Skein Queen

I'm moving...

2009-07-16T17:38:00.001Z

..to a brand new Wordpress blog - you can find it here.

The end of one era....

2009-07-11T21:35:00.012Z

That's it - yesterday I cleared out my desk, said goodbye to my colleagues and am no longer an Editor after 17 years in the job. The Reading office doesn't officially move to Andover until the end of the month, but they were good enough to let me go a little bit earlier than that - course, there's still all the goodbye parties, but that's the last time I'll be in the office.

Here's a few of my colleagues who I'd like to pay tribute to:
This is slug features... he belongs to Little Al.

This is Little Al - as opposed to Big Al who's Rose's brother. She worked on lots of areas of The Times but I especially remember her working on Feature articles. She has a very weird body temperature and is ALWAYS cold and has been known to wrap her blanket round her when it's around 28 degrees in the office. She runs belly-dancing classes in her spare time and we used to do Flamenco classes together with her friend, Toad. Al is always frank and very funny. (around 15 years with the company).

This is Rose. She is a very good friend and we have sons about the same age. She's running the department now and is very funny when she gets in a bit of flap, which doesn't happen very often, quietly ranting in her soft Canadian accent. She always has way more to do than is humanly possible to get through both inside and out of work and I completely admire how she's handled the recent changes in the department and how dedicated she is and wish her luck for the move to Andover. (around 20 years with the company.)

And here's Trevor. We sat opposite each other for around ten years. We used to chat about tv shows we'd watched, films we'd seen and theatre shows we'd been to. He's a budding artist and writer and has a very dry sense of humour. He works on Business news or will be until the end of the month... then he's a free man. (10 years with the company).

And this is dear Sandra. We worked together for many years as Editors and team leaders and went through a lot together hammering out differences between The Times and the Financial Times indexes. She's a very loyal colleague to have and I wish her all the very best for the future (around 35 years with the company.)

And the lovely Loig. What can I say? For the first ten years of working together, I couldn't actually understand what he was saying (sorry, Loig!) He used to work on Le Monde and is now working on digital archive projects. And my memories of him? He was an honorary hen at my hen party. And he came to the housewarming party of the very first house we bought and fell backwards off a chair into a bush and went home promptly after that - little did he know, by the end of the night, another colleague had slid down the wall and two more people were found asleep under the garden fence which had collapsed during the party - ah, those were the days! Good luck in Andover, Loig (20 years with the company.)

And an extra special goodbye to Paul who wasn't in on Friday and probably would've cringed to have his photo taken anyway. We talked a lot about holidays, cats and cars..

The end of one era and the beginning of something new...

Plum Gold spinning

2009-07-07T14:35:00.004Z

I finished spinning this plum and gold merino/silk bought from Jeni at Fyberspates at Rav Day and lovely it was to spin too. Another sample to add to my handspun Zig and Zag blanket which is coming along slowly.

Lovin' Summer

2009-07-06T15:08:00.018Z

There hasn't been a whole lot of knitting and spinning going on at Skein Queen hq this week. I've spun some of this delicious merino/silk which I bought from Fyberspates at Ravelry Day. And made a little progress on my Summer Pudding Cloud Nine socks.

And this little beauty arrived in the post courtesy of Rosealare on Ravelry - she kindly put in an order for Japanese stitch dictionaries for several of us and I've been on Fleegle's blog to interpret the mysterious world of Japanese symbols. All I need now is some time for designing.

Maybe if I spent less time:

Reading: I'm re-reading Snow Flower and Secret Fan by Lisa See which is one of my favourite books and is the next novel in the Queen's Reading Room club.

Doing Face-painting at the School Fete (pirate costumes devised by Unity).

Saying goodbye to the kittens:

The lady who was lucky enough to take this little guy home was going to call him Sid. He was really special and such a character and I'm pleased that he's going to a home with another little white kitten called Oscar.
We're keeping Squiggles who is, in fact, a boy after all and therefore can't be called Mabel!

And Benny's gone to live with one of my best friends and our sons are good mates so we'll get to see him again.

Going Strawberry and Raspberry Picking and making jam:

Look at that cheeky face!

Celebrating 4th July at a Fancy Dress BBQ:

Now, I know the resemblance is uncanny between Skein King and Tom Cruise - you can hardly tell them apart!

Michelle and John were hosting the party - doesn't she look gorgeous as Marilyn?

And John's a dead ringer for Elvis!

It was a fantastic night mingling with the likes of Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Rambo, Pink Ladies, cheerleaders, cowboys and Indians and Wonder Woman.

Don't forget to drop by my shop - there are still some laceweight yarns left and I've dropped the price on some of them - there might be something you like so grab yourself a bargain.

Shop update - 1st July

2009-06-30T18:27:00.048Z

Tomorrow - Wednesday 1st July - 8.30pm BST.

This update started off as a bit of a summer knitting lace-fest given the heatwave we're having in these here parts, as you can see towards the end of the preview, but lots of 4 ply sockweight yarns crept in too.

There will also be some Naked (undyed) Squash to support alabamawhirly's Snooks Daisy Gloves - more on those to come.

Summer Bunting in Exquisite - 1 skein

Charlotte Charles in Exquisite - 1 skein

Fairytale Daydream in Exquisite - 1 skein

Coney Island Mermaid in Exquisite - 1 skein

Sugar Plum Tree in Exquisite - 2 skeins

Goodie Gumdrops in Exquisite - 1 skein

Lady Button Eyes in Exquisite - 1 skein

Summer Pudding in Plushness - 4 skeins
see this post for how it knits up
Your chance to bag yourself some Pudding Club yarn

Key Lime Pie (semi-solid) in Plushness - 2 skeins

Key Lime Pie (variegated) in Plushness - 4 skeins

Madame Lulu in Encore - 1 skein

Charlotte Charles in Squash - 1 skein

Olive Snook in Squash - 4 skeins

Summer Bunting in Squash - 3 skeins

French Rose in Opulent - 1 skein

Bittersweet Chocolate in Opulent - 1 skein

Forget-me-not in Sumptuous - 1 skein

Raspberry Elderflower in Sumptuous - 1 skein

Silver Lavender in Wisp - 3 skeins

Cape Cod Cranberries in Wisp - 3 skeins

Devonshire Tea in Finesse - 1 skein

Miss Cicely Alexander in Finesse - 4 skeins

Magenta Dolly in Finesse - 1 skein

And introducing a limited edition Guest yarn - I won't be getting any more of this in - it's a laceweight merino - almost 800 yards (798) and it's not as soft as some of the other yarns in the SQ range, but certainly a good quality standard laceweight yarn.

Pomegranate Sangria in Guest - 4 skeins

Sky Blue Topaz in Guest - 1 skein

Peppermint Cream in Guest - 1 skein

Celadon in Guest - 1 skein

Sweet Peas in Guest - 1 skein

And the long-awaited return of Glister 2 ply silk

Cloudy Skies in Glister - 2 skeins

Gothic Melodrama - 2 skeins

Pigeon Plumage in Glister - 2 skeins

Costumier in Glister - 2 skeins

It's a pithy post

2009-06-24T15:23:00.011Z

First summer installment of the Queen's Reading Room club, the Unfortunate club and the Petal club have all gone out now, so expect them to land on your doorsteps over the next few days.

This was the final installment of the Pudding Club - Key Lime Pie

And the Installment the Ninth of the Unfortunate Club - Madame Lulu

I spun up some of my Skein Queen batts which I was selling in the last update - pretty, I think.

And am knitting all my spinning samples into a Zig and Zag handspun blanket (for free pattern see sidebar).
Finished one Cloud Nine sock in Summer Pudding Plushness from the Spring Pudding Club - one more left to knit (for free pattern see the sidebar).

And made a start on my Ivy League Vest by Eunny Jang. Here's the corrugated ribbing - I'm learning continental knitting to make it go faster and instead of taking 30 minutes to do a round using English-style, it takes a mere 20 minutes.

Just as well, because I'm going to have to start it all over again - spot the mistake - gah!

So to cheer myself up, some Secretary shoes arrived - cheap and cheerful, but very comfortable.

And some Scarlett O'Hara shoes for my 4th July party outfit - again cheap and cheerful, but I'm going to need something to help my oversize Scarlett outfit which Skein King says looks like an oversized spare duvet set!

Last spinning lesson

2009-06-18T20:21:00.005Z

Saturday was the last of my spinning course lessons sadly. I learnt so much from Linda and Albert - advocates of starting with the fleece and preparing it using traditional techniques, then dyeing it (they use natural dyes), hand carding the fibre and finally spinning it. Linda is a seasoned knitter and crocheter and Albert is a weaving and braiding guru. And I'll also miss the lovely spinners I met there - hopefully I'll keep in touch with some of them.

Yvette being the bravest of us and having a go at using the lethal-looking combs.

Albert holding a distaff of flax (or a young maiden's locks?)

Linda spinning flax from the distaff

You'd think it would be possible to learn how to spin from books, or from YouTube, or from asking questions in forums and it is. But it's only when you meet people who have so much experience and so willingly pass on their intricate knowledge and tips, that you appreciate how much there is to the craft and how much there's still to learn.

On to kitty news. We think our little tabby may be a girl so she's been renamed Mabel - although Skein Prince still calls her Squiggles. She may be the cat with two names. Never did Honey, her mother, any harm to be called Honey and Smitten.

They're getting more playful by the day. It's not a good idea to have bare feet or legs unless you want to be in a lot of pain with little claws being tried out. The all black one is the advanced one, the black and white one is the monkeyist and the tabby one is... pretty lazy but very gorgeous.

Featured designer - Jenna Swanson

2009-06-16T18:51:00.006Z

It's been a while since my first featured knitter article but this time I bring you an up-and-coming designer from Texas. Jenna's Tadpole socks caught my eye on Ravelry a few months back - I thought they'd be a perfect design for Skein Queen Squash, Exquisite or Encore - so she kindly said that I could print out the pattern and hand it out at forthcoming shows. Alternatively, you can download it for free on Ravelry or directly from her design blog listed below.

Tadpole socks by Jenna Swanson

What’s your favourite way of working with fibre? Knitting, crochet, spinning…?

I am definitely a capital K Knitter. I started out crocheting, but it just didn’t ‘click’. Once I got the needles in my hands, it was like a lightbulb went off. I think my hands were meant to knit. That said, I’d love to learn to spin properly. I have a starter spindle and was able to rent a wheel once. I enjoyed the process a lot, but could definitely benefit from classes and practice.

How many years have you been knitting and when did you start?

I started knitting in January of 2005. The previous December, I sat watching my mother-in-law knit socks. I was entranced with the spiral and it really didn’t look that hard. She taught me the basics, how to cast on, knit, and purl, but by the time I got back home, I’d forgotten. So I got a book from the library and checked out a few websites. After I realized I was knitting through the back loops, my knitting and I were inseparable.

How did you come up with the design for Tadpole socks? What was the inspiration and how did you go about it?

I had a vision in my head of something ‘swirly’, but I didn’t want to mess with cables or a heavy lace pattern. The design evolved from there. I kept the back of the leg in stockinette purely because I wanted to knit them up quickly, as it was Christmastime and I still had most of a sweater and another pair of socks to knit. :-) I prefer a chart, but I know many people hate them, so I offered both. For some reason, top down socks go more quickly for me than toe-up, so I tend to gravitate towards those constructions.

What’s your favourite sock yarn base?

I love a base with a good twist. If I know I’m going to be knitting a heavy-use sock or socks for my husband, I tend to pick something that has a bit of nylon in it. If I want something pretty, that I know will be hand-washed, and worn gently, the sky is the limit.

There seems to be a trend to semi-solid colourways - are you a semi-solid or a colours-as-they-come kind of a gal?

I think that for design purposes, it is definitely easier to use a semi-solid colorway. But the knitter in me loves all sorts of colour combinations.

