Royal workshop progress

As you may be aware, work has come to halt on the royal estate for the time being as the new workshop is being constructed. Tis neither a shed (pah!) nor a listed building (as some have suggested), but a humble garage or gar-age as my grandmother who spent most of her married life in India would have said (it would've been her birthday today, so I'll sneak in a crafty mention).

Let me show you the veritable dump I used to work in - now be prepared, it's not a pretty sight and is somewhat embarrassing.

OK, so those two wardrobe doors weren't always there in front of my dyeing paraphernalia, but you get the idea - I had to jump over bikes, barbecues, cardboard boxes etc.

And no matter how I tidied it, by the following week, it was back in the same state.

Well, now, thanks to the lovely Nick and Mick of Wildwood Carpentry, the transformation has begun:Check out all that insulation - it's going to be a lot more snug than dragging all the dyeing stuff from the garage to the kitchen in pouring rain.

I did have Nick and Mick all posed and looking busy, but for some reason, the camera didn't work at that precise moment - I'll have to ask them again tomorrow. They were a bit shy about it! But I must say, I'm usually not good with having workmen in the house. I never know about the cups of tea timing scenario and what biscuits to offer etc but these guys are just getting on with it and making their own. I'm a rubbish client!

If anyone in the Berkshire vicinity and surrounds is in need of an electric garage door unit with remote control, I can do you a very good price on a second-hand one in full working order.

Speaking of birthdays, our trip to Sherwood Forest Center Parcs for mum's 70th was lots of fun.

The birthday spread - my sister made the cake.

My mum

We were doing so much cycling, swimming, table tennis, pool, pottery painting, high wires, eating and drinking that there was not a moment for knitting.

However, I gave mum the Branching Out scarf I'd made out of half a skein of SQ Wisp.

And Skein Prince gave his two-and-a-half-year-old-cousin this cat and mouse he'd designed himself:Progress so far on the Retro Rib socks in SQ Blush using Reykjavik colourway:



Did I mention Dad's birthday was back in June? Oh well, they might be ready in time for Christmas!

Slightly sidetracked from Center Parcs - check out the Skein Prince on the high wires:

That tiny blob in the top right-hand corner - that's him! Braver than me.

I fancied myself as a bit of a wildlife photographer while we were there - don't think they're quite good enough to make the Countryfile calendar though!

A haughty duck (I feel a colourway name coming on)

Fluffy Tail

Oh, and if anyone's ever fancied a go at dyeing yarn with Kool Aid, there's quite a good article in the summer issue of Yarn Forward magazine by yours truly:

That's my kitchen, that is!

It's how I got started by following instructions for Kool Aid dyeing by Debbie Tomkies in a Simply Knitting article, so if my article inspired anyone at all in the same way, well, it would more than make my day.

I'm hoping to dye up custom orders due for 11th July early next week (back in the kitchen, luxury workshop won't be ready.)

And finally, a very Happy Birthday to alabamawhirly for tomorrow. I will be catching you up very, very soon... have fun. x

Bling Socks on front cover of magazine

Last weekend, me and Skein Princess took ourselves up to London to the Stitches and Craft show at Olympia (NOT Earl's Court, as I thought - long walk for a six-year-old!)

Here's us on the train (was at a Posh dinner dance the night before, hence the haggard look):

She loved it from the moment the ticket guy said she didn't need to pay because she was too beautiful! She was in her element with ribbons, buttons, huge wine glasses filled with glitter.

We made our way to the Hipknits stand where the first thing I spotted was the Bling Socks knitted in SQ Lavish in Fragrant Stocks colourway - all beaded and beautiful. I inadvertently blurted out "That's my yarn!" in an overexcited, loud voice at which Lou came over and started chatting away and was so friendly saying that loads of people were stroking it etc. Then she started telling customers that here was the person who'd dyed the yarn - they all started to scamper away as fast as their feet could take them!

At the end of last year, I'd found Diane of Yarnstardesigns on Etsy and asked if we could use her pattern for Yarn Forward magazine, so really the hard work was all hers. I sent her the yarn and she knitted them up and sent them back to Kerrie for the photo shoot.

There were more of the spring issue designs hanging up round the stand, and they looked really beautiful - I want to knit at least two of the tops. And I met Kerrie for the first time - had chatted loads on email - and Jo, their new advertising intern, who runs her own yarn shop - Yarnbox.

Unfortunately, I can't show you any photos of the socks yet because not everyone has received their copies of the magazine as they were just posted out this week, but I can direct you to the spring preview here.

I couldn't resist a little purchase while I was there:

These are a lovely squidgy merino

And here's Skein Princess taking a break with all our purchases:

We had such a nice day and everyone we met was so friendly and went out of their way to help us - especially the ticket desk man at the Dr Who exhibition at Earl's Court who phoned to find out where we had to go and then drew us a map. London was in a friendly mood that day!

