That was fun. Now, who do I tag?

Kerrie, Michaela, Karen, Jacqui, Jeni, Emily, Ysolda

By the way, I have been having dreadful problems with Notify List recently. So often when I send the updates out they take days to arrive. This week, I was unable to access the Notify List website at all, which meant I couldn't send out a newsletter at all. So I've set up a Posh Knitters Yahoo! group (thanks for that suggestion, Hanne!) which you can find here. Please come and join. As well as updating everyone about shop updates and other news, it will make a fantastic forum for us all to get to know each other, talk about projects (especially the Fir Cone Shawl knitalong!), post photos, and generally have fun!

May 21st, 2007 | |

Favourites......

Here are some of my favourites from this week's yarn:

How about you, which ones do you like? Preview is up, so go and take a look......

May 19th, 2007 | |

Stop The World......

Or at least slow it down a bit! Time has started whizzing past me at such a rate that I can hardly catch my breath. Look, it's Friday! Again! This one really snuck up on me.

And another thing that crept up quietly behind me - my blogiversary! Yes, it was my one year blogiversary yesterday, and I didn't even notice. I'm so proud. And damn, I do love this blog!

So, what have we got for you this week? Well, its a small but perfectly formed update this week, with lots and lots of laceweight (including a sample of a new yarn that we're trying out, which is a laceweight version of Lucia, and no, this is not the mystery new yarn) and a smattering of everything else. And I won't thieve any yarn this week, I promise. Uh, probably.

[Insert delicious preview pics here.......oh wait, that's right, the camera batteries died. With all this week's yarn pics on the camera. Ack. Still, as soon as they recharge I will update the blog with pictures, as well as finishing off the preview page. Hold your hosses until then.]

I'm so excited about starting the new shawl, but oh the Forest Canopy is inching along now. Sigh. Send patient thoughts my way.

If you'd like to join me in knitting the Fir Cone shawl, we'll do it this way. I really don't have time to maintain a special blog for it, so I'll be posting progress shots and info on this blog. If you're knitting along with me, keep us updated on your progress in the comments. If you have a blog with pictures on, leave the link so people can visit. How does that sound?

And for those of you who have already planned a different project, we still want to know how you're getting on! So keep us posted, and let the power of lace unite us, amen.

A bientot, cheries!

May 18th, 2007 | |

Mother Dearest......

Isn't it a strange thing how your attitude towards your parents (and especially your mother, if you are a woman) changes over the years? I adore Gilmore Girls, but who in reality has that kind of best friends relationship with her mother when she's a teenager? Maybe more now with this generation of mums/daughters, but not a few decades ago.

I think I had a fairly classic relationship with my mother when I was growing up. I worshipped her when I was a little girl, and couldn't bear to be parted from her for even a night. Then I swung the other way as a teenager; we rubbed each other up dreadfully, and didn't seem to have a single thing in common. Now, the older I get, the more I appreciate her. And the more similarities I see between us.

I don't have children of my own, so I don't know what kind of a mother I would have made (not very good, I suspect, I'm too fond of peace and quiet!). But in the end, I don't think it really matters what mistakes you make as a mother. Because as time goes on, and you gain a little wisdom, even the most awkward daughter treasures her mother, and remembers more of the good things than the bad.

My mum still mothers me, I'm thankful to say. She cooks us a huge meal once a week (on a Friday night! Friday night dinners!) and always packs enough leftovers for a couple more meals. She knits for me, for the Lace Club, samples, all the business knitting that I don't have time for, and she always insists that I keep whatever she's knitted, instead of keeping it herself. She is the most supportive person I know, and no matter what I decide, always backs me up entirely, even when I change my mind ten times an hour. She's a gem.

Thank goodness I'm turning into her.

...........................

Quick shawl update - I've settled on the Fir Cone Shawl pattern (this isn't the one from Folk Shawls, by the way). I've Googled and Googled, but can't seem to find anyone who has knitted this, which I find surprising as it is so pretty. So that I can make it as big as I want to, I have decided to do it in Sophia 2ply - 3 skeins, specially dyed by Mr P to match the Grove colourway that I loved, with a total of 1200 yards. Does anyone fancy holding my hand joining me?

Updated to add:

Yes, lets do a knitalong! Lets say starting June 1st, so that we all have a chance to finish our current projects. Who's in?!

May 17th, 2007 | |

Food, Glorious Food......

