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.

The Chevron scarf is OTN!

At last. I'm enjoying this so far (probably one of the rare few - still giggle inwardly when I think of the Lime and Violet podcast where Lime said she was knitting the Chevron scarf and Violet replied "Oh, I'm sorry"). It's got great tv watching knitability in this pattern. I opted for STR Sherbet and Thistle in the end.And another gratuitous photo:

And it's knitting up so quickly - this was only an hour or two.

Can you believe another knitting reference in Skein Princess's reading book this week:
It says "The children jumped and jumped and bounced and bounced. "Come on, Gran," they called.
Gran went on the castle. She jumped and bounced. "Good old Gran" called the children.

Can you guess what's going to happen with those pointy old knitting needles?
That's right. Naughty old Gran. She was in so much trouble the bouncy castle owner told her to get out.

What do you think? Stereotypical of knitters? Not stereotypical of Grans though - this one looks fun!

Year One reading book

This tickled me. Skein Princess brought back this reading book for homework last week. Bet you want to find out what happened next... Suffice to say, the scarf helped rescue a boy who ventured out onto a frozen pond. Have to say, "knitting" is quite a tricky word to read for a little one.

Blobbing out on the beach

(This just looks weird and out of order now - it wasn't blogger's fault after all, it was Flock, the browser.)

Well, the holiday is starting to feel like a distant memory already - the tan's fading fast (factor 20 for the bod and 30 for the face this time round - what was I thinking in my younger days of coconut oil?) as are the mosquito bites. Poor old Skein King got stung by a jellyfish - and no, I didn't wee on it!

Speaking of fish, check out my sandfish - ok, so it needs a bit of work:
Skein King doesn't take a tan well being of the Irish skin variety - he sort of goes from blueish white to pinkish white - bless him - and this was after a three mile walk along the beach in the middle of the day in beating hot sun:
The kids enjoyed themselves:
And d'you know what they gave me for my birthday while we were out there? Domain names for skeinqueen.co.uk and skeinqueen.com. Guess that means I'll have to do something with them then... but perhaps not in the near future.

As for the reading, I finished How to Talk to a Widower - fantastic book, highly recommend it. The scenes between the main character and his father who had an Alzheimer's-type syndrome were so moving (I admit I cried) yet there were so many funny situations. I didn't see the twist coming - but then, I never do.

Got half way through Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - enjoying the story but not convinced of great writing style. Will definitely continue with it to see what happens.

And about a quarter way through The House at Riverton which I felt was more a book for winter evenings back home but am really enjoying this one too. Very Upstairs-Downstairs so far - not that I ever watched that tv series - too young, natch!

Thanks to the braw blog-blethers for schmoozing me - I'm highly honoured and very touched and glad I met you, missus. Just to explain:

Schmoozing is the natural ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection. Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogsphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship".

In return, I would like to nominate Marian at Freshisle Fibers - I enjoy her blog, admire her approach to dyeing with natural materials and appreciate her comments here.

And I should also say a big thank you to Sarah Godwin at travelcounsellors who organised our fantastic holiday - thanks for a great holiday again this year, Oh Queen of Travel!

Off on holiday

And I CANNOT wait! We leave in the wee small hours of the morning and I have my Richard and Judy Summer Reads picked out - The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday and How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper. Not sure how many I'll get through but do intend to do a fair bit of blobbing out by the pool. The children are so excited... they can't wait to get in that pool.

Have loads of ideas for new colourways bubbling away, including possibly one based on book covers, and just skeining up one of my favourites (do I always say that?) in red, orange, hot pink and green in cashmere/silk -with potential name of either Firebird or Strawberry Hill.

Just need to decide whether to carry on offering unique colourways or whether to concentrate on getting a dozen or so popular ones and repeating them. To be honest, can't see that happening soon. Am enjoying creating new ones too much and there's always the custom order if someone see something they like the look of.

Having been inspired by JustClaire's beautiful chevron scarf and as it's my birthday while we're away, made the rash move of ordering 2 skeins of STR in Sherbet colourway. Complete gorgeousness! Was a bit taken aback by the outrageous postage cost which was more than the cost of one skein, so decided it would make sense to order 2 instead! Well, it is my birthday. One does need a treat now and then. Then realised you actually need skeins in 2 different colourways. Doh! Must add it to my Ravelry queue.

Also as part of my birthday present, I ordered a drop spindle kit from a fellow Etsian, mainewoodsyarn, and then joined Natalie's Fibre Club over at The Yarn Yard.
Is it mad to covet lovely roving if you haven't even learnt how to spin yet? Yes, is the answer.

Finally, the lovely Piglottie pointed me in the direction of this great forum - Crafty Threads 'n Yarn which seems so friendly and welcoming. Thanks for that! What am I going to do without my PC for a whole week!