Colchester knits again

Colchester SnB
Originally uploaded by Bearium

Are you a Fibreholic?

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a little group of indie dyers based in the UK who got talking one day about how it would be lovely to try everyone elses yarns and fibres. So someone said, well how about a box of samples? ...... and it snowballed from there. So anyhow, to cut a long story short, it's here and it's happening. Fibreholics UK is about to launch, the samples are finished and being boxed and we're counting down to the launch day.

So just what is it? Well, it's a way of getting your hands on some fabulous yarn and fibre samples from some of the best micro dyers around and without spending a fortune. The boxes are in two sizes - costing £10 and £20 and will feature a selection of either 5 or 10 different artists work depending on the size you buy. The first boxes are planned to go on on sale at Woolfest. Yes, really that soon.

You can follow the progress of the boxes and see a selection of the samples by following the blog or looking on the Fibreholics Ravelry group. So to get you started here's a quick peek at my samples.
Mini skeins of sock yarn, Popsickle (the bright pink) on Merino/Nylon superwash and Aniseed (the blue) and Hobgoblin (the greens) both on BFL/Nylon sock yarn. I've keep a couple of samples back of both of the BFL and am currently working them into my neverending sock blanket. Pictures of that to follow soon.
Now the fibre, there's Hubba Bubba on BFL - dusky pink and reds, real bubblegum colours and then Spring Greens on Falkland roving. I love them both and hope you do too. So anyhow, I'm a fibreholic, are you?

Thought for the day

What is it about small boys and toilet humour? Pull my finger ..... enough said really!

Fibre for the shop

I'm still doing battle with my internet connection but am persevering anyway. So here's a little taster of todays update - some fibre for the shop at last. It's all Falkland and Corriedale which remain some of my favourite fibres for for spinning. I'm trying to be good and resist pinching fibre from the shop to add to my stash but have to admit I have already have taken and spun some of the lime and blue on Merino. Oops.
Socks yarns to follow shortly although I really need to do some more dyeing too. I've some more of the Merino/Tencel and Merino superwash sock yarns and also some fabulous BFL laceweight. I've already test dyed a couple but have some more for the shop too and a question for you all.... Are you a Fibreholic?

Colchester Knits

and here are the pictures to prove it.

We'll actually, not everyone's from Colchester we had ladies from Dedham, Ipswich, Chelmsford, Manningtree, Boxted to name but a few and twenty five of us in all. Much cake was eaten, new friends made, projects shared, yarns and magazines traded.

What was great to see too was that everyone was doing different things - it's not just about the knitting you know. We had tapestry, quilting, crocheting a little spinning going on too.

All in all, it was a great fun day and as there has been so many requests for another, we decided to make it a quarterly event. In fact, we have just set the date for the next one which will be Sunday 11th July. I'm sure I'll post more about it before then but if you want to be kept up to date, stop by the Colchester SnB group on Ravelry.

Hello

So, it's been a while since I last posted but hey, I'm back. I do have my fingers firmly crossed at this point though. Was trying to find a nice picture to put up but I'm not quite sure where to start as I have projects and all sorts of other things to chronicle, not least the Colchester weekend knit meet which was fantastic. Anyhow hopefully my internet connection is back up running properly again and I'll be back soon with pictures :)

Travelling North

as I said at the end of the last post, I suddenly realised I'd not been blogging again and I'm annoyed with myself as I'd decided I'd try and post more this month. We're a week into April already, it's the holidays and we definately seem to be stockpiling Easter eggs. I also have a huge shop update to get posted but as heading to Manchester again in the morning, it'll have to wait.

We've been making the most of the lovely weather and been outside in the garden for the last few days. It's beginning to look great and now that we've cleared the bottom of the garden, I have a whole new veggie patch to fill and it's twice the size of the last one. All of the plum trees are covered in blossom too so hopefully we'll have a bumper crop this year and we've had the first of the rhubarb already. Yum. Hang on a mo, when did this turn into a gardening blog?

So to redress the balance a little, how about some yarn? Homespun yarn at that. This is some of my favourite so far, it's BFL/silk from Babylonglegs. The first bobbin came in at 26wpi, the second at 28wpi. It's more or less consistent and the finished yarn came out if I've measured it right at about 16wpi. It's lovely and it's going to make me a fantastic pair of socks :D