Which colours do you prefer? Deep and rich or pale and pastel? Any specific colour?

I gravitate towards the feeling I get when I look at a particular colour, if that makes any sense. So colours seem happy, some calming, others exciting. Some just say, “Take me home right now, don’t worry about what you might make with me!” I think of knitting as an adventure, so the yarn has to be able to take me on a journey. Taking a look at my yarn pile, it seems that I pick greens, purples, pinks, and blues if I’m knitting for myself.

What are your aspirations as a designer? Have you any plans for future projects that you could let us in on?

My ultimate goal is to try to provide knitters with nice, error-free, intermediate difficulty patterns. When I was a new sock knitter it seemed like there was a gap between plain socks and heavily patterned socks. At the time I wasn’t sure that I wanted to dive right in to a complicated lace or cable pattern, so I filled my time knitting other things and building up my knitterly skills. So, I’m hoping that my patterns can bridge the gap.

I do have a new sock design I’m working on. Think swirly.

Do you have a blog?

I do, but as a warning, I don’t update it much. It's gidgettm.wordpress.com

I’ve also started a blog for my designs. It can be found at blackswandesigns.wordpress.com

Anything else you’d like to tell us about?

When I’m not knitting, I’m usually running after my one-year-old, spending time with my husband, or cooking/baking. Come July, I’ll be embarking on a cross-country move. So, if you have helpful hints for travelling with a toddler, please pass them on!

And the winner is....

2009-06-11T10:37:00.006Z

Summerhouse Love
by Derya

Derya says "I'd call this 'Summerhouse Love', partly because it's on my mind a lot lately, but also because it reminds me of the washed-out colours of an Aegean summerhouse, with delicate white, blue and yellow floral prints in all the rooms. And the summerhouse romance novels I love reading in summer, like Colette's Le Ble en Herbe."

It sort of reminds me of the ambience of this picture on my calender for June of pressed blue cottons and white crisp linens with a pile of books for summer reading. You can just imagine the view from the window of turquoise sea lapping the sandy beach.

I know they always say this, but it WAS so hard to choose. Thank you for putting so much thought into your entries and I think I may be calling on a few of you when it comes to yarn naming time! I'm going to have a look at the Cloud Appreciation Society site and some of the names brought back memories of holidays past too. I loved the fairy and nymph references. And the foody ones. I think we might have to do this again some time - it was fun!

Exquisite, clouds and snails

2009-06-10T13:12:00.042Z

Announcing

the Great Big Skein Queen 2nd Anniversary Shop Update

Thursday 11th June

8pm BST

Introducing a brand new yarn base - Exquisite - merino, cashmere, nylon

Proud Peacock in Exquisite - 2 skeins

Lovebird in Exquisite - 1 skein (v. similar to Firebird but this one has more pink)

Firebird in Exquisite - 1 skein

Humble Pie in Exquisite - 1 skein

Ruby Plum in Exquisite - 1 skein

Copper Mountain in Exquisite - 1 skein

Plum Betty in original Desire - 2 skeins

Blackcurrant Caramel in original Desire - 1 skein

Chocolate Apple in original Desire - 1 skein

Country House in Plushness - 1 skein

Sweetbird in Plushness - 1 skein

Pink Grapefruit in Plushness - 1 skein

Lemon Chiffon in Plushness - 1 skein

Glacier Mint in Plushness - 1 skein

Cloudy Limeade in Plushness - 1 skein

Iceberg in Plushness - 1 skein

Ah ha - the as yet unnamed yarn - and I'm going to have a hard time choosing from the brilliant entries coming through thick and fast - thank you. I have 2 extra skeins of it.

Victoriana in Squash - 4 skeins

Mimosa Tree in Squash - 2 skeins (slight variation in shade)

Sweet Violet in Opulent - 3 skeins

Forget-me-not in Elegance - 3 skeins (1 slightly lighter)

Cloudberry in Elegance - 1 skein

Plumcious in Elegance - 1 skein

Rugged in Blush - 4 skeins

Mossy Oak in Blush - 8 skeins

Kettle Pond in Finesse - 2 skeins

Plumcious in Finesse - 2 skeins

Deep Seaspray in Lavish - 4 skeins

Bourgainvilla in Lavish - 2 skeins

Lemon Souffle Cake in Wisp - 4 skeins

Love Letters in Wisp - 2 skeins

Swan Green in Wisp - 4 skeins

All I have to do now is edit all the photos and load them into the shop, currently being revamped by a tech guy as we speak. It's being de-greenified!

As for the clouds, well I have six or seven of these floofy cloud-like batts to load into the shop tomorrow too. They are merino with touches of tussah silk and angelina.

And don't forget the snails of superwash BlueFaced Leicester tops

I feel a late night coming on...

Think I need me some kitty love:

Yarn giveaway and Ravelry Day in Coventry

2009-06-07T16:12:00.016Z

In celebration of the fact that Skein Queen is celebrating two years in business on Thursday, I've decided to do a little name-the-yarn competition. All you have to do to win this free skein of Plushness (lambswool/angora/cashmere) is to come up with colourway name and leave a comment here on the blog with the name you've come up with. You've got until Thursday 11th June at midday BST - I'll choose my favourite name and announce the winner on my blog on Thursday afternoon (changed from Friday).

So, to be in with a chance of having this skein arrive on your doorstep, let your imagination go wild - I usually go for two-word combinations for yarn colourway names, but not always. Could be plant, bird or butterfly-related - or inspired by a landscape scene - or by contemporary culture (books, tv programmes, films) - or by a feeling or emotion. And I do especially like eccentric or kooky names. Can't wait to hear what you come up with.

And Thursday will also see the launch of Skein Queen fibre for spinning (the fibre I've chosen so far isn't suitable for felting). It's taken me the first half of the year to learn to spin and I hope you like the selection of tops I've dyed up. These snails are Superwash BFL but there will also be Superwash merino on sale in the shop on Thursday. As the year goes on, I'll be introducing a greater range of fibres and possibly batts reflecting the fibres I've especially enjoyed spinning such as kid mohair and angora.

Superwash BFL

Scarlet O'Hara

Deauville

Tequila Mockingbird

Demon Drop

Salty Dog

Dewberry Martini

Well, what a fantastic day Rav Day in Coventry was yesterday. Even the hideous rain couldn't deter the ardent shoppers but I did feel sorry for the stall holders who were frozen to the bone, but at least they seemed to be doing a roaring trade.

We met so many people - Anni from Yarnaddictanni, Andy from Bluefaced, Jeni from Fyberspates, Sarah from Mamalonglegs, Gemma from Kraftykoala, Marianne from Picperfic, Inga aka Rockpool Candy and her hubby, Jen and Juliet from The Knitter, Kerrie and Lou from Yarn Forward/Inside Crochet (in the loos), Juliet from Artist Palette Yarns, John Arbon, the Knitting Goddess and Lisa from First4yarns. It was lovely to see Becky (purlfect) again - I'd done a dyeing course with her a couple of years ago and also met libraknitter who had knitted THE most beautiful Ishbel out of a lemon Fyberspates yarn and a gorgeous Swallowtail from SQ Wisp. (I hope I haven't missed anyone out.)

Rockpool Candy with her beautiful batts and extreme crochet. Check out her fabulous corset and the bustle is made from men's ties.

Here's the wonderful Shazspun, who was brilliant company putting up with me all day, learning how to drop spindle with Ghostknitter who reckons she's the only spinner in Singapore. We had a laugh when the spindle lived up to its name and spent quite a lot of time on the floor but Sharon bought it anyway to spin up samples.

And the beautiful alpaca which belonged to Toft Alpaca - they were a bit soggy!

It was great to meet Jen from The Knitter in person as we've corresponded by email previously. And her husband who was doing a bit of laptop work linked into the photo shoot. I got snapped wearing my Aqueous Martini Ishbel with my very dank hair schloped around my face. Inga was trying to put me off during my "modelling" session by shouting "Oi, fibre fiddler - smile" and such-like encouragement!!

All-in-all, a fantastic day.. but I am glad I didn't have a stall outside in the rain - it was great being a customer! I especially love my yarn from Knitting Goddess, my mohair locks from a man from the New Forest, my silk/merino tops from Babylonglegs and my beautiful batts from Fyberspates and Rockpool Candy. (Sorry guys, too many links to put in and I'm being shouted at to get off the computer - I'll come back and put them in.)

Three weeks old today

2009-06-03T15:12:00.004Z

Must... not... become... too... attached.

What's that? You don't want to see any more kittens? You want to know about yarn? And fibre? Well, the next shop update is scheduled for 11th June and did I say before that it'll be a big one. Happens to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Skein Queen, so I'll see if I can arrange a little competition before the big day.

Meet Squiggles

2009-06-01T15:19:00.012Z

Isn't he (pos. she) cute? We're keeping this little one. Two and a half weeks old. I can't get over how big the kittens have grown in such a short time. They're trying to escape from the box and Honey's not too happy about that. The all black kitten is going to a good friend but the neighbour didn't want to take the little black and white one when she saw her and I fear I'm becoming more and more fond of her. Must.... remain... detached. So, if you know of anyone in the Berkshire area looking for a particularly gorgeous kitten - when she keeps still, I'll get a non-blurry photo for you.

The weather has been downright tropical here. After my spinning lesson, we had a go at washing an unidentified fleece using the method my spinning teacher, Linda, had shown us.

But it wasn't good news - the wool was like brillo pads when it dried. I mixed it with some white BFL and put it through the drum carder, but sadly I think it's going to be unspinnable.

Saturday night was an impromptu Britain's Got Talent party, BBQ and pool party with Skein Princess going back to a friend's for camping in the garden.

On Friday, we went to the Children's Art Festival in Reading organised by Jelly and then onto see Coraline - which, be warned, is not for children of even a slight sensitive nature unless you want nightmares.

Yesterday, me and Skein Princess got all my spinning fluff scraps and drum carded them into this little cloud of colour.

Then I decided that I didn't have enough knitting projects on the go, and because Linda had asked us to knit up our samples of kid mohair and angora, I decided to start another Zig and Zag pram blanket using all my handspun samples.

Other than that, still working on the Cloud Nine socks in Summer Pudding Plushness for my friend, Sandra. Not much progress there.

Have been dyeing today and the next update will be a large one and will include the long-awaited launch of Exquisite - merino, cashmere and nylon - and the equally long-awaited launch of SQ tops (roving) for spinning.

Anarchy in the UK - God Save the Queen!

2009-05-28T22:06:00.013Z

Everything's got out of hand here at Skein Queen hq lately. There's been a revolution, partly linked with Britain's Got Talent fever, and we're all knitting Union Jack handwarmers as designed by the talented alabamawhirly.

Alabamawhirly writes "These gloves were originally hand knitted by me from my own pattern whilst listening all the while to my old Fidelity record player. These Union Jack gloves are a homage to The Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten and God Save the Queen (the record)."

You can buy the pattern for these Anarchy handwarmers here. Believe me when I tell you how much thought and how many hours have gone into creating this detailed pattern and chart.

They can be knitted in commercial red, white and blue yarn, but if you decide you'd prefer the hand-dyed option, you can now buy three mini skeins in my shop to create them yourself. They come in shades of Rebel Red, Naked Anarchy and Bolshy Blue. Believe me when I tell you how many hours they took to wind into mini skeins!

Alternatively, you can buy the actual, handknitted mitts here. They'd make a great and unique gift.

And here's my effort at testing the pattern for Whirly (unblocked - how rebellious!)

Now, shall we return to some semblance of civility wearing our rose-tinted spectacles? Thanks so, so much to everyone who joined the Summer Squee! Clubs. For those of you who joined The Queen's Reading Room, I'm announcing the novel of the month a few weeks in advance in case you decide you'd like to read along. The first novel will be The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin. This novel is widely available through the reputable Internet book sites and stores.

