Shop update preview

I plan to update the shop tomorrow evening - starting somewhere between 8pm and 9pm BST.

Here's what I've got in this week's collection:

Horse Chestnut in Elegance (2 skeins)

Golden Caramel in Wisp (2 skeins)

Apple Cider in Plushness (2 skeins)

Mermaid's Tail in Plushness (3 skeins)

Snow Reflections in Plushness (3 skeins)

Lemony in Plushness (1 skein)

Tea Rose in Opulent (3 skeins)

Summer Bunting in Elegance (1 skein)

Just Peachy in Elegance (1 skein)

Olea in Elegance (2 skeins)

I just wanted to say a bit more about Snow Reflections. I was thinking about Regatta - a colourway I dyed up for the summer Plushness club which knits up like sails reflected on the water - here's an example that the talented sock-knitter extraordinaire, gilraen, completed. I wondered if I could dye up some Plushness to represent the reflections and colours of an iceberg and snowy landscape in an Arctic ocean - I was feeling kind of cold and wintry that day - hence the introduction of Snow Reflections. The technique I used is slightly different to that of Regatta, and the results will be subtle with just a stitch or two of different colours throughout - perfect for an elegant pair of wintry socks.

Lana!

Ola! Check me out with my Spanish. First lesson was tonight and already I know the days of the week and the months of the year. And then we had to do a test at the end on the BBC website that the teacher said would be really, really hard and she was right, we couldn't understand a word! Apparently, we'll do it again at the end of the year and we'll be super-fluent and know what the woman who seemed to be going on about vomiting was really on about. I'll let you know.

Here's a tiny sneak preview of forthcoming shop update:

Apple Cider

Olea

More lana tomorrow. Adios, circulo de amigos!

SQ x

Why no yarn in the shop? Well, this little feast of Plushness will be on its way to Socktopus and will be for sale at Ally Pally.

The first installment of Squee! Sock Club went out and seems that all the club members have received their little purple parcel, so here's the Plushness club yarn based on Stately Homes called Secret Garden.


And here's some of the Encore club yarn based on the Lemony Snicket novels called Baudelaire Mansion:



I've been in the SQirkshop dyeing today and the weather is beautiful - the yarn is drying in the garden, so we can have a shop update next week.

Yesterday, my good friend Rachel came over from Old Windsor bearing gifts and check these out:
She made this pencil pot and I love the personalisation (is that a word?) Perfect for my Paperchase pens which I use for writing SQ labels.

She made this SQ x charm for my Thomas Sabo bracelet. Perfectly compliments my birthstone, lemon, Cinderella slipper and dragonfly and a bit more personal than the Fab at 40 ones available in the shops. Love, love, love it.

And she commissioned someone from Etsy to make this paperweight. Beautiful.

Hands up who thinks Rachel should open an Etsy shop?

Dress up your pet dog as a crocodile and other stories

A bright, crisp Saturday morning beckoned us as we set off for our annual trip to London, this year to mark my birthday (did you know I was 40?! I promise, this is the last you'll hear of it.)

Let me introduce my friends:

Sandra and Debs

Sonia

Unity

And Jo

After much debate it was agreed that we would neither drive nor take a limo into London, but take the train. On arrival at the underground station, I slightly made the mistake of heading for the stairs instead of the lift. So six women with too much luggage and an overweight American tourist who reminded us of Ron from Badiddlyboing, Odawidaho, were slightly glowing and panting by the time we got to the top and saw the sign that said 175 steps! Oops!

We found our very glamorous hotel, dumped our luggage and headed to Covent Garden.

A bit of window shopping and then it was time for lunch.


Just after this photo was taken, the waitress split four glasses of rose wine all over Debs. She was absolutely soaked and took it a lot better than I would have. It was an accident but there was no apology and we were heading off to the theatre next, so I'm sorry to say, we had to argue to get her lunch taken off the bill.

Then we made our way to the Savoy Theatre to see cough, cough Never Forget (yes, slightly embarrassingly, it's the Take That story). Well, the story was as thin as ice but the effects and the music and dancing were contagious and we were all up boogeying at the end, along with all the other parties of women-of-a-certain-age, including another group from our town that we knew.

Then back to the hotel and more arguing and not great customer service - this time the hotel told us they had one twin room for us, but had given away the two others and we had to have single rooms. That's the thing about this age - you stand up for yourself a bit more - and with five other feisty women behind me, I'm afraid they had to back down and magically they found two more twin rooms!

