Arghhhhh!!!!

IT's a conspiracy. IT must be.

I am referring of course to knitting for Christmas. I have a niece and nephew who would like Hogwarts jumpers for Christmas (Gryffindor and Slytherin). You would not blieve the contortions I have been through to get school grey wool that was washable and not 100% acrylic. Of course now grey is fashionable pretty soon there will be loads of grey yarns around. I ended up bidding for lots on ebay first getting what I thought was 500g of school grey which turned out to be 10 oz - quite a difference. (That'll learn me to read the auction properly). I finally won 500g of school grey superwash wool and started n the Gryfindor. I knitted the body in the round to the armholes then split and started knitting the back. This morning I reached in to the bag for a new ball to finish the back and realised I was picking up ball 7 of 10.

Arghhh! Even in my most optimistic frame of mind I know that I will not have enough to finish!!! Somehow a sleeveless vest isn't quite the same. I need to go and bury my head somewhere.

What have I done to deserve such good karma?

"Sometime in my wicked miserable past I must have done something good" (sung with the voice of Julie Andrews).

Yesterday I had the most amazing (I repeat AMAZING) parcel from my SP11.

A big parcel full of little parcels:

Starting with a card and chocolates,


a knitting bag and pencil/dpn case


the dpn case contained... sock yarn


Opening more parcels we have a lovely uru laceweight red yarn and more chocolate!


Then more chocolate and super kauni effect yarn.


Then we have dpns, something for the cats and more chocolate (this was so yummy).


Then more sock yarn (Keith already sees himself in these socks!) and a scented candle.


An amazing T shirt.


A sheepy tape measure (adorable the tail pulls out) - you can't have too many tape measures, and a minature basket of yarn and knitting.




As if that wasn't enough there was this amazing book which I have lusted over for so long. My heart was all a flutter. I just love it!


Could it get any better? Well yes it could. There was a handknitted shawl in a gorgeous burnt orange. All those little stitches, thousands of them made just for me. Just how lucky can one woman get?


Here it is all together, and I think I forgot the handcream, it looks like evening primrose (just what I need).


Jealous? I bet you are. Well I declared a hiatus in my diet to hve a chocfeast and started planning new projects to join all my other WIP's with the new yarn.

My wonderful benefactor? Is Nicole from Germany who blogs here. Go and say hi to her and hope you get palled with her for SP12! The really sad thing is that she previously sent a parcel that never arrived. I hate to think of all that knitterly love feeling abandoned somewhere. I hope some deprived appreciative knitter has found it.

Competition winners

I have had a busy week and neglected my blogging (slapped wrists). Even though I haven't given the results of the competitions I have notified the winners and their prizes should be well on the way by now.

Firstly the draw for the short fat needles and homespun went to ikkinlala who belongs to a group blog. There were lots of ideas for what to do with them. Emm had an actual real use for them, knitting the very crown of hats. A few mentions for chunky i-cord and shawl pins which was my personal favorite.

Well how much sock wool could I fit in this basket?



Lets open it and see.



First out the Opal - over a kilo of it.



Then the Jitterbug.



Then Cherry Tree Hill, Celestial Merino, Knit Picks, Regia and individually dyed stuff from swaps.



In total 4,613 grams (163 oz). Apart from the guess of 1900Kg which I hope was a mistake, the highest guess was 4,900g from Kelly. It was the closest. So some Cherry Tree Hill and Tri'Coterie sockwool on its way to her.

This summer was so diabolical weatherwise that the only thing that survived the wet, cold and slugs was the leeks. One of the casualties was the Class A Catnip we had brought from the UK and nursed through 3 winters. Luckily I had collected seed and planted it all. It took ages to germinate and we finally got it going and brought it in before the first frosts. Of course it has a natural predator and 2 of them finally discovered it. So this-



becomes this-



and one blissed out cat. Luckily this one will survive, unlike the other one that was eaten roots and all!

So what has been occupying all my time? Getting organised for the annual Euromayenne Christmas Fair. Simple knitting patterns produced in English and French and samples knitted up. Miles of novelty yarn cut, tied, and reskeined. A successful day though and a nice space for my stall. Looking at it I don't know where I fit everything at other times!