My Preciousssssssessss

I had some lovely squishy goodness in the mail this week, thanks to selling off some of my unloved yarn and therefore having some credit in my PayPal account. Both are laceweight and gorgeously soft and silky. 

First up is a skein of silk and baby alpaca in Berry Ripple from the wonderful Abstract Cat. This is intended for my Glasgow Rose shawl which I want to have done for October. I first saw the shawl in the competition run by The Yarn Cake for the first Glasgow School of Yarn weekend and fell in love with it there and then. I really want to have it done for the next GSY so, what with everything else planned, that will be interesting! And I really should knit up the yarn bought last year too, and spin the fibre...

The second skein of utter wondrousness is again silk and baby alpaca (but Royal baby alpaca this time - what's the difference?) from Ripples Crafts in the north of Scotland.

The colour isn't showing terribly well as the photographs were taken on a cloudy day. This next photo was taken the following, sunny day and, though a pretty lousy photo, shows the lustrous yarn and fabulous colour.

I've several laceweights lurking from Helen and they are all lovely. That includes several intended for shawls and two glorious wine-coloured ones for a lightweight cardigan bought at GSY last year (there seems to be a theme developing here). This one is intended for a lace shrug for the SWRI West Fife Show in June; well, not totally as it's a pattern that has been queued for a while but it's an opportunity to put a rocket under me and actually get it done. The local show in September is also hurrying me to actually do another long-queued item - a lace cowl this time - for that.

I joke about my yarn and fabric stash, saying that I'm building it up for when I'm living on a pension and can't afford to buy anymore. The way things are going with employment and pensions in the UK lately, that's looking less and less like a joke. I only hope that I can afford food and heating. At least I'm making my own clothes. I'd better get the garden sorted sometime to start growing my own vegetables then I really will be ready for the zombie apocalyse - or has it already arrived in the form of our current politicians?

Well, back to the socks - they're almost finished!