This was the Summer Pudding colourway from the April installment of the Plushness Pudding Club - semi-solid and multi-coloured versions.

And this was the Esme Squalor colourway from the April installment of the Unfortunate Club.

Squee! Clubs sign-up time

2009-05-26T19:26:00.006Z

The new theme of the Plushness club will be The Queen's Reading Room and will be based on my favourite books so the colourways will be inspired by a different novel each month. I'll aim to release the name of the next novel a couple of weeks ahead in case you would like to read along, though it's by no means a pre-requisite for being a member of the Plushness club.

My taste is mostly contemporary fiction but encompasses 19th and 20thC fiction, American fiction and I esp. love books set in non-Western countries. So it could be anything from The Time Traveler's Wife to Pride and Prejudice or Empress Orchid to Life of Pi.

This time no semi-solid option, because fiction is too colourful for restraint (unless the narrative strongly suggests semi-solid colours.) I can imagine these skeins being randomly dyed rather than greatly variegating. Will include inspiration sheet.

More information here.

The Unfortunate Club will continue in its current form using the Encore base, but there will be four installments over four months, which will bring us to the end of the 13 Lemony Snicket books. (I can hear sobbing already!)

More information here.

Any available places following consultation with existing members will be released via the shop tomorrow, and I'm afraid there's not many. Once you see them in the shop, if you could email me using the address given, I'll let you know the availability - places will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis and then send you a PayPal invoice rather than receiving payment through the shop which, believe me, is more complicated than you would want to know due to postage.

Shop update - 21st May

2009-05-21T16:48:00.019Z

Tonight.

More limited that usual supplies of each, but here you go:

Golden Teal in Plushness

Hidcote Blue in Plushness

Linen Roses in Plushness

Faded Roses in Plushness

Strawberry Sorbet in Plushness

Strawberry Shortcake in Plushness

Caramel Creme in Plushness

Charcoal in Opulent

Tiger's Eye in Blissful

Strawberry Mojito in Blissful

Olive Snook in Squash

Summer Bunting in Squash

Faded Roses in Squash

Blue Teal in Little Desire

Maid Marian in Little Desire

Keep an eye out in my Etsy shop too.

Two more to be added:

Mustard Seed in Blissful

Figwort III in Blissful

(Ravelry just made no. 1 trending topic on Twitter - that's huge - world domination of knitters, mwah ha ha ha ha!)

Next shop update

2009-05-20T22:53:00.003Z

The plan is to have a shop update tomorrow evening. However, that means photographing all of the yarn, resizing the photos, adding them to the blog and shop with descriptions after I get back from the office tomorrow. It could be a late one!!

Thanks so much to all the outcasts for a lovely evening - I chatted so much that I actually went backwards on my project by the time I made mistakes and frogged back. Still, sometimes the chat is what counts!

All the Squee! club yarn for May is dyed up for the final installment of the Spring club. I've been in contact with existing members to see if they'd like to renew and am planning to open up any spaces that become free for the Summer club from next Wednesday.

Socktopus Trunk Show - a heavenly haven

2009-05-18T15:42:00.012Z

Twas a whirlwind of a weekend. On Saturday morning, I had my second spinning lesson and learnt lots of interesting techniques including spinning a thick and thin slubby yarn, spinning from silk caps, adding silk noils and throwsters to fibre, spinning a boucle yarn and (this made me laugh) - how to spin a fun fur - fascinating technique but not sure I'll be trying that one too often.

On Saturday night, we went round to my friend Sandra's house to celebrate her birthday and I have never laughed so much in years - my ribs were hurting. All related to Skein King's antics which I probably shouldn't go into here as it may well embarrass the poor chap.

Soon enough, it was Sunday. I picked up alabamawhirly and we headed down the M4 in Biblical rain (pinched that phrase from bundle) and turned up on the doorstep of Socktopus in Chelsea laden with yarn where we were greeted by Alice, who was so welcoming and almost turned her shop upside-down to create as much space for us as possible.

See the back three shelves on the left - SQ yarn - and on the table..

and on the windowsill...

The limited supply of fibre, named after alcoholic beverages and cocktails, was popular and all went (no names here!)

Plushness and Squash

Elegance and Opulent

Charliesumx fondling some yarn with alabamawhirly encouraging her all the way!

Some lovely Socktopods - and check out Alice's Central Park hoodie - knitted in shades of orange Dream in Color Smooshy (I think). My photos aren't great - check out Alice's blog for some better ones. A huge thank you to everyone who came - it was so nice to knit and chat and even see some of the yarn all caked up and started on there and then - and to Alice for being such a great hostess.

It was almost torture (in a pleasant way) sitting amongst all the yarn all day. I knew I was going to make a small purchase, but it took me all day to decide. I settled on some Malabrigo sock in a rich, dark chestnut brown - so unlike me and I'm usually colour all the way - but I'd seen the lady in the photo knitting some beautiful Shurt'agal socks in a green/black version and that inspired me to opt for that.

This was me preparing the inventory for Socktopus. And thanks so much to alabamawhirly and kiknits for coming over on Friday to help with the skeining and labelling. I hope it was fun and I wasn't too much of a task-master!

I brought back about half. I'm visiting the outcast knitting group in Reading this Wednesday and bringing some along since it's been about two years since I brought them anything yarnie to look at, and then there will still be enough for a shop update on Thursday of this week.

Honey and her incredible hugging kitties

2009-05-15T18:23:00.003Z

Thanks for all your interest in our new arrivals. Honey is a brilliant mum and they are thriving and getting bigger by the day. We have a home for the all black one, and a possible home for the black, white and ginger one and are keeping the little tabby. I'm trying not to get too emotionally attached to them all!

Skein Queen does fibre and Cloud Nine socks pattern

2009-05-14T16:20:00.012Z

I haven't got a huge amount of fibre to bring along to Socktopus on Sunday (I have got lots of yarn), but I thought I'd show you some of what I have got - any name suggestions are welcome. The top one sort of reminds me of my Apple Cider colourway. What do you think? They're all superwash BFL tops and lovely to spin, especially for beginners.

Here's a sample of the Irish Queen I spun up. A little bit overspun but should give you an idea of the intensity of colours.

Ever wanted a pair of socks to make you feel as if you are floating on Cloud Nine when you are wearing them?

Maybe these are just the job - another free pattern - this time to support Plushness, as it is a thicker-than-normal yarn for socks.

Cloud Nine seemed appropriate, given that Plushness knits up into a dense, cosy, warm fabric and also the pattern works on a repeat of nine stitches. The lacy pattern contributes to the light, airy feel of the socks without them being too thick on the body. They are a cuff-down design and I used Nevermore Tree colourway.

You can find the pdf file under the Free patterns tab on the right-hand side of the blog.

And in between the stream of visitors for the kittens and Loftplan man coming, I managed to get another photo - again of the little tabby. Not great, but sure there'll be more in the coming days.

Anyone know when's the best time to find out the gender of the kittens? Someone said in the first few days but Honey's not keen to let them part from her for even a minute.

Three little mittens

2009-05-14T09:56:00.002Z

Honey had her kittens last night - three of them. They're very dark in colour - one black, one very dark tortoiseshell with a bit of ginger and white on her leg and one tabby. If you look very carefully, you can see the tabby one in the bottom right-hand corner. The kids are thrilled and I think we'll be keeping one of them and have possible homes for the other two. Didn't she do well!

Sorry about the rubbish photo but she was getting a bit anxious and protective when I was taking the photos and I didn't want to upset her too much. There'll be plenty time in the next few weeks to take more photos as I'm sure they're going to be little rapscallions!

Getting ready for Socktopus

2009-05-10T21:40:00.007Z

One week to go until the Trunk Show at Socktopu s in London - so I've been dyeing up lots and lots of yarn for it. If you're in the London on Sunday 17th May, this is a small sample of what you may find:

Squash, Elegance, Opulent, Blissful, Little Desire and Finesse with the rest of the week taken up with dyeing up some Plushness, Decadent and Kimono. I've also got to finish knitting the second sock for the pattern I'm putting together for Plushness socks - I'm particularly proud of these ones - soon to be revealed. Speaking of patterns, you can now find the Ten O'Clock Scarf and the Zig and Zag Pram Blanket as pdfs on the right-hand side bar. Yay, people, we're in the 21st century! More patterns to follow.

Alabamawhirly and Kiknits are coming over on Friday to help me label it all up and if we've time, we may even make a start on washing a fleece that Whirly acquired from a recent trip to the Lake District.

As you may already know, I'm a dedicated yarn base tart and just couldn’t resist adding a new one to the SQ repertoire. It’s called Exquisite and I think the name captures the silky softness of this 80% merino 10% nylon 10% cashmere yarn. I thought long and hard about introducing this yarn as the composition is q. similar to Elegance (without the bamboo), but when the box landed on my doorstep a week or two ago, I knew I couldn’t not introduce it to the SQ range. So look out for it in a forthcoming update.

SQ-dyed BFL in Irish Queen

Yesterday I went to the first in a course of spinning lessons. When I finally found the venue (long story), we learnt how to wash a fleece (handy), how to use the drum carder, how to use hard carders properly, how to Andean ply and how to spin. I brought along the BFL above which I'd dyed the day before as I was so pleased with the intensity of colour. I've started to spin it without carding it and it's an absolutely dream to spin. I may even dye some more up and bring them along to Socktopus.

Albert, husband of Linda who runs the course, is a wealth of information on everything textiles. He told us the story of the Newbury coat. In 1811, Sir John Throckmorton bet that he could sit down to dinner one evening wearing a coat made from the wool of sheep shorn at 5am the same morning. The workers sheared the sheep, washed, roved, spun, dyed, wove and cut the cloth and by 8pm, the coat was ready to wear, just 11 hours after the sheep arrived in the mill-yard. Albert took part in a recreation of this feat in 1991 and they beat the record by one hour. He told us of the challenge to get so many spinners spinning to exactly 4 twists per inch! I believe Johnny Morris of Animal Magic fame wore the coat at the end of the day. I love listening to this kind of story.

One other bit of yarn news - the lovely people over at Inside Crochet sent me a preview of an article on Skein Queen as the featured indy yarn dyer. As it's my first interview, I did blush profusely when I read it - don't know why as it was a very flattering write-up, it's my former shyness coming through. Anyway, it's out on 25th May if you want to see what's so embarrassing.

And a bit of household news - we're expecting - Honey pictured rather fuzzily in the front - is expecting kittens. Paddy - pictured rather guiltily in the back - is not the father (unless the vet was somewhat incompetent many years ago.)

Finally, it's been a gloriously sunny weekend - not quite so nice last Bank Holiday Monday, but here are some photos of our walk in the New Forest.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but think of adders lurking under all that leaf mulch. I don't think anyone else was thinking about them, but I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to snakes having had a bit of a close encounter with one when I was younger and walked with a very heavy tread!

Take some plain white BFL roving...

2009-05-07T14:51:00.007Z

.. and add some colour..

Once dry, carefully put it through the drumcarder, feeding it in little by little..

..gently extract the little clouds of fluffiness..

.. and spin up the carded batt into yarn

How much fun was this!! Now all I have to do is knit it to see how it knits up.

Shop update preview

2009-05-04T17:28:00.024Z

Tuesday 5th May - evening

Lola in Plushness

Plumcious in Plushness

Treehugger in Plushness

Wildfennel in Blissful

Burnt Green Earth in Blissful

Firebird in Blissful

Figgy Pudding in Blissful

Wallflower in Elegance

Plum Betty in Elegance

Dusky Salamander in Elegance

Summer Bunting in Elegance

Green Bunting in Elegance

Caran D'Ache in Elegance

Teal Wave in Little Desire

Magenta Plum in Little Desire

Plumberry in Sumptuous

Summer Pudding in Opulent

Ice Blue in Opulent

Countess in Opulent

Little Desire

Please note that Desire DK superwash merino now comes in 50g skeins as well as the old-fashioned standard 100g skeins. I've called the smaller skeins Little Desire and they measure approx. 112m per skein.

