A productive weekend

Oooooh have I got some photos for you!
Saturday was a fantastic day – the weather was stunning, which was rather pleasing, as I’d arranged to go to the Knitting and Crochet Guild open day with a couple of friends. They had never been before, and one is relatively new to knitting, so it was a cool experience to see it from a new visitor’s view again 😀 And we all purchased 😀 And then we went to Up Country, and 2 thirds of us purchased again! Weeee!

Huuuuuge cone of teal laceweight
Huuuuuge cone of teal laceweight

More laceweight el-cheapo yarn
More laceweight el-cheapo yarn

Pure wool lace yarn
Pure wool lace yarn

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmanos
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmanos

Here we have:
one hank of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend yum yum yum yum
one cone of black 100% new wool lace-ish weight yarn
one cone red misc content yarn, lace-ish
one MASSIVE cone of teal lace-ish misc content yarn
Opal bamboo 2.5mm dpns
Japanese stitch markers, both clip on ones and needle ones
And most of these were bargainous 😀 The Manos, suffice to say, was not cheap, but was special and will go to the fanciest st st socks ever. But the cones? They were all £1 each. £1! A quid! The teal I’ll use to make the new Knitty surprise sweater (Sea Tangle), because for a quid I don’t mind forgoing the steel and firmness of the sweater at all 😀 I’m looking for process and the beauty of the knit rather than something that exactly matches the pics, because when does that ever happen? Not often. And for those guys in the US, £1 is $2… See my point? I’m going to be knitting a LOT of lace in the future 😀
Also, I bought Rowan Studio 11 and some secret birthday gift stuff for a certain someone… I’ve already got something in my queue from Studio 11 – the textured vest, probably in that long stashed brown Rowan Wool Cotton that has been promised to a million other projects…
Oh, and I made these:

Louisa's gift
Louisa's gift

The socks are the June issue of the Socktopus club kit, and I loooooooooove them. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy, which is ace to work with :D, and the pattern is by Alice (the Socktopus owner) herself 😀 Sooooo quick too! Only 2 weeks to work up 😀 It has been a long time since I’ve been able to knit so fast, but this pattern lends itself to fast knitting.
And the scarf? Nothing complicated, but very pretty and effective 🙂 Another gift knit done with – woohoo!

I hope absence makes the heart grow fonder…

Especially when I show you all the goodies I have produced in my absence 😀
Well, first up, and perhaps finally too, I have at last got pictures of skirt number two. Apologies for the picture quality on these. I had to take pics in the bathroom as the weekend weather has been rubbish for weeks and I can’t get any outside of me wearing them 🙁 Sorry! Also they were ironed but one has been worn and one has been in the wardrobe, which for some reason has creased it to infinity…
free-spirit-dandilion-skirt.jpg
The fabric is Free Spirit’s Sole range, with the beautifully named D1693. Ahhh, that name just inspires thoughts of fighter jets and aircraft carriers ahoy… 😉 But I do really like the big dandilion type print. I didn’t put any ease into the waist in this one, but forgot to drop the ease in the hips, so it is VERY a line, but I like it for that.
And then…
echino-perch-skirt.jpg
The fabric for this is Echino Perch. It is a bit heavy for a skirt but I just needed to do it 🙂 And It hangs beautifully thanks to the weight. I did start a cord skirt, but after sewing up the two skirt pieces I found what may be bleach or may be dye transfer… Fingers crossed it is just dye transfer! I love the colour and the way the skirt looked after sewing 🙁
I’m about to start the next Socktopus sock club kit as I finished my gift socks today 😀 so I’ll post again with pics of that soon (I promise!)… I’ve calculated that I could probably finish my gift scarf in a week if I work at it instead of doing a row here and there. But I can’t show you the gift socks till they’ve been received. If you are on Ravelry, go have a look at my profile and you’ll find them under Chalet Socks 🙂 Would you believe that I have so much gift knitting now that I have set up a schedule for when I want to start each item by and a rough estimate of how long I want to take on them? Anyway, I can show you these (with a little hint of the gift socks so Sue, turn away now!)
preemie-stuff.jpg
I kept the grown up socks in for perspective (they are about a UK size 4). My friend gave birth by c-section at 32 weeks and 4 days last week, after being quite ill, so her little baby is just that – teeny tiny little. I’m hoping to send her the gifty socks along with the baby things so that she can have something for herself and something for the baby. I spent much of the week before the birth, and the weekend after it worrying about her and the baby, hence no post last week. So after all this, I hope it makes up for my absence a bit 🙂
Hopefully my next post will be much sooner, with better quality pictures and more finished knitting…
UPDATE: Screw the gift scarf. I messed it up 🙁 I couldn’t unknit because the yarn is too fine and lace is lace and I didn’t have a life line. Poop 🙁 I’ll try something else as a gift for its recipient instead 🙁