In which I discover that it's really difficult to take pictures of yarn

As if my housemate doesn't already think I have a problem...
I spent yesterday afternoon trying to take pictures of some yarn I've acquired in the last two weeks (the last two weeks have been really good for yarn, but not so good for knitting). It's finally nice and sunny, so I figured that would be ideal for pictures...but, no. Or, at least, not with my powers of photography.

A couple of weekends ago, The Limey and I went back to the UK for a wedding reception with his family. Of course, the first thing I do nowadays when I know I'm going somewhere is to look up possible yarn shops to visit. The closest to Stoke is Knit2Together, in Wolstanton. They also run the on-line site Cucumberpatch. Reason my in-laws are awesome #1: The Limey's dad drove us up to Wolstanton, then sat in the car to wait while we went into the shop! It was great...so much yarn...and when I asked if they had Rowan 4-ply Soft, they said, Yes, down the road in our other store. Indeed, a block down the road was another store, just as big, and just as full of lovely yarn. I felt guilty about The Limey's dad waiting for us, so I did a quick run-through to see what they had and picked up a flier for their website (one of the reasons I don't buy very much yarn on-line is that I like to feel stuff and poke at the yarn in person first). I also didn't want to spend any more of the money that I don't have. So I got just a few balls of nice stuff.

Some Rowan 4-ply Soft in a nice rich red. I'm thinking of making myself a pair of Anna socks with it.


A couple skeins of oatmeal-y coloured Rowanspun Chunky, for a bag, I'm thinking. Something in a herringbone stitch, maybe, or, at any rate, something woven-like. I also asked The Limey to pick himself some sock yarn for his next pair of socks. He chose some Patons in blue and black. I'll be looking for suggestions for a good pattern for men's socks; I'm sick of plain ribbing or plain stockinette. Any ideas?

Reason my in-laws are awesome #2: Sunday morning, The Limey and his mother dragged a TV-sized box and another huge bag of stuff down the stairs and set them in front of me. What the hey? I said. It turns out: YARN, and lots of it. From way back when she used to knit. In fact, as we happily rummaged through it, we found half an Aran sweater. She'd finished the front and a whole sleeve before she gave up. It looked great, and must have taken lots of work. Now, we'd flown Ryanair, so there was no way I'd be able to take even a quarter of that stash back with me. I chose half a dozen balls of this Jaeger mohair, figuring on a shawl or lacy scarf.


The pink is a little too baby pink for me, but I figure I could use it somehow. The blue is nice and dark and lovely, though. Maybe the reversible rib shawl? There were lots of other stuff in the box, if only I had room in my bag! She had some chunkier superwash wool in a creamy natural colour that I could totally see in a cabled cardigan. She's promised to bring some more over when they come visit.

Last week, I also heard rumours that The Wool Shop in Bray was closing down. (The dire situation of nice yarn shops in Dublin is ameliorated by This Is Knit moving to better, slightly bigger, sunnier premises.) I took myself down to Bray to see if this was true, and, alas, it is so. The owner, Bernadette, said she was closing down at the end of April to go sailing around the world. Great for her, bad for us. Most of the stuff in her shop, including lots of new products from Rowan, Jaeger, etc. was on sale. I made myself leave after getting just a few things (the only people who say money can't buy happiness are people who already have lots of it):














Six balls of Jaeger Merino DK, in a great deep red (more red?!), for a cardigan or sweater, I think. Can't decide what yet, though. And two hanks of Rowan Summer Tweed, possibly for something like this. The colour of this tweed is like...fields of wheat in the sun. Excuse the purple prose, but, really, it fairly shone out at me in the cramped, low sunlight shop. I also bought a couple balls of a Regia sock yarn, a very slightly variegated light blue. No pictures, 'cause I just couldn't capture the colours well. But I'm thinking lacy socks for me.

As I said, a good couple of weeks for yarn acquisition, but knitting? I plug along on the Print O' The Wave. I'm on the 11th repeat, almost a third of the way through the centre panel!