My purchases

I went to Ally Pally on the Friday and Sunday. I was helping out at the Aragon Yarns stand and also intent on some serious shopping. My original plan was to buy a Namaste bag from Purlescence then cram it full of goodies but as you'll see from the pictures that didn't happen. I like the colour of one bag but the design of another so I'm waiting for the next shipment to come in. I did visit Robbyn and Arman at least 5 times over the two days and they were very helpful and patient with me.

Aside from the bag, I think I got everything on my shopping list. I wanted a ton of sock yarn, some lovely patterns, some dark blue yarn for a cardigan, and a needle tube to stop me treading on my sock needles and breaking them. On Friday my focus was sock and lace yarn and I went to see Jeni at Fyberspates for it.

When I got home on Friday and started looking at lace shawl patterns, I began to realise I might be hampered by my needle collection. On Saturday I went through all my needles (they are now hung on the light fittings round my living room as decorations) and decided that although I had many needles, I needed a better solution to the right size wrong length dilemma. And I clearly needed more yarn.

So here's what I bought:

Shown above from left to right: 3 hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock for a pair of stockings, two hanks of Fyberspates Nef Lace for a special project, 5 hanks of Fyberspates Scrumptious DK for an office cardigan


Shown above (yarn from left to right): Fyberspates Dream Sock Yarn, Skein Queen Sock Yarn, Brooklyn Handspun Sock Yarn (both from Socktopus), 2 more Fyberspates Dream Sock Yarn, Knitpicks Wooden Options Set!!!
Shown above (yarn from left to right): 4 hanks Koigu KPPPM sock yarn in two colours (it was reduced from £8.50 to £5 at Getknitted so it would have been a crime not to) 1 more hank of Fyberspates Dream Sock Yarn (which I have coveted on the internet for ages so was really happy to get this particular colourway), 12 balls of Sublime Organic Merino, 3 sublime pattern books and a HIPPO

The Hippo eats your sock and if you tread on it you only squish the hippo not the needles. It is bwilliant and I found it at the Web of Wool on Friday. Way better than a needle tube.

I have already earmarked patterns in the Sublime books for the new yarn and some I have stashed away and I feel all inspired and excited and want to start knitting for me again. I have a few jobs still to finish before I can really knit for myself but at least I'll have things to blog about again. The lace project is still a possibility. I have to find the right pattern and then take a deep breath. I don't want to talk about it much in case it doesn't work as lace is such an investment but a member of the family is engaged and I've been wanting a new lace project for a while so a lace shawl for the bride...?

So in total: 1 pair of stockings, 8 pairs of socks, a cardigan, a jumper, a shawl, 3 books, interchangeable needles and a Hippo. Well done me. Can you guess what the damage to my credit card was?