Mrs Moon prize draw goodies!

I said I would share the details of the goodies I was lucky enough to win in the Mrs Moon prize draw, so here we go! I think I've just got all of it, though I may have missed a few things - there was so much!

There was some skeins of Scrumptious DK, Sweet Georgia and Rowan Art Sock Yarn....

Some skeins of cream coloured lace weight yarn, some Blue Sky Alpaca yarn and metalico yarn.

...10 balls of Jeanette Sloan alapaca silk mix...

...10 balls of Louisa Harding Mila....

and some Royal Petites yarn with a pattern for the Windsor Mitts (I think that was Blue Sky Alpaca yarn too).

Also, a gorgeous set of double pointed needles. Phew, it's going to take me a while to work out what to do with all of this! I'll keep you posted though - I feel so lucky to be starting this year with such a fabulous stash of yarn to work my way through. If you want to get hold of these yarns yourself, check out Mrs Moon!

The waiting room

I'm now in the waiting room for my flat purchase. Everything that can be done has been from my point of view, I now just have to wait for contracts to be drawn up, and then a completion date to be agreed! I have no idea how long this will take.

In the meantime, as I'm obviously in a period of financial constraint (even more so than usual) I'm going to have to reduce my yarn buying budget.

I think this will be a good (although challenging) thing though! It gives me motivation to use up all these lovely colourful scraps to make something:

Sorry about the slight blurriness of this shot. These colours are less of a tangle than they look - I did go to the effort of winding them all in some way! Can you guess what I'm going to make!? Well, I'll share a sneak peek with you on Sunday!

This is the stage my hexagon throw has currently reached. It only needs 2 more rows to be added, and the finishing and it will be complete!

One last thing before I disappear for a few days - I thought it might be nice to share some of the more impressive sites of London that I pass by in my peripatetic life! 

This is St Pancras Hotel. I pass this on my walk between King's Cross and the office each day, and this week, while peering up at the sky (wondering if it will rain or stay sunny!) I was reminded how amaxing this building is, so thought I would take a snap and share with you.

The hotel was renovated when the Channel Tunnel rail link moved from Waterloo to St Pancras a few years ago. I would love to stay in it one day!

Right, I'm off to work soon, and then to stay at S's place. I'll be back on Sunday, so see you then. In the meantime have a lovely weekend!

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx

Bristol and Bath

I'm back from my and S's little trip down to the West Country over the weekend! We left from Paddington on Thursday morning and came back this morning (Sunday). As you can see from the shot of Bath's Royal Crescent the weather wasn't great every day, but given what this summer has been like it could have been worse!

We managed a trip to Bath on Friday (including a walk along the Crescent in the rain!), and then to Bristol on Saturday. Of course I managed to work in a little craftiness to the trip, despite the main purpose being to visit S's family.

I had time to visit a little quilting supplies shop, Country Threads in Bath. I discovered this shop when we visited the City earlier in the year. It's an Aladin's Cave of fabric, with so may fat quarters, charm packs and jelly rolls for sale! There are baskets of various makes and colours of fabric arranged in rainbox order just inside the door, and I had fun picking out a big bundle of fabric fat quarters for myself!

I'll try and show you the colours and patterns I went for - a theme of pale blue, pink, green and white, with roses and more geometric patterns to break it up a little. Some of them are Tilda fabrics - so pretty!

I'm afraid the colours haven't come out brilliantly in these pictures. I'm planning to use these for some more patchwork cushion covers - still trying to improve my skills! I'm thining it will complement some crochet cushion covers I am working on at the moment too - more soon!

If you're in the area of Bath, definately try and visit this store, Country Threads - their website has the address.

Our Saturday visit to Bristol also took in a stroll down the Crescent - I think its a little more impressive than the famous Bath Crescent actually!

Back in October last year when we visited Bristol, I went to a little independent yarn shop in the Clifton area of the City, called Woolly Thinking - I even blogged about it. Unfortunately when we went back over the weekend, I discovered that the shop has closed. I also checked their website and discovered that they have also ceased online trading. I think it's a real shame - it must be such a struggle for these independent stores to survive. I'm in the sad position that I don't actually have a local yarn shop in the form of an independent retailer - the nearest and most convenient physical stores for me are John Lewis and Liberty's on Oxford Street. I often wish I did have a store close to home, so that I could support it rather than shopping at chains (not that Liberty's and JLs aren't great for range and colours).

Well, thats all for now - I'm off to squeeze in some work on that ripple throw.....

Adriafil yarn

I'm a bit excited as I have discovered a new brand of yarn, Adriafil Regina. I was looking for a wool yarn in a really nice bright, sunshire yellow, but I struggled to find anything in the shops - Rowan don't seem to have this shade in any of their ranges really, and the best I could find in other brands was a fairly pale yellow Wendy Merino.

Then, I looked online and found this:

Not only is it a lovely yellow, like sunshine, buttercups and daffodils, its 100% merino wool, and it also about £1 cheaper than brands I would normally expect. The quality feels very fine - I have yet to make anything with it, but based on looks and touch alone, I recommend it. I've ordered a whole batch in various colours, and hopefully they will arrive today!