SSsssssssock-hop sock yarn

I really shouldn’t blog without pics but I’m just so excited. I picked up my order of sock-hop yarn from the post office this morning. Before the bus had come I had opened the box to cop a feel. It is BEAUTIFUL. I can’t remember now which was for who but frankly it doesn’t matter now because it is mine all mine!!!!!! No, not really. This folks is the wool responsible for near bankrupting me but my god it was worth it. Oooooo

WARNING: Do not follow this link if you have similar willpower to me. DANGEROUS_LINK (you'll need to scroll down once you get to the page as the formatting has gone skew wiff)

Every ball of wool starts with a sheep shearer

This is something SPM had in one of her books. You can't get wool without a person taking a sheep and shearing it by hand because there aren't any machines that can do this properly. I think that's kind of nice.

Have a headache today. Still not caught up ons leep from the weekend and work is just one disaster after another. Fortunately I don't mean that what I am doing is a disaster it's just stuff like....

• CEO blaming everyone apart from himself for stuff
• Directors arguing publicly about policy
• Scorecards being actively avoided by senior staff
• Gossip flying about inconsistencies and favouritism
• Bitching in the lunch room
• People leaving phones to ring and ring and ring and ring and ring....

This last one is the most annoying as if there is one thing that annoys me it is ringing phones. Nails on a blackboard? Fine. Ringing phone? Dear God no.

Knitting as always makes everything seem better and here we have the coco bag base with stitches picked up around the edges on something like a 48" denise needle which is blatantly more than twice as long as would be useful.

Now the thing about denise needle sets is that you get lots of different length cords and you get lots of different size needles and you can slot them all together. This all comes in a nice box and everyone who gets one insists they will keep everything in the box and not leave bits lying about to get lost. This is my box.

You will notice the complete dearth of cables, no cable ends (should be 4), no connectors (should be two) and 4 pairs of needle ends missing. Hmph. A quick raid later and the situation was not much improved.

But at least I had a cable suitable for the bag so I did about 20cm of body last night alternating the orange and pink/red wools every 2/3 rows.

Here is a belated pic of the cotton mix socks from the yarn I got in Philadelphia (I think).

Note the pointy toes. I love socks with pointy toes and generally always make them like this. It makes them extra fun! I haven't worn these yet as I've still got to sew up the second one. I'm a bit worried they mgiht be a bit tough on the byrne-tootsies as cotton can be a bit unforgiving but will wait and see.

Now I am being a very good stashalong type person but I was on Taj yarns website (ONLY TO UPDATE MY ADDRESS ON A MAG SUBSCRIPTION) and saw these. Aren't they lovely? Keep scrolling down for the girlie ones but the cats are lovely too.

Stashalong - am so proud

It is all going rather nicely chez stash at the moment. I haven't been tempted to spend at all even when I spied a whole pile of vintage knitting mags at a shop a weekend or so ago. Mind you, having no cash is bound to be some help. However, I do seem to have gained a new compulsion which is signing up for swaps at swap-bot.

The latest one I have joined is the magic yarn ball which just sounds like an excellent idea. You get a ball of yarn and rewind it wrapping in all sorts of little goodies and fun things. You can see pictures of previous ones here. Aren't they lovely? I love the idea of unwrapping and the before/after usefulness.

In case anyone feels similarly drawn I have also joined...Mark those Stitches (sign up deadline is tomorrow), Felt Pin Fantasy Swap and What's In A Purse. Some are US only but most are worldwide.

The weekend was a little bit oooo, a little bit ahhhhh, but thanks to you all for your comments and emails. Thw weird thing is Pooch and I really love each other and don't mean to keep hurting each other (I give as good/bad as I get, let's be honest). Anyway...

I was talking about stashalong. Last night I delved into the stash and cast on The little Coco bag. Is going to be orange and red striped althought he colours are both cascade 220 quatro so are a kind of plied tweed effect. The stripes won't be that noticeable. Photos soon....