Secret pal stuff, Holiday goodies and other knitterly stuff (post 2)

Whew! Camera's charged, photos downloaded and trimmed, now I can tell you all about what happened last week (in between blogging about the dream holiday!).

Secret Pal Stuff

Firstly, massive apologies for the delay in posting about this, the fates were definintely smiling on me when postie delivered my first SP parcel half an hour after they were meant to go out on strike! He definitely deserves a Christmas Bonus!


I was so excited, it was postmarked Australia! Luckily, I had the camera at the side of me so I restrained myself from ripping the tissue 'till I took a pic.

And this was what was inside...


...There was a cute knitted flower brooch in lovely soft mohair, some really unusual stitch markers (wherever did you find those?) with knitterly images all the way through like Blackpool Rock! Then there was a Smiggle? retractable pencil (It took a few hours to work out what to do!), pencil case and jotter pad and a beautiful sea green/turquoisey bag of knitting beads that would look lovely on that cashmere yarn, you clever thing!

But that's not all...

Three lovely balls of pure merino supersoft yarn that are just begging to be knitted up into something gorgeous and maybe felted too?

So, thank you so much, my secret Australian pal, you've said we seem to have a lot in common so I'm itching to find out more about you.

I've agreed with my spoilee that I'll be posting 2 parcels rather than 3 and because I'm sending them surface mail, the first one is already winging its way over the water to its new home, the second will be hot on it's heels as soon as I've completed her knitted gift- the main reason why I haven't blogged at all since last wednesday....Biting off more than you can chew anyone?

Holiday treats

Well, I did promise, and I've realized I've missed something out already! Never mind, it'll just have to sneak in some other time.

So, I picked up this on the Friday at Fort Augustus, not so much of a wool shop as a craft shop with sock wool.

It's Opal Magic? (Like I need more sock yarn!) but i think this does weird and wacky things rather than fair isle or stripe effect, it goes at angles and stuff if I got the right one! I'll find out eventually.

Next, my yarn and fabric haul from Stornoway. Remember that sweet old guy who was a wealth of historical knowledge (and could talk both hind legs of a donkey?).

His shop was a wealth of fabricy goodness, I picked up all these offcuts to make a couple of bags. The picture doesn't give the fabric justice, there are a whole heap of shades and hues in there, maybe I'll get a better one later.

I DID pick up some yarn there too, remember Hebridean Cannonballs?

...'s funny, they look weeny in this pic, but there's actually 5 and a half pounds of yarn there! it's a multistranded yarn twisted together from the same Harris Tweed yarn used to make the fabric above. When we were at a museum near the Butt of Lewis, I spotted the spindle used to twist it, the cannonballs were exactly the same so it's truly handmade yarn! It may not be the softest stuff around but it's still pretty special to me.

So, wht am I going to make with it? Ah, you all know me better than that! It'll make its purpose known oneday.

Knitterly Stuff

Remember that I took 5 projects on holiday?

There was method to my madness, I took a mix of complicated and braindead projects, suitable for all levels of sleep deprivation. Hence. some of it never got touched whilst others got ahead. This was one....

The Space invaders sock DID get a bit further than this but I decided I needed to go down a needle size so I needed brainpower to work out modifications to the foot.

The Blur Sweater did a little better, however, all it needs is a little sewing up (so don't hold your breath!).

Aside from the lacy bits on the end, it was pretty mindless (and incredibly useful!).

But I also needed to do some of this..

...No, I didn't work like the wind, a lot of this (particularly the border) has been worked since I've been home, I'm in two minds about this pattern, it has been a hell of a lot more effort than I thought, considering I knitted a only slightly simpler stole last year for my spoilee. There were errors in the border pattern, the stitches kept slipping off the needles and it's been a two steps forward, one back all the way. Still , I'm on the home stretch now and with a little effort it'll be washed and blocked over the weekend. Not sure if I'll make quite this much effort next time, though!

Still, it's certainly a special gift!

Anyway, I also started THIS while I was away. i had to do something with the Colinette yarn and this fitted the mindless category.

Not exactly high on the priority list right now, considering I'm a week behind the new stole knitalong, sock wars starts on the weekend AND there's still Christmas knitting to consider.

Plates etc. Sigh.