One of my favourite customers recently commented that she is always drawn to the colourways that have foody names. Which made me realise just how many of my colourways do have food or drink inspired names. Just this week alone, Granny Smith (a very British apple,for those wondering), Olive, Oranges & Lemons, Peach Melba, Lemon Drop, and Jaffa.

I love my food, so it's not surprising that that creeps into my naming. What is surprising is something I read once, from someone at Dulux whose job it is to come up with new colour names. "We try to avoid food related names," he said. "No one wants to have 'chocolate' on their walls." Umm, excuse me, I would love to have chocolate on my walls. And if you can give me the perfect shade of Sticky Toffee Pudding, I'll be there.

Anyway. I don't have a great deal of time for cooking nowadays. So I read about it instead (how do I find the time to read? Good question. I'll get back to you on that). I do the same with gardening, read about it instead of doing it, but that's less to do with lack of time, and more to do with not liking to get my hands dirty.

I particularly love vintage cookery books. Traditional British recipes, like steak & kidney pie, treacle tart, toad in the hole (if you don't know what that is, Google it. How something so utterly delicious got such a foul name, I'll never know.). I love the idea of invalid food, nurturing little dishes to tempt the invalid's fancy, and encourage his convalescence. And I've got some wonderful vintage American cookery books too, such as the Mrs Appleyard series.

One of the things I like about vintage recipes is their joyful disregard for things like calorie content and saturated fat. The cooks tossed pounds of butter and dozens of eggs negligently into their cakes, then dished them up with a fat dollop of clotted cream. That's the spirit.

I remember reading a study in a newspaper, where they had a writer follow a diet based on 1950's menus, for a certain period. This woman was having cooked breakfasts every morning, and puddings after her lunch and dinner. But she was also doing the equivalent amount of exercise that a 1950s housewife would have done, mangling clothes, walking to the shops, beating rugs, etc. She lost weight, even though she was eating far more, (and far fattier) foods than ever before.

My grandmother lived until she was 99 years old, and until the last few years when she lost her sight, lived alone, walked up and down a steep hill to town every day, and looked after herself. Her diet was appalling by modern standards, everything cooked in lard, thick butter on her bread, plenty of salt over everything. She was as strong as a horse.

It's all very interesting. Shall I create a Treacle Tart diet?

May 16th, 2007 | |

Temptation......

How lovely you all are. A thousand thanks for your encouragement and support. A few words mean very much indeed. And how right you all are about the Forest Canopy shawl. Much as I would like to stop now, common sense tells me that it will be oh so worth it if I keep plugging on. At least two more repeats, I think. I'll keep you posted.

But I'm already obsessing about planning my next shawl. I think I've got more satisfaction out of this one project than any I have done before. Lace is magical, and very addictive. If you still haven't tried it, what are you waiting for? But cheat, like I did, and do it in 4ply. One day I will graduate to laceweight, but not just yet. Although if anything was going to tempt me into laceweight, it would be the magical new yarn that will be making its debut later this month.....

But for now, 4ply will do me nicely. In fact, Sunday night, while you were all madly competing for the goodies on the shop page, I did a bad thing. I snaffled, right from under your noses, 4 skeins of Sophia 4ply in Grove. I was watching everything sell, and looking at the sale page, and suddenly I could resist temptation no longer. Pop, they went into my basket.

Oh the guilt pangs! But every time I tried to overcome the temptation, and put those skeins back into stock, I took another look at them and melted. Usually I am remarkably restrained, but this colourway just called to me. And I was in need of some yarn therapy. Forgive me!

So now, I'm trying to choose a pattern. I want to do another neck down triangular shawl, and I have 800 yards of yarn. I was talking it over with Kerrie, and as I wrote her an email saying that I'd narrowed it down to either Seraphim or Kiri, an email popped into my inbox from her, saying 'either Kiri or Seraphim'. This sort of thing happens to us all the time; we are twins separated at birth, I suspect. Anyway. I haven't really narrowed it down at all. I'm too indecisive. So, what do you think I should make? I would like to do something leafy-ish, because of the colourway. I do love the look of this, but do I have enough yarn? I want as big a shawl as possible. This is going to be my comfort shawl. Ideas please, my lovely ones!

May 15th, 2007 | |

Reality Check......

