First shop update of the year

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.

Happy Christmas and a merry Hogmanay to you all!

This is last year's mantlepiece display for a bit of festive cheer - sorry you couldn't all come round for some nice mulled wine and a few nibbles...

Now, let's see if I can remember how to blog - it's been a while, hasn't it.

Are you in a Christmassy mood yet? We went to see the panto tonight and I'm almost there - haven't heard any children singing Away in a Manger yet - that always brings a tear to my eye and marks the official start of Christmas.

I have some actual knitting content for this post. I hope a certain Granda Gerry isn't reading this. This very night, some socks are born and unto Granda Gerry they will belong as around six months ago, his very eyes chose the colours and his very hands dyed up this skein:
I thought I'd knit them up into a pair of socks for Christmas and although they came out a little on the feminine side, I think he'll appreciate the thought:
They are BOTH finished - I just haven't got a photo of them - hey, it's nearly midnight and dark outside!I used Skein Queen Plushness (80% lambswool 10% angora 10% cashmere) which is an absolute dream for socks. I used Violet Green's Standard Sock pattern, adapting it slightly for his size 9 feet.

And I made a start on my first Clapotis (ok, I know I'm slightly behind the times here). I dyed up four skeins of Skein Queen Aran silk in plum, raspberry and sage...and got stuck in...Still a long way to go, but I'm enjoying it. This is the amended photo. The first one I had up on Ravelry was the embarrassing one where I hadn't used the stitch markers properly (thanks Claire for helping me out with that one - you are my knitting guru!). I'm just rubbish at using them and NEVER use them on socks - I just remember where I am, as I always have done on every bit of knitting I've done from jumpers to baby clothes to socks to gloves. But I thought I'd better try them on this and got it cringeworthily wrong - but they looked very pretty along the edge ***blush***. Oh well, if it wasn't for Ravelry, I'd still have them wrong.

A tiny tempter of what's to come in 2008:Aran silk

Darker, more broody colourways

More collections sold as one listing

A very Merry Christmas to all my Dear Customers and all my Dear Readers and Friends. I do feel privileged for meeting so many fellow yarn enthusiasts this year (and friends who feign enthusiasm and listen to me drivel on about it). I now declare the shop is officially closed for Christmas and New Year and will open again on 5th January. Enjoy whatever you're doing over the holiday season and whatever you're knitting and see you in 2008.

Party weekend

OK, before you read on, I have to warn you, this is an (almost) yarn-free post - other than to say I've spent the evening skeining and skeining with a bit more skeining.

And to just say I'm planning on putting together a 12 Days of Christmas "collection" (the word collection being totally tongue-in-cheek) of yarns and here's the first. It's called Partridge Pear and is in the 4 ply cashmere/silk Lavish yarn:
Now onto other matters. Firstly, the Big New Haircut. It was rather more drastic than I planned going from long, light and a bit frazzled to short, dark and sleek.
My friend Debbie in the school playground said,
"It makes you look much younger"
My colleague Trevor said,
"Have you lost weight?"
And my Body Attack instructor shouted across the class,
"Debs, you could've been on Ten Years Younger!"
(Did I look that old and fat before? Probably, though I thought I was casually glamorous!)
So I think I like it, all in all! Made my day until I got so behind preparing for the party, then got a phone call from school saying Skein Princess had been sick, and then I got jammed in a parking space and reversed into a car with the mother watching. Then had to go back to school a second time to pick up Skein Prince.

After traumas sorted (SPss was fine - must've been running about too much after lunch), the party. Now I'm not sure I know my readers quite well enough to divulge what kind of party this was. I'll drop a few hints - there were 16 guests, lots of wine and nibbles, some games played (no, you're on the wrong track - it's not that pervy!), loads of laughs, a few renditions of "Bright Eyes, Burning Like Fire" (anyone remember Watership Down? And the kind of creatures that featured in it?), my friend Unity won the "Biggest Floozy" competition and £700 was spent. Got it? We're a classy bunch round these here parts! But what a laugh!

Our oldest friends from the New Forest - Guy and Jo and their children - stayed over for the weekend and my good friend Sarah came over with Dave and their girls for Saturday lunch and the weather was actually nice enough to sit outside - and have a giggle about the night before. We all kind of vegged out for the rest of the weekend and took the kids to the Discovery Centre and for a walk along the canal to get them out and about.
In case you're wondering, shadows of the kids fishing in the lake at the Discovery Centre.

I did my best to turn the conversation to yarn at every opportunity - because I am officially a fully-fledged Yarn Bore and proud of it - and even showed them my studio. Well, when I say studio, I mean an old kitchen cupboard (from when it fell off the wall in our kitchen laden with wedding crystal and Calpol) in the garage, an old table and some shelving laden with recycled plastic milk cartons and juice bottles. They did an admirable job at feigning interest.

And finally, I acquired this during the week - AT LAST, I hear you cry (at least if you read any of my earlier posts) - a vintage ball winder from ebay in full working order - please admire:PS The new skein winder arrived. Skein King offered to have a go at winding up a skein to help out... all I need say is that three days later, I had to scrap the yarn. Would he listen to my advice to avoid a tangle? Would he hell! I do have a photo but I don't think he'd thank me! He was only trying to help (I keep telling myself!)