So endeth the yarn diet.

The title says it all really. Knit & Crochet Blog Week 2012 has resparked my appetite for knitting - though not perhaps for blogging, I needed some time off! In this frame of mind, I set off for Aberdeen, where my partner has a new job (he's been job-hunting for the last five months after being made redundant). It is a long way by train (6h from Leeds) and I am not yet in love with the city itself - all a bit grey, a bit cold, a bit expensive, a bit near the coast enough that you get seagulls but not so near you can walk to the beach. Though it has won the Britain in Bloom award ten times, which I'm taking as a sign I could love it yet.

Aside from abstruse ramblings, I did what any knitter going to a new city would do. I did just check online for yarn stores and came across Wool for Ewe. It was walking distance from some of the chores we had to do on Saturday, so we both knew we were going to wind up there for a little bit. Turns out, it has actually won awards for things like 'Scotland's Best Wool Shop', and it is easy to see why. There is an excellent combination of your standard woolly yarns, beautiful sock wool, and basic acrylic, all priced at the going rate. I can see myself buying jumper quantities here at some point, but not yet; after all, when I walked in the shop, I was on a diet. I had no plan. I will blog about the shop properly at some point; I was too bowled over to be taking decent photographs so instead I will show you what I have bought.

To add to the spectacularly impetuous craft-purchasing, we discovered that there is also a Hobbycraft in central Aberdeen. I figured I'd go in and get some more cross-stitch supplies as it was so close to the cinema but got rather distracted.

Yes, exactly not what I intended. Oh well....

A Trip to Texere

On 28th December, Texere Yarns had an extra open day that I could go to. I have wanted to go for a long while after hearing good things about it, but I was still surprised at just how much yarn there was available. Fortunately, I have learned from previous trips and went prepared with a list. On a piece of scrap paper that was heading for the bin, that turned out to be a receipt from when my dad ordered his graduation gown. He's having a huge clearout but when I do that the most recent 10-20% of stuff from the top gets sorted but the stuff underneath stays in the same state. I guess this is what you find when you have a serious clearout!

I digress. In short, my mental list has five things on it; four jumpers (Angostura, Skelf, Owls, and Spoke), and the Radiating Star Blanket [rav link]. I wanted to buy the yarn for one of these, preferable two. I went with two. I figured my relatives would approve of my spending my Christmas money this way.

So the jumper plan is:

1. Owls in the Texere Yarns Chunky in Turquoise. I love the colour, and think it would show off the pattern well and suit me.

2. Skelf in King Cole Aran in Lavender. I have enjoyed making things in King Cole, it's not expensive but keeps you lovely and warm, and it not overly itchy. I hope the colour will show off the pattern and am less sure about how much it will suit me....

There will hopefully be a comprehensive knitting plan once I've worked out what that should be. I also accidentally bought a little more roving. I really, really will try to learn to spin this year!

Loop, London

I went to Cambridge for a Summer School, stayed in a lovely college, ate lots of food and slept very little. But mostly this was really hard work for 11 days with one and a half days off in the middle. The half day was spent punting...

... and of course knitting. So on my full day off I wanted to do something that was very much not summer school-related, very much not in Cambridge. So I went all the way to London town, met up with the lovely Sophie who whisked me away to somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time now.

Loop London. Yes, it's lovely window display does have woodland-creature-related art on it. And like many a knitter before me, I stepped in to a little woolly haven.

This was an excellent way to leave the stress of the previous week and the hustle-and-bustle of London that my inner Northerner still has issues with and just think about knitting. There was a lot of really lovely yarn [bottom photo] - I mean the £10-£15/skein sock yarn, which I love - but there was also decent yarn more suitable for a beginner (under £5/ball DK). I got some of each...

100g Malabrigo sock in Impressionist Sky. Will probably make something for my mum, as she loves that sort of colour. Probably not socks, it's too pretty! I did spend a long time squeezing the Wollmeise but this colour spoke to me.