I like to work with the nature of this yarn and leave lighter parts to contrast with the deep, saturated hues to give a true hand-dyed look so please be aware that there will be lighter areas.

Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow night - you're very welcome to swing by the shop and have a mooch. After this update, I'll be working to get together enough skooshy, squishy yarn for the Socktopus trunk show on the 17th.

Next shop update

2009-05-03T07:05:00.005Z

will be Tuesday evening.

Forgot to show you the scarf I knitted on the way up to Scotland for Easter.

I needed a mindless project where I could just concentrate on the colours for the car journey.

Acquired a skein of Kaffe Fassett Colourscape Chunky and needed something with long colour runs to go with it, so grabbed a spare ball of Noro on the way out and it worked out q. well, I think.

It is longer than the photo suggests and plenty long enough to wrap around a couple of times.

Off to the New Forest today - hopefully see you Tuesday for some Opulent, Plushness, Elegance, Squash, Little Desire and more besides.

A bit of spinning, Socktopus trunk show and a Rainy Day Coraline

2009-04-30T09:30:00.009Z

I'm quite proud of this. It's the first bit of spinning I've done with my wheel fixed and working properly and I finally feel comfortable with spinning and really enjoying it, so much so, I've signed up for a course with the local guild to learn more.

The fibre was from limegreenjelly - 100% merino - and it's called Just a Dream. I love the depth of colour.

I'm really looking forward to Sunday 17th May when I'll be at Socktopus in London. Alice invited me to come and do a trunk show, whereby I bring along a load of yarn for people to come and squidge, and she provides cakes etc. If you're in the London area on that day, I'd love to see you. I'm there from 12-5pm. In the meantime, I'm trying to put together a collection of free patterns to bring along.

Summer's coming - there are clear signs now. Okay, so it's raining outside as I write, but the grass keeps growing at the rate of knots, the poppies are about to flower, a multitude of butterflies are visiting our garden and yes, I've even seen some wasps (yuck!). In the true spirit of British optimism regarding the weather, I have the perfect summer yarn for you:

Lotus Yarns Bamboo Soft

If you're thinking of knitting a summer garment in silk or bamboo, it's worth bearing in mind Lotus Yarns Bamboo Soft as a possible option.

Take a look at the fabulous round yoked Coraline cardigan knitted by alabamawhirly using Bamboo Soft in Pewter. The pattern is by Ysolda Teague.

She calls it her Rainy Day Coraline (not too optimistic for the summer then?) and adapted the sleeves to a flattering three-quarter length.

Stunning job. Makes me want to pick out a colour for mine. Very inspiring.

Finally, thank you to everyone who participated in yesterday's shop update - parcels going out today so should be with you very soon.

Mini shop update

2009-04-29T16:44:00.013Z

I have just a wee skinny shop update for you tonight - a kind of tempter to save you waiting for the bigger full-fat update coming very soon. It's very little, mostly of single skeins, but some of the semi-solid skeins would be very suitable for all those brand new Cookie A-style sock patterns out there at the moment.

Mermaid in Bamboozle (merino/bamboo)

Summer Bunting in Squash (superwash merino)

Olive Snook in Squash (superwash merino) - 2 skeins

Fruit Salad in Blush (merino/cashmere) - 1 skein

Applejack in Squash (superwash merino) - 2 skeins

Grass Stains in Blush (merino/cashmere)

Blueberry in Opulent (100% cashmere) - 2 skeins

Persian Garden in Elegance (merino/silk/bamboo/nylon)

Reykjavik in Blush (merino/cashmere)

Ashes to Ashes in Bamboozle (merino/bamboo)

There you have it - maybe see you in the shop later this evening. SQ x

Childhood memories of knitting

2009-04-27T15:24:00.008Z

When I was recently up in Scotland, my mum dug out this old Patons Bazaar booklet full of knitting patterns we'd both made back in those days.

This was the bunny she made for me that partially inspired Flossie Bear from this earlier post.

She knitted him in dark turquoise and red body with a pink scarf if my memory serves me correctly. He was so plump and cuddly.

It was always the book I reached for when I rummaged through her patterns. I know I knit these delights at some point:

And sadly, mum no longer knits due to shoulder pain so she gave me this little lot of circular needles, dpns and cable needles. Never again will I have to buy a circular needle!

Have you got any childhood knitting memories?

Both Pudding and Unfortunate Club parcels were posted out today.

These were last month's offerings:

Blueberry Pie - semi-solid and multi-coloured options in the Pudding Club

Nevermore Tree - Installment the Seventh of the Unfortunate Club

And I'm thinking of doing a very small update of just a few skeins of Squash and Blush mainly in the next couple of days.

Ugly Easter sock

2009-04-20T15:27:00.005Z

I'm ashamed to say that I managed to turn this beautiful skein of Socks That Rock Lemongrass

Into the ugliest sock I ever made.
So ugly, it will remain an orphan as I don't feel inclined to make a second one.
Beautiful yarn + gorgeous pattern = ugly sock. Sometimes the chemistry just isn't there. But I'll certainly be using the Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt pattern again - it was lovely to knit - but maybe with a different yarn the next time.

Easter in Scotland

2009-04-17T22:39:00.020Z

Welcome back after the Easter break and there's loads coming up in Skein Queen land in the forthcoming weeks and lots to look forward to. More on that later.

For now, here's what we've been doing this past week:

Meeting my new nephew

Easter Egg hunt - actually outside - in short sleeves

Bracing walks in actual sunshine in Peebles

Climbing Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Looking somewhat windswept and interesting

Climbing at EICA - never seen a wall like it - built in a disused quarry and none of my photos convey the sheer scale of the place.

A trip to North Berwick - an old childhood haunt - and always freezing

Hope you all had a relaxing Easter break, if you got one and perhaps you may never want to look at another piece of chocolate - at least until the start of May.

Actual knitting content to follow.

I'm embracing my inner fibre fiddler!

2009-04-08T16:24:00.011Z

Help! I can't stop spinning.

Especially when such temptation as this arrives in the post. The lovely and very generous Rockpool Candy got wind that I was under the weather and sent me these utterly gorgeous batts called the Hippy Dippy Ice Cream Mix and containing merino, banana, soya, silk and silk waste and get this - especially mixed for me!

Inga recommended spinning a single from each and to get away from trying to create smooth, even yarns and go for lumpy, bumpy to show off all the fibre elements - well, I certainly achieved that!

The good news is that this afternoon, when we were supposed to be heading for Scotland but couldn't because the car died, Skein King repaired my spinning wheel. So for the other two batts, I should be able to make a better job as the wheel has finally got the pin in and doesn't slip, so I should have much better control.

Then I heard that Inga wasn't well (and has since had a bit of an unfortunate dyeing accident), so in return, I sent her my first proper attempt at dyeing fibre (plus some Desire). It's 100% BFL and it's certainly something I plan to do more of to sell in the shop later in the year following several requests, but I'm taking my time about it, making sure I fully understand the spinning process and all the possibilities and working out the best way of dyeing. Ultimately, I'd like to create more intense, deep colours - that's the goal.

In the meantime, I'm just having fun with all the beautiful fibres out there - I'm especially smitten with Picperfic's Fluff n' Stuff.

Here's some of her BFL roving plyed up - apologies for the rubbish photography.

I love the reds, pinks, corals and cerises in this one.

This one is called Fairground - it reminds me of Easter.

I'm going to be offline for the next week or so - have a relaxing and happy Easter break.

Our very first Featured Knitter

2009-04-06T19:49:00.016Z

I'm delighted to be able to introduce the first in a series of Skein Queen Featured Knitters. As you probably know by now, I get very excited at seeing what you knit with SQ yarn, so this is the perfect opportunity to see some of your beautiful creations.

Our very first Featured Knitter is Maki Aoto who lives in the dynamic Fukuoka City on Kyushu island at the southern tip of Japan. She moved back to Japan recently after spending some time in the UK, not far from SQ hq in fact.

How many years have you been a knitter?

It's difficult to tell. I learnt very basic knitting when I was a child, but then I knitted only occasionally. I became a knitting addict four years ago after a 20-year break!

Did you teach yourself or somebody teach you?

My mum taught me how to make crochet chains and garter stitches when I was 8 or 9. Other than that, I am a self-taught knitter.

Do you have a favourite technique or favourite garment to make?

I like to make something that involves shaping, cables and/or lace. I tend not to use more than one colourway in a project to avoid darning ends. I usually don't knit socks because I am not good at making the same thing again (get easily bored).

Do you have favourite colour combination?

I love shades of soft pink, lavender and silver grey. Among SQ colourways, my favourites are Pale Faded Roses and Pearl Fishing. I still regret that I couldn't purchase a jumper amount of the Duchess Pearl Fishing. ;-o

What's your favourite Skein Queen yarn base?

It's hard to choose from so many gorgeous yarn bases. Having said that, I love Opulent, Wisp and Blush. I think I am biased towards cashmere. My first Duchess yarn is on the way, so this might be my new favourite.

What's the knitting scene like in your area? Do you belong to a knitting group? Are there any local yarn stores?

I haven't heard of a knitting group in my area. Maybe I should start one myself! Our local yarn stores - there are several in my area - usually don't stock what I'm looking for, and I always end up buying my yarn from online shops in the U.K. Sock yarns, as well as lace weight yarns, are hard to find here.

Maki's Projects

Livia from Yarn Forward Issue 11 - knitted for and modelled by her daughter in Bamboo Soft using Rose Pink and Sugar Pink.

Branching Out scarf by Susan Lawrence knitted for her daughter in Opulent - Fruit Salad colourway.

Whitewater Wristwarmers by Jennifer Meyer knitted in Opulent in Candy Shop colourway.

Meida's Socks by Nancy Bush knitted in Plushness in the original Pink Lady Apple colourway.

Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau knitted in Plump Plushness in Faded Roses colourway

Mullins Bay by Jeanette Sloan knitted in Mellow in Medieval colourway which Maki calls her Tudor scarf

Juno Regina Stole by Miriam L. Felton knitted in Wisp in Teal Reykjavik colourway.

Many thanks to Maki for being our first Featured Knitter and I can't wait to see more of your beautiful projects.

Last shop update for a wee while

2009-04-01T19:37:00.007Z

Well, the shop update is done - there's still some yarn left as I write. I'm going to take a three-week break for Easter to try to get over this post-viral fatigue thingy and to go to Scotland. The club yarn, will of course go out towards the end of April.

Right, let's see what's still in the shop:

Cappuccino in Plushness - 4 skeins left

Barley Water in Sumptuous - 2 skeins

Creme d'Argent in Duchess - 5 skeins

Nautilus in Kimono - 2 skeins left

Task for this afternoon

2009-03-31T10:44:00.008Z

I've got to get this little lot into the shop ready for the update tomorrow evening.

It includes two new yarn bases.

Decadent - handspun cashmere.

And Duchess - 50% superfine alpaca 50% merino - DK weight

I'd better get started...

Welcome to the world

2009-03-30T16:49:00.004Z

Jamie Findlay

Born 11.47am 30th March 2009

3 weeks early weighing 9lbs 9ozs.

Brother to Megan Rose.

Congratulations sis and Stuart!!!

I'm an auntie again!

Laceweight cashmere

2009-03-29T22:49:00.008Z

As Spring has officially sprung, I bring you four shades of new Cashmere Soft in laceweight now in the shop. It's sumptuously soft and a treat to knit with - I started a Fountain Pen shawl in Ruby - a gorgeous pattern for a luxurious yarn. Each skein is 100% cashmere, 400 yards, is competitively priced and you won't find it anywhere else in the UK - perfect for Spring knitting or crocheting.

