Slipstravaganza finished, more haul

 Slipstravaganza is finished.

I had so much fun knitting this, I will definitely do next years mystery knit along.  At times I had doubts about my colour choices, mainly because of seeing other knitters beautiful choices, but once I tried it on, I love it.

I almost ran out of the main colour for this and had to unravel both swatches I'd made.  I used all one swatch and had about 4 rows left of the other swatch once I finished - talk about yarn chicken!  However as I knew I was running out I went to Loopine Yarn Co, my local LYS and bought another skein of the main colour.    Well of course I couldn't just buy 1 skein.  I really like Kiwiyarn-a so bought another 2 skeins of their High Twist.

This is Under the Sea

And this is Penzance.

One of the most popular designers is Andrea Mowrey.  I have a number of her projects in my queue, including the So Faded and Spark in my last post.  She announced a KAL starting on 25 November and ending 30 November to knit a pair of socks called Sparks.  

It will be a challenge to knit an entire pair in such a short time frame, but I decided to take part.  As I managed to eke Slipstravaganza out of what I had left and didn't need any of my new skein, the new skein will be the main colour and the contrast will be Two Bare Hands "I Wasn't Expecting That"

While I was at Loopine I also bought my first HiyaHiya needles set. I bought some 2.25mm interchangeable needles with an 80 cm cord for magic loop.  The needles are a lot longer than my ChiaoGoos and I'm using them on my current sock project and think I'm finding them easier on my hands and the cord is nice and flexible.

This week the last of my Lightfinger Gang Subscription from Vintage Purls arrived.  

So there was a full skein of yarn and 3 minis and a pattern for a lovely Fair Isle cowl.  I love all the colours and the pattern, so I will definitely be making the Egidia cowl - it is in my queue.

At the end of the week I had a message that Ribbon Rose was having a popup shop with greatly reduced prices.  So of course I had to go.  Amongst other things they had DK 100% Australian wool for just $15 for a bag of 10 50g balls.   On my list is another Andrea Mowrey pattern, Spark.  This is meant to be be 10 ply, but I should be able to do it in 8 ply.

  Also in the back of my mind is I would like to try Stephen Wests Starflanket which is also DK

So I bought enough wool for both projects.

For the cardigan I would need more than 10 50g balls, so I bought two bags of the first one which is a Heather green.  I'm not too sure about the colour, I had been thinking more a light grey for the main colour, so I may yet buy some more!  Also rather than the starflanket I may make hats and mitts for gifts next year.  We'll see.  This is why you can never have enough yarn - who knows what you may want to make in the future.

I really mustn't buy any more yarn though until I start finishing some projects.  Maybe I need to make that a rule - it would also be an incentive to finish something if I said once a project is finished which used x much I can buy that same amount.  Nice resolution but I doubt I'll stick to it!

Double yarn haul, Plans for the haul, Slipstravaganza and sock progress

 The last 2 weekends there have been two different yarn shows giving me the chance to expand my stash.  The first was by a vendor that travels the country selling yarn from NZ indie dyers.  From her I bought:

Summer stitch markers:

Yarnsen - no name

Purrl Kitten " We're all mad here"

Two Bare Hands " I wasn't expecting that"

Purple Sprouting "Park Life"

 The second show was held by a spinners guild and opened to the public after the first couple of hours.  From there I bought

Strawberry Patches "Aubergine"

Strawberry Patches "Pine Forest"

Dye Happy"Josephine" - super sparkly bright orange - Loove

Gumtree Gully Alpacas "Monarch"

 I'm loving how some of these look together.  It wasn't until I got them home that I realised how well the Aubergine, Pine Forest and Park Life looked together, along with Sweet Sixteen and Liberty already in my stash.

These are the perfect amounts and weight to make Andrea Mowrey's "So Faded"

This pattern has entered my queue at number 1.

Also I love how the Byte and We're all mad here look together.  

I've had my eye on the Alaska hat for a while and at the back of my mind I've been keeping an eye out for a yarn that would work for Northern Lights in the background.  I think We're all Mad here will do the job and there will be some left over for some matching mittens in a similar pattern.

And I'm thinking Monarch and Josephine would look good together in a Spark sweater by Andrea Mowrey, possible with a grey as the contrast.

So onto progress.

I've been working exclusively on Slipstravaganza and hope to have it finished in around another 10 days.  I took my last progress picture at the end of clue 3.

A lot of people have finished their Slipstravaganza and it looks spectacular.  I saw it 'in the flesh' at this weekends wool show - amazing.  The last clue takes a very long time as there are over 900 stitches per row and to make it full size there are 48 rows, though there is the option to make it smaller.  I am going for the big option - provided I have enough of the main colour yarn - it is going to be close.

I don't think I've posted a photo of my Rievaulx sweater.  This has been on hold since starting Slipstravaganza, but the back is finished

I've made a little bit of progress on my sock.  I'm still working on the second sock of another pair but am up to the gusset, I wanted a sock I could just knit mindlessly so I cast on another.  I did a little bit when I needed a break from the very long rows of slipstravaganza.