Another Blocked Object

I finished this shawl ages ago for my mother-in-law, but have just gotten around to blocking it. It's based on the Himalayan Birds Nest Shawl from Folk Shawls, and I used two strands of Marta's 2-ply held together. This is a detail of the pattern - the colours are pretty accurate here.

Blocking supervisor Lulu. Lulu is annoyed because I got it all wet before she got around to stamping it with the Lulu Butt.


This is darker, but you get an idea of the size of it - it turned out a lot more square than I was anticipating, but that's one of the things I like about shawls - a bit bigger, a bit smaller, it's all good. I will post this and yesterday's shawl to their recipients tomorrow on my DAY OFF. Sorry, couldn't resist throwing that in there.....

I have one more shawl left to block, the Irish Diamond shawl from Folk Shawls. Yes, I love that book, and I use it a LOT. In purple. I'll be curious to see how it blocks out, actually - it seems to match the picture kind of widthways but not lengthways unblocked. Good thing I have a big dining table for blocking.

Good thing for the day: Dave is cooking breakfast. Yay!
Bad thing for the day: I absolutely cannot be bothered going to the gym.

KIKASS Shawl!!

The astute among you may remember that myself and the KnitWit got into a trash talking contest which ended up in the KIKASS challenge - knitting the Aran Shawl from Folk Shawls before the other one did. Well, it looks like I won - I didn't do the pockets, but I put a couple of extra repeats in instead. Above: Pre blocking.

Gaining approval from the Blocking Supervisor (cause it ain't official without the Lulu Butt Print)


And all blocked out. I am very very happy with this shawl - my colour choice was absolutely perfect, it came out beautifully, and I really enjoyed knitting it. I suspect I will be knitting this one again someday!

Today we went out for a nice lunch and I bought the stuff I need for my Knitters Tea Swap parcel, and some supplies for my Secret Pal packages. I enjoy buying presents for people! I also got a cool new coffee cup to take to work. It has dragonflies on it.

Good thing for the day: Finally getting this thing blocked so that I can mail it off.
Bad thing for the day: I've finished watching my Law & Order dvds. Drat.

Humph.

Humph. You made me look bubble-headed to the entire internet. I'm not talking to you!

Actually, that's not true. She woke me up at 4.30 this morning for her cuddle, same as usual. She has quite a hard little head.

Good thing for the day: I have too much flex time worked up and I have to take a day off next week. *victory wiggle*
Bad thing for the day: Mmm... day off.... sorry, what?

A Very Meiko Odyssey - Crescendo

Where the hell did that come from????

It's not edible.....

Doesn't smell too good either.... But boy is it fun to watch the little disc go in and out! Over and over and over.....

Yes, I admit it, I spent several minutes while taking these photos just pressing 'Open' and 'Close' on the dvd player purely for Meiko's amusement. After the first couple of times, she even stopped jumping straight up in the air when it moved. Now, she's hooked - as soon as one of us goes anywhere near the tv, she jumps up to watch the disc go in and out - she's even started craning her head around the other way to watch the tv......so cute!!

No, I don't see any knitting-related material here either..... Maybe tomorrow.

Good thing for the day: Craft night tonight!
Bad thing for the day: Two hour meeting. *snore*

A Very Meiko Odyssey Part Two

I could have sworn it came from in here somewhere.....

A Very Meiko Odyssey Part One

That noise! It's coming from over here somewhere!

Hmmm........

To Be Continued.

Warning: Serious Post Ahead

This is a meme via Gibbering, and it's a very interesting and thought provoking one.

"List ten things you want/wanted to say to ten random people, but you know you never got to/never will say these things to them. Don’t say who the comment is/was meant for, and use people only once". Don't include anything in your comment that would enable anyone to identify the person.

1. How DARE you make me feel like the bad guy?? I shared everything with you, and I found out far too late that I was only getting selected highlights of you. I made so many allowances for you, bent over backwards for you - for fuck's sake grow up and take some responsibility for the consequences!

