Creative And Knit Night

Friday I went to the Creative Festival. I was surprised by the amount of fibre arts they had this year. The overall show was cut in size by half. They only used one hall where in previous years they used two. However, there were yarn shops and local businesses that I haven't seen at the show in many many years. It was great to see. Now I hope the amount of fibre arts will continue to increase year over year. I was pleased this year where last year, even with the free ticket, I thought it was a waste of my time.

I didn't buy much but after going through my fibre and yarn stash the previous weekend I really didn't plan to. I bought buttons for my grandson's Baby Surprise jacket. I bought an 8 oz. bag of Ashford merino fibre from Romni Wools in a lovely purple colour.

Last year at the festival The Black Sheep and Ewe had these lovely ceramic sheep figurines from Ewe and Me. I'd been looking for this one ever since I saw it at The Purple Purl. When I saw that Black Sheep and Ewe had it I bought the only one they had with them.
This year they had this little guy and I felt it would be a perfect companion to Grandma's Present. I just love them. It's a shame he didn't have more of the small ones. I want to get a family of them. With the two medium/large sizes I have now I want to get some of the small ones and have a sheep family. Tom said it isn't easy for him to get them so I'll have to just get them as I see any I like.

The last thing I bought was a skein of Clestial Merino sock yarn from British Yarn. The colours were such fall colours I couldn't resist. Now to find the time to actually knit socks with it.

Tuesday night I went to The Purple Purl for their knit night. Look who came to visit! It's Cookie A. I wish I had known she was going to be there. I totally would have brought my Sock Innovation book for her to sign. Yeah I know I'm a complete geek but I don't care.
Speaking of socks, I am in the Tri Wizard Tournament group on Ravelry. One of the three tasks we had for October was to knit something blue or with waves. I decided to use this as an opportunity to knit some Regia sock yarn that I had in my stash. I couldn't find a pattern with waves that I thought worked with the yarn so I designed these. Miko from The Purple Purl came up with the name Shells in the Waves and I like it so I think I'll keep it. I still have to block the socks get better pictures and work up the pattern but I will do it eventually.

Knitting Away

I've been busy knitting away on various different projects. I think I have too many right now, if I am going to be honest with myself. After I finished all the knitting for Leah and Adam I got back to the Mandala Shawl I was working on. I don't have new pictures but I finished clue 4 and I have to start on the border.

I also started the KAL for the Anniversary Mystery Shawl 09 and am in the middle of clue 3. I only started this last weekend so I'm behind the rest of the group. Clue 4 came out today and I hope I can get started on it sometime this coming week. The yarn is Classic Elite Silky Alpaca and I'm using size 3 mm needles. It is so soft and nice to work with. Unfortunately, the needles are too short to stretch out the shawl so you can't really see how beautiful it actual is.

The Little Needle Lovers group on Ravelry has a KAL every other month. Different patterns are voted on and then you decide which one of the onces chosen you want to knit. One of the patterns is Jabot. It's beaded and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make something beaded. I guess you could call it a beaded bag but it isn't going to be very large. I bought a bead spinner a few years ago at the Knitter's Frolic and this was my first opportunity to use it. I have to say I love the thing. It made stringing all those beads almost painless. I believe I have less than 20 rows left before this is done and then I need to decide what I want to do about the strap. The most annoying part about knitting this is moving the beads along. Other than that, I am really loving it.

I'm always hesitant about exchanges because I once had a very bad experience but that didn't stop me from joining a "Gifts From Your Local Yarn Shop" exchange on Ravelry. I received my package today and I have to say I am so glad I decided to take the plunge and join. I love every single thing I received. The Yazzii is going to be great for knitting notions. It opens up and has 4 clear zipped pouches inside. I can never have enough tape measures and even though I've already had the sock blocker key chain I love it so much and I have seperate house and car key chains so I'll have another one now. Both yarns are so soft. The rest is laceweight lambswool and the other is 4 ply. I think I am going to knit the Hydrangea pattern Nan sent me using the lace yarn. I just have to decide if I want to try and double it up or not. I'm not sure what I will make with the second skein of yarn. I'll decide once I do a swatch. I'm leaning towards a scarf, or cowl and fingerless mitts.