One of the ongoing decisions that every blog writer makes is how much reality to allow into their blog. The best blogs create a feeling of intimacy between writer and reader, which makes the reader feel that they are peeking into someone else's life. But few of us want a warts'n'all look at someone else's life. We prefer an edited version; albeit one that is edited so carefully that we can't really tell. Our own lives are real enough, without experiencing the grittiness of someone else's reality.

At least, that's how I feel about my favourite blogs. And that's how I approach this blog. And you know what? Maintaining a blog is a great tool for happiness. As well as allowing you to connect with friends across the planet, it helps you to set aside the petty irritations and black clouds of life, and find something cheerful, funny, and entertaining in each day's existence. I used to write a diary, but found that it tended towards the gloomy, which did me no good. But this blog often uplifts me (especially when it becomes two way, through your comments). No matter how busy I am, I enjoy taking the time to plan and write each day's entries.

But I'm not going to enjoy this one very much. Because it requires me to lift that veil, and show you one of the realities of my life.

For the last few years I have been struggling with an autoimmune thyroid disorder. My thyroid swings between over- and under-active. Stress makes it worse. Over activity makes it worse. I catch any virus that is going around, because my immune system is so busy attacking me that it doesn't do it's job correctly, and then the viruses make it worse.

But this is not a call for sympathy. Many people are far, far sicker than I am. Besides, this has been going on for years, and the longer it goes on for, the easier it is to deal with. Funny that, but it's true. You learn to cope, to find your limits and listen to your own body's wisdom. I know the warning signs, I can tell when I'm pushing it, when a burnout is impending. And when it is, I know what I have to do.

This year has been a difficult one, so far. There has been a tremendous amount of stress, from one reason and another, plus I seem to have caught every cold and virus that is going around. Now my body has put up the red light. Danger, Will Robinson.

I'm telling you all this, even though I loathe talking about my health problems, so that you'll understand the reasons why, when I tell you that we have had to cancel Wonderwool Wales. It's last minute, because I've been hoping against hope that I could do it. But I can't. Just can't. I'm so sorry to those of you who were looking forward to meeting us; I was looking forward to meeting you too. What a disappointment.

But such is life. We compromise, we adjust, we give, we take. I hope those of you who are going have a wonderful time anyway. Maybe we'll make it next year.

Let's finish on a cheerful note: my Forest Canopy shawl is complete. At least, I've completed the recommended number of pattern repeats. But I've only used half my yarn. Shall I continue, and make it even bigger, or shall I finish here, and have it as a shoulder shawl? Your thoughts, please!

May 14th, 2007 | |

Window Shopping......

Here are some more of my favourites from this week's yarn:

Eva 4ply in Lavender

Eva 4ply in Bud

Amelia in Harvest Moon

Amelia in Pansies

The preview is now up, so have fun window shopping. The sale is, as always, Sunday at 6pm.

And it's absolutely making my day to see all those posh buttons sprouting up around blogland! The blog comments are being a bit flaky today - they're coming through to me, but not always posting on the blog. Not sure why that is, but at least I'm getting to see how many of you are 'buttoning up'! Thank you, my lovely loyal customers!

May 12th, 2007 | |

Cecilia, You're Breaking My Heart......

Updated to add:

It may just be the cold meds, but I've had a moment of inspiration! Look on the left, oops, no, the right, of this column. See the cool new button? Are you a Posh Knitter? If so, lift the button! Besides decorating the sidebar of your own blog, it will give me immense pleasure to see a gang of posh knitters sprinkled across the blogosphere. Just cut and paste the code below to do it the easy way.

<a href="http://www.poshyarn.co.uk"><img src="http://www.poshyarn.co.uk/images/poshknitter.jpg" border="0"></a>

...............................

Imagine going shopping for thousands of pounds worth of yarn. Sound like fun? Ah, but here's the catch. You can't keep any of it. Well, you can't keep much of it (I do cream off a few skeins now and then, but shhh, don't tell Mr P). It's still fun to shop for it all though. This month I've been busy choosing new summer yarns, to join the current range. You seemed to like the silk we debuted last week, so there'll be more of that. We've got an exciting mystery yarn coming in, which I think you're going to riot over. And I've been considering a cashmere/silk/linen yarn, which I think will be wonderful for summer knits. What do you think?

