledown.

Some colours were mouthwateringly sweet-shop bright, some were natural world inspired neutral shades. All were eminently squishable.



Some (mostly the pink ones) were snaffled by IDreamOfCrafts before anyone else turned up.



Being a bit of a Shetland fetishist (Shetishist?!) I knew immediately which of the handspun I was going to have trouble leaving without. Then there was also free wine, a very interesting talk from Vikki about her work, and a couple of hours of knitting and enjoyable banter with friends. I overrelaxed, and became powerless to resist. This is the sight greeting mr rubbishknitter as he caught me on the cctv trying to smuggle yarnz into the house. (joke (c) audreym, twitter, 2011 )

(there is a bonus terrible handknitted pegbag in the background of this photo from my very early days of knitting, definitely pre-ravelry, possibly even predating this blog!)

So in summary, both Vikki and her yarns are lovely and you should definitely buy them, either from her website or you can catch up with her at Wonderwool Wales this year.

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fairy yarnmothers

Ok, so I'm a little behind on documenting my yarny adventures, so here's a slightly compressed and rather picture-heavy catchup post. About a month ago, I was invited to a destash party with the lovely Kate from Green Eyed Monsters and Kath from Six Swans. As they are both uberawesome yarn producers, this is the kind of event you would literally drop everything and pelt towards immediately. So I did! Leaving Mr. Rubbishknitter to sweep up the shards of crockery.


And here is the extremely lovely handspun that I managed to swap for some strawberry laces. The multicoloured skein is from Green eyed monsters, the white is from Six swans, and the brown is from an alpaca called Jemima at Black Mountain Alpacas. Good old Jemima. All so very pretty and squishy, and I had the cunning idea of combining all the mini-skeins together into a hat. Just a basic beanie, cast on 108 stitches in the round on 3mm needles, with a stripe pattern reflecting the relative amounts that I had of each colour (I had to double-strand the white, it was a bit thinner than the other two). It's a lot lighter in weight than most of my winter hats, and is probably what the posh knitting mags would call 'trans-seasonal' and I would call, er, not dead thick. Still very comfortable and pleasantly earwarming though, I love it and have worn it a lot. Thanks ladies! Also, I kind of hoped that casting on for a hat in March would speed up the arrival of Spring, a bit like sparking up a cigarette when you are waiting for a train. And it seems to have worked! Almost, if you squint out of the window and pretend it isn't chucking it down today.


In other news, imagine, if you will, how much opening this unexpected parcel would make you grin like an idiot. The answer, if you are in any doubt, is rather a lot! If the impossibly cheerful bright pillar box red colour isn't enough after the sensory deprivation of winter, it is incredibly squishy merino laceweight that you have to stroke against your face immediately, and a 100g skein, which in laceweight is probably enough metreage to knit a jumper for the moon. It also wins the Pleasing Packaging Award for the big smiley face on the label. It's from the incredibly generous Kate B. Hmm, and here on my table is the Winter/Spring issue of Knitscene, with the rather lovely laceweight Geodesic cardigan... *ponders*

So a massive thankyou, to er, Kate, Kate, and Kath! (And Jemima). Your gifts of awesome are very muchly appreciated!

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box of delights

This is what the postman brought me yesterday. A big box of treats from my new favourite person Kate B! I think she took pity on me after seeing my jumper made from scraps. It's a ridiculously generous present, with looooads of yarn in this box. There's a whole toddlerjumpersworth of lovely navy blue aran weight wool, and some nice cheerfully bright skeins of sock yarn to bring a bit of colour to a grey drizzly day. I love it... thankyou very much Kate! What with this and my speed knitting win, the yarn cupboard is looking a lot healthier now, and I can start plotting some exciting new warm stuff.... yay! I'm not sure exactly what yet, but the awesome yellowy orangey skein on the left whispered to me that it might want to be a triangle scarf when it grows up.
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new things to squish