It currently comes in four shades:

Plum

Olive

Teal

Ruby

Maybe I should tell you the real story of the shawl? Knitted the first 20 rows. It was perfection - perfect stitches, perfect pattern developing, perfect Nupps (first ever). Then I had one teeny tiny half glass of wine, and went wrong. Tried to rip back, but was so over-confident about how well it was going, I thought I hadn't needed a lifeline yet. So frogged right back to the start. Knitted the first seven rows again, went to lift up a candle we had on for Earth Hour to blow it out, poured hot wax all over my hand and the sofa, threw the knitting across the room, half the stitches came off so I'll have to start again. But it WILL be beautiful - I have seen the potential!

Meet Flossie Bear

2009-03-27T17:35:00.005Z

Made with Lotus Yarns Cashmere Soft in Oatmeal (MC), Ruby, Hot Pink, Chocolate, Lime and Sugar Pink. A Tuck-Under-the-Armable kind of a bear and ever so soft.

I based her on an old flat teddy that Skein Prince took everywhere with him until a fateful day when he was six and left him on a coach in Spain. He was called Flapjack was part of the family in a strange and slightly bizarre way. We left a missing poster and our address back in Spain, in case he ever turned up, but he's still on the missing teddies list.

You may notice that there have been some changes to the Yarn Types in the right-hand side column. Divine and Endure have been discontinued and the new yarns being introduced are:

Decadent - handspun cashmere - approx. DK weight
Duchess - superfine alpaca/merino - DK weight

And the following three have appeared in the shop previously, sometimes as guest yarns, but I'm adding them permanently to the range:

Glister - 100% silk - laceweight
Finesse - merino/silk laceweight
Squash - tightly spun superwash merino - sock weight

Also Desire will now come in two sizes - 100g as usual and also Small Desire in 50g skeins which comes in at approx. 112m.

Fiddly fingers and Who do you think you are?

2009-03-26T15:31:00.021Z

First of all, thanks so much to everyone on Ravelry and Facebook for all your get well wishes. I'm sure all the good vibes must be reaching me as I'm feeling a bit better this afternoon - at least my fatigue not quite so extreme and my achy joints not quite so achy - now if I could just shift this headache and get my vision to stop being so blurry, I could get on and do stuff.

As a result of this, this... lurgy thing, I've been doing much more sitting on the sofa than usual in between naps and I'm not a very good patient and can't do nothing, so here's what I've been doing.

Handspun Baby Hat and Boover Bootees for brand new Findlay baby.
Yarn by FeltstudioUK in Melusina colourway.
Patterns: Greenleaf Baby Hat by Evelyn Uyemura minus the leaf.
and Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn

The mystery fairisle which I'm concocting in Lotus Yarns cashmere soft coming along nicely and is nearly finished.

Some BFL which arrived from Picperfic's Fluff n Stuff store on Misi - it arrived beautifully packaged but I'd already started spinning with it before I took the photo.

Rainbow merino from Wingham Wool

Some undyed BFL

Plied together - this is soft!

Shared Learning stops for noone - ill or not - and didn't want him to get detention. So last weekend, me and Skein Prince worked on putting together our family tree - in French!

Our family is from Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and India. My maiden name is DeMellow which is a Portuguese name and luckily my dad had given me a heap of information that a relative in Australia had worked on tracing the DeMellows in India back to 1810.

What I hadn't realised was that in the mid-19thC, they had lived on Perim Island, a tiny dry volcanic island off the coast of Yemen which held a coaling station for shipping. Other DeMellows were connected with Lord Reay's cotton mill in Mumbai (I like the textile connection). There seem to be several army links too.

My grandfather was an engineer on the railways and was instrumental in saving lives on the last train to cross the newly formed border between India and Pakistan during Partioning in 1947 and his brother, Melville DeMellow, was known as "The Voice of India" and was very well-known in broadcasting.

Edward D'Mellow and Lucy Ann Eliza Marshalsay - my great great grandparents - she got married aged 15

My Grampa - Harry

My Scottish Gran - Helen "Ella"

Shop update postponed

2009-03-24T08:32:00.003Z

Many apologies - I will have to postpone the shop update from this weekend to next Wednesday 1st April due to ill health. Most frustrating to not be able to get out to the workshop this week as the weather is perfect for drying. Hopefully, my health will be restored to dye over the weekend and I'll be able to bring you some yarn next week.

The club yarn will still be posted out this week and indeed the US parcels have already gone.

I'm going to crack this spinning lark if it kills me!

2009-03-19T16:43:00.005Z

That sounds like I'm not enjoying it - I am, especially when it clicks into place and goes smoothly - those rare instances are becoming more frequent, which must surely be a good sign?

Another effort - take some merino acquired from Wingham Wool:

And turn it into this:

Still not perfect - practice, practice, practice!

Squee! Club yarn all dyed up and likely to be posted early next week. If you're in the club look out for your parcel towards the end of next week...

Now we're getting places...

2009-03-17T09:06:00.008Z

...as my mum says when progress is being made - usually related to tidying!

Last night I managed to turn some of this Mixed Shetland from Wingham Wool day:

Into this:

which is the first time I've felt a bit of pride in my spinning. I can see an improvement - still not perfect, but I'm not sure I'm aiming for perfection - I like a bit of imperfection in some areas - it adds - em... character. It was much easier to spin that anything I'd tried before with a longer staple length and I love how the natural colours entwine together to make an interesting single. (I'm still not au fait with all the correct spinning terminology, so please bear with me!) I also love how the top photo looks a bit like a massive lock of hair - my father-in-law (Granda Gerry) who's a wigmaker by profession - might be able to rustle up something attractive from it!

What I have been doing

2009-03-15T21:17:00.017Z

1. Designing - fairisle in Cashmere Soft

2. A shop update - been and gone.

3. Attempting spinning
Alpaca fleece - fawn from Teddy plied with white from Bubble. Attempts to retain the softness ended up in thick and thin again and I found it much easier to spin which the fawn. The white had very short bits and I found it tricky to get anything out of it. Am looking forward to trying the black - might be able to get a better length out of it. I need to be more vigilant in taking out the guard hairs.

And a practice attempt which a mixture of rovings carded by Skein Princess - she absolutely loves carding! I started this at the meeting of the Kennet Valley Spinners, Weavers and Dyers guild meeting where a wonderful lady called Linda, who has over 30 years' spinning experience, attempted to show me the basics. She started by oiling up my wheel which made a huge difference - I could actually get it to turn with just my feet but we discovered that it needs a pin replacing. She was wonderfully patient and a great teacher.

4. Went up to East Hendred today where Wingham Wool were having an open weekend. There was heaps of fibre to choose from and lots of spinning going on. I met Yvette and Shazspun from Ravelry who I'd met at the guild meeting the week before. I came away with this little lot for the princely sum of £6 due to a handy voucher I'd stowed away from when I'd purchased my wheel from them.

5. A night out with the girls

Karen, Jackie, Sue, Sandra, me, Michelle and Karen.

What a fantastic night we had. An Italian meal and then we boogied at a local bar til 2.30am. I thought I was too old for that malarky, but I was mistaken. We had a scream!

6. A spot of gardening - working towards a Brownie badge.

7. Checking out the Bentleys and Zondas

How kind was the manager from Pangbourne Bentley garage. He knew he had no hope of a sale (unless there's a spare £500,000 lurking in a spare bank account somewhere that I don't know about) but let Skein Prince hang out and try all the cars for as long as he wanted. He was in his element!

8. Confirming I Knit Weekender as a vendor in September bites nails in nervous anticipation. Also Blush and SQuee! sock clubs made an appearance in Let's Knit magazine this month - they were kind enough to send me a copy - there was also an interview with Ysolda Teague and a photo of the UK DIY exhibition that alabamawhirly and rockpoolcandy were exhibiting at - and a lovely photo of rockpoolcandy!

The Sweetest Things

2009-03-06T18:19:00.010Z

One week ago, I was in a meeting in Andover taking to a colleague who said her aunt keeps a few alpaca.

Yesterday I went out to Marlow to meet the lovely Julie who keeps a veritable menagerie of animals in the most idyllic spot, including these boys:

Meet Teddy - isn't he gorgeous? This is how close he got - so inquisitive - and we were able to feed him carrots.

And here's Teddy (fawn), Bubble (white) and Dallas (black) lurking there in the background. If I could've smuggled them in my bag without Julie noticing, I would've! (Do you think she'd have noticed?)

I learned loads about alpaca and came away with a few kilos of fleece. Julie's really interested in seeing how the saddle spins up in comparison with neck (2nd quality) so I'm going to take some along to the guild meeting tomorrow to see if someone would be willing to spin up a sample of each so that I can send them back to Julie. If anyone has any thoughts on spinning alpaca - they'd be gratefully received. Anyway, it was great to find another person to chat about fibre, crafty stuff and animals with.

On a knitting note, I have some photos of my Aqueous Martini Ishbel which is finished and blocked and worn today.

It was inspired by alabamawhirly's Count Olaf Ishbel which you can see via the link. I used the sixth installment of the Unfortunate Club in Dark Avenue colourway using about 70% of a skein of Encore for the small size. The last row was knitted in a scrap of Wisp in Caran D'Ache colourway a la whirly's contrast colour.

I loved the pattern and the way it was written made it relatively easy and even I didn't make many mistakes - until I got over-confident and cracked open a bottle of wine with only three rows to go!

And looky here - my cheesy face appeared in the Farnham Herald and Surrey and Hants News following the Unravel show. Thanks, Helena for taking the time to send me the clips. Barbara (wildfennel) appeared too as a trendy, glamourous knitter - she's an absolute star - but I'm guessing she wouldn't appreciate me putting the photo here! Am I right, Barbara?

Big Fat Slubs

2009-03-04T16:11:00.010Z

My so-called week of rest and relaxation hasn't quite worked out as planned. I'm still working my normal job and was posting out parcels on Monday, dyeing in the workshop and ordering new supplies yesterday and off to see some alpacas tomorrow but at least it's not as manic as usual (and the pain I was getting in my chest has receded).

Over several evenings, I did manage to turn some of this:

Into this:
I know, I know, but it's my first attempt at spinning - it's very twisty with big fat slubs - but I can console myself with the beautiful colours. The batts came from Marianne otherwise known as picperfic who has the most gorgeous shop on Misi called fluff-n-stuff. I know Marianne as a customer and met her for the first time at Unravel, but only found out about her shop (maybe I should be keeping it a secret?) on Ravelry. I'm just sorry I didn't do her fibre justice! This colourway was called Fairyland. I'm still going to attempt to knit it!

As you can see, the spinning is coming on very, very slowly. To start with, I couldn't even treadle properly to get the thing going. Then I had trouble with feeding the yarn onto the bobbin (until I adjusted the tension) and I still have huge problems with over-twisting, but for the very small lengths that spin well, I'm getting the feel of how it should be. And I have my first proper spinning lesson on Saturday so I'm hoping some of the ladies at the Kennet Valley Spinners, Dyers and Weavers will sort me out with how it should be done.

I realise I do seem to have been purchasing a lot recently - well, you might as well share in the yumminess. This is from FeltStudioUK on Etsy and she even threw in the smaller "snail" for free.

Then some carders arrived (as if by magic) from Alpaca Spinner and look what they popped in for free:
And finally, a photo of the merino/cashmere I picked up from Elisabeth Beverley at Unravel. I love the simplicity of her colours and they're all naturally dyed.

From left to right: Pomegranate, Hollyhocks, Achillea, Walnut

And I have only three rows left of my Ishbel knitted in the latest installment of the Unfortunate Club yarn. Will show you just as soon as I know that all the international parcels have reached their rightful owners. I enjoyed knitting it so much that I'm already planning a second one (and have you seen Ysolda's latest beret version of Ishbel?). Baby knitting to be done first though!

