Three weeks old today

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.

First anniversary coming up - win yarn

I've got yarn to show you and quite a bit of it. Wanna see?

This little lot plus a little bit more got labelled, wrapped and addressed tonight to be posted out tomorrow.

Sock Club yarns got posted out this week - international members on Tuesday and Wednesday and UK members on Saturday. Let me know what you think (did you squee?! Only jesting!) - but be a bit careful of spoilers for the first week or so in case others haven't received theirs yet.

And some of this week's custom orders in no particular order:

Poppy Fields in Aran silk headed to Greece

Ruby Ruby in Blush
Rose Red in Plushness
Flamenco in Plushness
More Plushness

Emmeline in Sumptuous


Poseidon in Bali

And with that feast of yarn, I couldn't resist a nibble for myself - shh, don't tell Skein King:

It's called Be Mine

Well, it's coming up for the first year anniversary of SQ and I thought I'd run a little competition to mark the event. It's in the style of one of those vague radio competitions they run on our local station along the lines of "It's round... what is it?" and the winner gets a free skein of yarn.

Soooo, my question is:

I am approaching a big, important birthday this year beginning with a four and ending in a zero, and I recently discovered a new ability I never dreamed I had. What is it?

It's nothing rude (ha! for once) and it's nothing to do with knitting - post your answer in the comments and the closest to the real answer wins the yarn. One guess per person. If two people come up with similar answers that are relevant, I'll put them in a hat and choose. In case I am unable to contact you through your post, keep an eye out on the blog for the announcement of the winner in or around 11th June.

Here's a first anniversary photo of the flowers which inspired the Fragrant Stocks colourway:

Onto knitting and Sock Wars is not going well for this warrior. I'm struggling with time and the pattern and my target must be rubbing her hands together in glee, though I haven't made contact with either my target or assassin yet. I'm most surprised I'm not dead yet.

I've got further than this but I'm not saying how much further:

Spot the deliberate mistake in the pattern in the next photo - it's all now frogged and fixed (not frustrating at all when one only has one evening's knitting to get it done in!)

As for family life, the dreaded SATs are over so Skein Prince got to select a restaurant of his choice and we all went out on Friday night to celebrate. They get to bring a pet into school next week and I'm thinking it's probably not a good idea to bring the kitten in - I don't know - what if she escapes and runs under a cupboard and I can't get her out!

Then when he was at the cinema on Saturday, I took Skein Princess to see Beauty and the Beast ON ICE! Wow! What a spectacle. I've never seen anything like it - it was a Russian company performing it and the skill involved was incredible. It was mostly like a ballet with very fast skating and some circus skills thrown in - for instance, one of the Castle Creatures was BOUNCING ON ICE with those bouncy stilt-things.

Today we spent on the common with some friends with the kids playing in the trees and on their bikes as the adults yik-yaked away - one of them is the man who will be good enough to turn our garage into a workshop which we've been talking about for some time and which we talked about some more.

And an update on my sister-in-law's progress. She had her operation last Friday and woke up minus a kidney and a tumour the size of a melon. She's slowly building her strength back up and most likely won't need chemo. That makes it sound simple but it's been a hell of a few weeks - the not knowing as each test result could go one way or the other. Life's a lottery in so many ways, but I'm glad she's on the road to recovery.