We're in... Let knitting commence!

Yay! We moved! We’re now in our new flat and I have my hands back on my precious stash! Flo has been running about like a crazy nut, enjoying all of her old toys (although she’d forgotten all about them so she thinks they’re all new anyway) and generally really loving her new home, which is a relief.  I managed to bake my first cake using the new oven and it was lovely. I even handed some round to the neighbours, who seemed to really appreciate the gesture.

Amongst it all I’ve managed to do a bit of knitting. I finished the Lacey Blue top – woooo!!! But have yet to take a picture of it in all its glory. As soon as I do I’ll post it up for you.

I’ve been working on a couple of secret projects but one of them I feel like I must blog about. Knit With Attitude have this great offer every few weeks called Yarn of the Week. Owner MayaB gives you 15% off of a different selected yarn every two weeks, simply to encourage you to try her lovely environmentally friendly and ethically produced yarns. As she puts it:

“It can seem risky and scary moving out of one’s own comfort zone, trying out new fibres and brands you haven’t used before, and that’s why I came up with Yarn of the week, to encourage you to try something new!”

I really liked the idea, and you know I love a bargain! So I gave it a bash and a few weeks ago tried the yarn of the week which was Mirasol Hacho. I don’t tend to go for variegated yarns as I usually make clothes rather than accessories and don’t really like the idea of colour pooling on my garments. However after looking on Ravelry at a few patterns and project knitted in the yarn, I found one that liked and decided to give it a go.

I’m making a pattern called Kanko Pants which is basically little knitted trousers for my friend Startitis’s baby. I’m doing them without the stitch pattern as I don’t think it would show up nicely on the variegated yarn. My theory on this is that people will tend to knit babies cardigans, jumpers and blankets, but what kind of crazy fool knits babies trousers? Me, that’s who!

I’m calling them camo pants as they colours make them look a bit like camouflage. The colour pooling is an acquired taste but as the project is going on I like them more and more. Let’s just hope Startitis likes them when they’re finished!

Knit Nation 2011, Purl Princess reports.

Knit Nation delivered once more this year with its mix of amazing British independents and gorgeous international yarn, needles, books and notions.  The rain didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits and as we entered the market place there was a lovely friendly atmosphere and lots of yummy things to pore over.

We did the initial sweep round the stalls stopping to chat to lots of friendly faces. The lovely ladies at the Purl Alpaca stall told me that they are about to launch their new range which is going to include a dress, which is apparently right up my street. Looking forward to that!

I finally met my Knitting Magazine neighbour Jeanette Sloane, who was selling her beautiful yarns and pattern book. Our columns have been next to each other in the magazine for at least a year, so it was really nice to have a chat and properly meet each other. I also caught up with Knitting Magazine editor Emma, who was selling subscriptions like there was no tomorrow.

Asking round there seemed to have been a repeat of last year’s mad dash for the Wollmeise yarn on the opening night. A shell shocked Meghan on the Loop stall, where the yarn was selling, told me they had bought 1,000 skeins of the yarn with them. By the look of the stock remaining there was maybe only a quarter left and still with a day and a half of trading to go! Looks like there will be slim pickings for the Sunday crowd.  Someone else told me that they’d heard that there was an hour long queue to pay for the sought after yarn after less than an hour of trading. Man, people love that Wollmeise!

It was lovely to see some old faces from my S&B London past like Erqsome who was working alongside Sweet Clement & WickedWoolyWitch who looks amazing having lost over 60lb. You go girl!

This year there was a Knit Nation specific Knit Tea Salon which I had expected to be fancier than it was. We paid £12 each which included 4 finger sandwiches, 4 mini cakes, which you had to pile up on a small side plate and a cup of tea which you had to serve yourself and in a paper cup. There was no dedicated Knit Tea Salon seating area either, so we sat on a long canteen table. The sandwiches and cakes were nice, but the only thing I think was worth the £12 price tag was the fact that we didn’t have to queue up like everyone else did. ‘Knit Tea Salon’ conjured up an idea of a quaint tea room, with table service, china cups and relaxed atmosphere. Instead it was more like a school canteen, which was a disappointment.

Thankfully it was the only disappointment of the day. After our tea we went to Ysolda’s stall where we bought 2 raffle tickets and picked out a couple of lucky dip pouches. Mum and I both won free Ysolda pattern downloads from Ravelry as well as some yummy chocolate. The two ladies that went after us one copies of Whimsical Little Knits which I already have copies of, so I didn’t feel too jealous! I bought my copy of Little Red in the City, which is much bigger than I thought it would be as it’s packed with Ysolda’s helpful guidance on construction and fit. This book will be one to sit down and read properly. Once again I got a photo of me and Ysolda in her photo booth and once again I probably made myself look like a bit of a stalker.

Back in the market place I made my purchases and spent all my money on Excelana yarn at Susan Crawford's stall in a lovely colour called Powdered Egg! And a really cool print from Tilly Flop for our new home which looks like some knitting on a needle but the picture is made up of helpful knitting rhymes like “In the bunnyhole, round the big tree, out through the bunnyhole, off hops she”.

Overall it was another successful Knit Nation with lovely products, a welcoming atmosphere and an ability to empty your pockets with no problem at all.

YAY!

Tomorrow is Knit Nation and I’m a little bit giddy with excitement. Trying to formulate a game plan in my head I have the following that I’d like to look at and possibly buy: Excelana 4 ply so that I can knit something gorgeous from Stitch in Time Vol 2 when it arrives, Millamia’s new book Wonderland and Ysolda’s latest book Little Read in the City.

Mostly I’m looking forward to seeing the knitters out and about and maybe catching up with a few people I haven’t seen since probably last year! I shall report back on my Knit Nation experience soon.

Perhaps what’s making me feel extra giddy is that we have finally exchanged on our first flat! It’s been five months since we had the offer accepted and considering the flat has been empty the entire time and we are first time buyers it’s taken a lot longer than it should have done. But now it’s almost behind us I am just so excited to move into our own space. Living with my parents has been amazing and I’m sure it will be a little strange for all of us to go back to it just being three rather than five of us in the house, but it will be so nice to finally get into our own place and start making our own home for our little family.

As a side note, I can’t wait to get my stash back!!!

Mystery Solved

First I found this...

Then I found this...

Apparently Mummy's knitting is now fair game. Uh oh!