2. Get over yourself. Really.

3. I took you in, emotionally and literally. I listened to all of your lies, I believed them, I supported you, I defended you. And then you cut me off and started telling everyone I was evil. Good thing everyone knows you are a DELUSIONAL DRAMA QUEEN.

4. You can shout at me on the street little man, but I've had more hickeys from sexy chicks at parties then you're every likely to get anywhere near.

5. If you would admit that what you did was wrong - I'd feel better. I wouldn't forgive - it's too late for me. I can't ever get back what you took from me.

6. Thank you so so much for showing me that I can deal with parts of my past; for being undeniable proof that there were good things as well as bad.

7. You know the real me, and you love me anyway. Thankyou.

8. For God's Sake will you please sit with your knees together when you're wearing a skirt!

9. You have no idea how much you've given me faith in myself and in other people. I can never tell myself that nobody loves me, and it's all because of you.

10. Oh yeah?? Come here and say that you coward!

I highly recommend this meme. It's actually really cathartic!

On a much more frivolous note: Chris tipped me off that Sunshine Yarns were updating soon, and I scored a skein of Superwash Raspberry Limeade and.... drumroll please.....a skein of Superwash Gryffindor!! Wooo!!!

Sock Yarn Stole Revealed

The bottom half of this is Trekking XXL, used for socks for J, and the top half is Cherry Tree Hill in potluck, which made socks for E.

Fybrespates pansy, used for socks for mememe!

Need More Yarn - not a statement, the name of the place which dyed the yarn. Also used for socks for me.

And Opal Handpaint, used for socks for Gibbering.

I am loving knitting this thing. The pattern is nice and soothing, and the feather and fan really shows up the colours beautifully. And I'm enjoying the colour changes, and remembering the socks I've knitted along the way.

Work is easing off a little - I figured out yesterday what was stressing me most. When at work, I have a 'to do' list constantly revolving and updating in my head. With this new position, I still have a to do list, but I have no idea if all of the items are on the list or not. Sigh. Also, I used to have a whole set of concrete tasks. Now, it's keeping a lid on several processes, problemsolving, dealing with urgent queries. Not nearly as neatly compartmentalised, and it's leaving me at the end of the day feeling like I haven't really done anything. Still, it's been over a week, nothing's imploded or exploded, nobody's screaming at me (well, apart from the usual clients), and I've had an important meeting where nobody picked me for an imposter. Yay me.

Today is a public holiday here - yay! I've just had a big bowl of porridge with brown sugar and raspberries, Lulu is sitting on the floor next to me contemplating a cat toy, the sun is shining, and knitting awaits.

Good thing for the day: I have a whole season of Law & Order to watch.
Bad thing for the day: None so far!

Monday Morning

Well, it's Monday morning here, anyway......

What have I been up to lately? Knitting-wise, I've started the second sock for K in Lorna's Laces Flames, but most of my time has been devoted to the Sock Scrap Stole. It's a stole/wrap/thingy in a feather and fan pattern using all of the little balls of leftover sock yarn. I wanted a project which would use up these remnants and be something I could wear/use, and also look at all of the different yarns and remember the socks I've knitted and who I've knit them for. Sort of a knitted patchwork for the obsessive sock knitter. Cause the socks I knit are special to me - I've knitted them for myself (something of a triumph, because I tend to give away most of the things I knit), or for people I care about.

Also we've been watching Wire in the Blood. Robson Green. Phwoaaar. Ahem. Brilliant, brilliant series. We've been absolutely hooked since the first episode, and we've just finished watching series four. But we didn't want it to end! Anyone know if they've made/going to make series five? Sam?

Good thing for the day: It's a public holiday here tomorrow. Wooooo!
Bad thing for the day: Winter approaches. It's time to go to work and it's still dark outside.

