August Yarn Haul and the Last.

 

This will be my last yarn haul this year (planned yarn haul at least). My sock yarn stash has grown exponentially thanks to this and I need time to catch up. Also with the dreaded C coming up I need to plan for that. Which means back to project buying only.

The final yarn dyer to highlight is Countess Ablaze. I have never knit with her yarn but I am excited to do so now. I came across Countess Ablaze through watching podcasts by Fruity Knitting. The Countess came up a few times. The first when watching their backlog and they were having brief chats with various vendors at the Edinburgh yarn festival. While watching I take notes of various people to look up whether its books, designers, bloggers or yarn dyers. Countess stood out for me because of her story behind the yarns. I thought it was genius how she gives her yarns names. The second episode featuring Countess was an interview and by that point I was all caught up. I was excited to see an interview by someone I recognised from previous episodes and looked forward to it. If you haven’t seen this interview you should. It was so heartfelt, open and brave. I think a lot of viewers felt that way on watching it, judging by the comments. I already followed Countess Ablaze on Instagram at this point and was already a fan. Since COVID my admiration of Countess Ablaze has grown due to her work ethic and her prioritising her team and their safety. If I come across as being a bit of a fan it’s because I am and that’s without having tried her yarn. Go visit her website, visit her Instagram page and watch the interview. 

I found it difficult to choose a yarn to be honest. There were so many beautiful colours and so many fantastic titles. In the end I had to focus. I went straight for the sock yarn and looked at the colours that appealed to me the most. The two I picked out are from the Rebel batch - rare insults (how brilliant is that). This one is called “He Turned This Boy Into A Picasso Painting”. This is what I mean about these amazing titles. The colours are a beautiful range of purples and plumbs and the yarn base is a BFL/nylon blend making it perfect for socks. I might knit this one up for someone. I have someone in mind for a pair of socks and this colour might be perfect.

This one is my favourite for both its name and its colour. The yarn is called “You look like a bag of frozen Spinach,” and sometimes I do. I might have to use that insult. Like the Picasso the yarn base is BFL/nylon. The colour is so delicate and I have the perfect pattern for it. It might be used on my next sock saturday/sock Sunday. Although I think I said that with the last yarn haul. Regardless, this will selfishly be for me. Will be a nice change from all the bold colours I have been knitting with recently.

 

Lastly we have Augusts Sea creature club box from Mothy & the Squid. Although I will no longer be buying yarns to highlight businesses for the next few months I will be keeping with this subscription. It’s been nice having one again and I’ve been looking forward to it every month. I recently mentioned on someone’s photo that Mothy is an artist and she is. I love her inspirations. This months is my new favourite. I love a blue colourway and this one is so rich. It’s based on the Bluebell Tunicates and it’s just so pretty. When I knit with this it will also be for me. Selfish I know but I am not giving it away. Too pretty. I just need to find the perfect pattern for it. I love the little pin badge that came with it too. Would have been apt in my last speciality. I’ll still do a post to show off these boxes but it will have to be under a new name.

I have enjoyed making these posts and I have enjoyed looking out yarns and highlighting my friends as well as businesses new to me. I especially have liked all the socks I have managed to knit with my hauls so far. I am sure that my little blog hasn’t done much to boost anyone’s business but if it has inspired even just one person then I’m happy. I might do this again next summer.

My Orange Socks

 

These socks may now be my new favourite. You have no idea how much I love them. They are so comfortable. Just to warn anyone having difficulties viewing ravelry the following link will take you to ravelry. The pattern is called Tauriel Socks by Maven Crafted. Like all the patterns I seem to fall in love with these days I first came across it on Instagram. It seemed that everyone was knitting them and I knew instantly that I had to too. You have no idea how difficult it was since I had to wait as the first few times I saw it the finished knits were from test knitters and the pattern itself had yet to be released. Such a tease! It worked though as I purchased it as soon as it came out. I personally think it was worth the wait and the purchase. It’s a beautiful pattern to knit and uses a simple method for a very effective result.

I did go a size bigger than I normally would. I went for my usual size and the colours of the yarn were pooling badly. It was very noticeable. As I was determined that this yarn and this pattern were meant to be I upped the size and it resolved the issue. It also mean that I had a slightly bigger pair of socks than normal but actually that worked out too. These are so comfy to wear slouching about the house. I highly recommend. 

The yarn is called Jayne and is by Sealy MacWheely. This was the first time I have knitted with her yarn and I was so excited to do so. I think this colourway was meant for this pattern. I love it! It was very tempting to knit a hat with it (given the inspiration) but once I decided on this pattern I couldn’t imagine it with anything else. They yarn is beautiful to work with. Very soft and very cosy. If you have never used Sealy MacWheely yarn before I highly recommend that you do (she’s also the bestie of a very good friend of mine and so deserves the love for that alone).

My blockers were a little too narrow for the sock so it didn’t block very well but this is the design at the front (go to instagram and I am sure you will find far superior images of other finishes). It looks perfect on my feet though but I will not put you through a photo of those. 

These socks were knitted as part of my Sock Weekends. The first weekend in August I was working so I didn’t do my socks weekend. Basically, I had done the cuff of a new pattern and as I had yet to establish the pattern repeat I didn’t think it was a good idea to begin it while having my morning coffee. Instead I worked on my summery top. The weekend just gone I did very little but I managed to do a bit of knitting on the Sunday. Not much progress as I ripped it all out and started again. However, it’s another pair of socks knitted a little bigger. Another pattern and colourway that I am in love with. Can’t wait to share it.

July Yarn Haul

So, it would seem that I am not the brightest. If you follow me on twitter and instagram you would have seen that I was having issues with blogger. I was able to see my posts but not actually access the blog management side. I assumed that blogger was down at first. Then I remembered that blogger was changing its format and so I finally worked out how to be able to post. Hence, my July haul is late. Very late as August’s haul is already here but I’ll post that at the end of the month.

Anyway, moving on. As I said previously I was choosing a hand dyer that was new to me. I have ordered from her shop before but never her own yarns. I have mentioned The Loveliest Yarn Company numerous times so it was about time I tried their own yarn which is under the label Banshee yarns. The base is the party yarn range and the base is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend. This colourway is just so pretty . I love the contrast between the yellows and the greys. It’s called Koi gone awry.

This one is my favourite. I love the reds. I rarely buy sock yarn with red through it. I don’t know why as I always love it. I think my mum would have loved this one and I would definitely have knitted her socks with it. The title is very apt too as it would have appealed to her love of crime dramas. It’s called crime scene. I love it!

I also bought some yarn of which the money went to Marie Curie. This is by Eden Cottage yarn and it’s a merino/nylon/lurex base (in other words it has a sparkle). It’s called herb basket and I bought a sweater quantity. It’s going to be used for my next jumper. I’ll show more on that when I start it (not until I finish the Victoria top). I love it because it’s such a delicate colour.

Lastly here is July’s Sea Creature box from Mothy & the Squid. This beautiful yarn is inspired by the Giant Green Sea Anemones. It’s so beautiful. These are definitely my colours and I can’t wait to knit with it.

August will be my last yarn haul. I’ll be back to purchasing for specific projects only (other than the sea creature subscription).  As I said earlier, I already have that yarn and will be posting it at the end of the month. My next post will be my latest sock finish which was done on my sock Saturday/sock sunday challenge. I didn’t do the challenge at the weekend there as I was working. The weekend before I had just finished the cuff and I didn’t want to read through a new pattern with my early morning coffee. I didn’t want to risk mistakes but I will be back on it this coming weekend. Instead I worked on my Victoria top as it’s an easy pattern repeat. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen those updates.