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. 

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.