Geekweevil

This is a painting by Geekweevil, also known as Gibbering. I like the tassel. Obviously, she's a strange girl, but you can see why I like her!

Thanks for all of the supportive comments re: work - it's going to be tough, but it will be good for me to learn new stuff - I just have trouble being yanked out of my comfort zone like that.

And Carrie K? You made me blush, you minx!

Have just returned from clothes shopping at ChadstonetheFasionCapital. Which was both good and bad. We got there as soon as it opened, and we bought winter clothes. I got a purple velvet jacket/pants suit, a military-style black vest which I luuuuurve, a pair of jeans, a purple shirt (hmm... I'm starting to detect a trend here.....) and a basic black tshirt. This was the good stuff. The bad part was the UTTER CRAP they apparently expect larger-sized knitting goddesses to wear. One store in particular seems to think that sizing goes from wildly trendy size 10 clothing to size XXXXXLLLL flowered mumus with not a lot in between. Sigh. However, clothing was bought and therefore doesn't need to be bought again for a while. And I awarded myself a doughtnut bonus at the end. Heh. I was VERY good and didn't even go into Borders. But I looked at it longingly as we walked past. I'm sure it understands.

Good thing for the day: Doughnut.....
Bad thing for the day: Forgetting to moderate my language in crowded shopping centres. Oops.

Finished Object

Dave's Koigu Socks. My first pair of toe up socks so that I could use every little bit of yarn. Sigh. I like these socks. And Dave was very good about putting them on the instant we got home and having photos taken of his feet. I am pleased with the way they turned out. I like the bottom photo better, but the top one is more like the true colour.

Work is very very tiring at the moment - I have to move desks, and I have been cleaning years of accumulated clutter out of the desk I'm moving into, organising systems access and trying to learn a new role all at once. Sigh.

Good thing for the day: Trudi is coming to craft night!
Bad thing for day: Not being fabulously wealthy.

Foolish Human

Foolish Human! How dare you endanger my blogger fanbase! Post! Now!

Sorry guys, I have been absent haven't I???

I am almost over the Cold O' Doom, and have segued nicely into an interesting situation at work. A senior colleague has left to work on a project in another department. Which is good for her - more money, interesting work, etc - but it means that for the next eight months I get to do her job. And I had a total of ONE DAY to absorb all of her tasks and about twelve years worth of accumulated knowledge. Did I post about this before? I forget. Even if I did, you get to sit through it again. So there. So anyhoo, on Thursday I staggered in still sick to work one day before the long weekend to learn all of this stuff. Yay. I have no idea if I'm doing it right. I feel I should be busier. We have a temp, but I'm still doing parts of my job as well. And extra money for these duties?? HAH. That's right, I said HAH. And I have to move desks. I hate that.

Knitting. There's supposed to be knitting, isn't there? I've been working on a shawl using Marta's 2-ply doubled, but I'm just not happy with it - I think I've frogged it four times now. I'm working on another version at the moment - the pattern wants pure garter stitch, but I feel the yarn calls for large chunks of stockinette stitch to show off the colours properly. So I'm trying to mix it up a bit, but I'm not sure if it's working. But, it could just be the knitting blahs - I just don't feel like working on much at the moment. Not sure why - the work thing is lurking at the back of my mind (which is where all the dangerous thoughts hang out), and I'm still getting over this cold.. maybe that's it. I should be finishing Dave's Koigu Sock Number Two, and K's LL Sock Number Two, and my STR Cedar Creek Socks, and the Rainbow Socks my sister has been patiently waiting and waiting for, and my April Project Spectrum project, and the Rowan Felted Tweed Beanie for Dave..... but all I want to do is play Diablo and eat Easter Eggs. Hmmm. How to address this problem? I shall have to think on it further.

Okay, I should go - work beckons and Dave is fidgeting about in the hallway, which means he'd like to get going please.

Sorry I haven't posted in so long - I hope I still have some readers left!! Hello? Guys?