Slowest-ever knitted bootees

2009-02-26T23:10:00.004Z

At last, they're finished. I started these Saartje's bootees all the way back in January! I'd seen the pattern on yarn pirate's blog way back - before her little boy was born, I think, and never had a reason to knit them - but now... I'm in full baby-knitting mode. They were going to be for my sister's baby, but a colleague's baby boy is more imminent, so I'll make another pair for Skein Sister and hope that they're ready in time! I've purchased some gorgeous hand-spun hand-dyed Falkland from FeltStudioUK which would be perfect for them. The ones in the photo are made with Skein Queen Plushness in Iceberg with a contrasting Debbie Bliss cashmerino DK.

Don't forget - shop update tomorrow. Then I'm going to close up for a week to recharge the old batteries... after which there will be more Plump Plushness in Pink Lady Apple - I promise!!

Winter Clubs

2009-02-24T14:42:00.006Z

The last installments of both Winter Clubs are now in the post as February is rapidly drawing to a close, so if you are a club member, look out for your latest serving of pudding or latest Unfortunate skein - it should be with you very soon...

Here are January's offerings:

A single helping of Cherry Pie in Plushness

Cakesniffers in Encore

I always do a couple of extra skeins just in case any get lost in the post and if I don't snaffle them myself, they can occasionally be found by the eagle-eyed in unusual places, but they don't usually make it into the shop.

And now I can start getting the admin done for the Spring Clubs.

Unravel - the big day

2009-02-22T17:50:00.009Z

What a fantastic day!

See alabamawhirly's full-size Ishbel (by Ysolda Teague) shawl in the background made from one skein of Encore with a contrast edging.

Some yarn

Some knits

Some of the gloves by alabamawhirly are for sale in her Knit Happens etsy shop. The Zig and Zag pram blanket is a free pattern by me which you can find here. The Ten O'Clock scarf pattern is free and can be found here. The Chevron scarf pattern is by Joelle Hoverson and can be found in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. The Print o' the Waves stole which alabamawhirly created with three skeins of Wisp 2 ply cashmere/silk is a pattern by Eunny Jang which is free and can be found here.

Alabamawhirly in her trademark yellow and some lovely friends from Ravelry.

Wildfennel and Melarno knitting the Ten O'Clock scarf in the Outcast "museum of the mundane" corner.

It was so good to chat to so many friends from Ravelry and Susan from Knit on the Net (watch out for a SQ yarn review on there) and Elisabeth Beverley with her beautiful plant-dyed merinos and cashmeres and knits, the ladies from the Kennet Valley Spinners, Dyers and Weavers guild (I'm going to go along and learn to spin - v. exciting) and the man whose name I didn't catch from Pandora's wool shop in Guildford.

Some things I learnt for the next time:

1. Bring more of everything - more yarn, more business cards, more free patterns, more change, more helpers (thanks, Whirly for helping so much - we make a good team.)
2. Knit up an item in each different type of yarn.
3. Don't dread the tidying up - it only takes a quarter of the time of setting up.
4. Don't bring sandwiches containing onions and leave them all day in your bag on the floor which had underfloor heating!

Thanks so much to everyone who came - shall we do it all again soon? Maybe six months time?!

Unravel - the dress rehersal

2009-02-20T15:00:00.007Z

The table

The sock yarn (well, a small selection of it)

The favourites

Plumage in Glister

Tortoiseshell in Plushness

The panic - just have to go down to Farnham this afternoon to set up - oh, and did I mention I hadn't put any prices on yet... I should probably add that I haven't got any facilities for taking credit or debit cards.

Any yarn not sold tomorrow will go into the shop at the end of next week.

Must dash...

Oddments and endments

2009-02-18T23:22:00.003Z

Just had a very lovely family day today. Was supposed to be doing more getting-ready-for-Unravel on Saturday, but as I've worked solidly for days, weeks... and thoroughly neglected my family, I thought it wouldn't hurt to spend one day this half-term with them (though that leaves not a lot of time for more skeining and labelling and am now slightly panicking!)

So, we had a trip to London - Tate Modern followed by the Museum of London. We also got shooed off the steps of St Paul's Cathedral by some gentlemen in cassocks until the fire brigade arrived! Just after we were telling the kids about it burning down in the Great Fire of London.

Then Skein Prince and myself went along to Knit Night with the outcasts which was the perfect end to the day, especially seeing alabamawhirly's ishbel in Count Olaf.

So the oddments and endments:

Firstly, all the places in the Spring round of Squee! Sock Clubs are now taken. Summer places will open in May.

Secondly, if a lady called Mairi who emailed me through the shop reads this, could you email me again? My reply was bounced back from the email address you gave me. Thanks.

And thirdly - my spinning wheel arrived!! It's still in the box though as it arrived when we were in London and I haven't had time to have a little play yet...

Finally, I'll be dyeing up the last installment of the Winter Club yarn tomorrow.

Friday 13th (and the week leading up to it!)

2009-02-13T13:41:00.010Z

The best laid plans of mice and men... so much for my careful plans to have four days of dyeing this week to allow plenty of preparation for Unravel. Tis a sad tale of woe and misery:

There's a rather vital ingredient to the dyeing process called citric acid. I'd ordered several kilos well ahead of time but the delivery had been held up due to the snow last week. After phoning the delivery company on at least four increasingly shouty occasions, and waiting in for three whole days, it finally arrived mid-week, by which time I'd lost two days of dyeing. The irony is that I had ordered another batch from another company which actually arrived two hours before the original batch. Now I have kilos and kilos of the stuff! But at least I can dye again.

Then last night, around eleven o'clock, Skein Princess was violently ill - I think that's the most polite way to put it - and has the day off school today. Apparently half of her class are off with a stomach bug. Poor SP - she'll miss her school disco and Brownie promise tonight. She's doing a lot of sleeping today. But the upshot is... no dyeing today.

Which means my four days have shrunk into one measly day. I'm breathing deeply and reassuring myself that I already have quite a few skeins needing to be labelled and I got loads done yesterday, so all will be fine (please reassure me!)

I have a few skeins of Plump Plushness, normal Plushness, Blush and Desire for a small shop update tomorrow. And tomorrow is also the day that any spare Squee! Sock Club for Spring places will be released in the shop. There won't be many again as almost all existing members have resubscribed, but I have tried to expand the clubs to maximum capacity so there will be a few.

Click here for more details and the prices are here:

Spring Sock Clubs

Pudding Club - single helping - £42 or $69
Pudding Club - double helping - £79 or $130
Unfortunate Club - $38 or $62

And there hasn't been a whole lot of knitting going on due to the large amount of reskeining going on of an evening. I did complete one Saartje's bootee for my sister's forthcoming sprog-event in Plushness in Iceberg colourway but it came out more the size of a doll's shoe than one that would fit even the smallest baby, and she's having a BIG baby - oh yes, the consultant has reassured her it's big and will have to be delivered three weeks early. She's a midwife so she knows herself.

But I can show you some knitting from eleven years ago. I made a pram blanket for Skein Prince when he was born and found it the other day, much ravaged by cats, but still just about holding together. Apparently the pastel-coloured chenille (cringe) was too much of a temptation for their sharp little claws!

Ten O'Clock Scarf - free pattern

2009-02-08T23:30:00.010Z

All day, every day, I look forward to around 10pm when I can finally sit down and start my knitting for the day. This scarf was no exception, and every day for about a week, I sat down at 10ish and knitted a few rows until it was finished.

I designed it to be easy for a first lace project. The patterning row is every fourth row, so you have some nice, relaxing knit and purl rows in between. I knitted this one in Skein Queen Desire DK in Pigeon Street colourway. This scarf could be knitted in different yarn weights and needle sizes and I'd love to see a solid, or semi-solid version.

Here's the link for the free pdf pattern.

Stash enhancement

2009-02-06T18:26:00.005Z

I've been doing a little fibre and yarn acquisition of my own lately:

This BFL roving is from the lovely Juliet at Artist's Palette Yarns. She has some yummy stuff in her shop and I love her colours. This is for when my spinning wheel finally arrives. Who knew it took so long to send out a wheel? This is for when I master it and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

And this little beauty is from Shunklies on Etsy. It was only after I'd ordered them both that I realised I'd been attracted to such similar colours. Can't wait to get started now.

And these little Socks that Rock skeins arrived from Blue Moon Fibers and were part of my Christmas present from Skein King (how good is he?)

Lemongrass in lightweight

Grimm's Willow-Wren and Storey Time in Silkie

I love using Skein Queen yarn (of course!) but it's an extra special treat to get a parcel of yarn actually arriving instead of departing.

Snow

2009-02-05T18:42:00.004Z

We very rarely get more than a smattering of snow in these here parts. And the schools NEVER close because of snow. It has been a very strange week this week. The primary school has been closed for one day, and the secondary school for three whole days!!

View from my bedroom window at 4am

View from my bedroom window at 6am

Question: Does this country fall apart at the slightest hint of snow and ice? I'm sure our Canadian friends would be shocked that a couple of inches of the cold white stuff would bring such chaos.

My attitude to the snow:
Day 1 - Whoopee - son played out in it for the entire day - whoopee! Isn't it beautiful. I love the snow.
Day 2 - it's a bit icy. His school is closed again. Oh no, his mates are round playing Guitar Hero at full volume when I'm trying to work. Hope it melts.
Day 3 - phew! Both at school
Day 4 - fresh snowfall. Listen to the school lists on the radio. They're both off! Good, that'll be no moaning and "snot fairs" but they have no interest in playing in the snow. Take them for a long walk through the sloshy slush to the Post Office.
Day 5 - more snow forecast... get the wine...

Finesse, Elegance and Plushness

2009-02-03T21:46:00.009Z

And the last shop update of the week includes:

Faded Roses in Finesse - a brand new extrafine merino/silk laceweight

Sweet Mint in Finesse

Lantern Parade in Elegance

Rose Red in Plushness

Faded Roses in Plushness - 6 skeins

Winter Hedgerow in Plushness

Elegance and Plushness

2009-02-01T19:14:00.006Z

Some more skeins added to the shop:

Limoncello in Elegance

Pumpkin Pie in Elegance

Lantern Parade in Elegance

Purple Turtle in Elegance

Iceberg in Plushness

Golden Plum in Plushness

Plump Plushness

2009-01-30T16:18:00.007Z

Plump Plushness which has gone on sale in the shop today. That's all for today and tomorrow.

Kelpie

Merry Men

Pink Lady Apple

Wedgwood

Next shop updates and a free pattern

2009-01-29T21:27:00.014Z

I bring you news that I'm planning to trial a new system of shop updates by uploading a few items at a time over the next week (from 30th Jan.) at random times during the day and night. There's likely to be a little bit tomorrow or Saturday, and then more at the beginning of next week. Shall I post back on here when all the updating is complete?

It's not an ideal system, but I'm hoping I'll have a greater supply of hand-dyed to bring you from the summer onwards when my circumstances change and I can increase the numbers of days I can be in the workshop dyeing with the possibility of a helper! More skeins of the same colourway (though not so many as to detract from the unique feel of each skein), more colourways, more chance to project-plan...

This Plump Plushness will be included in the updates - it's as if the Plushness has over-indulged at Christmas-time and is bulging out of its yarn band! I know the feeling! The Pink Lady Apple makes an appearance in Issue 2 of The Knitter which is more than a little bit exciting...

Also, just a reminder for those of you in the S.E. of England, that I'll be bringing lots of hand-dyed yarn to the Unravel show at Farnham Maltings on 21st February. It's already looking like a bit of a SQ meet-up and it will be great to meet so many of you.

