Large bags under the eyes

The January sale was a huge success and all the cashmere/silk sold out well within the week which is fab. The shop is looking pretty bare and I'm working to restock it - there will be another mini-update this week, but I'm away at the end of the week for more birthday celebrations, so it may be the following week before any substantial restock takes place - how dare real life interfere with yarnarie!

This week saw the SQ mentioned in Let's Knit magazine and there was much squeeing when my copy arrived. The photo of the yarn looked really good and they did a lovely write-up saying I was "the custom dyer of choice amongst discerning knitters". I quote that back at Skein King from time to time just to be annoying.

Also, a group of us Reading crafters did a short interview for Reading's Blah Blah magazine a while ago and it's out too - can't wait to see that.

Now that my camera's back in operation, I can show you what the dear Skein King got me for Christmas:Some Denise Interchangeable knitting needles - I sort of know these are from the Woolly Workshop as I saw the package arrive and had dropped heavy hints such as "I'd love some of those Denise Interchangeable needles from the Woolly Workshop!" They've already come in handy for the Clapotis - I'm just over halfway through now and loving it!

He also got me a t-shirt from Etsy:An Etsy badge:
And one of these gorgeous Pur Swivel rings from Gold Digger 79 in Holywood, Co. Down which is owned by the lovely Sarah, a friend of the family. She makes her own beautiful jewellery, but also stocks other jewellery artists and these rings are from Germany and you're supposed to wear two or three together and you can swivel the jewel to face in any direction. They are very collectable, as my sister-in-law will attest to!
As modelled by Skein Princess - very difficult to capture the beauteousness of these rings. One is a deep green and other a purple/blue.

He also got me a dance mat for the Xbox - this is the best fun as long as noone is watching. I look like a demented loony attempting to get my feet in the right place, but I don't care - I love it!

And what did I do in return for the Skein King? Well, you know it was his 40th on Friday?
Apparently, he arrived at work and there were photos of him dressed in a black, curly wig with his old Kiss tshirt on in the office lift! How did that happen? Then he got out of the lift and there was a huge photo of him as a plump toddler facing him. Who could possibly have done that? (She shrugs) And there were 50 or so other embarrassing photos of him all over all five floors of the building, including the loos. Not my fault that his colleague phoned me up earlier in the week asking for some old photos of him! Mwahahahahaha (evil laugh) I think he was mortified but secretly flattered that they'd gone to so much trouble! Do you think I should show you the photos? Leave a comment if you want to see them... if there are enough comments, I may be able to find them...

Then I surprised him and the Skein Princess to tickets to the Wizard of Oz at Southampton's Mayflower theatre. I think secretly, the Skein King would have preferred staying in with a beer, rather than travel 40 miles to see the lovely Matthew Kelly, Gary Wilmot, Russ Abbott and Gregor Fisher but he put on a brave face.

And so to the eye-baggage. The Skein Princess's sleepover with her friends went well - just couldn't get them off to sleep til 11.30. Two of them were down crying when one said that her daddy had said that before Santa had red clothes, they were sort of grey and green. That freaked them out and they were really scared (and over-tired). Ultimately, they all enjoyed it and will certainly remember it (me too!)

And now for a little bit of yarnarie:

I've been working on 8 skeins of Aran silk for a custom order for a very Dear Customer. This colourway is called Phoenix and there will be two spare skeins going up in the shop later this week:

Also, I received my last instalment from the Merino Club at Yarn Yard which is a gorgeous merino/tencel:And I treated myself to two more skeins of Noro during a visit to Bangor, Northern Ireland when I spent an afternoon in search of a yarn shop which sold hand dyed yarns. Couldn't find it and consoled myself with this from the yarn shop by the station - if anyone knows of the mystery shop, I'd love to know:
Claire's comment last week about the Noro virus made me giggle!

Right, the eye luggage is growing as I speak.... to bed.