Realisation

Mango Dumpling

As I write this I am sat in Starbucks, drinking hot chocolate - it's grey outside so thankfully I'm not missing a great deal. It's report writing season and this time I've decided that instead of sitting at home, surrounded by things I'd rather be doing, I'd try and get my reports written here. So far it's going well, although considering I'm blogging that may seem ironic to you. After a couple of hours I've decided I need a break from them. Also I've had too much sugar - in the form of a hot chocolate, bread and butter pudding and a mango dumpling - for it to be worth continuing for the time being. 

It's finally dawned on me that, in two months, we will be leaving the home we have made here in Suzhou. Seeing as I've had the job since December you may think I'm a little slow on the uptake, but there is simply so much going on at work that most of my focus has been there. I'm also realising now that this move will probably be harder than leaving the UK was. We've made some great friends here, seen some of them leave already, and now will be leaving some behind ourselves. Lots of little 'lasts' have already come and gone, last parent consultation, last class assembly, last winter for a while etc....and each 'last' from hereon in will be that little bit harder. Don't get me wrong though, I'm really excited to explore somewhere new and to start my new job, but the next couple of months are going to be a little emotional to say the least. 

On a more happy note I did finish spinning and plying a third of my Fondant Fibres custom dyed punis. I've done a two ply and really like the way it's come out. The colours have blended to create this gorgeous green but still have pops of blue and yellow running through it. I think this will knit up beautifully. The last two thirds of the punis have been divided equally and will be spun and plied soon.  

That's it from me this week. I hope you all enjoy the weekend! 

Distractions

As you know I've not been knitting a great deal recently. Over the Easter break we were able to get away to Bangkok for 6 days and I was able to meet up with some other knitters. We sat and chatted and knitted in Simply W (Whittards of Chelsea cafe)and I got a little of my knitting mojo back. Since being back at home though, I've not picked up my needles - the cold I came down with in the first 2 days of my holiday has not helped.

Initially I was frustrated by my lack of interest in my knitting but now I'm acceptant of the fact and trying to enjoy my spinning as much as I can. 

Part of the reason I've been so distracted recently is that I've got a new job and we are moving to Jakarta(!!!!) in the summer so I've been getting the necessary paperwork together for the visa process. We are really excited to be moving to somewhere new but the idea of shipping off my stash while we move is not an appealing one!

Over the next few months I'm going to have to try to pick out some knitting and spinning projects that will see me through about 3 months, while we wait to get our stuff. As you can imagine this is not an easy task so I'm really going to have to plan carefully...any suggestions would be great!

In the previous post I mentioned the Stitched Together SAL; I have been spinning for that and have finished half of my fiber. It's an angora/alpaca blend from Ixchel Bunny and the colourway is called Wallaby Dreaming. I've found this fiber quite challenging due to the slickness and staple length - I can't quite figure out the drafting of it so it's frustrating at times. I love the colours though and it's lovely and soft with a fuzzy halo so I will persevere. If you have any tips for spinning either alpaca or angora please do share them. 

Distracting me horribly from that though are some gorgeous custom dyed punis from Fondant Fibre. They are a blend of merino, BFL and silk and are my first punis. I've been incredibly eager to try this fiber prep for some time and have heard great things about Deb's. She was really helpful and accommodating and her attention to detail regarding the packaging is excellent; my parcel arrived with a stitch marker, wonderful sounding tea bag and a lavender bag! I will definitely order from her again.

That's it for now! Have a great week! Don't forget to follow the link below to follow me on bloglovin'. 

Spring is on the Way!

I seem to have lost my knitting mojo due to a lot of stuff going on here. Life has been quite stressful (hence my absence for the last three weeks) but I'm hopeful that it will start to calm down soon. 

I have been knitting although mainly on a new project, which is a gift for a friend. You may remember that I was gifted 1kg of alpaca/wool laceweight yarn from peru. It took me far too long to decide what yarn to use and what to knit but I now have a Trillian on the needles. I am using some Juno Fiber Arts yarn in the Milly Standard Sock Yarn. The yarn is lovely and soft and although I tend to prefer non-superwash yarn, this is for a non-knitter so it made sense. The colours are so pretty and I recommend checking out the shop if you haven't. 

The second of the fingerless gloves from the previous post has been started, it should be finished by the end of the week!

