Yarn Haul - Gnome Acres

I have been lusting after Gnome Acres yarns for quite a while, but have never managed to catch one of her shop updates, but when she moved from Etsy to her own shop in the new year she had a massive restock, so what better time to order from her! Here are the ones I limited myself to:

This one is Ninja Cupcake. It is a fingering weight in her House Gnome base which is 75% super wash merino and 25% nylon. It is super soft and squishy.

I think this is probably my favourite colour out of the ones I got, I absolutely love it. I have no idea what to make with this, but I think this will make a awesome pair of socks.

House Gnome is $21 for 100g.

Next up is Unicorn Freckles, which was her new colour way that she introduced with the shop update.

Another colour that I love! Well I love everything I got, but you know what I mean.

This yarn is a tweedy one, so it felt slightly softer then the House Gnome ones, which is hard to believe because the House Gnome is so soft as well. It's a fingering weight again, and I have no idea what to knit with this one too!

This is her Scruffy Gnome base which is 85% super wash merino and 15% donegal tweed.

The Scruffy Gnome base is a bit more expensive at $23 for 100g.

Being a Potter fan I couldn't pass up on some of her Harry Potter themed yarns.

This one is Bertie Bott's which I think is a perfect name for this colour.

Another fingering weight in the House Gnome base.

This one I actually have an idea for, I want to knit the Hermione's Everyday Socks. The yarn goes with the pattern which I love, and I think it will make some gorgeous looking socks. 

Gah I love looking at this yarn, there is so many gorgeous different colours in one skein.

The last colour I got is another Harry Potter inspired one, it is Polyjuice Potion.

The blue in this is so pretty and vibrant, and I love purple too so this seems like the perfect coupling of colours to me.

This once again is the House Gnome base, so yes another fingering weight!

For this yarn I'm thinking of making the Hogwarts Express Shawl. I love the look of that shawl and what would be more perfect then knitting it in Harry Potter yarn!

I am very happy with all the yarn I got from Gnome Acres, and despite it being shipped from America just after Christmas, it didn't take too long and the shipping wasn't too expensive, however I did have to pay custom fees which are around £17, which is quite pricey, so if you are making a order make it cheap enough that you avoid the custom charges or order a massive quantity, maybe a group order, to make the shipping and customs charge more worthwhile. 

New Years Resolutions

I'm not normally one for setting New Years resolutions, just because I know hardly anyone follows through with them.

I do always make the cliche lose weight get healthy one though, and this year is no exception, but that's not what this post is about.

I started knitting in July of this year and I have already learnt a few techniques such as the basics, casting on, the knit and purl stitch, increasing, decreasing, binding off, basic cabling and knitting in the round.

I'm very proud of what I have achieved but have so much more to learn, and here are a few of the skills/goals I have set myself for next year:

• Socks - I have a really weird obsession with socks. They are one of my ultimate knitting goals, and as much as I look at patterns they still baffle me slightly. I will conquer the sock though, there are just too many gorgeous sock yarns out there that want me to use them. This also fits in well with loosing weight because nothing looks cuter then dainty socks with girly shoes, although I will be starting with very basic vanilla socks!
• Colour work - I want to learn both stranded and intarsia, I'm fairly confident I would be able to do intarsia, but stranded seems a little bit more complex, but I love Fair Isle. Fightin' Words by Annie Watts looks absolutely amazing and I am going to make it my first stranded pattern, after finding myself a nice easy intarsia pattern beforehand!
• A jumper - I already have it picked out, I am going to (or rather I want to) knit the Oh My Bear by Tiny Owl Knits it seems like a good first jumper because it is chunky and baggy so I don't have to worry too much about fit, and it also includes some intarsia, 2 birds with one stone!
• Lace - I would love to learn to knit lace because it looks so gorgeous. I don't have a pattern picked out yet because lace garments aren't really my style, I just want to add this technique to my repertoire. 
• A shawl - I never thought I would want to knit a shawl, but it seems everyone in the knitting world knits shawls, and with good reason. I always get cold in work, so it would be nice to have a extra layer to snuggle up in. My boyfriend also got me some gorgeous yarn from Gynx Yarn which is 100% merino and I think it would look lovely in a shawl. I'm going for the Zilver shawl for my first attempt as it looks achievable.

So those are my 2013 aims. 

Now I have written them down I'm a bit worried that I won't have time to achieve them all, but we shall see!

I've had a great 2012 and hope 2013 is just as good. Hope you all have a lovely NYE and let me know of your resolutions too! 

The Knitting Goddess Mini Skeins!

So I caved and bought more mini skeins from The Knitting Goddess.

As much as I love my multi coloured hexipuffs, I decided my blanket needs some more solid coloured puffs, so of course thats a perfect excuse to order some more adorable mini skeins. 

Here are the ones I chose: 

September Semi Solid Mini Skein Set (now sold out)

October Semi Solid Mini Skein Set

Two Step Rainbow Mini Skein Set

I know I said I was after more solid colours, but I saw this one on the site and couldn't resist!

This is actually my favourite set, they are all just so gorgeous and vivid, I think I actually gave a squeal when I unwrapped this one.

The mini skein sets are £10 for 7 mini skeins, and the base for the yarn is 75% super wash merino and 25% nylon. 

I love the variety mini skeins give you, and The Knitting Goddess yarn knits up lovely, I definitely recommend!

