Thursday, January 05, 2006

new year stash increase

I've actually been quite good about buying yarn so far. Mainly 'cos I've not been out a right lot. Whilst at Ro's over the new year I discovered that the wool that I'd taken down with me was too scratchy for the project I had in mind so I had to go and buy some more. Tracking down a wool shop in Leicestershire is FAR harder than I thought it would be. The last time we went to one in Burbage, which has since closed down.
Anyhoo

We managed to find one in Hinckley called "Busy Fingers" (I believe they also have a store in Coventry). This is quite a nice little shop, properly friendly as a knitting shop should be, and with a pretty good range considering it's size. As well as the Patons and Sirdar stuff they had Rowan wool too.

I bought some :-
Patons "Funky Chunky" 60% wool 40% acrylic, which is a bit like the Rowan Big Wool in it's density and ply. These were on offer at £1.50 a ball (should have got some more). Got four balls of a dark green and one (the only one) of a nice dark pink.

And a load of Sirdar "Salsa DK", which is a 50/50 blend of Merino and Acrylic. Bought this with a particular project in mind but I'm keeping quiet about it, cos I don't want to bring down curses upon my head (it might all go horribly wrong). Mind you, it's looking okay so far. I'm hoping that the wool content of yarn will counteract any tendency of the finished object to go horribly out of shape when washed which seems to be what acrylic does if my memory serves me. It's a long time since I knitted anything with acrylic and that would have been 100%. I can't remember how much the Salsa was, about two pound/ two fifty a ball I think.

Dunno why those pictures are so small, something to do with how I got them from Ro's computer to mine I think. Will have to try again.

And last but not least
This is picture that I took yesterday of a ball of Adriafil Baroque. However the purpose of posting it here is NOT to demonstrate the loveliness of the yarn (though it is lovely), but to show you the capabilities of my new toy.

Oh yes, I've upgraded my camera. It arrived yesterday and it's FAB.

It's a Panasonic LZ1 which I bought myself with part of my Christmas bonus and I love it. The instruction book is a bit large and I'm trawling my way through it. I'm NOT a photographer, I have used a 35mm SLR camera, many years ago when I was an art student, but never really got to grips with the technicalities of it. Since then it's been 35mm point and click stuff. This is a point and click job, but it seems that you can override the settings when you want to be a bit more adventurous. (That seems to be the case anyway).

I'm still at the point and click stage.

Dontcha love it?

The review says that it's disappointing indoors in low light levels, but I took that yesterday afternoon in my (darkish) living room without a flash. I'm quite happy with that.

7 comments:

Nickerjac said...

Hi sorry couldn't work out how to e-mail you back, but I am not sure what the clicking is, it may be the make poverty history animation in the side bar but I have no sound on this computer to check, as you can tell don't have great computer skilss but will try and fix. Oh love all the christmas pressies and I think the cards that you printed to go with them were a great idea.

Kellie Sweeney said...

Hi Ra - you wanted info on buttons in sidebars

I put the button in the post first, by saving the image on the hard disk, then uploading it as I would do a picture. The added the code by copying the URL of the site I want it to go to and using taht as a hyperlink (highlight the image then click on the hyperlink botton).

Once in the post, you can view the html code for the image with its hyperlink and then copy it and paste it into the sidebar section of the template.

I tried it as an experiment and it worked! - let me know how you get on with it

Kellie Sweeney said...

Busy Fingers is in Coventry too & thay are a lovely shop. It was speaking to them that encouraged me to start the group as they are getting a great deal of new knitters, but not enough time to tart them off - & Knit-Wits was born - look forward to hearing from your sister - Kellie

PURLPOWER said...

Re. Leicestershire wool shops. This is actually nearer loughborough but it is worth seeking out if you're ever in the vicinity as they carry a good Rowan range and the women who work there are really friendly:
ROWAN AT Blackberry Yarns
89/91 Loughborough Road. Tel: 0116 237 6171
Web Site www.blackberry-yarns.co.uk

I posted pictures of the shop back in my archives around end of Sept time.

Happy New Year!

RoxyK said...

Well done on restraining yourself in the sales. They're usually the cause of most knitters stash outta control problems!

Sharon J said...

The "Funky Chunky" must surely be a bargain compared with the price of the Rowan stuff! I bought my daughter a Panasonic DMC-FZ30 for Christmas. It's an SLR style digital that does the point and click stuff but also more advanced stuff. I've tried it and love it! I can only dream of getting one for me, though. Hope you have lots of fun with yours. ~Sharon J

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comment! Oh, and I love all your Xmas knits (yup, who would want to hug a beaded cosy?!)