So, the last day of Knit Nation. I was a little more with it after a night’s sleep, but I still wasn’t quite my usual self, sadly. But I managed (just about!) to drag myself out of bed and get to class by 8.50am (which wasn’t bad considering I got out of the shower with wet hair in Baron’s Court at five past eight).
I’ve probably said it before, but I’m not really a class person. I can usually use the internet and/or books to work out how to do most things, knitting-wise. But I wanted to go into the Knit Nation marketplace on all three days, and day tickets would have cost about £36, and a class was £50 but included entry, so I decided that for the extra £14, I may as well do one. Plus you got the funky student badge and lanyard to wear, instead of a wrist band.
I looked at list of half day classes, and the most useful one seemed to be the steeking one, given that I do have vague plans to make a Fair Isle cardigan at some point in the nearish future. But whilst I did learn how to reinforce a steek and do an edging for it, I spent a good third of the three hour class doing my own knitting, waiting for the tutor to come back to me – there were twenty of us, and she showed us each stage in pairs, so it took her a while to get round the table. It might just be that I do things fast, but I seemed to finish most bits before she was halfway round.
But I did turn this swatch (homework done the day before, nothing like leaving things to the last minute.)
Into this steeked piece, the left hand side has knitted on edgings, and the right has the edgings sewn down. The picot edging wasn’t so successful as you can see the edge of the steek and the green yarn I used to reinforce it through the holes.
Anyway, it passed the morning and gave me time to wake up. At lunchtime I headed upstairs to the Knit Tea salon (aka the SCR) and knitted and chatted for a couple of hours, before heading back to the marketplace for a last look round. I was actually reasonably restrained this year (well, compared to last year I was!), this is what I bought.
Friday’s skeins of Wollmeise have been joined by an Amethyst skein. I can’t think how it happened.
The lady on the Little Knitting Company shawl was wearing this stunning shawl, and when I found it was made of linen I couldn’t resist buying some, on the grounds that I haven’t used linen yarn before, and it’s a spectacular green. The colour on the photo above is more accurate, I really must find out how to adjust the settings on my new camera. Oh, and the pattern’s called Spring Thaw, just to remind myself really.
One of the things on my list was yarn to make Cria, from Ysolda’s new book. It calls for a sportweight yarn, which isn’t that easy to find over here. I had high hopes of the Quince and Co Chickadee which Loop sell, but when I saw it I took an instant dislike to it, so that was out. One of Ysolda’s samples is in Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca and Silk, but the long sleeved version I want to make takes five skeins and she only had four of each with her. I did contemplate putting in a custom order, but then I saw this Jacob and Mohair on the Blacker Yarns stall. It’s a fingering weight, but it’s got a bit of a halo, so it should be fine. It’s a lovely bluey-grey.
Great British Yarns were there, with a selection of their KnitPicks yarns, which it was nice to see in the flesh, as it were. I only bought one ball, just to try – it’s their Palette, which is fingering weight, and is only £2.20 per 50g. If I like it I might stock up as it’ll be useful for garments, and feels as though it’ll be soft but fairly hard-wearing.
Also in this photo is a skein of Madelinetosh Prairie – I wasn’t really buying laceweight yarn, but the colours in this caught my eye, and it’s an unusual fairly tightly spun single. The skein in the middle is more linen, this time from Artisan Yarns, who were lovely as ever. They actually had a good range of more unusual yarns – lots of the indie dyers all seem to use the same bases, which makes them all fairly similar after a while, but she had some cashmere/silk blends and linen blends amongst other things. Definitely worth a visit if you see Ann and her son anywhere – I think they’ll be at Ally Pally and Harrogate.
I also treated myself to the first two Barbara Walker Treasuries of Knitting Patterns, which I’ve been wanting for ages. I was tempted to buy all four, but I was mindful of the need to take my belongings home on the train. I’m a little bemused by the lack of charts in the books, I may have to investigate charting software or at least a font for excel. The dyeing book was half-price at £7.50, from Tall Yarns, and I’m hoping it might inspire me to do something with the dyes and yarn/fibre I’ve had for several years now. And there’s a new pair of 4.5mm Knit Pro tips, as the coating has come off my old ones.
And there’s the two skeins of Skein Queen cashmere I bought on Friday, just for completeness.
These are the samples of the shawl I’m going to knit with them on the stall.
So, overall it’s been a good weekend. I’m sad that I wasn’t feeling quite up to my usual level of socialising, but I did meet some old friends, and put faces to Ravelry/blog names for others. I’m not going to list people, as I’m sure I’d miss someone out, but everyone I met was lovely. Today we have vague plans to meet up with other knitty people, but there’s been no word so far, I have a feeling that folks are still recovering!
Minniemoll knits and crafts 