Something strange is afoot...

So we went away for the Bank Holiday weekend, and on the Friday I found myself in a bit of a quandry: I had finished my current portable WIP (the Coffee Date Shawl by C. C. Almon), had a test knit on the go that turns my hands blue (not suitable for travel knitting) and was facing the prospect of lots of time in the car coupled with a weekend away from the real world with No Knitting Project! Clearly the endtimes were near...so I boldly rallied forth and,

picked up a crochet hook. 

This may seem a bit off piste, but I do crochet, and clearly my newly rediscovered fascination with crochet (as detailed in a recent Yarn in the City Podcast episode) has not gone away. I started making Bear's Rainbow Blanket for Dev not long after finishing a Sock Yarn Blanket for Boo, using the left over scraps of fingering weight yarn and some gorgeous alpaca Himself brought me from Peru many years ago. It was the perfect project to take up north with us - small pieces, easy to pick up and put down, and also very gratifying - one center takes me about half an hour, ditto for the edging.

Over the course of the weekend, I played Yarn Chicken both successfully and unsuccessfully,

Crocheted with yarn matching the Wee Ridiculous Dog,

And managed to finish a pile of squares, leaving only a few left before assembly can start. Eldest is suitably pleased!

And the frenzy has continued. There's a ripple baby blanket happening for one of Himself's work colleagues (pattern from Lucy at Attic24) and last night I swatched for the Kippen Cardigan by Kat Goldin.

And got gauge...will miracles never cease?

And so it begins, with Unravel

This past weekend was the start of the Wool Festival Season here in the UK, and as always, it was a complete pleasure to make the journey down the A3 to Farnham for the wonderful Unravel, held at Farnham Maltings.

It's hard to convey the feeling I had sitting down on the train at 9:15 on Sunday morning with my mum, Allison, and her mum, knowing that I was going to spend the day surrounded by wool and color and creativity. We arrived just after ten, and after a brief photo shoot of Alli's finished Munchkin Baby Blanket, we headed in to the show.

Let me just get this out of the way now, since everyone wants to know: how much did I get?

That's 300 g of fiber from John Arbon (100 g each of Exmoor Blueface, Exmoor Horn, and an Exmoor Blueface/Zwarbtles blend). There were two skeins of Canopy Fingering from The Fiber Company (yarn support so it doesn't count as stash enhancement, right?) and a pile of shade cards for their different yarn lines which have my designer brain jumping up and down in glee. I also managed to snag an old needle gauge/row counter from Eliza Conway. Plus a lovely shawl pin from Textile Garden. Not pictured is my lovely poster of all the different varieties of colors and markings in Shetland sheep, from Judy Hardman.

More important then the buying were the people. We talked to people we'd like to see at the Yarn in the City Pop Up Marketplace in September, we talked to old friends and to (hopefully) new ones. I looked at lots of stalls to get inspiration for my upcoming Porpoise Fur stall at I Knit Fandango in May. I feel like I spent most of my time gabbing with people, but I came away from the show with lots of excitement and inspiration and full of creative energy. What could be better?