Emily's the knitter, Clare's the spinner, and we both like cocktails!

Saturday 16 September 2006

NEC K&S - Kerrie

I wore my lovely cloud bolero to the Knitting and Stitching show at the NEC yesterday - a good decision! Kerrie and her co-worker at the Hipknits stand recognised it, and said it does seem to be the first one finished - so Kerrie said I could have any one skein from the stand for free, and her colleague (who had knitted the demo for the Yarn Forward free web pattern) took pics of me in front of the stand. This is the skein I got for free - it's a beautiful red/pink intense lipstick shade, mega sheeny. It's 180g of silk tightly plied and with an amazing yardage - 1200m per 100g!



I also went to the Getknitted stand, where I bought this skein of Handmaiden sock yarn, 100% superwash merino and soooo soft, in wishy-washy colours to make the stole for Alice for her to wear with a cream sleeveless bridesmaids dress in January. I reckon we could use ribbon to tie it into arms, if necessary, as she's only four! Not sure what pattern to use.... but I wonder about adapting Ella from Knitty , as the shape might be easy for her to keep on...
I also bought this luscious skein from the same stand - it's Handmaiden Silk Lace, 600m in 100g. It was next to the Sea Silk yarns of the same make, and that's what i thought I'd bought, but these were the colours I love, and I've got more yardage for my 100g... (The sea sillk is 70% silk, 30% sea cell, from seaweed, and also felt lovely but only 400m in 100g).

My other buys were some more 2.25mm needles from the Knit Tin, who sent me needles for free once because the size they quoted on their site became unavailable. I do like 2.25mm, and it's hard to get in Europe. these are, again, Brittany birch needles. i want bamboo, as they may be more flexible and therefore less fragile, but can't seem to get them in the UK. Never mind. No pics of the needles.

Also, some Mobair bubbles medium weight - this is hand dyed by Victoria Smedley. This is by far one of the plainest skeins she has - her dying is most beautiful, and I loved lots of the multis, but didn't feel I'd use them any time soon, whereas this - I have plans for!

1 comment:

Robynn said...

Magnificent colours, and very impressive yardage on that Handmaiden!

Re bamboo needles: personally I've always found, while they are flexible, they splinter an awful lot and generally don't last well. Which is why Purlescence doesn't stock them. Hardwood needles may be more brittle, but personally - after breaking four needles (!) in rapid succession when I started using them - I seem to have gotten the knack and haven't done any damage in ages.