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!

Woolfest 2011

Woolfest is only the second knitting-festival-thing I have ever been to, but it was just what I'm looking for in one. There was a lot of yarn to keep me happy, enough other aspects of the craft to inspire me to try something new, and some very cute animals.

I went with my mum, and we rented a cottage near Bassenthwaite Lake for a week (though I could only stay for five days) - I've been to a lot of places lately so I'll probably do a proper travel post soon. Here's a photo of everything that we bought, and I think it's quite a haul! The natural roving and the two blur rovings on the left are my mum's, though the herdy notebook is mine.

There are two cakes of roving are Waratah Fibres Polwarth-cross for Stephcuddles (here's a better photo just for you):

This is the one I cannot catch the colour on, sparkleduck self-striping sock yarn - the website is under construction but says they will be at Knit Nation (though I won't be) - well worth keeping an eye on as there was a LOT of beautiful yarn there (including some sparkly stuff which I managed to resist). This is going to be the first pair of socks I knit for myself; two at a time and toe-up.

Some blue sock yarn from Laal Bear. Not sure what I'll knit with it yet but it is very cuddly.

I couldn't even wait for a ball winder to start knitting with this; some toe-up socks for an as-yet-to-be-decided female friend. The colours remind me of one friend, but I only knit her some socks two weeks ago. Hohum.

I also bought myself a couple of hanks of merino roving, in the hope that I can learn to spin soon. I guess I've got a lot of knitting skills lined up so it might be a while. And it seems the purple theme remains....

So, now I just need to get knitting. Bring on the wool!