We've also had a small shipment of Cecilia, our cashmere/silk cobweb weight yarn, arrive. I love this yarn, and it dyes beautifully, but I'm slightly awestruck at those of you who actually knit with it. It's so fine! But the results are, I admit, spectacular. My mum has promised to knit me an Icarus shawl out of some, just as soon as she has finished knitting up next month's Lace Club pattern, the Central Park hoodie for my nephew (that I volunteered her to make), and the sweater she's had on her needles since last summer that keeps being postponed by my requests. You gotta love mothers.

So, here's your first sneak peek of this week's yarn. More to come tomorrow, then the preview sometime tomorrow evening. I'm running a little late again this week, partly due to delays with a supplier, and partly due to last week's flu virus, which has come back bigger, badder, and even more vicious. Thank goodness for a laptop that enables me to work in bed. So, Dee in her pj's presents for your viewing pleasure:

Cecilia in Seek

Cecilia in Fresh

Sophia 2ply in St. Tropez

Cecilia in Samba (and it really is that bright)

Alice in Glow Worm

Alice in Gossip

Alice in Grace

More tomorrow. And thanks for all your crochet advice - the lovely Claire has offered me a spare copy of the Happy Hooker, so I'll let you know how I get on with that. Probably next week, once the cotton wool in my head gets replaced with brains. Right now, mine's a Nyquil on the rocks.

May 11th, 2007 | |

Gone Fishing......

We live in a gorgeous part of the country. The Pembrokeshire coastline is edged with dramatic, rugged cliffs that soften down to sandy bays and wide sweeping beaches. The Gulf Stream keeps the water fairly warm, not skinny-dipping-in-November-warm, but warm enough that you won't lose a toe if you decide to paddle, warm enough that you can see dolphins playing off the coast in the summer months.

We spend a lot of time at the beach. Walking along it, tasting the salt spray, on a wild winter afternoon, sunbathing and snorkelling in the summer, beachcombing for shells and driftwood, barbecuing, bonfiring, fishing.

Well, I use the Royal 'we' there. When I say we fish, I mean Mr P fishes, while I sit and knit (which makes me feel terribly Elizabeth Zimmerman), read a book, or just lay back and watch the birds sweeping through the sky. I like fishing. It's relaxing. Usually.

You see, Mr P has discovered a wonderful fishing spot. Scores of mackerel leap to his bait, its quiet and beautiful, and few other fishermen are there competing for the catch. But why are there few other fishermen there?

Because it's on the edge, the very precipice, of a cliff. And to get down to the edge you have to scramble/slide down a slippery grass slope. Which is practically vertical. As you scramble, little stones skitter out from under your feet and bounce over the cliff edge. You get to the fishing spot, and peer over (you just have to know how bad it would be) and it's a sheer drop. The sea below churns over wicked looking rocks. It is terrifying.

I loved it. Who wants to come with me next time?

May 10th, 2007 | |

I've Got It!

I'm not very good in learning new skills. Not very good as in, can't do it. Thank heavens my mother taught me to knit when I was a little girl, because I think I lost my ability to master new skills at about 24. Case in point, crochet.

Lately I've been feeling a distinct urge to crochet, partially due to the cool patterns in Interweave Crochet, partially due to the influence of the Crafting Queen (are there any bloggers out there who don't have a crush on Ms Posie?) and her ripple afghans. Trouble is, I never learned to crochet. But how hard can it be?

Hard. For me, anyway. I got Crocheting for Dummies (which I wouldn't recommend, by the way) and a nice chunky crochet hook, and sat myself down to learn. I followed as far as the foundation chain, then things got a little misty. The instructions made no sense. The pictures made no sense. I started feeling nauseous. I had a strong urge to throw the crochet hook across the room and start bawling. I gritted my teeth and pressed on.

No, I didn't, I gave up. I can crochet a foundation chain. And that's it. Will that come in handy, do you think?

It's very dispiriting. I'm always like this when I try to learn something new, whether from a book or by someone showing me. I get a mental block, start feeling quite panic stricken. I just know, unequivocally, that I will never get it.

Sometimes I never do. But other times, I get the lightbulb moment. Like with knitting from charts. I always said I was a written instruction knitter, couldn't use charts. I did try, but it wouldn't click. This makes any kind of interesting knitting - lace, Fair Isle - slow and difficult. The Forest Canopy shawl, for example, was crawling along. Then one day last week, I took another look at the chart. Lightbulb.

