Full show notes are always available at www.stitchedtogether.co.uk, under the Podcast button.
Plotting
The Stitched Together Crafting Library KAL is coming to an end. There have been several new prizes since the last episode, which I have blogged about but haven't told you on the podcast.
I have been contacted by a couple of members of the Stitched Together Designs Group on Ravelry with lovely generous donations of prizes for the KAL. Sarah, aka ForeverKnitting31 has offered one winner a pair of her Awesome Boot Toppers from her ETSY store, HomemadeSunshine11.
Louise, aka madmum, has offered up some lovely yarn from her stash. The yarn is a skein of Araucania Ranco Multy in colourway 308. I really like this yarn and I used it to knit an entire cardigan, but it would make great socks. It is 344m/376yds in length and is made up of 75% wool/25% nylon.
The next prize has been donated kindly by Lara Smoot and Shalimar Yarns. Lara has generously offered to donate one of her patterns, Nikomedes and Shalimar Yarns will supply the yarn, Zoe Sock to knit the socks with. The yarn is in the Petal colourway, and it is 411m/450yds of merino yarn in the fingering/4ply weight.
Lara will send the pattern electronically through Ravelry or email to the winner: The pattern is an interesting one, with some interesting twists.
This isn't the first time Lara has donated a prize to my lovely readers and listeners, but the yarn is a very nice bonus from her employer Shalimar Yarns.
I also have a wonder prize from Deborah of Fondant Fibre. Deborah has very generously offered a fabulous project bag along with stitch markers and the choice of either some of her beautiful handspun yarn OR some delicious Shetland gradient roving. Please go and check out her shop as she sells wonderful things, that I'm sure will tempt you! If you want full details of this prize and photos, I blogged about it here.
I have blogged about my progress with the STCLKAL here. Since this post I've got to the part when I divide for the armholes. I stalled due to the requirement of maths.
The STCLKAL finishes on the evening of 31st October. I will draw the prizes on 1st November and list the winners and their prizes on the Ravelry Group and in a post on the blog. I will also contact the winners to obtain addresses.
My other "a-long" is from the Yarnraising Podcast and is a spin a long (SAL). It is the New To You SAL and involves spinning using new fibre, new tools or new techniques. I completed my SAL and blogged about it here.
Done and Dusted
Concavus is finished and incredibly lovely. It was blogged about here.
I started and finished a Sockhead Hat. I used Posh Yarn Esme Sock in the For You I Sigh colourway. I used up a big chunk of the skein.
After finishing the Sockhead Hat I wanted to make something else simple and elegant. I cast on Howlcat by Alexandra Tinsley. I got a voucher for 15% off and used it to buy lovely yarn, Malabrigo Rios in Niebla and Malabrigo Sock in Impressionist Sky. I blogged about it here.
I finished my socks. They are very comfortable and I'll happily use the yarn again, which is just as well as I have another 2 skeins of it in different colours! I am trying to find a better way of doing the toes using a new book, Big Foot Knits by Andi Smith. I'll tell you how that goes.
I finished some test knitting, and as soon as the pattern is released, I'll tell you all about it.
Nose to the Grindstone
I am working on Viajante by Martina Behm in Wollmeise Lace-Garn in the Kornblume colourway. The skein is HUGE and I've only just started. This will be a very long term project.
I'm working on a new woolly shawl, as I seem to need to knit one each year. This is a Marc Smollin design, like my Pterotactyl (which I insisted on spelling Pterodactyl!) from last year, knit in Kauni Wool 8/2 Solids. It's called Ridgeland and uses three colours of Holst Garn Supersoft 100% uld, which is a very sheepy wool!
I've whizzed through the stripes, and now I'm onto the slow moving stranded section.
I'm also working on a new design.
Splashed Out
I skipped this section in the podcast recording, but I'm leaving it in the show notes in case you are interested in my out of control spending habits!
After trying several fibre samples out of the Fibreholics box, I decided to get some fibre from limegreenjelly. It was lovely to work with and when I saw the update, I snapped up two lovely braids of fibre.
The first braid is merino/camel silk, the purple braid is merino/silk.
I could not resist a Countess Ablaze update when I had a voucher code to celebrate the opening of her new online shop. I bought Count Cashmerino High Twist in the This Ain't a Scene colourway. It's 80% merino/10% nylon/10% cashmere and 400m/365yds long in a sock/fingering weight.
I also bought a braid of baby llama and tussah silk fibre in colourway number 105. It's as soft as butter!
After finishing the Arkanoid Hat, I had no Babylonglegs Semi-Precious in stash so I bought some more. The colourway I bought was the one dyed especially to help raise funds for Woolly Wormhead's legal battle to save Mutonia, her home. This yarn is 50% merino/50% silk in a sock/fingering weight and the skein has 400m/437yds. The colourway is Raspberries & Cream.
I also bought a contrast colour in the Pie colourway, which is another sock yarn in the Merino Sock base. It is 100% merino and has 400m/435yds.
One of the testers for my new shawl pattern used a yarn I'd not seen before and when talking on Twitter, the dyer, Steph of Perran Yarns, got in touch and offered me a custom dye and a 20% off voucher. I snapped her fingers off! I bought a ready dyed sock yarn in the Merino Sparkle 4ply base. The colourway is Night Sky and there are 400m/437yds.
The custom dyed yarn was based on a colourway in her shop Muddy Waters, which I really liked but wanted with a bright pop of turquoise to provide contrast. I choose 80% superwash merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon sock yarn as the base, which has 400m/437yds.
The yarn is gorgeous and the colourway exactly what I asked for. The service was incredibly fast too.
I got a bargain at Loop, a Skein Merino Silk Sport skein in the Opaque colourway. It's 50% merino/50% silk in a sport weight and has 363 yards.
I might have also gone into a bag buying frenzy after coveting the bags owned by the US podcasters. I bought a new one from Nicsknots. This is the standard sock bag.
I also bought a Large Owl Bag and Mini Sheep Bag from KnitterBag who is based in Lithuania, which is part of the EU and therefore not subject to import duties for the UK.
Online Community
Many thanks to Jen, The Commuter Knitter for her shout out and also to Susie and Danie of The Prairie Girls Knit & Spin podcast who I found via Jen's podcast. They were mentioned in the same episode of The Commuter I was. Both podcasts are great and well worth a listen. I also have to say hello to Charly of An Accidental Knitter. I've known Charly a while through our blogs and was pleased to hear her first podcast episodes recently.
Thanks go to Beret, TracyC611 and KnittingFiona for your kind reviews on the UK iTunes site, LauraSue Walters and eageleyeslf on the US version of the site and Kristieinbc in Canada. If you have left reviews on other versions of the iTune site, please let me know so I can go and look at them.
The Stitched Together Designs Ravelry Group is now up to 175 members, come and join in the fun. One of our members, the lovely Jan, aka NulaBoola on Ravelry has kindly offered a couple of prizes to you lovely people. She has an extra copy of TWO books,Knitter's Handy Book Of Sweater Pattern: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes and Gauges
by Ann Budd and Knit to be Square: Domino Designs to Knit and Felt
by Vivian Hoxbro. I'll open two threads on the Ravelry board and you can put a comment in either thread if you want to be included in the draw to receive that book. I think to make it fair, if you win the first draw, you are excluded from the second.