In case you were worried about the yarn levels in this house after the last post - it's all ok again! I went to Manchester Yarn Day, which was the funnest day out ever. So much lovely hand dyed and handspun yarn around, there were all kinds of opportunities for stroking, prodding and admiring. And lots of sitting around drinking tea, meeting nice people, chatting and knitting. I did a couple of the free workshops. There was one on spinning, by Kate from Green Eyed Monsters which was all kinds of awesome. Unfortunately, though, someone had stolen my fingers and replaced them with sausages immediately prior to the event. Everyone else seemed to end up with yarn, whereas I had an amorphous blob of an unknittable substance that veered crazily from sewing thread to candy floss in consistency. But it was immensely good fun. As was the Speed Knitting event. I got a bit overexcited about this and demanded a soundsystem playing Eye of the Tiger and a satin dressing gown with Rubbishknitter embroidered on the back. Sadly these weren't provided but somehow I managed to win!

The prize was a basket of lovely goodies from the Manchester Yarn Collective - one skein of 'just peachy' sock yarn and a cute cherry purse from Green Eyed Monsters, and a skein of yellow laceweight from Krafty Koala (the label fell off in the excitement but it is unbelievably soft - I think some sort of cashmere blend). I am clearly having an extremely lucky day and should probably do the lottery or something. So amazingly, I almost got away without spending any money, but unfortunately when I went up to the stall to say thankyou for my prize yarn I leaned on a skein of lovely soft chocolate brown merino sock yarn from Skeins and it was so soft and warm I accidentally bought it. Ah well, I managed to spend less than a tenner and it was a pretty awesome haul! And there is hope yet for spinning skillz in the family...


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yarn avoidance fail

Well, I knew it was the John Lewis sale this week... and I needed some buttons for the dungarees. So off I went, reciting in my head the mantra 'you only need buttons'. I went for these rather simple buttons in the end - they go nicely with the colour scheme, and there is some rather hectic applique going on elsewhere so I thought attention seeking buttons might be a bit over the top. Quite pleased with these ones - cheap and simple but pleasing.


What I definitely didn't go to John Lewis for, was any of this. But somehow it seems to have happened anyway. Debbie Bliss Pure Silk half price, in decent colours? It was literally impossible to walk past the bargain bin. I'm sure it will get used... I have about 50 bazillion pregnant friends at the moment, and a new copy of Woolly Wormhead's baby hat book, so small amounts of luxury yarn are handy.

The worrying thing is that I need some more poppers* too (I hammered in some of the first lot a bit overenthusiastically). So I have to go back. Do I have the willpower to resist the bargain bin a second time?! I hope so...

*as in snap fasteners obv, not the intoxicating substance which makes you turn purple

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UK Ravelry day

So if you didn't already know yesterday was UK Ravelry day, a knitting themed event in Coventry. I was ridiculously excited to be relieved from childcare duties for the day so that I was able to go!

Fortunately for knitters, the weather turned freezing for the day, so everyone was able to showcase their favourite handmade woolly creations. It was great fun to play spot the pattern / spot the yarn.

It was chucking it down a bit too much to stroke the poor alpacas, but there was a nice indoor area to shelter from the rain, with tea and cake, where literally everyone was knitting as they sat and chatted or stood in queues for workshops. Which is just an awesome sight. I loved just sitting round soaking up the atmosphere - everyone was so friendly, it was almost impossible not to get into a conversation if you reached into your bag and pulled out a piece of knitting or ball of yarn.
The range of stalls selling so much British yarn proved impossible to resist, so I didn't even try. (Mr. Rubbishknitter texted me as I was on my way home: Do you need me to bring the van down to the station to bring back all your new yarn? I replied: No need, I've managed to cram it all into the saddle bags of our new pet alpaca. He went quiet for a while after that.)

Jamieson and Smiths had a stupidly tempting pile of big bags of 2 ply jumper yarn for a tenner each. Drool. I am a sucker for that burnt orange colour. So despite having carefully written down yardages for a few potential queued items, I did what I had promised myself I wouldn't, and impulse bought a big pile'o'yarn. Ahem. Well, I'm sure I will find a use for yarn that lovely. I might go for a proper fair isle project, which is what the yarn is designed for really, or failing that possibly brooklyntweed's Druid mittens, which I've had my eye on for a while. I bought some undyed balls too in case I decide to go the fair isle route... you have to keep all avenues open!

