Overseas yarn adventures

We are back from our travels and have got through the madness of the last weeks of work and Christmas. We had a fantastic time, and between visiting many castles and galleries I managed to seek out quite a bit of yarny goodness.

The first yarn shop I visited was Woool in Den Haag. This was a lovely welcoming shop in a narrow street in the city. They have a very cute logo.

I picked up some blue Madelinetosh and some gifts to bring home.

They had great samples knitted up from many of the yarns...

When leaving the shop a man stopped me in the street and said something I couldn't understand. It turned out I had bought so much wool the zip on my bag wasn't staying closed any more and things were spilling out :p
I also took a long Metro ride to the famous Loop in London. I picked up three pretty skeins but spent most of the time looking over all the colours :)

Allons-y!

Off on our travels!

Two hands again

After 6 weeks in plaster (netball injury) I have two hands again! I managed a fair bit of spinning and plain knitting while broken (Asunder with some handspun) but had to hold my right hand completely still and just use the left :(

Looking forward to getting back into my favourite project (Honeybee Cardigan), but have very little mobility in my right wrist so purling is still fairly tricky and painful.

This neglected blog is going to be neglected again as we head over to Europe for a month. I have mapped out a few yarn shops to visit - please let me know if I have missed any amazing ones ^_^

Netherlands Woool, de Afstap , Ribbels

France La Droguerie,Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche

UK Loop, iKnit

Carousel complete

I love my new Carousel socks :) finally a sock pattern than I enjoyed knitting. They look very crazy, but are comfy and very happy looking. They're made from with Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Socka Mexiko Color and the ball is so large I might be able to make another pair :)

Carousel (Rav) by Louise Robert

Bendigo sheep and wool show 2012

Going back to study has somewhat dampened my blogging schedule, but have been meaning to report back on our adventures at the Bendigo sheep and wool show.

The website gave us no indication how exciting the show would be. I had thought perhaps we might get to browse a few stalls of woolly goodness. Turned out there were five large sheds of beautiful yarn and fleece!
It was wonderful to discover some Australian based indie shops, and finally be able to experience the excitement I am always hearing about on podcasts!
Our favourite shops were Moseley Park, Raxor, Spun out, Ixchel Angora Bunny, and Wool n wire

I am terrible at actually buying things, and can talk myself out of anything, but I came away with a nice little collection.We also visited the Bendigo Woollen Mills while there, and I picked up some staple colours.

100 Beanie Drive

Here's my hat for Epheriell Designs'

We'll be posting our contribution on Monday. The drive is close to ending, but head over to Epheriell Designs to check out all the warm woolies sent in so far. 

"My goal is to gather together 100 Beanies during July that I can donate to that box in the Day Oncology Unit. In fact – I’d love to have to buy them a bigger box to fit everything I bring in!! And you know what? Why not shoot for 100 scarves and 100 pairs of mittens, too?"

Treasuries - A stranger's dream

Thanks to Air and Julia for including my items in these lovely coloured treasuries
A stranger's dream

Purple and blue