Good thing for the day: My thought processes appear to be slowly returning after the Cold O' Doom.
Bad thing for the day: I have a horrible feeling that I'm out of Diet Coke. NOOOOOO!!!!

I Was Kidding Myself

There is no WAY I'm well enough to go back to work. I'm going back to bed. Meiko agrees.

MrsPao Saves the Day

I got my Easter package!! Above is a package of tea (which smells divine, I can't wait to try it!), a Lindt chocolate bunny each for me and Dave, and a teeny tiny pair of knitting needles... Already, I foresee Gibbering demanding I use them to knit things for her dollhouse setup....

This was the package after I opened it, looked at all the stuff, and stuffed it back in the box for the photo shoot. The card is just gorgeous - a closeup further down....

Cat toys!! A nanosecond after I took this photo, Meiko (seen above helping verify the suitability of the gifts) was out the door with the blue mouse in her mouth. She was last seen fighting Lulu for ownership of said blue mousie. I think they like them. :)

Chocolately goodness.... Cadbury mini eggs, Cadbury Creme Eggs, Lindt mini eggs, a bigger Lindt egg, and two filled eggs... drool.....

The second Dave saw the Green & Black's wrappers, he started telling me how much he adored me and loved me and cherished me...... I suspect an ulterior motive.....He also loves Lindt with a passion. In any case, there is NO WAY he's getting his paws on the bittersweet with whole cherries in it... that one will NOT be shared.

And a closeup of the card - isn't it beautiful? I'm going to take it to work and put it up on my desk!

Thank you so much Sam - yet again you've been incredibly generous and you've made my day! I feel like I've shortchanged you with your package - is there anything you'd like from Australia that I can send??

And the knitting holiday?? As soon as we win Tattslotto, I am SO there! You and Pao and Jasper won't be getting rid of me in a hurry! :)

Good thing for the day: See above. *smug*
Bad thing for the day: I think I'm well enough to go back to work tomorrow.

Peeve Lives

Sundaram Sock Yarn in Harvest. Yum.

Beginnings of new shawl complete with gorgeous Mrspao (tm) stitch markers - this shawl would be much further along except that it took me almost fifteen minutes to decide which stitch markers to use!

Berry Smash superwash from BrooklynHandspun.

Today was supposed to be my first day back at work after vacation. The martian death flu said otherwise. Then the doctor took the martian death flu's side. So I'm home today and tomorrow. Which would be good, except I feel too crappy to knit much!

Thanks for all the get well soon wishes, it was really nice to know you guys were thinking about me! But don't think about me too much. Cause there's a whole lot of snot involved in being Peeve at the moment. Heh. Hands up who said (or thought) "Ewwww!!" after reading that!

I woke up this morning when the alarm went off and basically passed out again. This was my body saying "You go to work, you die, bitch!". So I listened to my body and went back to sleep. The cats were thrilled. Which would have been cuter if they weren't conducting a pitched battle over the right to sleep next to me.

Good thing for the day: Not as much snot as yesterday.
Bad thing for the day: *cough cough hack sniff sneeze cough*

Sick

OhmygodIamsosickGibberingIamgoingtoKILLyou

Entirely Justifiable Stash Enhancement and a BARGAIN

Two balls of Rowan Felted Tweed for a beanie for Dave. He loves tweedy yarn - it took him fifteen minutes of careful consideration in Sunspun the other day to choose just the right one!

And three balls of Jo Sharp DK for my Project Spectrum project. I'm not telling you what the project is, but I will tell you that it will be something I've never knit before, and I'll be using colour in a way I've never done before. Bwahahah. Or something.

And I got the BARGAIN of the decade in an opshop (thrift shop) near where I bought the Jo Sharp: a pair of eight-up Doc Marten boots that had obviously been worn less than half a dozen times. And. They. Fit. Me. Perfectly. Beautiful. And how much did I pay for this pair of boots which will last me the next ten years? FIVE BUCKS. That's around $3.50 in US dollars. I was smug for the rest of the day.

