Progress

All of a sudden, lots of progress with the building work.

The first coat of paint is on, tiling starts tomorrow (who knew there were so many types of tile adhesive) and the cooker is ordered.

This means another ikea trip tomorrow to pick up the last of the storage for the workshop -and two weeks wait for it sll to be ready.

I’m counting down the days until my cookery books can come out of storage.

In a couple of weeks time there might even be space to block my shipwreck shawl. Will be nice to see the floor again.

Dye pots a go!

It’s been the most gorgeous day here, and I’ve got a heap of dyeing done.

Days like this are such a treat in November – warm enough to be outside in a tshirt – and there’s even been enough of a breeze that lots of the yarn is dry enough to be reskeined tomorrow.

Happy days.

Enchanting Socks

Yesterday a long awaited parcel arrived – my copy of The Enchanted Sole by Janel Laidman.

There are 20 patterns in the book and there are 18 I want to knit now. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a book where I’ve wanted to cast on so many things.

Some of the designs are relatively simple, some will test my colourwork well beyond it’s limits, but I’m going to give it a go.

Adventures with a tile cutter

As you all know, we’re in the middle of some major building work in the house – and in an effort to get the place to ourselves we’ve been trying to do bits and bobs ourselves.

So this afternoon, we decided it was time to tile the bathroom floor.

Turns out a tile cutter with a blunt blade may be the most annoying thing ever invented.

On the plus side, the tiles are down and looking good – only a bit of grouting left.

I so want this to be finished, if only so I never have to go to B&Q again.

Shop Update

As well as plenty of new hand dyed yarn, there’s something a bit different in the update this week.

This may well be the easiest way in the world to dye multi coloured yarn – the kit gives you everything you need apart from hot water, a bucket and some salt.

You simply tie the dye strings round the yarn in whatever pattern you want.

Then immerse the skein in hot salty water and leave it along for 15 minutes.

The skein I dyed knitted up into these socks (when I say knitted up, what I should say is still being knitted up!)

The pattern is the last Nancy Bush mystery sock.

Limited Edition Yarn

Every now and again I dye up limited edition yarns for the shop – 10 skeins of sock yarn and 10 mini sock blanket skeins.

Here’s the latest – Stash

Skeins will be in the shop on Saturday morning.

Spinning a yarn

When we moved to the Isle of Wight, I joined the online guild of weavers, spinners and dyers.

Every month a new workshop is offered, and this month the tempting title is extreme spinning

The real beauty if the workshops is that you go at your own pace and get the chance to try lots of different things.

So this month, when I’m not busy with dye pots and builders I’ll be trying to become a better spinner.

Old and new friends

No blogging yesterday – I left early for London and it was into this morning by the time I finally made it home.

Before the launch of yarn of the month at Stash, Su and I managed to meet up with two friends from the Knitting Goddesses (and Gods) group for a very long and fun filled lunch at Strada. Great food, even better company – what could be nicer?

The yarn tasting went well – and one of the group very bravely started tackling a lace shawl. She’s a very new knitter and it was lovely to watch her learning to read her knitter and see the a-ha moment when it all made sense.

I’m opting for a quiet afternoon with my knitting – we have torrential rain here and it feels like the perfect thing to be doing. So, more knitting of the shipwreck shawl (can’t wait to get it finished), then back to Sahmain.

New knitting

To celebrate the change of seasons, I’m casting on the Samhain shawl from Goddess Knits There’s an informal KA: going on in the Knitting Goddesses (and Gods) ravelry group.

The colour I’ve chosen is a blend of berrry colours, representing harvest, and red representing the feminime.

Plastered!

Another major leap forward with our building work – the workshop has a sleek new coat of plaster.

It’s finally starting to look like it might get finished – and I can’t wait. It’s going to be so lovely to have everything together rather than scattered through the house, and I’ll be able to get all my books out of storage. Of everything that’s been packed away, that’s what I’ve missed the most.