I am hoping to get my hands on some GnomeAcres mini skeins soon, but even when they come back into stock I would have to wait ages for them to be delivered, where as The Knitting Goddess is a UK company so I only have to wait a couple of days, win!

Do you know of anywhere else that does good mini skein bundles?

Yarn Haul

At the weekend I went to iKnit in London with Rachel (allthingsrach) and Estée (essiebutton).

I wasn't really meant to pick up any yarn, because I was waiting on the Malabrigo to come, but out of the corner of my eye I saw this gorgeous ice cream coloured yarn that I just had to have.

It is a fingering weight yarn by Araucania and is 100% sugar cane, I didn't even know you could make yarn out of sugar cane!

It is incredibly soft and I think it cost £9.99. 

If I can't think of another project for it I will be using it on my Beekeepers Quilt.

The Malabrigo I ordered as I already had projects I wanted to make with them.

I ordered them from Fabstract, which I was a bit dubious about ordering from because I couldn't find anyone who had purchased from them, but I went ahead anyway and I'm glad I did because I actually received the package the next day! I was super impressed with the service.

I got the Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn to make the Orchids and Fairy Lights hat, which is the current knit along on the Tiny Owl Knits group.

I'm very excited about this project, but quite nervous as well because not only is it my first project on circular needles, it's also my first cable project.

I thought it was out of my skill range, but as some one said to me, if you know how to knit and purl you can do anything, just take your time, so I'm very excited about this challenge and will be casting on tonight!

I also got the Malabrigo Chunky in Polar Morn to make the GAP - Tastic Cowl to keep me warm now that its getting to freezing point in the UK.

The chunky weight on Fabstract is buy two get the third free at the moment so a great excuse to buy and very helpful for me because although the pattern says you only need two balls, a lot of people commented that to get the right thickness they would've had to use three.

The Malabrigo itself is gorgeous. It is 100% Merino wool so it is very soft and buttery, and I can imagine it is going to be lovely and warm to wear.

One thing to note about it though is there is a lot of colour variation, the chunky in Polar Morn looks a lot different to the worsted in Polar Morn, although they are both gorgeous colours.

I can't wait to get stuck in to these new projects!

Malabrigo chunky in Polar Morn

Malabrigo worsted in Polar Morn

Araucania 

Yarn Wishlist - Gynx Yarns

I have been a bit obsessed with sock yarns at the minute, and when I found some gorgeous yarns on Etsy that are named after my favourite anime characters I just had to share. These are by the amazing Gynx Yarns. 

Here are a few of my favourites:

Gaara - if you didn't know Garaa is from the anime Naruto and is essentially leader of the sand nation. I think this yarn does a wonderful job of embodying that.

Yachiru - I love this one, in case you didn't know my favourite colour is pink. It is inspired by Yachiru, a character from Bleach. She has pink hair and a childlike appearance, despite being deadly.

And lastly Sakura. Another absolutely gorgeous yarn. Sakura is another Naruto character, she is actually one of my least favourite characters in the anime yet this is one of my favourite yarns.

Gynx Yarns do an amazing job with naming their yarns because I can really see why each one has been named after the appropriate character.

They also have lots of yarns named after Studio Ghibli films and video games characters! I can't tell you how excited this makes me, two of my favourite things in one.

The yarn is hand dyed and ethically sourced, with a lot of them being organic which is always a bonus. A lot of the yarns are 100% Merino, although there are some blends of 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon, so nice and luxurious and practical as well.

They come in 100g skeins and are £14-£16 depending on if they are organic or not. Postage is £4.50 which isn't bad at all considering they will be shipped from the USA.

The best thing about these yarns is that even my boyfriend was interested because he is an anime fan, which is great because I have asked him to get me some for Christmas so hopefully he will finally be able to remember what I have asked for.

Thank you Gynx Yarns for letting me use your images.

Mini Skeins

Is it me or is everything better mini? Mini cosmetics are so cute and great for travelling, it turns out that you can get mini skeins of knitting yarn, and yes, they are even cuter then the full size.

I just had to share this with you. 

These are mini sock yarn skeins from The Knitting Goddess. 

This is the October mixed set, she brings out a new batch every month as they hand dye them, and they have a subscription service where you can get them delivered monthly, they are so pretty!

Sock yarn is one of the main things I was looking for at Alexandra Palace knitting show, but there wasn't that many, and the ones their was where very expensive.

This set is £10, or you can buy them individually for £1.50.

They are 75% super wash merino and 25% nylon and you get roughly 10g a skein, great for if you are working on a sock blanket or want a variety of yarns for cheap.

Here is a close up of the colours.

I just had to share them because I love them so much! Hope you like them too. 

My lovely new wool

The other day I went into town with my friend. I am really lucky that I have a lovely wool shop in town so we decided to visit the wool shop, our local independent book shop which is also very lovely, then head into Cafe Nero for a nice milkshake and gossip.

I only intended to get some new needles in the wool shop, but then I saw this wool and fell in love with it. It's the King Cole Galaxy DK, the colour I got is called Mercury, which is a light grey. They had a really nice one that went from light to dark grey, they also had black in the shop. I've seen on Deramores that they do a lot of other colours, I have my eye on a plum and red which would be great for the Autumn.

The yarn actually has tiny sequins attached, I have tried to capture them in this photo, but my photography skills aren't all that... 

I have plans to use this to make a pretty beret from a pattern I have seen on ravelry, hopefully the finished project will appear on here soon!

The make up of the yarn is:

65% Acrylic

31% Wool

4% Soft Payette