And a political rant: Our Minister for the Environment (popularly known as the Minister for Coal - no kidding, he really is!) has banned a huge series of windfarms because they threaten the habitat of a rare parrot. Despite the fact that the said rare parrot doesn't even fly anywhere near the area of the proposed windfarm, let alone live there. And despite the fact that threatening endangered species has never stopped him FOR A SINGLE FUCKING SECOND approving digging fossil fuels out of the ground using companies owned by his mates. How does this PRICK sleep at night????

Sorry, I'll calm down in a moment or two......

Good thing for the day: We're off to Bendigo to check out the Charles Rennie Mackintosh exhibition. And possibly the Bendigo Wool Mills. Shaddup.

Bad thing for the day: Brain in a fog. I'll try again later.

A Cool New Meme

This meme courtesy of WaffleHouse:

1. Grab one of your favourite books. Turn to page 18, find line 4 and type that sentence. Give name of book.
"...a few seconds." - from Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
I didn't get this one either.....

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Six Feet Under - Series Two, Episode Two. Assuming that DVDs count, of course.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:
11.54pm.

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
11.44 pm.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The tinkle of the bells on the cat's collars as they chase each other up and down the hall, Dave wandering around the other room making the bed.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Hmmm.... last stepped outside at about 10am this morning - we were heading off to brunch.... it was goood.... :P

8. Before you started this survey, what did you last look at?
A pathetic look at Dave beseeching him to make the bed. Cause I'm sick.

9. What are you wearing?
Purple handknit socks, grey exercise pants (HAH!), favourite old baggy grey jumper.

10. Did you dream last night? If so, what?
I dreamt that a slightly unbalanced member of my witchy magic team had discovered that the floor of her loungeroom (which was paved with giant mahjong tiles) was actually a time machine. Analyse that!

11. When did you last laugh?
When a furry streak bolted past me into the study and out again, and I realised it was Dorian and Lulu playing chasey (usually it's Meiko).

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Framed signed prints of "The Snow Queen" and "The Summer Queen" by Michael Whelan. They were wedding presents from E & D.

13. Seen anything weird lately?
Did you SEE the link in my last post??

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Interesting. Made me think about my environment more than I usually do.

15. What is the last film you saw?
V for Vendetta. Very very good - I enjoyed it hugely.

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy, then what would you do with yourself?
I'd buy a house, I'd pay off my friends mortgages so they all had houses too, and I'd endow a couple of History scholarships just to stop the whole field from being entirely fucking extinguished. And there'd be one hell of a yarn buying bender.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.
I'm wearing red underwear.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
A great big dose of empathy into the world's water supply.

19. Do you like to dance? When was the last time?
I do like to dance, but I have to be sure that no one's watching... I can't remember the last time!! So sad.

20. George Bush:
To paraphrase Blackadder: "A strategically shaved chimpanzee."

21. Imagine your first child is a girl. What do you call her?
Our first furchild was a girl, her name was Tybalt.

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Our first male furchild was Beezel.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Only if I could bring my cats and all of my friends.

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
Welcome to Heaven, my child - did I mention that we have lots of cats and the yarn and books are free?

WTF Wednesday

Lulu can't believe it either....

http://www.davidlynch.com/dailyreport

Actually, I think this is really cool.

My voice is all husky, and my sinuses hurt, but I haven't developed any other symptoms... here's hoping that I just copped a really mild dose....

In other news, I have officially lost my mind. Again. I bought a floor stand and an intricate embroidery pattern. Yep, cross stitch is seeping back into my consciousness. But never fear, knitting is still my one and only. I'll just have a bit on the side every now and then......

I also shamelessly encouraged Dave to buy more foodporn (two middle eastern cookbooks - YUM), and he shamelessy encouraged me to buy some lovely Marta's muliticolored two play for shawls for Gibbering and the lovely Miss K. We work well together like that.

