Sunday 13 September 2009

I Knit day

Greetings! There hasn't been a great deal of knitting going on in the josiekitten household this past week. It's been exhausting being back at school, and already the holidays are a distant memory! But I did have a delightful woolly treat to look forward to - the I Knit weekender! Yesterday my good friend Snoopydog and I went for an adventure in London! My bag was packed the night before with everything I could possibly need (and more!), and I was up with the lark (well 5:45am anyway!) in order to get to Snoopydog's in plenty of time. We spent the train journey chatting and knitting (I'm still knitting my 'July' socks!) and I was delighted to be the recipient of not one, but two of Snoopydog's little knitting project bags. Look - just perfect for a sock!

I Knit stash 2009 014

We took a taxi to the Royal Horticultural Halls (just as well, since several of the Tube lines were down apparently) and got excited by the sights of the City - Trafalgar Square, The Mall, Buckingham Palace on the way there, and Westminster and the London Eye on the way back. I love visiting London, but am always glad to be back home in quiet old Norfolk!

We had a great day, fondling lovely yarn, and my resolution to look first and buy later didn't last very long - the first stand to be precise! I did go with a shopping list, and more or less stuck to it, with one or two extras! I was using my 'guilt-free' money, saved up from all my knitting from stash, and I even came back with some money!!! Here's what I bought....

I Knit spending spree

From the top, left to right we have mini skeins from the Natural Dye Studio, Skein Queen fibre, mini sock yarn balls (Skein Queen again!), Skein Queen 2ply cashmere and silk, Dazzle from the Natural Dye Studio, Malabrigo lace, Crazy Zauberball, more fibre from the Skein Queen and Peaches and Cream Victorian Christmas. Yum yum! I'm planning on making a beaded swallowtail shawl with the Malabrigo lace yarn. The photo doesn't really show off its true, rich purple colour properly. The mini-skeins are going to be used for my Posy crocheted scarf. The mini sock yarn balls will add to the sock yarn blankie, and the fibre is an incentive for me to get really good at spinning! I'll tell you more about that another time! My favourite 'find' of the day was discovering the Skein Queen. Her yarns are absolutely beautiful, and I'm sure that I'll be visiting her online store frequently!

In the afternoon, we took part in a 3 hour workshop with Woolly Wormhead, finding out about how to make a hat that fits. There's an awful lot of maths behind it, working out the decreases on the crown, whilst making sure that it fits fairly snugly round the head. I discovered that my head wasn't as big as I'd thought! After some head measuring and stitch pattern selecting, I started making a beret, even though I haven't worn one since leaving the Brownies many moons ago! I'll show you how it's going later. After the workhop, we had more shopping and browsing time, and stopped to chat with the Dutch Knitters to admire their beautiful brioche stitch work. It's stunning colourwork and makes fabulous scarves. Definitely something to learn. And of course they had brought mountains of extremely yummy stroopwafels with them! Mine didn't last long! Here's a glimpse of our day ........

I Knit day 2009

On the train journey back to Norfolk, we spread out our purchases to admire them! It was a great day out! I'm looking forward to I Knit 2010!

4 comments:

snoopydogknits said...

That all looks rather familiar!!!!! :D What a great time we had. I've done absolutely nothing today, but keep remembering yesterday and having a little look and fondle of my new goodies. Have a good week! X

Louise Tilbrook said...

Looks like a great haul. I found the Skein Queen stall too when I went on Friday. I did buy a couple of skeins but thought I had better leave some for other people. She had some really beautiful colours though.
Glad you had a good day too.

Jennyff said...

I've just been reading your partner in crime's post on this event so I'm already convinced it was fantastic. You lucky things having such fun and coming home with amazing yarns, bet you are both smiling smuggly all week.

Unknown said...

Best of Luck with your Knit day. Bunmahon World Wide Knit In Public Day was a great success and We are already Planning Next Years. Add to that there is a plan to start a Knitting club in the Copper Coast Geo Park, Bunmahon, Co Waterford Ireland.

niall@thewoolshop.ie