Visit to West Kilbride

A couple of Saturdays ago we made the trip down to West Kilbride for the launch party of the new studio for Old Maiden Aunt.

Glossing over my public transport problems, suffice it to say that Jonathan was the hero of the hour and gave me a run down in the car so I could join in for at least the last wee while. Even though he was in the middle of, and dressed for, moving furniture, he kindly offered to take me.

I was so glad he did because I wanted to join in the festivities and was delighted to get a chance to see some friends I hadn't seen in ages. They gave me a lovely warm welcome :-)

The new studio space is great, with room for Lilith to display her dyed yarns and kits out front, as well as more space and facilities in the back-room to make the

magic happen.

This picture shows a selection of Lilith's yarns on display, although many of her products were already packaged up for the grand trip to Knit Nation, where the stall seems to have gone down a storm.

Link to L's Flickr page, showing me on the left, Elaine in the centre and DH on the right, with yummy cake

I also really loved the fabric Old Maiden Aunt bunting in those great co-ordinating fabrics.

I made two yarn selections and eyed up a few things for future purchase :-P

I came away with two skeins of 100% superwash merino 4ply, one in berry good and one in bitterbug, the same colour as my beloved Green Shoots although that was knitted in a yarn base with a different composition. (You can click the Green Shoots link there then scroll down on this page.)

The bitterbug was a special purchase because they way the ties were done during the dyeing process, little flecks of yellow have remained on the yarn in certain places- I love that about it!

I hope those of you who went to Knit Nation enjoyed yourself and have time to have a breather and recover now.

I can join with you in my own way, fondling my beautiful purchases! x K

Slinky silky

Another of last year's makes finally surfacing on the blog.

It's a scarf made from Rowan Purelife Revive, shade Ironstone, 3 skeins I think

It's just k2tog yfwd right sides, purl across wrong side rows, with a little garter stitch border.

When I was almost finished it I saw the striking resemblance between it and Interweave's Montego Bay and although I don't have that mag I was probably influenced by it on some level.

It pulls strongly on the bias and I have just let it hang naturally rather than trying to hold back the tide in the blocking process.

The reverse side is at least as nice as the front side.

I haven't used it yet, in fact it was sitting for months waiting for the ends to be sewn in and fringe finished, so it will hit the world this week.

Needless to say, it reminds me of fishing nets with the ball floats on them.

Crochet blanket for dollies

This project dates from last year when we had our niece over for several weeks of the summer holidays.

I've been prompted to mention it because as of tomorrow, she is back!!

The yarn is a soft washable acrylic which is ideal because she was only six and her dolls and teddies wouldn't take care of finest cashmere.

The yarn came from a magazine, I think it was called Let's Get Crafting Crochet Creative, Issue 23, and Madame helped me choose the ripple pattern from a stitch library and chose the colour sequence and all. Each ball was only 25g but it was plenty for the project and I had enough to go round and stabilise the vertical edges with single crochet in a couple of colours and to add three wee crocheted flowers as well.

It was really well received, and often when you drop in, even unannounced it's out with dolls, teddies or Playmobile characters on it. An all-round-hit, I think it was because she had such an input into its "design". x K