Bye bye baby, baby goodbye

Single again. Again. Ah well. Flash was my third relationship since I left the marital home and I've learnt a lot from all of them. Onward and upward.

I've been tidying up as I'm joining the Exchange Away website for swapping houses with people for holidays. In case anyone reading does have a property in Amsterdam, America, Peru or somewhere else interesting I have a one bed flat with an additional sofa bed which could sleep 4 at a pinch but more like 2 comfortably which is 10 mins from Canary Wharf. You will find it here.

While tidying I wound the skeins of wool I dyed for the cloud jumper. Here they are.

I'm very pleased with how it came out. I used Kemtex acid dyes in grey, navy blue and ultramarine, all quite watered down and then had set aside 2 cakes worth of undyed for the clouds themselves.

I also took some photos of WIP. This is the Minnie the Minx jumper which is approaching the armpits.

I was making it reversible but have decided to stick with the 'right side' of the stocking stitch. I just adore the sequins.

During the week I went to Sheffield for work and had time for a trip to the Wool Baa while I was there. A very lovely shop, crammed to the rafters and with an excellent selection. Bus stops abound or it is about a half hour walk from the train station.

I got some lovely things. The Cascade 220 is for a felted bag. I was planning one in fabric but couldn't find the right fabric. When I saw the heather green and the grey I knew a felted bag would do the job.

I'll write up the pattern once I see if the concept works out. It's a bit tricky because the shrinkage is so different top to bottom and left to right (yes - I actually swatched AND felted the swatch). I adore the colours though.

Sheffield itself was fecking freezing but as well as the shop I popped into the Millennium Gallery where the Crocheted Coral Reef was coincidentally in residence.

Just after taking the photo I was very politely told photos weren't allowed because of copyright. I didn't point out I'd crocheted some of it. And no - I couldn't spot my bit! It's reached massive proportions now. Of course Sheffield is famous for its metalwork. My eye was drawn to a display of scissors which included some HUGE shears...

...juxtaposed with these tiny little things.

They reminded me of the baby crabs we used to find on the beach when I was little. A tiny yet perfectly proportioned version of the fully grown adult. They were perhaps 15mm tall...The cafe at the Gallery is very nice and would make a good knitting group venue. They had an amazing "mix it yourself" hot chocolate where they brought you jugs of chocolate, milk and marshmallows and then left you to it.

Very nice. The setting was equally pleasant. Beautiful palms abounded.

And then there was the background hum. Actually it was more than a hum in this case. I felt like I was in some sort of Alan Bennett monologue as the woman sitting at the table next to me and who is leaning into the picture was amazingly annoyed and outraged by how she had been treated by an outlying branch of her family and was telling her companion all about it. In retrospect, I don't remember the companion saying anything at all.