What a week!

It's a bit difficult for me to believe that Friday has finally arrived, and I'm still more or less in one piece (barring my still-injured right hip, but the less said about that, the better). It started with a lovely Mother's Day, marred by bad news (more on that next week), then the build up to a shop update (always tiring), then a lovely trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia yesterday, and culminating in a fabulous morning doing a spinning demo at the Campaign for Wool's Wool House exhibit at Somerset House. I'm exhausted!

Since there has been so much this week, I'm going to spread out the events over several posts, otherwise this post will be waaaaay too long. Let's start with the easiest first:

The Spring Knitting and Stitching show at Olympia Kensington, running from 14th-17th March

.

I went to the Ally Pally K&S Show

in October, 2011, but I had an even better time this go around. Maybe it was because I had company, maybe it was because I managed to find some goodies to take home. In any event,

Alli

and I had a fabulous time.

We arrived promptly at 10:00, and headed inside. First up were the quilts. Many, many amazingly fantastic and glorious quilts. Here are a few of my favorites.

More pictures in

this Flickr set

. After the quilts, we did a strategic walk through of the entire show. Which is to say, we wandered up and down the aisles dreamily for a couple of hours.

I first fell off the wagon at the

Textile Garden

button booth. Alli actually wandered off for a while because I was so obsessed. I came home with plenty of buttons for at least 5 sweaters...

That's ten buttons each of five different styles.

I love the jumping sheep (hello baby sweaters!), and the others are all slated for various sweater designs.

Next falling-down point: a pile of bagged yarn at

Black Sheep Wools

. And Alli actually did fall down in it to reach a particularly fetching shade of red (sadly I was not quick enough on the draw to snap a photo).

Bags and bags and bags of wool. I ended up with three bags (oops). Two bags of Rowan Wool Silk DK in a lovely pale lilac.

And one bag of orange (!!!) Luxury Cotton DK - Alli insisted it was my color.

I keep telling myself that my fascination with orange is a recent thing, but

clearly that is not the case

. It might be time for me to actually make myself a freakin' orange sweater just to get it out of my system.

Final purchase: an alpaca dress (!!!!) from Toft Alpacas. No picture taken at the time, but you can see me wearing it today at

Wool House

 and babbling on about my miniSpinner. More on that next post...

Spinning in Public

This morning I went off Allison of Champagne and Qiviut to Somerset House to do a spinning demonstration for the Campaign for Wool's Wool House exhibition. Video was taken and subsequently posted on the Campaign for Wool Facebook page. So if you want to see/hear me, here's your chance!

Alli and I had a great time demonstrating our two very different types of spinning wheels, and it was fantastic to chat with people about spinning. We will both be back on Tuesday morning from 10:00 til about 12:30 or 1:00, but there are spinners there throughout the exhibition. If you get a chance to come by, please say hello!

(I'm spinning some FRET YFP-CFP Romney, just in case anyone is curious...)

A dip into the molecular lab and mathematics

I've just finished updating the shop with some really bright new colorways. I think the long, dragged-out winter season we're experiencing here in London is really starting to get to me. I want strong contrasts and warm tones to put on my head, feet and hands. 

Euglena on Brown Suffolk

This is the tamest of the colorways in this update: Euglena on Suffolk. I like how the bright, contrasting greens still show up on the darker brown fiber. This is a good choice if you want something a little less wild, and would be really good for some sturdy socks.

FRET YFP-CFP on Romney

From the tamest we go to the wildest - FRET YFP-CFP on Romney. This is a colorway inspired by a technique used in determining molecular interactions within cells. You can read more about it from links on the colorway page. And along with it, comes its blue/purple/red compatriot on Cheviot. I'm seeing these two as a grand, cheerful hat/mitten combination!

FRET BFP-RFP on Cheviot

I think this might be my favorite of all of the new colorways: Golden Mean on Shetland. I decided I needed some more yellows, and I'm not a big yellow person generally, so it was a bit of a struggle to get this one together. But I love the interplay between different warm tones and the purple. And this Shetland is so soft, that I want it cuddled up right next to my face: a cowl for sure!

Golden Mean on Shetland

I hope you are all managing the end of winter, wherever you may be, and keeping warm while you're doing it.

Happy spinning,

Rachel

Lost: My Sock Mojo

I used to knit socks. Lots of socks. I had grand aspirations of knitting my way through Cookie A's first book from cover to cover. I got through the first two and then...radio silence.

I used to design socks. Lots of socks. Two socks for the annual Sock Madness knitalong, one of which was difficult enough (read: effing fiddley) to be the final sock in the competition (the other was the second-to-last round). Socks inspired by the Tour de France. Kids socks. All sorts of socks. But then...the well dried up.

The last pair of socks I knit: started a year ago today.

They are lovely socks, toe-up, from handspun superwash Corriedale dyed by the fabulously talented Amy King of Spunky Eclectic. No patterning or fancy stitch work, just plain stockinette socks.

And since that fateful day in late March 2012 when they were finished? Not one single solitary sock has been cast on, or even contemplated. What's happened to me? It's not like I don't have truckloads of sock yarn to play with. Or enough sock books to sink the Titanic, full of fabulous, inspiring, gorgeous patterns. But I'm finding it incredibly difficult to even consider casting on for a sock, and inertia has me in its deadly grasp. What's a former sock knitter to do?

Last week may have given me the solution. We were gathered for our monthly spinning night last week, and our hostess was not feeling inspired with spinning. So she disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a bag of leftover handspun and some needles. Within a few minutes she had cast on and made measurable progress on a sock toe.

Just like that.

Clearly the answer to my missing sock mojo is to start baiting the trap with handspun. First on the docket is this:

Gobbler Cheviot that I spun up in February. To be followed closely or even simultaneously with this:

Turkey Day Cheviot that is being spun up now (singles are done and need to be plied). Both these yarns have been spun specifically to create fantastic stripey socks, so all I need to do now is wind up the yarn and cast on.

Can someone please hold my hand???? wanders off whimpering...

An interlude

Today, I'm feeling sorry for myself. Find out why over here.

Bah. With that, I'm going to settle down with my non-leg powered spinning wheel and drown my sorrows. Cheers!