This looks interesting - UK DIY exhibition opens at the Turnpike Gallery (which I think is in Wigan?) on 14th February and includes a film on the Handmade Nation movement which "explores a burgeoning art community based on creativity, determination and networking." Their blog is interesting in itself - latest entry is on yarnbombing which has made it into the national newspapers recently.

The Zig and Zag Sock Yarn pram blanket is finished, bar sewing in all the ends, which won't be quite as bad as it looks, as I worked half of them into the knitting but it's Off the Needles which I have mixed feelings about. I designed it to be a blanket I wouldn't get bored with, and it worked!

The pattern was fairly simple and I've detailed it below. I'm sure it could be written more elegantly, but it's what worked for me. You could use a more limited palette and switch between fewer colours or knit more pattern rows in the same colour for wider chevrons. It could be easily adapted to become a scarf.

Zig and Zig Sock Yarn pram blanket (now available as a pdf - here)

Needles: 4.5mm US size 7 circular needle
Yarns: I used a selection of sock weight yarn including Skein Queen, Posh Yarn, Koigu, Socks That Rock, Hipknits and Sunshine Yarns in merino, cashmere/silk, handspun cashmere and BFL

I only used a very small amount of each, enough for four rows, though you will need a larger quantity of the colour which forms the border and is knitted in garter stitch.

Choose your border colour and wind off a good handful of it into a separate ball. This will be used for your left-hand border.

Cast on 127 stitches
K 6 rows (garter stitch) in border colour.

Continue in same colour for next four rows:

Pattern row 1: K5 *KFB, K4, sl1 knitwise K2 tog psso, K4, KFB* repeat nine times to last 5 stitches;K5
Pattern row 2: K5, P117, K5
Pattern row 3: As row 1
Pattern row 4: As row 2

(Note: this is new, improved pattern for row 1 - if you need the original, it's at the end of this post.)

Knit first 5 stitches in border colour, change colour, incorporating one end of the new colour into the first four or five stitches of the work whilst maintaining pattern. Knit the last 5 stitches using the small ball of border colour.

After knitting the four rows of pattern, switch to another colour if desired, remembering to knit the first and last five stitches in border colour.

Knit to desired length. I used 42 repeats of the 4-row pattern.

Make last 4-row pattern in border colour.
Knit 6 rows.
Cast off.

Sew in ends.
Enjoy!

Abbreviations:
KFB - Knit a stitch, leaving stitch on left needle; knit into the back loop of this stitch
Sl 1 - Slip a stitch knitwise
PSSO - pass slipped stitch over
M1 - make one by picking up loop between stitches and knitting into the back of it

(Original pattern row 1: K5 *KFB, K4, sl1 knitwise K2 tog psso, K4, KFB* to last 16 stitches; KFB, K4, sl1 knitwise K2 tog psso, K3, M1, K5)

The Art of Time Frittering and Other Bletherings

2009-01-23T16:25:00.011Z

How to Time Fritter: Ravelry, Facebook, looking at Knitting Stitch Dictionaries, blogging, chatting on email, looking at potential spinning wheels.

How to Time Fritter on Ravelry: Check forums, check SQueenery forum, answer PMs, see if anyone's uploaded any new projects to drool over, check other 41 groups I belong to, check if any more hearts on projects (very sad but it means so much!!), check activity of SQ members in case I'm missing out on anything exciting and then do it all again x 50 each day. Is it just me?

What I Should Be Doing: Putting washes on, feeding next door neighbours' rabbits, cooking roast dinner, sorting out workshop, coming up with pattern designs for Unravel, putting in orders for yarn, putting in orders for business cards, writing cheques for Brownies, housework.

Well, at least I've weaned myself off Plurk!

And I can't stop knitting this - I'm loving every minute - but I think the recipient may well have spotted it on Flickr.

The lovely Yvette who is going to be my spinning guru has disappeared off to India for a well-earned holiday. In the meantime, I'm in the process of acquiring a new spinning wheel. Due to requests for hand-dyed fibre, I always said I need to learn how to spin first so that I get a feel for how the fibre will spin up and how best to dye it. It was my one and only New Year's Resolution and I can't wait to get started with encouragement from the Queen of Spinning and Crochet, Rockpool Candy too. Twas lovely to catch up with her this week and be in total awe of her gorgeous batts and handspun.

Oh and the international parcels for the second installment of the Winter Clubs were posted out this week. UK ones going out next week. It was at this stage that I was going to show you some photos of the December installment but looks like I was in such a rush to get them out, that I didn't take any. If anyone's got any spare...

We spent last weekend in Bristol in this hotel. The plans to go to Get Knitted were somewhat scuppered by the fact that there was water pouring through our bedroom ceiling at home at 6am on Saturday so we had to sort that out before we went. The hotel was very nice if a bit Faulty Towerish in decor and residents and of course, didn't look like this in the storms and gales, but we had a massive family room and it was just nice to have a change of scene (and a full English breakfast!)

Unravel at Farnham Maltings

2009-01-16T23:10:00.017Z

Today, me and alabamawhirly went down to Farnham Maltings to meet the Creative Communities Co-ordinator (great job title) to talk about the Unravel show on February 21st. We had a drink and a chat, whirly talked through all her creative ideas, I showed my yarn, we saw the spaces we could choose from and the outcome is that I'm taking a stall and whirly and the outcasts are putting on this exhibition which I can't say too much about yet and maybe helping out with knitting demonstrations around my stall. (Can you tell I'm a little excited about it - I didn't even stop for a breath there.) There'll be some of your favourite exhibitors going and a few new ones you may not have heard of, lots of spinning and a knitting surgery. Maybe see some of you there.

Teal

Plum

Ruby

I had a massive delivery this week (oo er missus!) and I've restocked some of the Cashmere Soft colours which had sold out.

It's been a hectic week, and I'd like to thank everyone in the Skein Queenery group on Ravelry for giving me their opinions on the Dye to Order idea. More on that another time.

And a teeny tiny bit of progress on the Zig and Zag pram blanket.

You remember Nick, our friend and the builder who converted the garage into the SQuirkshop? He'd been asking me to knit him a hat for ages and after one false start (knitting one that turned out too small), this is my second attempt using a pattern by Stephanie Nicole. I added an extra inch onto the recommended size and switched to bigger needles after 12 rows.

I haven't cornered him with the camera yet so I'm afraid you've got my mug to look at modelling it and I look truly mad in this photo as I attempted to photograph myself in the mirror.

I dyed up some new BFL Aran in the colour of Nick's choice - oatmeal - and incorporated a band of Malabrigo in Lettuce which I got from First4yarns at Wonderwool.

We're off to Bristol over the weekend for a night in a hotel as part of Skein King's birthday present. So why did I choose Bristol? Apart from having lived there in a former life as a trainee accountant (ha!), well... Get Knitted's there, isn't it. Ulterior motive? Moi?

Oh, and I nearly forgot to say, Blush got a very nice review in Yarn Forward this month. Made me.... blush.

Tis all gone...

2009-01-15T00:12:00.007Z

... except the yellow. Nobody likes the yellow. Aww.... Is there a more emotive colour in the spectrum? You either love it or hate it and if you hate it, there's a good chance you love purple instead - opposite on the colour wheel you see. (Update: the Banana Cream Pie has now gone to a good home).

I'm thinking about ways to make the shopping experience more pleasant and the common opinion (in the Skein Queenery group in Ravelry) seems to be that random updates supported by a general email and a blog preview at the start of the week when I'm updating is the way to go to avoid a frustrating frenzy. It's also a wake-up call that I need to dye up more skeins in the same colourway instead of getting into the workshop and just letting the creative spirit take over leaving all sense at the door! I'm also thinking of resuming custom orders perhaps once a month or every second month - but, hold your horses - I'll need to evaluate this very carefully as to how to fit it into the dyeing schedule, how to monitor stock and dyes, and come up with a few more guidelines than I had previously.

It is lovely to think that so many people want to buy and knit with my yarn. I am very lucky - and thank you for your ongoing support - I just want to keep the buying process as fair and as stressless as possible for anyone who wants to sample the royal yarnyness.

You're all too keen!

2009-01-13T22:00:00.001Z

For the moment, I think I'll have to reluctantly stop the update.

The update is so feverish tonight that there are literally seconds between each transaction and the shopping cart can't keep up which means that the same yarn can be bought by more than one person and I'm not happy that people are being left disappointed in thinking that they've bought yarn when someone's got to it first and it's happened on more than one occasion tonight.

I think the best and fairest way I can do it is to load the remaining yarn into the shop in batches over the next 24 to 48 hours.

I'm not sure what the long-term solution to this problem is - I may have to switch to random updates. Any suggestions more than welcome but I'm sorry I won't be able to reserve any yarn.

1,000 apologies.

Shop update preview

2009-01-13T13:59:00.037Z

Let me introduce a new yarn type to the Skein Queen stable. This is Desire - a squidgy superwash DK merino - a generous 425m per 100g skein. We're talking jumper quantities of Skein Queen yarn. Or just one skein would make a hat, scarf or mittens. Pictured here in the Merry Men colourway.

And a note on Costumier in Wisp - I have 4 skeins in total - 3 not reskeined and one reskeined but they are from the same batch and I used the same pretty colours.

It's part of tonight's update. Hope to see you in the shop around 8pm GMT.

Blue Damson in Desire - 1 skein

Indigo Denim in Desire - 4 skeins

Merry Men in Desire - 5 skeins

Kettle Pond in Plump Plushness - 1 skein

Blue Seaspray in Plushness - 2 skeins

Pentlands in Blush - 2 skeins

Frosted Grass in Blush - 1 skein

Bronzed Dewberry in Bamboozle - 2 skeins

Mermaid in Blush - 1 skein

Folklore in Bamboozle - 1 skein

Zapateado in Blissful - 1 skein

Australia in Blissful - 1 skein

Moonshine in Blissful - 1 skein

English Pewter in Opulent - 4 skeins

Melba in Opulent - 2 skeins

Banana Cream Pie - Wisp - 2 skeins

Ruby Ruby - Wisp - 4 skeins

Old Roses - Wisp - 2 skeins

Costumier - Wisp - 4 skeins
Spring Flowers - Blissful - 1 skein

PS You may have to bear with me - it'll take me a while to load this little lot up into the shop. Also you may notice a few changes to the shop - we're working with Pace to implement a few ideas and they're gradually coming to fruition. You can now search by the main colour in the skein and the number of skeins in each yarn type can be seen.

Next shop update

2009-01-12T21:45:00.001Z

Tuesday 13th January 8pm GMT.

Preview of hand-dyed skeins here tomorrow afternoon.

SQ x

Extended sale on cashmere

2009-01-11T20:35:00.003Z

You may be interested to know that I've decided to extend the 15% discount on Cashmere Soft from Lotus Yarns (China) right the way to the end of January. Did you see it featured in the first ever issue of The Knitter? A gorgeous, glossy UK-based magazine for experienced knitters. They selected it for one of their top three yarns :)

Birthday weekend - when knitting is dangerous

2009-01-11T00:08:00.007Z

We have two birthdays this weekend - it's Skein King's tomorrow (I can hardly believe it's a whole year since we celebrated his 40th at Center Parcs) and Skein Princess's on Monday.

Oh ho! Look what I found. This is her seven years ago. I knitted this sheep suit and I'm sure it had something to do with the severe eczema that plagued her for two years because it was shortly after this, if not the next day, that it developed. Cute, but so not worth it, poor thing! I was under strict instructions NEVER to knit anything similar for my sister if she ever had a baby.

Those early days went by so fast and in a blur. I do remember that it was shortly after Will Young won Pop Idol and did a cover version of Evergreen which I used to sing to her:

Cos your the one good reason
You're the only girl that I need
Cos your more beautiful than I have ever seen

Och, I'm going all sentimental!