Good thing for the day: I managed to sleep in. Yay!!
Bad thing for the day: Like I needed another hobby. Sheesh.

A Finished Object - Well, Technically a Pair

The artistic bendy toe shot.

The feeble attempt to illustrate part of the pattern shot.

It suddenly ocurred to me that I've been posting every new skein of yarn I get, but not any actual finished objects. So behold. These are the socks I was knitting when I very first started my blog waaay back in January. Specs: Knitpicks dye your own sock yarn, dyed with Australian Landscape Dyes in purple and grey. It was supposed to have more grey, but this was my very first dye project, so I used far too much dye and it all squooshed together. But, I have to say I really like the results! The pattern is the Yarrow Ribbed Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. See, I do occasionally finish stuff!

We had a slight health scare with Lulu yesterday. For about six months she's had a tiny darker brown colour around the cornea of her right eye. Then we noticed recently that the dark brown bits had grown. A lot. Lulu gets hauled down to the vet (much to her disgust, but at least she behaves better at the vet than Dorian does - he howls at the top of his lungs from the time he goes into the carry cage until the time he gets home again), and luckily we get the really good vet (you know what I mean - all the vets at our local clinic are good, but this guy is the most expierienced and the best). He listens to the problem, pops on the glasses with the little light attachment thingy and peers into Lulu's eyes. Then he casually announces that it's definitely not cancer. CANCER????? That hadn't even occurred to us, so we were dealing with terror and relief all at the same time (I managed a strangled squeak of "Oh good!"). The vet isn't sure what the cause is, but it's not irritated, she's not having any trouble seeing, and the eye is reacting normally to light, so we just wait and see. In the end, we were in and out in ten minutes. Lulu specialises in having conditions that look really worrying, occasioning mad emergency dashes to the vet, costing us lots of money and then turning out to be really minor. But we'd rather be overcautious than take the risk of something happening to our baby.

I have a wicked sore throat. Gibbering has given me her cold. And I'm off to my monthly shrink visit. So there's going to be a yarn store visit to cheer me up or there's going to be big trouble.

Good thing for the day: At least I don't have a runny nose as well.
Bad thing for the day: Throat hurts.

Lulu Helps

Hmm... yes, this should do nicely....roll test, check. Waving fluffy paws in the air, check. Giving the other cats the evil eye in case they get the foolish (and potentially fatal) idea of coming near the yarn staging area, check.

Lulu was very helpful when photographing my stash. She kept a close eye on the layout of skeins, investigated the tubs to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and still managed to prove that she's still the prettiest piece of fluff in the house.

I was weak, my friends. Yes, I know, quelle horreur yada yada yada. I logged on to Kpixie to procure the Happy Hooker for a friend's birthday, and of course, to justify the overseas postage I had to add one or two morsels to the order.... basically, it's Mim's fault. Check out the most awesome sock pattern I have ever seen. I MUST MAKE THESE SOCKS. So I've purchased the pattern, and because they look so good in the grey, I ordered a couple of skeins of LL in Pewter to make them. And possible a couple of skeins of the Vera colourway. But I can neither confirm nor deny that at this stage.

I had huge fun with the stash flashing - I got lots of lovely compliments on my stash, and I got to drag Dave over to several sites to prove that my stash is, in fact, PUNY. PUNY I TELL YOU. I could tell he was quietly impressed. Or terrified rigid, it was difficult to tell.

And you all have such great stashes! I loved peering into other people's stashes with voyeuristic intensity - it's fascinating, like other people's bookshelves.

Just went to see V for Vendetta - I loved it, it was huge fun, and intelligently written and directed. And I may just be able to forgive Natalie Portman for her part in the Star Wars Travesty (oops, Trilogy).

Good thing for the day: Steamed Vegetarian Buns for lunch.
Bad thing for the day: Dave insists we spend some holiday time cleaning the place up a bit. Killjoy.