A lovely free meal out in the evening followed by a walk home past The Ivy and the most amazing bead shop that I must go back to some time, some champagne in the room, then we stayed up talking til 3am. I regretted this, when the fire alarm went off at 8am the next morning! And had I bought any decent pyjamas? Had I hell! Tartan flannelette trousers, red boob tube and leather jacket were what the other guests were treated to - how stylish am I?!


It was a false alarm, so we meandered back to our room and watched the firemen arrive from the balcony.
A leisurely breakfast, then off to Harrods. £2500 for a teeny pot of caviar anyone? £210 for a Missoni cardigan for age 0-3? We had to drag Debs away from the £800 Dior handbag and spent ages in the Christmas department, then onto the pets department where, I'm sorry to say, we lost control.
Who would buy a leopard-skin sofa with a canopy for their dog? What dog would sit in a stroller? Then we saw a model of a dachshund dressed up in £200 chaps and a cowboy hat - well, that was the start of the hysterics and mad whooping as each outfit we saw was progressively worse. A birthday boy t-shirt complete with pointed party hat, an Elvis outfit with flares and rhinestones and the fancy dress outfits in case you wanted to take your pooch to a fancy dress party - ladybirds, witches and yes, crocodiles! I'd absolutely love a little smooth-haired dachshund, but if I was ever lucky enough to get one, I'd treat it like a much-loved dog and not like a mini human!

It was a very enjoyable weekend with some very good friends and we're already planning our next trip in February.

Lots of yarnie stuff going on in the background including sending out Squee! Sock Club parcels - international ones went last week, UK ones today. Dyed up Plushness for Socktopus at Ally Pally today. Hoping to get another dyeing day over the weekend so we can have a shop update next week, but not sure how possible it will be as attending this event:

We're making little hats for bottles of Innocent Smoothies to raise money for Age Concern.

Knit Fest

Life is running away with me again - no time to say hello, goodbye. What news, what news?

Loads going on in the yarny world this week. All I can say for now is that there will be a bunch of Plushness on sale at Ally Pally at the Knitting and Stitching Show which runs from 9th to 12th October courtesy of the lovely Alice at Socktopus. It's the first time SQ yarn will be making an appearance at a proper, big show and the prospect is very exciting, especially being stocked by Socktopus. It's not readily that I wholesale my yarn, but on this occasion, I just couldn't resist and look forward to seeing it in person (if I can peek above the the stand on my tiptoes, eh twinepixie!)

The autumn Sock Club yarns are all dyed up, dried up and I'll be skeining and packaging them up tomorrow to be sent out early next week. Very exciting and I'm hoping those expecting a package will be delighted with September's offering.

Over the weekend, I finished my Licorice Allsort (thanks for the name, picperfic) Spring Forward socks in Encore BFL/nylon:
Love these socks - the pattern was excellent and I never got bored with it though I KNOW I should've chosen a less vibrant colourway to show off the delicate lace detail, but I'm a sucker for colour - I am weak!

And made a little more progress on my Catherine Wheel crocheted scarf in Wisp:


The reason I got a fair amount of knitting and crochet done over the weekend was that me and Elsa (the party-girl's older sister) turned the camp for a friend's seven-year-old daughter's birthday into a knit fest:She wanted to learn to knit something other than a rectangle, so I taught her the only pattern I had in my head - a Chevron scarf! And it was coming out beautifully by the end of the camp. While I was knitting my socks, I had one too many comments about "Couldn't you buy those in Marks and Spencers" from fellow campers (ok, the men) for my liking, but I will educate them in the ways of knitting...

More camp photos (not literally camp, but you know what I mean):

Shop update preview

You may be interested to know, I'm planning to update the shop this evening (starting around 8 or 9pm BST) as I have a little bit of yarn for your delectation. A nice little lot of Wisp in rich tones and lots of sock yarn, including a new base I've christened Elegance - an absolutely ideal luxury sock yarn, it's silky, softer than soft and has nylon for strength.

Sweetbird in Elegance

Rugged in Elegance

Seaspray in Elegance

Firebird in Wisp

Zapateado in Wisp

Olive Caramel in Wisp

Proud in Wisp

Firebird in Encore

Bizarre in Encore

Firebird in Endure

Seaspray in Endure

Dewberry in Sumptuous

Candy Shop in Opulent

Fragrant Stocks in Lavish

Old Roses in Guest yarn (laceweight merino)

All parcels will be wrapped on Sunday and sent out on Monday. Maybe see you later. SQ x