Carpets, tiles and curtains, oh my!

This has to rank as my worst dyeing disaster ever and it was nothing to do with yarn or my own dyeing. No, it was my carpet.

When we moved in we had lots of boxes and people tramping in and out. So, having rashly purchased a cream carpet (!), I dutifully put lots of dust sheets down until we could reveal it in all its glory. Very sensible, except when one of your dust sheets leaks dye all over the aforementioned cream carpet - aaarrgggh!

"This dust sheet is over 20 years old and practically falling to bits. How could it still have loose dye in it?" I howled to no one in particular as I surveyed the damage.

Distraught, I called the carpet company and the insurers who were very helpful (no doubt they had a good laugh sharing that one round the office). Fingers crossed we'll have a new one soon, but how totally embarrassing! I didn't dare explain what I do for a living...

Beaded bag goes live!

My beaded bag pattern and feature was published in Simply Knitting last week. I only found out when someone rang to order the yarn which was a bit embarrassing! Five colourways are now on the website with lots of lovely choices of beads too. The plastic canvas is due in shortly so drop me an email if you would like some putting to one side.

The sock pattern for the next issue is due on Monday so I'd best get back to my knitting or I'll be up to the wee small hours finishing them off....

No yarn yet...

My lovely new handspun yarn hasn't arrived yet so I'm fed up and feeling sorry for myself today (sniff). I was really looking forward to sharing it with everyone at Harrogate. All the feedback so far has been great. At least we still have a couple of days to go so maybe it will still arrive in time.

Pumpkin's last post

Time to say goodbye to this year's pumpkin. As is traditional in the Tomkies household, our pumpkin goes out (literally) with a bang, as Will and Pete insist on blowing it up with a rocket (don't try this one at home kids - no, really!).

One year we spent ages tracking down a good rocket and eventually found one in Selfridges. The guy was most intrigued that Will and Pete wanted one to blow up the pumpkin and another to "launch" a freebie McDonald's Thunderbird (Scott Tracey in case you were interested), into oblivion.

This clearly made an impression as the following year, we went to buy more and the same guy told us a story about these weird customers he'd served last year and (well, you can guess the rest). I'm not sure this is how I want to go down in Selfridges' firework department history but hey ho.

New yarn ordered!

Phew! Part one of the feature on using double-pointed needles has now been posted to Simply Knitting, and it's already time to work on part two. I loved knitting the tube socks to go with part one. I always assumed they'd be really uncomfy and "bunchy" at the front but they weren't at all. The featured ones are my own hand-dyed but I think they might be my next dye kit project as they're a good starter for sock virgins but still really cool results. I shall try kool aiding and procioning (is that a word?) some and see where it takes me - another pair of socks for a chrimbo pressie if nothing else : )

Testing some more of the alpaca/nylon sock yarn today. Can't resist it, it's so soft and squishy. Pics to come once it's done.

Oh, and I just ordered the new handspun laceweight silk/goat down yarn and I'm so excited! I'm getting a couple more handknitted stoles too, so people can see how delicious they are knitted up. I think testing the patterns may have to go to Julia (sssh - I haven't told her yet), as she is an expert on very fine knitting. More patience than me!