Here are some gratuitous yarn pictures, some from this week's shop update:

Wild Blush 2 ply cashmere - custom order

Lemon Thyme 2 ply merino - Entice (sold)

Honeycreeper sportweight merino in Divine (sold)

Maharajah sportweight merino in Divine

Summer Bunting Collection in Lavish cashmere/silk - one variagated, four to match

Now that Smitten (aka Honey) has had the last of her jabs, we can't get her to go outside. She sits at the back door and won't go out. Couldn't keep her in when she wasn't supposed to go out! Typical!

January sale

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a fab Christmas and are ready for 2008.

I'm back and have been back a few days - the only thing keeping me from posting is a dreaded lurgy (who hasn't got it or had it?) and a broken camera.

I have so many photos to show you - but alas my camera has decided to download only our Christmas photos and refuses to load anything post 2008. So can't get anything into the shop until it's fixed.

However, the once-a-year-one-week-only sale is well underway with 30% off all cashmere/silk and there's not much left in the shop. Sale ends Saturday 12th January.

As for the lurgy, I'd had a chest infection rattling around since about September which got worse and culminated in an asthma attack on Christmas Day. I had to be nebulised at the doctor's and was threatened with casualty and a chest x-ray which I resisted - I'm a terrible patient. Bit better now at least, but every person I've spoken to seems to have had either flu or Noro virus in their family over Christmas.

As for knitterly things, I'm making good progress on the Clapotis and was knitting it on the HSS boat coming back from Belfast and in the car and found to my delight that I didn't get car sick while knitting. Makes the long journey from Scotland go much faster - along with subjecting (I mean educating) the family with a Lime and Violet podcast!

Most of my Christmas knitting was making a pair of socks for a Dear Customer who likes my yarns but can't knit, so as a one-off, I made these from Plushness in August colourway:Finally resorted to old camera using a flash so quality is rubbish and they look too green where the green and blue stripe up. I actually started them on the HSS going over to Belfast and it was really the first proper time I'd done Knitting in Public. A little girl was really interested in what I was doing and her mum commented on how beautiful they were turning out which spurred me on to do more KIP.

And am looking forward to doing more copy editing on a more formal basis for Yarn Forward magazine this year as Kerrie has teamed up with Louise Butt from Simply Knitting magazine in a new partnership which is great for the magazine. Can't wait to get my hands on the next issue.

Skein King hits the big 4-0 at the end of the week and I have a few surprises up my sleeve for him - he already had a surprise party when we were over in N. Ireland and had to wear a very fetching t-shirt bearing a photo of him when he was about ten! Hmm, let me have a rummage around my photos and see what I can find....
Ooooo, I am so dead!!

It's also Skein Princess's birthday this weekend and she's having her first ever sleepover - 3 friends - everyone keeps saying how brave I am!

The dye advertisements at the top are from the Ulster Folk Museum.

Chevron mark II

OMG, so much has been happening that I have neglected SQ blog.

First of all, I'm about 2/3rds through my second Chevron scarf using SQ Lavish in Fragrant Stocks and Turtle Dove. This will be winging its way down to Devon for the Hillcrest Studio Opening next week as another example of how my yarn knits up.

The shop shelves are looking a little bare as I've been concentrating on getting enough stock together to send to Maggie for the big event. Good luck to her and Jeremy for the weekend after next.

I've also got involved in a little copy editing of Yarn Forward magazine run by Kerrie of Hipknits fame. All I can say is, what a fab read for the next issue - if you don't have a subscription, it's well worth getting - it comes highly recommended.

Here's the artwork for my advert which is to appear in the next issue:Obviously, not quite readable in this format, but just to give you an overall impression.

This is my advert which appears in some Ravelry forums:
When I first saw it popping up, I kept squeeing for about the first ten times - how daft am I!

I have also found a wonderful pattern designer who has agreed to design some socks for my yarn for a forthcoming magazine article. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

Plan for the weekend is to make my way over to South Hill Park in Bracknell for the Christmas Craft Fair where some of the outcasters have a stand.

Met the lovely Machi for a Diet Coke over in Caversham this week as she wanted to buy some of my yarn. She has a B-E-A-utiful jewellery shop over at Etsy called MagpieNest. I love, love, love her Cross Over Sterling Silver ring and covet it. I will have it... one day...

As I had my yarn in that day, and as I'd been going on and on about it forever, my lovely colleagues wanted a look and they kindly bought loads! I think the men were almost as interested as the women and one male colleague thought it looked like a candy shop and asked if I dyed each strand! (If only I could - that would be beauteous!)

And as for yarn, I've been skeining and dyeing and skeining and dyeing and posting out and skeining. Here's a couple of custom orders I dyed up last weekendThis is Calling Birds.

And this is Chocca Mocha:
I've also dyed up some gorgeous Plushness yarn and can't quite decide whether to put it in the shop or send it to Devon... one skein is in pinks and purples and the other in shades of green. Was thinking I might just send the cashmere/silk to Devon as it will look lovely in a display.

Can you believe, yet another knitting reference in a Year One reading book - as Rolf Harris would say - Can you see what it is yet? The children in the story found it in their cellar and nobody knew what it was and it ended up in the museum - shame, I could've used it.


And finally, a gratuitous basket of yarn shot:
Oh, and the boobage situation - I have been called back for an ultrasound scan.