Catching up on our goings out.

Last weekend was the Birtley Model Railway Show. One of the good things about having a DH with an obsession, er, I mean interest, of his own is that he can't criticise mine! Well he can and he does, but he hasn't a leg to stand on!

Another good thing about it is that it chimes nicely with a past interest of my own, Dolls Houses. These models are in another league from anything I ever made and I really enjoy looking at the exquisite detail in some of these exhibits.

Essential equipment is 'the step'.

These events are always attended by the nicest people, the same people often that you meet at preserved railways. Good people.

It just wouldn't be the same if she couldn't drive some engines too.
This Thomas the Tank layout is always popular.

On the way home from Birtley we pass The Angel Of The North and as we've never stopped to have a proper look we did so this time.
The size is really something you need to stand up next to to believe.

So she did and it was!

Luckily it was nice and sunny.

There were also some rather good clouds.

This fabulous blanket arrived on Saturday morning just before I left for work. The wonderful Posh Yarn Ravelry group members made it for me! I am overwhelmed and much as it is beautiful to look at it is so much more gorgeous to feel. All that loveliness... for me?!? Amazing. I shall treasure it forever and 'thank you' is not big enough to begin to express my gratitude.

Today the sun shone again. Maybe it's the spring equinox or maybe it's the love of the Posh Posse, whichever it is the gloom is lifting and we're heading in to spring. Hurrah!
We went to Tynemouth and built a sandcastle.

It was good, and the day was warm enough (until the sun went down) not to be bundled up too much. Looking forward to the year ahead now.

There's a fibre update next Saturday 26th March at 8.30pm GMT. There'll be a preview before then so you can see what will be included. Meanwhile, I'm starting the sleeves on my Fair Isle jumper as the body is done up to the yoke shaping.

Happy knitting and spinning, enjoy your sunshine whenever and wherever it comes and be kind to each other there really isn't much else. :)

Spring Cleaning

Time for a catch up :) I finished my 'Sunglasses Required' blanket and the download for the free pattern is available here

The fundraising at Ripples Craft for which I donated a Cold Hands Warm Heart Mitten Kit raised a grand total of £1155.33 which is fabulous. Of course since then events have overtaken us and we now think of our brothers and sisters in Japan and their loss and grief. If you'd like to do something to help there is information here about knitting squares.

I added a photo of St Abbs to my website blog but not to blogspot so here it is.


I've been doing lots of spinning but have no photos to share yet, more of that next time.

The Metro runs not far from my house and is a vital link.

I like it even more now that I am reminded how much I don't like buses! The metro is closed for refurbishment of stations, installation of new ticket machines and the relaying of the original track which was put down more than 30 years ago by British Rail.

They are working through the night and DH has been out taking photos. I thought I'd share, after all something like this doesn't happen on your doorstep every day of the week :)

For anyone local whom it may effect - DH says there's no way North Shields station will re-open in 2 weeks time, it is now a muddy hole in the ground!


The website is undergoing a bit of a spring clean so some areas are offline at the moment. The next fibre and spindle update will be on Saturday March 26th at 8.30pm GMT. Hopefully you will find the new layout of the shop pages easier to navigate. I welcome any feedback on the website so do get in touch using the contact form :)

I am loving my current project. The original Martin Storey pattern Homestead

is lovely but I wanted to tidy up those reindeer legs! So I've adapted it somewhat by knitting it in the round and doing the reindeer as a yoke rather than seaming them so there will be no 6 legged reindeer. This one will be for DD1 and she has had a lecture about laundering it as the baby alpaca yarn s too gorgeous to even contemplate shrinkage! This is what I've done so far and I don't want to knit a stitch on any other project until this one is done! I may not feel the same by the time I get to the sleeves. I've altered the fair isle patterns a little to make them fit more comfortably into my stitch count and knitting in the round.


So, happy spinning, knitting and crochet and let's here it for the people who work through the night for us.

St Abbs and New Zealand

First things first :) I'm donating a prize for the raffle to raise funds being run my Helen at Ripples Crafts. You can buy a ticket to help support this excellent fund-raising idea here. The prize I'm donating is a Cold Hands Warm Hearts Mitten Kit - there are some wonderful prizes and the money raised will be matched $ for $ - read all about it on Helen's blog.