Also, rather sillily in terms of efficiency of carting stuff around I bought some stuff off my Mancunian mates. Who could resist this handspun though? It's alpaca from Six Swans and it's the softest thing I've ever felt. I adore the caramel colour of the undyed yarn. I think this is destined to become something simple for the baby - either a hat or maybe I could stretch it out into a jumper if I found something suitable to stripe it with.



It was also impossible not to buy this little zip up pouch in 'crafty pirates' fabric from Green Eyed Monsters. Look, it has scissors and skulls! What more can you possibly want?



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ode to Noro

Oh, your twig content is high
And your knots are many
Buggering up many a carefully planned stripe sequence
Some say you are scratchy
Although my peasanty skin doesn't mind
You have hidden unexpected colours
Which jump out alarmingly from the middle of the ball
In short, i have some issues with you
But will keep buying you
(As an occasional treat,
because you cost a bomb and I am brassic)
Basically I can't resist you
Because your colours are Soooooo Preeeeetty.

The End.


This is Turn a Square from brooklyntweed, a present for a friend of mine who enjoys a woolly hat. Noro Silk Garden colour 236, striped with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Anthracite. Nice quick easy knit, but not at all boring with those pretty colour changes going on... sometimes we all need a bit of Noroey goodness.

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happy new yarn!

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.


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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overbrowned

I think I may have gone too far with this brown obsession...

Look what I accidentally bought from Kemps wool shop clearance section! A load of lovely Sublime extra fine merino. Sooo soooft! And very lively and springy... possibly the stretchiest swatch I've ever knitted up in plain stocking stitch. So lively it's skipped out of the door and is halfway down the road already. I think it wants to be Riding to Avalon. (Well, don't we all really? Sounds infinitely preferable to Manchester, especially on a day like this where rain can be measured in oceansful.)
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multicoloured dreams

I think it's the weather... I must have mild sensory deprivation from exposure to perpetual greyness. So without really even noticing what I was doing I seem to have bought some lovely bright stripy sock yarn. Yes, I too appear to have succumbed to the delights of the Kaffe Fassett for Regia sock yarn series. This is Landscape Celebration - a new colourway.

Mmmm pretty. And a good incentive for me to hurry up and finish the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose, which have been occupying my sock needles since forever - but I'm nearly at the heel on the second sock so the end is in sight!


In other colourful news, I have started to make a quilt for the wee man, from the wodge of patchwork squares I picked up at the Stitch and Creative Crafts Show. Somehow, even when I cheat outrageously and everything is cut out exactly for me, I still don't seem to be able to get all the corners of shapes to match up exactly neatly. I suspect this is because I sew like a drunk person walks. That mitred corner in the border at the top is all over the place too - I will have another go at that before I take a deep breath and start doing the proper quilting bit, where you attach the warm stuff. Incidentally the big piece of warm stuff under the quilt top in the picture cost me the princely sum of £1... it was the end of the roll. I love my local fabric store. That means the whole quilt will have cost approximately one bargainous tenner to make. Which makes me feel much better about the prospect of potentially ruining it during quilting...

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what did the postman bring?

Sock yarn! hooray!

Some lovely heathery regia 4ply, colour 2143 (linen), courtesy of woolly workshop. I realised when making the rainbow booties how much I had missed making socks. My other ongoing project is a big crocheted blanket so it feels more interesting to make something intricate and fine gauge again. So I've already cast on for Highland Schottische Kilt Hose from Folk Socks. Which is an awesome book, but I haven't actually made anything from it until now. I am making them as a surprise present for a very nice kilt wearing gentleman I know. This may well turn out to be madness as I have no idea if they will fit or not... I may have to recruit some other male sock models with similarly proportioned calves to test my progress!


Check out that picot hem! I am ridiculously overpleased with this... impossible to convey in a photograph how tactile this is. It's a double thickness, like, er, most hems are i guess, so it feels lovely and solid and nubbly.
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the acceptable face of pink

Check me out, with my pictures of knitting and flowers - I am the new yarnstorm!! (although a slightly less classy version with a woodchip background).

