Cariad

There are many regional variations of 'dear' the diminutive we use as shorthand for those we love - duck, lover (peculiarly Cornish that one) sweetie, honey, babe, hinny.  (I like hinny in particular , I think it is only used in the North East and must be pronounced with the appropriate accent).  In Welsh it's Cariad, and it was printed on the outside of our goodie bags at the weekend.  On the other side P3 .

It was 3pm on Friday afternoon and we had arrived in Wales for three days of knitting, conversation and love.  Love for knitting, yarn  and for each others knitting efforts - one 31 woman sample of the knitting sorority (and one man, as he said 'there's always one man')

It said in the publicity THERE WILL BE YARN.  And there was

I know we were given 300g of beautiful hand produced yarn (including one skein specially dyed for P3 by Claire at NiMu yarns)  in our goody bag but there was yarn for sale there too - in close up...

Dr Donegal from Countess Ablaze

Faery Wings from Fyberspates

There was also plenty of action at the swift and wool winder

What an amazing group of people.  One session was about what we made, each person bringing a finished object and telling its story.  So much wit and good humour, with tales of a sweater that became a cushion, another knitted during a dark time in someone's life and one that saved a marriage!  When @TreehouseTea brought a beautiful cardigan, the first she had made for herself in years, only to find she had made a mistake in the pattern high on the sleeve, Brenda - said 'Oh we can fix that'

Last year we fitted neatly into a little seating nook in the  garden for our group photo - it was a challenge this year

There's been a little natural population growth too - and one afternoon @KnitLikeUMeanIt sat with baby delicious on her knee knitting.

Brenda's class on how to make a sweater that really fits from a few measurements was magic. Amy showed us how to work with silk hankies, beginning here

via here

by way of here

and here

to make this (it's in half linen stitch, something I had never worked before)

The pattern suggested we made the strip into a cuff, decorated with buttons.  Well I have plenty of these

and made this

Feel the love?  Yes we did

xx

c

Yarn Shopping at Affinity

I have said it before, I am not to be trusted in yarn shops.  The colours call to me, the textures tempt me and the assistants...? well assist me to part with my money. My stash resides in a trunk under my bed, it is filled to the top, I have to sit on it to close the catch and JTH says if I buy any more yarn we will have to put the bed on stilts.  But there is nothing like wandering the shelves and lusting after yet another hank of jewel coloured merino.  The background picture to this blog gives you an idea of the sort of temptation I give in to far too readily.  It is by kind permission of my local wool shop (I thought you might like to see all of it).

But what about on line shopping? Until recently this did not really do it for me.  Sure I have shopped at a few when I knew exactly what yarn I wanted but until recently virtual shopping for yarn did not give me the purr of pleasure I get from my LYS (or John Lewis rapidly expanding department). But things are changing, yarn lovers are entering the fray.

My friend and fellow yarn addict Vandy Massey has recently pulled off a little miracle with her new online yarn shop Affinity Yarns

Her website is elegant and unfussy.  Sooo easy to navigate.  And she delivers the delicious yarns exactly as promised with clear information on delivery times before you buy.  All the information on the yarn (that these days I have to get out my glasses to squint at the ball band when I am in a shop) is clearly set out on each product page. This is what she says about my favourite 'go to' yarn Debbie Bliss Cashmerino

There's plenty to tempt too, including the rainbow selection of yarn from Yarnscape hand dyed by Alison

This is where I want to say something about what is so special about Affinity .  Vandy sells what she loves and she loves hand dyed, hand spun, natural fibers. As well as gorgeous Yarnscape you can browse and buy fabulous yarn by Fiberspates and wonderful Jarol Aran (undyed yarn from specific breeds of sheep)

I think it is very important whenever I recommend anything to you that I try it out properly first.  So last Friday evening I ordered two skeins of lace weight yarn, yarnscapes wintersea and I'm pleased to say it was promptly delivered by our postman on Monday morning

The yarn is beautifully soft and sheeny and its name absolutely perfectly describes its colour.

I used to live close to the Northumbrian coast and gunmetal streaked with blue and cream is exactly the colour of the sea on a sunny, chillingly cold, winter's day.

Vandy had told me that Alison of Yarnscape lives and works not far from her and this meant that Vandy could offer Alison's almost entire colour range on a 3-7 day delivery,  because Vandy can just ring Alison to get the colour in.  If Alison does not have any ready she can dye to order in the week.  Well I happened to leave a comment on Alison's blog to say I had ordered some of her yarn and she emailed back 'Oh it was you was it?  Vandy rang me for another skein'.  So I can say it works! Affinity only offers what Vandy would like to knit with herself and can deliver on time as promised  and when it arrives you will be very happy.

xx

C