Anyhoo, I expect you'll be wanting the yarn info. I have lots and lots of squidgy hand-dyed yarn ready for the shop. However, due to ongoing birthday celebrations, I think the shop update will be Tuesday. I'll narrow it down to a specific time nearer the time by posting back on here whenever I'm stuffed with birthday cake and can't wrap one more present...

First shop update of the year

2009-01-03T15:03:00.021Z

I hope you all had a relaxing festive season and are ready and raring to meet whatever 2009 has in store for us all. We had a lovely Christmas in the SQ household - really relaxing with plenty of time to spend building jigsaws, eating way too much, going to the Panto and watching Christmas telly.

And Hogmanay was spent at our friends in the New Forest where they held a big party. Guests ranged from age 3 to 83 and most of the children were thrilled that they were allowed to stay up til midnight. The guests in their twenties indulged in Havana cigars and Veuve Clicquot champagne while us older ones sipped on the Cava and tried to remember what it was like to be that young and foolish enough to let off a rocket whilst still holding onto it! (I was never that foolish!)

As for knitting, I had a pretty frustrating couple of weeks. This is normally my biggest Christmas luxury - getting proper knitting time, but this year was one-stitch-forward-two-stitches-back. I did finish the Boy Gloves which are a perfect fit and don't come too far up his wrist because he doesn't like them catching in his watch strap:

They came ice-skating with us this morning and were perfect for keeping his hands warm.

I knitted a sleeve of the Debbie Bliss bolero on my new Knit Picks metal interchangeable needles and then realised I'd done the whole thing on 3.5mm instead of 4mm. It took about three evenings of knitting. Big sigh.

So I decided it was time for a new project. My sister's second baby is due in April, and she expressed a wish for a baby blanket, so I decided to make up my own pattern for this pram blanket.
It was inspired by Missoni-style knits and also I'm a closet Kaffe Fassett fan from the first time round and I know I won't get bored because of all the colour changes. I have started and restarted this several times, but I think this is the pattern I'm going to go with. I'm using a mixture of sock weight yarns in Skein Queen, Koigu, STR, Posh and Hipknits and it was my sister who gave me the cute Cath Kidston knitting project bag used to store it all.

And now, enough with the blether, and on with the sale. Everything in the shop will be reduced by 15% including this small amount of hand-dyed which I hope to load up by 5pm GMT when the sale starts.

Bronzed Dewberry in Elegance - 1 skein

Rajasthan in Elegance - 1 skein

Three Kings in Elegance - 1 skein

Chocolate Cherries in Plushness - 1 skein

Hyacinth in Plump Plushness - 1 skein

Figgy Pudding in Encore - 2 skeins

Mossy Oak in Blush - 1 skein

Midori in Wisp - 1 skein

Old Roses in Wisp - 1 skein

Faded Bunting - 2 skeins
(colour not as strong as intended - extra price reduction)

There's a couple of extra skeins I've not photographed on here - some Mellow and a guest yarn - to go on too and all the pre-dyed cashmere and bamboo is on offer too.

January sale - it's almost here!

2008-12-29T17:15:00.003Z

Here it is again - once-a-year sale starts Saturday 3rd January. 15% off everything in the shop for one week only.

SQ x

Ding Dong!

2008-12-23T15:48:00.011Z

One last post before Christmas just to say a very Merry Christmas to you all - customers, friends, readers and dippers-in - thank you all for coming by to my humble blog and for putting up with my bletherings and yarn obsession. I really do feel lucky to have met so many fantastic people and friends over the last couple of years.

Apart from holding up the queue in the Post Office for a full half-hour yesterday posting out the club parcels (thanks, Joy!), the Skein Prince's Plushness socks are finished.
And I've started some gloves for him for the cold mornings:

OK, it's a rubbish photo, but I used some Posh Yarn in Laura which I acquired at Wonderwool earlier this year and very lovely it is too.

Yesterday, we had an attempt at a very crooked Gingerbread House:

And the yarn in the photos is destined for a certain knitting magazine.

The shop will remain open over the festive period and yarn will be posted out on the first available posting date and there will be a small January sale once again. As for dyeing, I'll be in the workshop dyeing up some yarn for another knitting magazine and hope to have some of the new DK merino ready for early 2009.

Don't forget to keep your nominations coming in for the 2008 Squeeny Awards over on Ravelry.

A very, very Merry Christmas to you all,

SQ
x

2008 review

2008-12-17T10:11:00.010Z

"And so this is Christmas. And what have you done? Another year over. A new one just begun."

How was your 2008? Are you glad it's over and roll on 2009? Or was it a good one for you?

For me, it was a great year for Skein Queen. Getting to "meet" new customers from all over the world; shop updates selling out almost instanteously; a brand new workshop; the big move from beloved Etsy to my new independent yarn emporium; my first small show; starting Skein Queenery group on Ravelry where I thought I'd be rattling about with the tumbleweed; launching of the Squee! Sock Clubs; gently venturing into the world of wholesaling my yarn and the acquisition of some new pre-dyed stock.

And I've had an article published in Yarn Forward; copy edited a couple of issues of the magazine; been to Olympia, Wonderwool Wales and Ally Pally; attended a Hyperbolic Crochet Reef workshop; participated in Sock Wars III; been to my first knitting hen party; participated in knitting hats for Innocent Smoothies and now this is starting to sound like one of those round robin letters you get in Christmas cards, so I'll change the subject!

I think I've been more than lucky. It was an awful year for some of my friends and family. I cannot tell you the amount of bad news I've heard this year from poor health to teenage pregnancies; from job losses to broken bones. How do you say how much sympathy you have for all those loved ones without sounding trite? Hopefully they know it. So any good news, such as a long-awaited pregnancy and a long-awaited engagement, have been like rays of sunshine and meant even more.

What does 2009 hold in store? On a personal level, it's likely to be a year of more change. Who knows what will happen between now and July, but the current plan is to take redundancy then after 17 years of working in the same publishing office. I'll miss the lovely people I work with and I have the option to stay on if I want to, but I think it could be an excellent opportunity to be able to devote more much needed time to Skein Queen. I have so many plans... so little time...

Knitting progress:

Skein Prince wanted some Plushness socks too. I'd done this little self-striping dyeing experiment a while back which was, at one point, a huge tangled mess, but it's looking a lot better now.
And I finished off Skein Princess's Pocket Socks with a little bunny. These socks are well-worn. She loves them - and so cosy.

And finally, progress (or lack thereof) on the bolero in Lotus Yarns Bamboo Soft. One front and the start of a sleeve! My Chinese supplier wants to put this on his website when it's finished and my friend Sonia has agreed to model it. Little does he know that I am Captain Slow of the knitting world!

Sock Club news - all the single and double helpings of the Plushness Pudding Club have been dyed up as have The Unfortunate Club skeins. All drying and waiting to be posted out over the next couple of days.

Maybe in 2009, I'll become one of those good bloggers who blog every day - not wait for a week then write a whole screed!

Feeling rubbish

2008-12-11T16:47:00.007Z

Hands up - who hasn't had a seasonal cold this week and if not, how have you escaped? I've been feeling so sorry for myself these last two nights, I've gone to bed early with a book - something I haven't done for a while.

I'm about as slow a reader as a knitter - how I got through my English degree, I'll never know - not helped by the fact that I keep dozing off, but I'm really enjoying The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. Not the most light-hearted of subjects, it's about a nine-year-old boy who finds his father has been sent by the "Fury" to head a concentration camp and about him trying to understanding what he's seeing and why his father is involved.

It's reminding me of my recent involvement in the production of a digital archive of papers on Displaced Persons after WWII which was completely heart-wrenching - correspondence from people trying to find if their relatives were alive or dead, finding out which country they'd be relocated to and even when they'd get out of the camps - the last DP camp closed in 1957, which I found quite shocking.

Maybe I should stick to the yarnery and knitting of an evening!

Some brand new DK and Aran weight yarn arrived this morning. There's DK superwash merino, DK alpaca/merino and Aran BFL. All gorgeous stuff.

I'm thinking of dyeing up these thicker weights in standard colourways in jumper quantities - most likely semi-solid or random colourways in the same tone and am open to suggestions - plums, browns, greys, blues, greens?

And speaking of undyed yarn, look what the lovely Yvette brought me on Friday:

Handspun by herself - Wensleydale plied with silk. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Shop update preview

2008-12-09T11:42:00.028Z

If I can stop eating these Maltesers and figure out why Blogger is insisting on underlining everything, then I'm planning a shop update throughout the day. OK, so I fixed the underlining thing, now I've lost all my colour settings *sigh*.

Here's your preview - some favourite SQ colourways, a couple of Christmas-inspired colourways and the long-awaited introduction of Plump Plushness - 150g of plush goodness which works out at a generous 450 yards. Two skeins would be enough for a small or short-sleeved garment, depending on the pattern.

I'll make a note of the last posting dates for Christmas on the shop site - not long.

Three Kings in Elegance - 3 skeins

Plum Betty in Elegance - 3 skeins

Beach Party in Blush - 2 skeins

Decadent in Blush - 1 skein

Lovebird in Blush - 1 skein

Country Road in Plump Plushness - 2 skeins

Dewberry in Plump Plushness - 2 skeins

Blueberries in Plump Plushness - 2 skeins

English Pewter in Plushness - 2 skeins

Wedgewood in Plushness - 1 skein

Mermaid in Kimono - 3 skeins

Frankincense in Kimono - 3 skeins

Dewberry in Mellow - 2 skeins

Caran D'Ache in Mellow - 4 skeins

Purple Turtle in Blissful - 1 skein

Mermaid in Blissful - 1 skein

Twelfth Night in Blissful - 1 skein

Fruit Salad in Opulent - 4 skeins

On a dark wintry night

2008-12-08T17:17:00.012Z

Unfortunately, due to this dark, dark wintry night, I am unable to bring you any photos of tomorrow's shop update. And I wanted to show you all the Opulent, and the Elegance; the extra large skeins of Plump Plushness and the Mellow; the Blissful and the Blush, but it's too, too dark for decent photos and as you know, flash is the enemy of yarn photography.

As it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our household, I shall just have to subject you to some Christmassy decorations. I've tried very, very hard to keep it simple this year and not fuss too much. The usual eclectic mix of ornaments gathered over the years - red, green and gold mostly, with a bit of whatever the children wanted to throw in.

Knitted "paper" chains from John Lewis

Have yet to acquire some ribbons to put up the Christmas cards, but we're getting there. This year will be a simple, family Christmas - just the four of us - with reindeer food, Santa's snowy footprints on the stairs and lots of phone calls to family. Then a big old party for Hogmanay down in the New Forest.

Look who fell asleep in the Advent village.

2008-12-04T09:35:00.016Z

Thank you to everyone who mosied on over to the new yarn emporium to browse, register or purchase. I need to get restocked with hand-dyed but there's still some pre-dyed cashmere and bamboo in there awaiting the right owner. We had a few PayPal issues over the weekend, but they have now been resolved.

This week, I've been getting custom orders out for those who ordered them via the Skein Queenery group on Ravelry. See, it's worth joining! There are benefits. Next one-off custom orders likely to be February.

Here's a small sample of some of the custom orders:

Blueberries in Opulent

Decadent in Blush

Periwinkle in Blush

English Pewter in Blush

Wedgewood in Elegance

Seven Swans in Plushness

Fragrant Stocks in Plushness

Winter Hedgerow in Bamboozle

I've been "trying out" some of the Bamboo Soft from the shop. I love the softness, drape (like silk) and depth of colour. I'm knitting the Tie Front Bolero from the latest Debbie Bliss magazine. The fronts are knitted sideways. I've made a bit more progress than this, but last photo I took was last night with a flash and I have an allergy to using the flash!

Newest shop now open

2008-11-29T15:42:00.004Z

Shop directions:

Skye Boat in Opulent