All of a sudden, I got it. I could follow the chart without even thinking about it. Rather than knitting away in solitary confinement, muttering the instructions to myself, feeling exhausted after two rows, I could knit on it any time, any place. I could hold conversations which knitting it. My brain could read and follow that chart without my intervention. Eureka!

Now I'm hoping that the same thing might happen with crochet. I'll leave it a while, let those instructions simmer away in the back of my mind. Maybe in six month's time, I'll pick up a hook and a skein of yarn, and find that I can crochet beautifully. I'll whip up an intricate lace dress while watching an episode of House M.D.

Well, maybe not. But if I could get past the foundation chain, that would be something.

May 9th, 2007 | |

Caution: Artist At Work......

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the relationship between craft and art this weekend. I spent a large portion of Saturday reading the Koigu book, Knits from a Painters Palette, where Maia Landra speaks about her work as a fiber artist, and how she approaches yarn dyeing with an artist's sensibility. Then I read the special art edition of Knit 1, published last year. That presented knitting as a serious art medium, in ways that I had never considered before.

I find it hard to see knitting as an art. Maybe that's because my own knitting is more of a craft, more about following patterns than about being inventive and using it to pursue my own imagination. I was particularly taken with the article on freeform knitting. I want to give that a go some time.

I find it even harder to see what we do at Posh Yarn as art, even though my official job description is textile artist. I think this sounds pompous, like I have delusions of grandeur. I've never been to art school. I have no formal training. Actually, I have no training. To call myself, or Mr P, an artist seems incredibly presumptuous. Embarrassing, even.

But we sat and talked about this, while we were packing up sock club yarn on Sunday (Yes! Sock Club is on its way!). Posh Yarn is a business, and our livelihood, and it has to be run in a businesslike manner. But the dyeing side of it is all about creativity. Because every colourway is one off, we are free to play around with the dyeing, to experiment and explore new combinations and methods. We consider the yarn as we dye it, what it will be used for, who may buy it, where it will be worn. When you work in a job that involves colour, you notice it everywhere you go, so we are influenced by our surroundings, by our moods even.

And we get tremendous job satisfaction. You should see us gloating over the week's yarn as we twist it up, trying (and usually failing) to decide which one is our favourite. I think it satisfies something inside us, some spring of creativity that needs an outlet.

I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with the label of artist. My self deprecating British side winces at such a high falutin' title. But a little part of me, deep inside, whispers that what we do is art. And that that's why we love it so much.

May 8th, 2007 | |

Proudly Presenting......

The first of two new yarns for summer - a scrumptious silk dk (sportsweight) yarn. I wasn't terribly keen on the last silk we had, because it was a single ply, and quite fragile. But this is a 2ply silk, quite tightly spun, so it has all the sheen and sleekness of silk, but is very strong indeed. The yarn dyes gorgeously, as you can see:

I'm planning to make myself a Tuscany shawl, from Amy Singer's No Sheep For You, from some of this new yarn. What will you make? The preview for tomorrow's update is now live, so take a good look around, and I'll see you tomorrow at 6pm. It's a date.

May 5th, 2007 | |

Brighter......

Who wouldn't feel better with the sun shining, lovely customers to talk to, and pretty yarn to pet and admire photograph and label? Here are some of my favourites from this week:

But I'm saving the absolute best until last. We're launching a new yarn this weekend, and I'm not giving you any hints or sneak peeks, until the preview is ready. But I promise, you're going to love it. More on that tomorrow.....

May 4th, 2007 | |

Bad Day......

What do you do when you're having the worst day ever? Go back to bed with a pint of icecream? Why, don't mind if I do!

May 3rd, 2007 | |

Distractions......

Bah, I'm sick. Mr P has been coughing and groaning since Sunday, and I've been saying bracing things like, "It's only hay fever," and "You just need a cup of tea, and then you'll be fine". But today I'm coughing and groaning, and no amount of cups of tea will help. Ack.

And it seems to be sweeping the town too. Our post office staff are tremendously good to us, whenever we go in with our enormous pile of parcels, they always rush us to the head of the queue (quite literally!). But yesterday they had a member of staff who went home sick, and so they won't be able to get through all the parcels until today. I can't complain, they are always so good to us. So, lovely customers, look out for your pink parcels on Thursday. And gargle with disenfectant - the parcels must be riddled with germs.

Ugh, typing is making me dizzy. Ok, here are some of the things I've been distracting myself with lately. Enjoy.