This one is really much much greener than this, but my camera will not do it justice. 50g of Rico Cotton DK, probably for making some little mittletts or something. As yet unsure, mainly bought because I loved the colour.

Overall, Loop is a brilliant yarn shop and was in a good area with plenty of cafes and other interesting shops, walking distance from King's Cross (but probably not with luggage!) and an excellent selection of yarn. Heartily recommended!

A Darn Good Sunday

So I was in Scotland - or maybe more precisely, in Fife. It's just the north side of the Firth of Forth (the estuary that Edinburgh is on). Why? because my lovely other half is from there. I have been there many, many times over the years we have been together, and had a lot of more active weekends that this one. It's just that this one I thought was the most noteworthy.

Saturday was actually pretty quiet - food shopping, a walk on a beach, a very speedy trip to a yarn shop in the next town (I didn't think it was very good so I'll keep quiet about it). Evening in. On Sunday, he even had a lie in! By the time he got up I think maybe he felt guilty that I'd been up for three hours, eaten breakfast and was well into Cup of Tea Number Four. So when I suggested a rather mad trip in the car to Falkirk and then Glasgow, he agreed as quick as lightening!

So first was the Falkirk Wheel. It is a fabulous piece of millennium engineering that connects two canals in Scotland - the Union and Forth-Clyde. It lifts the boats up/down by rotating around, while using minimal energy and looking pretty. I really enjoyed it; relaxing boat trip, educational in an interesting-not-boring way, and ice cream at the end of it.

{apologies for the dodge reflections}

Then things took a turn towards yarn...

The Yarn Cake is a wee shop in north-west Glasgow (near the Botanic Gardens) and so far, it is the best yarn shop I have been in. It may be small but is perfectly formed; I liked the balance of Drops with indie-dyers (the Yarn Yard and Abstract Cat when I popped by). The decor was simple but effective, there was a good selection of knitting books, and there were tables for perusing books / knitting / debating what to buy / eating cake / drinking tea. Because I am shy, I didn't take photos inside (there were a fair few other customers) and because I am disorganised, I don't have photos of all the stuff I bought there (but I will soon!). And I will certainly go back when I can, armed with camera and confidence.

But overall, it really was a brilliant day out with stunningly sunny weather, doing things, drinking tea and buying yarn. And my other half is very very lovely for doing all the driving - it did go over 100 miles!

Ysolda @ Baa Ram Ewe

I have a pretty epic confession to make. I totally failed to take my camera to this event. I know. FAIL. I do hope that my photos from home (and one scrounged from a friend) will suffice.

First, the book.

It is an excellent, excellent book. It has so much stuff in it that I do not know, and probably should before embarking on proper garment knitting. I do have a tick of never being able to remember knitting pattern names, and so I wrote them on those blue page-marker post-it notes you can see peeking out. Now my knitting pals thinks I'm a bit of a stationary geek! How little they know....

Back to the point, I had already spent a fair while looking through the book, and the two patterns that caught my eye were Lauriel and Skelf (the little red website has photos). The best part was that there were samples to try on and the smaller size was pretty much perfect for me! To my mind, Lauriel clearly goes better with skirts and Skelf would work better with jeans & boots - though both would work with either, I'm sure - and since I'm into skirts at the moment, Lauriel is went to the top of the To Knit List!

It's going to be knit in this: Subline extra-fine merino DK

This was mainly because it was recommended by baa ram ewe (the advice is currently on the front page of their website). It was rather a treat for myself but I justified it. After all, I had a knitting funk on!

And since you only live once, I also got the deeply cute project bag, as you can never have enough and my sweater-sized one is full of the guilt-inducing Grandma's Cardigan (more on that soon!).

And it was all totally worth it: my knitting funk has been knocked for six! It was a great evening talking a lot about knitting with some lovely ladies (photo by Rachel at Reward(ing) Memories)