Ok I'll start again! Just lost my post.

A short version: Spent friday spinning my new fibres, and managed after alot of effort to produce some 2 ply cotton, which is great. It's really difficult to spin because the fibres are short and they are not slippery like wool, so it took alot of adjustments to my wheel before I could get it right. The soya is great to spin but I haven't plied it yet. Pic's soon.

Sat night went to wedding party, Sunday spent with mum and dad and nan, who is so sweet! She loved my knitting but kept forgetting that she had seen it, and got as excited each time about it.

Sunday evening we drove to london to stay with a very special friend Phillip. Went sightseeing on Monday, (all I really wanted to do was go to John lewis' to buy wool, and low and behold the damned shop was closed, however Marie thankfully came to the rescue and told me that Liberty's sell some. They only sell Rowan and Jaeger, however the colour range was tremendous. I happened to be carrying my knitted bag and the shop assistant loved it, that really made my day. I then brought Kaffe Fassets patterns library, which is so inspiring (some of the patterns are very eighties according to A) however I don't really care, it got me so excited I decided to buy 7 different colours of cotton glace, and either design a little vest top or use an existing pattern from a rowan catalogue and adjust the colour design. Here is a picture of the colours I purchased:



So if you ever go to london, I can recommend Liberty's because the shop assistants are so lovely!

Went to the National gallery, the monet's always inspire me to knit something in pale blues, soft greens and pinks!

I managed to do some knitting on the journeys, and am now half way through the front of the lace top, it's definately doing my knitting good doing this top, because I am getting so much quicker, and fluent with the pattern. I even think I could design some lace from getting used to the lace pattern.

So all in all an inspiring weekend.

Hmm,

I just took that grammar test which everyone seems to be taking, I am not actually going to put my full result because there were a number of expletives and if my mum reads this she won't like it, but to put it mildly it suggested I go back to school. The way I see it, providing I can read a yarn pattern I don't really care about anything else!!

Anyway if you worry where you put your misplaced modifers I think you ought to get out a little more often!

Interestingly I had to publish this post 7 times to correct the spelling (he he).

I've finished, well half of it!

So, I got up early this morning determined to finish the back of my lacey top, I did make a huge mistake, because I failed to read that I had to cast of the middle, but I recitified it without any problems:

Here's the picture:



And then just as I was finishing, a lovely parcel arrived with this in it:



It contains soya bean fibre; (silk for vegans)!! To be honest it is absolutely gorgeous, its so soft, not quite as soft as silk, but worth it considering its so much cheaper. I also got a wool and linen mix, some raw tussah silk, and bamboo fibre, which I had read somewhere was a bit scratchy, but it seemed pretty soft to me, and finally loads of cotton fibre.

So now I intend to spend good friday spinning to my hearts content, and creating some delicious yarns for summer clothes!!

Wednesday?

What can i say? Not much really, I have nearly finished the back, only about ten lines to go, then i'll post a picture.

I am determined not to start anything until I have finished this lacey top, unfortunately I think this is actually because I am so skint that in order to have nice clothes I have to make them, so if I don't finish anything I don't have anything to wear!! Hopefully however my new job starts on July 1st, which means proper wages and yarn, yarn and more yarn, and loads of unfinished projects, Yeah!!

Not included in the new projects determination is the creation of some socks, this is because because I can't knit the lace and talk at the same time, I make too many mistakes, and you can't frog lace (well I can't) because I get completely lost with the stitches. I will start some socks to knit around my family at easter so I can chat to them and knit, and save the intended Knitty project till I have finished it.

Strong urges

I am having a strong urge to knit myself a pair of scrumptious socks. Perhaps with mohair stripes in them.

Hmm, Nearly there

I have ten cm's to go on my lacey top until the back is done. Its very unusual for me to keep going, so just to make sure I am going to cast on the rib for the front so I go straight into it as soon as I finish the back.

Thats it really, The lovely Tom is still living with us, and shows no signs of wanting to go home, which is ok with me, I am getting used to having a teenager in the house now, and he is the politest and most helpful teenager I have ever lived with, and he doesn't even have smelly feet!!

I'm still waiting for my fibre to arrive in the post, its taking soooooo long, but hopefully ready in time for friday so I can have a spinning day. Oh there might be a trip to John Lewis' on Monday in London if I can persuade Anth and Tom to take a detour. Yeah!!!

Well, I had thursady and friday off because I didn't feel to good, ( However, I havn't yet found an illness where I can not knit), thankfully my hands worked just fine, and I knitted a jumper on thursday with my charity shop wool, and I love it so much I havn't even washed it yet because I can't take it off for long enough!! Here is a picture:



Friday I spun some yarn and dyed it with my favourite colours,

I am getting the hang of making quite thin yarns now, but they are still going to be too warm for summer so I am just depsperate for my silk and bamboo and cotton fibre to come in the post so I can spin some summer yarns!

Saturday was Stitch'n Bitch cardiff, which was great, I brought along my friend lynette who has been dying to learn knitting, and she started off making a thick scarf made with stripey yarn in browns, and it looks absolutely fantastic, the edges were perfect, no accidental increases or dropped stitches and no changes in tension, I can't believe it!! I will post pictures when she has finished, because I am so proud of her, definately a natural knitter!

Marie was making a fantastic scarf with two yarns, it was really amazing, I hope she posts pictures soon.

Oh and I am on the arm decreases on the lacey top which is very exciting, I was convinced I would never get this far with it!

Finally I am sure everyone has seen the new issue of Knitty there are so many things I want to make.

Anyway signing off now to do some real work so I can get money to feed my yarn habit!