Secondly - the shop is temporarily offline whilst I do a quick stock take after a wonderful day at St Abbs. There are more spinners every time and I really need to do a fibre update as I only have 2 braids of fibre left! So to answer Cal's question from a blog post or two ago (waves to Cal) there will be a fibre update towards the end of March, I'll give plenty of notice both here and on Ravelry.com. There hasn't been a fibre update for a while now so I'll try to make it a special one :)

Please excuse the photo free post but as I've been up since 4.30am and it's now half past ten I think if I tried to upload the St Abbs photos now they might come out upside down or something! LOL

Sunglasses Required

I don't do crochet. I used to a long time ago. I can put an edge on a knitted cardi but I've forgotten so much. recently I figured out I was doing it backwards anyway! BUT... I loved the Full o' Sheep Yarn that I used for Katy's jumper. The feel of the fabric was even better after it was soaked and blocked. The colours are vibrant and happy and I wanted more but not as a garment for me. So, a blanket seemed an ideal solution, I bought 1 ball of each colour and I have begun my journey into a ‘wake you up, bright and breezy, better wear your sunglasses’ easy peasy beginner’s crochet blanket :)

PS I am ignoring all those ends, do you think they'll go away if I ignore them hard enough?

Cold Hands, Warm Heart Mittens

Spinning a Yarn proudly announces the launch of a new mitten kit.








Now which colour shall I knit my own mittens in?

I decided at the beginning of the year the Wednesday would be spin day and I've had a few Wednesdays where I even managed to keep to it :)

This fibre by Babylonglegs is called 'Fire in the Sky' and I bought it ages ago and have only just gotten around to using it, it's 200gm of BFL Humbug which I spun as a 2 ply and as singles. I love the colours :) No idea what I'll make with it yet but part of my intention to spin is to also knit with my handspun so hopefully it wont be to long before I have it on my needles.

Finally if you're looking for help with seamless knitting in the round then look no further than any book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I'd strongly recommend 'The Opinionated Knitter' and 'Knitting Without Tears' but they're all excellent books and you can't go wrong with any of them. EZ rules, if you don't know her already then my friendly advice is to get to know her a.s.a.p. :)

When life gives you lemons make lemonade...

... or in my case mittens!

Sadly I wont be going to Woolfest this year as there isn't room for me :( I was looking forward to seeing customers and friends again but we'll have to meet elsewhere :) Maybe at St Abbs at the end of February? I am exploring other possibilities but in the meantime I decided that dyeing must go on and I'd like to share my most recent project with you :)

I have been test knitting a new mitten pattern and it's nearly ready for release as a kit for the online shop and also through RingaRosie in Whitley Bay. RingaRosie for those who don't know, is my local yarn shop and the place where I work 3 days a week. It s a wonderful shop with everything a knitter needs and is owned by the lovely Barbara who is the most supportive employer a yarny could wish for :)




The kits will be available initially in the following colours :)







I have also been knitting for my daughter and finished the jumper she was supposed to be getting for Christmas - ooops - ah well cobblers children have no shoes and knitters children have no handknits! Here are the photos, the jumper is from 'Best of Lopi' and the yarn is 'Full o' Sheep'
a great yarn I will use again no doubt.

Another cold walk but this time a great excuse to photograph the first completed project of my 2011 UFO Challenge - this shawl has taken a year to complete, I knew I was going to run out of yarn and put it away in the hope that some magic would happen but having to admit that there are no yarn fairies I had to improvise. And today the sun shone on the photos so it must have come out alright :)






Here's the modelled shot so you can see the size of it - I decided not to block it and the garter stitch is soft and warm and suggly.

I actually wore it today wrapped around my head to keep the drafts out! It was a lazy wind, couldn't be bothered to go around so just blew straight through me, brrrrr.










Much to Katy's delight there was plenty more ice and snow in the furrows. Some photos of the scenery - you may recognise the walk, although the last time we were here the fields were full of bales of hay and it was a good deal warmer.





















Even though it was very cold and I couldn't feel my legs by the time we got back to the car, it was worth it for the sunset!