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.

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.

June Yarn Haul

June’s yarn haul is a little late and this is entirely my fault. When I made the order with this fabulous yarn dyer I had requested to collect the yarn from her store after Lockdown. When I realised my mistake I contacted they dyer and paid the postage. The yarn then arrived the next day. I am excited about this months yarn because it’s beautiful AND this will be my first time knitting with this dyers yarn.

The dyer is none other than Sealy MacWheely. Sealy MacWheely has her own store (under the same name) in Kirkintilloch. I was excited to try her yarn because we have yarn friends in common who rave about her (as a person and as a dyer). When I went onto her website I was even more excited because her yarns had a sci fi inspiration. I am a huge sci fi fan and I couldn’t resist. So this first yarn is called Kaylee. Kaylee is a character from Firefly. I loved her character. So sweet and the least cynical of the group. She makes quite a contrast to the rest of the characters. This colourway suits her perfectly. I was also kindly given the sparkly version which again suits Kaylee.

The second yarn is again based on a character from Firefly. Fans of the show will know which character this beautiful colourway is based on straight away. The yarn is inspired by the character Jayne. He was a character that I didn’t take to straight away built found him hilarious by the end of the one and only season. The yarn colours matches the hat that he was famous for wearing. I have not always been a fan of orange although that has changed in the last five years. As much as it’s grown on me it’s still not a yarn colour I buy often. Therefore, I am really looking forward to knitting with this. It might even be my choice for my next sock Saturday/sock Sunday challenge.

There were also quite a few yarns which were based on Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.” I was very tempted to go with my favourite character Marvin. Instead I went with this beautiful yarn which is based on the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. I love the colours. This yarn has silk in it and I’m not sure it would be suitable for socks. It’s super soft. I will need to have a think as to what I want to knit with it. Think it will need to be something special.

I am sure you will have heard me talking about the Flower Power Fund which raises money for Marie Curie. Marie Curie is close to my heart as they were one of many people who helped my mum. They also provide a fabulous service which we as nurses can access for our patients. Which is why I have knit socks for Marie Curie the last few years. The person who organises this (a palliative doctor) also organises volunteer yarn dyers who base a yarn on a flower and some of that money goes towards Marie Curie. This yarn was by one of those volunteer dyers, Sherry Iris. The yarn is based off the flower Honeysuckle. It’s so pretty.

Finally, we have my Sea Life yarn from Mothy & The Squid. This months yarn was inspired by the Giant Cuttlefish. I LOVE this yarn. Look at all those greens. I have someone specific in mind for this one. Looking forward to that.

I have two more months of yarn hauls planned where I pick a specific hand dyer to highlight. Like this month the following two will be by hand dyers I have never tried before. Looking forward to it.