Some spinning has happened; the first half of Aurora from the last post is finished but I have yet to start the second half. Look at those gorgeous colours!! 

I have joined in a Spin Along with the Stitched Together podcast and information can be found here. It's open through March and April and you have to spin 100g of fiber and suggest a project you might use it in. 

On my spindle for the SAL is some more Ixchel Bunny in the Baby Alpaca and Bunny Top. The colour way is called Wallaby Dreaming and has yellow, green, blue and a light brown and it will become a two ply. The spinning is really easy and enjoyable. 

Unusually for me, I've been reading this term. If you know me, you know this rarely happens as I fall asleep if I so much as look at a book in the evenings. One of my new year's resolutions however was to read more and I've been trying to make an effort in this area. Mostly I get my book recommendations from the Richard and Judy Book Club - if you need some inspiration take a look.  

The book I've just finished is called When You Walked Back into My Life. It's a very easy read and I found myself getting really drawn into the story and the characters. Admittedly, I bought it mainly because the cover is so beautiful, but absolutely loved the story. 

The book I'm reading now, The Universe Versus Alex Woods, has got off to a great start and the first chapters had me hooked. The main character, Alex, is very interesting and his back story is quite unusual.  

That's it for the week, I'd love for you to tell me what you are working on or reading at the moment. 

  

Fibery Fun

This week I've been mainly spinning so haven't got a great deal of knitting done. The knitting I have done hasn't been so great - I dropped a couple of yo's in my shawl and they were right above SSKs or K2 togethers, making fixing them very difficult. I'm not going to rip back as I'm really not that bothered by the mistakes and would probably make it worse. Perhaps I should have been using lifelines as I went along?!?

As for spinning; I started this beautiful top at the beginning of the month. It is Ixchel Bunny Magic Bunny Top and was the Dec '13 club colour way, Aurora. It's a lovely blend of merino, firestar, cashmere and angora. 

 I've divided the braid in halves and am almost finished spinning the first half. I'm really looking forward to seeing the final yarn. 

You may recall from a previous post that I had some Pygora goat locks in the way to me. Well they arrived and they've sat in my stash for a while as I've got to dehair them. I've only got 4oz but it's going to take quite some time; they look lovely though and I really hope they will be worth all of the time and effort! 

 What I've done so far...not much considering I did this over the course of an evening! 

I'd love to hear any tips for spinning locks as it's not something I've tried before. Ideally I would like to keep a little of the curl in my spinning but not too much, any suggestions are much appreciated. 

Have a great weekend and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin' if you enjoy reading the blog each week!

Beads beads beads.....

Since casting on my first beaded project I have searched high and low for another beaded project to sink my teeth into. It came in the shape of some fingerless gloves by, funnily enough, the same designer as the beaded shawl I'm knitting. 

Starlight is a fingerless glove pattern by Anniken Allis and it is perfect! I had many false starts though, when searching for the right yarn/bead combination and was almost at my wits end when I found the perfect match! 

The yarn is Fyberspates Superwash Lace, which I got in a sale about 2 years ago. It's been languishing in my stash ever since, as I've never found the right project for it, held doubled though, it's great for this pattern. I really like the pink and green beads as for me they had just the right amount of colour and interest to this already gorgeous pattern. The fist one was quick and I finished it in a couple of days, however the second one is taking longer due to being back at work.

I'm adding beads using some picture hanging wire, as I can't find a crochet hook small enough here and the Fleegle Beaders I have aren't quite the right size for the yarn. 

While I'm on the subject of it I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Fleegle Beader now that I've used one enough to make a judgement. I bought the 0.8mm, (which I'm using for the Rivoli shawl) and the 1mm size.

The beader took a while to get the hang of and initially I didn't enjoy using it, however after I went back and re-watched the video on youtube and it seemed to click. It's easy to put beads on but I could see how a bead spinner would be convenient for loading it.

The two stoppers are very useful; I find that I use one at the top and one at the bottom, as that seems more secure than the beader tip. 

The packaging isn't something I'd keep it in and in fact, when I received mine one of the tubes was broken at one end. I also think it would be helpful if it came with a little slip of paper illustrating how to use it. It's incredibly inconvenient for me to use youtube where I live and this would have been most appreciated. 

Overall I'm pleased I purchased the beaders and can see me getting a fair amount of use from them over time. The biggest size might be something I consider in the future. 

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