My Hair colour should be

PINK!!! Maybe not! Although it has been funky in its time, just not recently. I'm sure I used to be hyper, insane and a boatlad of fun, but I'm not sure that's me at the moment - stressed out, headless chicken mother of two toddlers!

Your Hair Should Be Pink

Hyper, insane, and a boatload of fun.You're a traveling party that everyone loves to follow.

What's" Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

On the exciting front, I'm off to Chicago for a fun filled long weekend with hubby. I've checked out all the knitting stores in the vicinity. Now I just need to lose the hubby for a few hours. Any ideas..........

A Post about an FO

I have given up on knitting the Opal socks for hubbies birthday. I was knitting it wrong, all wrong, so wrong that I don't even want to talk about it. Suffice to say, it's been frogged and I will try it again but only after a quick break. Which brings me to a nice big chunky knit instead. I decided to knit him a scarf for his birthday. 8mm needles, 2 balls of Rowan Chunky print, and a nice simple basket weave pattern. Super quick and hey presto- nice masculine scarf. Here's hubby posing for the camera. Here's a close up of the basket weave. I think I should done a small border for a neater edge but I think it could be the thick and thin effect of the Chunky print yarn. Overall I am pleased with it and he's happy too. (He did get it a bit earlier than his actual birthday becos it is absolutely freezing in cold, wet, foggy London. Also we are off to Chicago in 2 weeks time and I wanted to have it done before then.)

Temptations

The anticipation and excitement of going to Ally Pally could be felt by 7 am this morning. I was up bright and early to make sure I packed everything I needed for the day. Show guide, wallet, cheque book, bottle of water, something to knit on the train journey, snacks and notes on what I wanted to knit so I knew what to buy. You might have guessed what I forgot on the list already. I, however, did not realise this until I got out at Wood Green. You guessed it - my ticket which I purchased in advance!!! Doh! Double Doh! I couldn't just turn around and go home to get it. The journey took about an hour. I had to drop the kids off at the nursery (Keira is not used to being left on her own with strangers, and I had to spend half an hour settling her in! Not including two 2 hour sessions earlier in the week already). Oh well, there goes £12 on a second ticket. But this means I could go again on Sunday! Hurray!

I got to meet the lovely Kerrie in the flesh. It certainly feels strange to meet someone in person when you know them from the internet. There were lots of gorgeous yarn on display. I succumbed to some HipKnits silk in the Stormy colourway, also 1 skein of sari yarn to experiment with and a silk flower kit. (See purchases below). Kerrie was worried about the silk selling out before Sunday arrives, no wonder, they are gorgeous. Lovely to feel and gorgeous colourways. In my excitement, I forgot to take any photos. Oops.

I also got to meet and chat with Nicky Epstein, who was very friendly and helpful. She signed copies of my purchases and posed for photographs, which I can't seeem to show because Blogger won't let me!!! AAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!

It was also nice to chat to chat to people where you have been buying from, like Get Knitted, Debbie Bliss, Web of Wool and plenty more. Apart from the silk yarn, I loved the yarns from Kaalund Yarns. Both the girls Kirsty and Jodie were fantastic. I came away with 2 skeins of Expressions, one in Waterlily and one in Anemone. What shall I do with them?
I set my self budget for the day and was very glad I didn't over spend. Apart fromwhat I already mentioned, I also bought some sock yarn from Web of Wool. The selection was tremendous.

I had a fabulous day and will definitely go again next year. (I might still go on Sunday as I still have a ticket to use up!)

Rebecca shrug almost complete

It's amazing what you can find in the house that will come in useful. Take for example, the kid's foam number blocks. Great as a blocking board. All bits of the shrug knitted and washed and pinned out. Now to find the energy to sew it up. But I'm just too excited to do that at the moment. I need to do a lot of research on what I want to buy at Ally Pally tomorrow. So far, I have had to revise my budget ever upwards! Shhh..... nobody tell my hubby!!!!

Ally Pally

I am very excited about the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally. I'm going on Friday. Kids are booked into the full day nursery. Camera is fully charged. Filling up my notebook with ideas and stash enhancement possiblities. The show guide arrived on Saturday and I'm in the process of doing my research. I know for a fact, I'm not only going to be buying yarn/pattern books/knitting needles, I'll be buying beads, fabrics and all manner of other paraphernalia.

The only thing to decide is how much my budget is for the day so that I can overspend!

Only 3 more days to go .............

Where to buy Japanese craft books

I had a query on how to obtain Japanese craft books. I usually buy mine when I'm visiting Malaysia or Singapore where I have family. That is not very useful if you live all the way here in the UK. Recently, I have been getting them from a great website called Yesasia.com (the Oriental version of Amazon). Yesasia is much easier to use than Amazon Japan in that it's in English. If you know the ISBN of the book, then it becomes much easier to purchase.

There is also a great website called Crafting Japanese set up by Maitreya, which is a resource for people who collect japanese craft books. Oh yes, we do collect them. Once you start, it becomes difficult to stop. Also you get to see loads of books that you never knew existed. There's also a guide on how to buy on the site. Go check it out!

I hope my links work as I've really not tried to link before. Let me know.

PS: There aren't too many places to buy Japanese craft books in London. There is a good bookstore in the Japan Centre on Picadilly Circus but their craft book selection is limited. The best bet is still the Net.