The Stash is Flashed

Oh, man, is this going to be a long post!!! Above, we have in the back row, grey and cream Patonyle sock yarn, in the middle, an Italian brand which is bright purple and sparkly only you can't see it here, then Sockenwolle in Four Seasons (?), Heirloom Argyle in grey. Front row: Sockotta, some self patterning Black, grey, and magenta from Yarnivorous, and some Knitpicks. The only colour way I can remember is pansy, on the end.

Second lot of sock yarn: up the back, half a skein of SweetGeorgia, Ironstone purple and green (from Chris), and half a skein of Schaeffer Anne. Middle: four skeins of STR, and four skeins of Trekking. Front: Opal Handpainted.

Twenty skeins each of Rowanspun DK in Goblin and Thorn. Cucumberpatch is responsible for this.

The grey is enough alapaca from the Bendigo Woollen Mills for a jumper. On top, enough custom-dyed tussah silk from Spirit Trail to make the Annie Modesitt corset top. I have had this for over a year and have been too scared to knit with it!

Sock yarn part 3: up the back, two skeins of Brooklyn Handspun, and a skein of Need More Yarn. Middle: two skeins of Vesper in the Crew & Knit & Tonic colourways, and a skein of SweetGeorgia in Rose (?). Front: two (mismatched) skeins of Claudia Handpainted, and two skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino in a lovely purple/olive colourway.

Oy. And more sock yarn. Back: Mountain Colours Bearfoot in Elderberry and CTH in Old Rose. Middle: Purple goodness from Sam, Need More Yarn, Zengardens, SweetGeorgia, and two skeins of Nono Kitty yarn. Front: Curious Yarns in Gothic, and a skein of purple and black yarn from a producer at the Bendi sheep & Wool show last year. Laddered up the side are CTH in Java, two skeins of Holly Spring Homespun, and down the bottom is a skein of Fybrespates in Foxglove.

Some assorted bits and pieces: Debbie Bliss wool/cotton, some Heirloom 3ply baby yarn, two skeins of Noro, a skein of handdyed dk (no idea where from, lost the label!), and pink and green Heirloom baby yarn.

Recent gifties: Purple cotton yarn, purple and grey Sockotta, purple and green wool/mohair, a skein of Fleece Artist, a skein of Colinette, and a skein of soft charcoaly goodness.

Oops. Last sock yarn, I swear.... Lorna's Laces! From left to right: Flames, Rainbow, Safari, Aslan, Black Purl, four skeins of Purple Iris (Dave and i want matching socks cause yes we are soppy sometimes), and two skeins of Buck's Bar on the end.

Recent acquired from Cucumberpatch: twenty skeins of Rowanpun 4ply: five each of the purple and pink, ten of the slate: this is earmarked for maybe my first colourwork.

Top lefthand corner: pretty stuff. That's all I know. The rest is big cakes of Marta's 2ply: I use this as laceweight for various things, or I experiment with using two colours together for heavier projects.

This is a terrible photo, but the tub contains twenty skeins of Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed (?) in Blueberry, and twenty skeins of Jo Sharp DK in purple.

My ArtYarns Supermerino stash for my Ridiculously Decadent Afghan project. Don't ask me how this project is going or I'll hurt you.

Koigu: four skeins of purple/bronze/green, and three skeins of oxblood red.

Cleckheaton Merino Bambino stash. This is seriously the nicest, softest, baby yarn I have ever come across. This feels really good to knit!

And, finally, some more laceweight: from left to right, the remains of my SweetGeorgia Violets left over from my Olympic shawl, a huge skein of handdyed laceweight that I bought at the Bendi Sheep & Wool Fair, several balls of slightly heavier than laceweight which used to be one big skein but annoyingly turned out to have several breaks in the middle, and two luscious luscious skeins of cashmere custom dyed for me by Yarnivorous.

I think I need a cup of tea and a lie down.