I hate the colour pink. Too much of a tomboy I'm afraid, and I get really annoyed when you go to the shops and every electronic appliance you look at has a Ladies Version in pastel pink with a few useful buttons removed. But I'm trying to overcome my aversion. I've decided that pink is acceptable when:

• It is given to you in the form of a pretty birthday orchid


• It is a muted dusky rose-type shade, like in this hat


• It comes in the form of free cashmere


• It is used as an accent colour with a tasteful grey

So a friend was having a yarn clearout (friends like these are definitely worth cultivating!) and I was unable to resist this lovely soft cashmere, in what I guess you would describe as fingering weight, although it has no ball band so I can't really tell you exactly what it is. Thinner than sock yarn, it's slightly over-delicate - it broke in a couple of places, so I hope my spit splicing holds up to the trials of baby headwear. But it's the kind of stuff you want to hold to your cheek.







There was only a really small amount of this lovely yarn, so I made it into an earflap hat for the scarily quickly expanding bump in my abdomen. I actually got the idea from a picture of me as a baby wearing a pretty awesome handknitted earflap hat. (I'm not going to post this one! too embarrassing). I couldn't find a similar pattern so I made it up. I've written down what I did, but I have no idea whether it'll fit or not yet, so I don't know whether it's worth putting up full instructions. I kept meaning to buy a grapefruit and test it, as this is supposed to be about the same size as a newborn baby's head. But grapefruits are quite big aren't they, and I don't really feel I can look at one at the moment with terrifying myself. So I'll just knit happily away, try not to think about grapefruits and hope the hat fits someone or something.

It's a pretty simple pattern. I made two earflaps knitted flat, then joined them to knit in the round, casting on a few stitches in between for the front and back. For the first time I attempted Meg's Jogless Jog to handle the stripes. This does look a bit better I think, although you can still tell where it is (look at the photo on the right, at the back of the hat - just on the right of the left hand earflap). To stop the stocking stitch rolling at the forehead I crocheted a border all the way around the bottom edge - just one row of double crochet (single crochet if you're from the USA) in grey. Also blocked it gently to encourage it to calm down a bit.
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easter woolliness

I bet nobody else in the UK thought of taking this Easter daffodils-in-snow shot... pretty original hey?!


Well, as you can see, where I was this weekend it was pretty damn parky. Brrrr. Good job then that I had just finished the butterfly
cardigan Seaming Procrastination Project - a nice warm stripy scarf for my fella.


I love wearing scarves, but I've always had a bit of a phobia of making them - I just find the endless linearity a little tiresome. But this was the perfect antidote to all that finger-chafing white 4 ply acrylic in the butterfly cardigan - a big soft colourful lapwarming thing of lovely posh yarn, and I didn't get bored at all making it.

It's made of 4 balls of grey Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran that Santa was kind enough to bring me, striped with the obligatory Noro Silk Garden - 2 balls worth. Just a plain 1x1 rib, 35 stitches, with a slip stitch edge to cunningly hide the yarn being carried up the side. Idea stolen from here. I also discovered the delights of spit-splicing with these yarns - a bit minging, but no ends to weave in - hurrah! Definitely a good thing for a scarf, where there is no wrong side to hide my woeful weaving efforts.





I also made a small pilgrimage on Friday to the Wensleydale Longwool Sheepshop. What an awesome place... so many nice things to stroke! Piles of soft lustrous curly fleeces! I obviously couldn't leave without a small haul of some lovely wensleydale aran. 2 balls of natural undyed (from a black sheep), which is already a rubbishknitter hatmaking favourite from christmas present time. And some of a nice calming grey-green-blue colour ('fennel').
It was snowing outside, how could I not?! I'm afraid in a rather unknitterly moment, I also succumbed to a pair of woolly lined baby booties. But I defy anyone else not to, having stuck a finger inside on a cold day. If only my feet were about 5cm long! (Although actually, this might make me look a bit silly, and make walking somewhat problematic. If any genies are listening - scratch that wish please - cheers)

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