Ally Pally

On Saturday I went to Ally Pally with a group of six knitters. I wasn't going to spend much, and to be fair I didn't compared to some knitters with rucksacks full of spoils. This was one of the bags that I got when I bought some wool. What a great idea of recycling, basically it was two sheets of newspaper, folded along the bottom edge to reinforce it with string handles, strong enough for wool and needles. Great.

I saw this and thought that it would be lovely for a shawl. It's got sparkles through it, so I think it will look lovely knitted up. Only one problem, I haven't got a wool winder now, because I sold it on ebay, but I can do it by hand, patiently.

I love Knit Pro needles. I have a lot of them, because I usually have more than one project on the go at once. These are the cubics ones. I wanted to try them to see if they make any difference to my knitting. I bought one pair of 4mm as that's what I mainly knit with, to see what they are like.

Knit Pro again. Only sock needles this time. I have sock needles but not any knit pro ones, at least I will remember the size instead of keep measuring them.

Now this was a waste of money. I so didn't need any bamboo straight knitting needles, but they are so lovely with the polka dot ends on them. I bought 4mm needles but at least I will use them, not just look at them because they are so lovely. I did have birtday money to take with me, so I treated myself.

Then there is this Van Gogh sock yarn. I have sock yarn, and I have socks but I thought this looked lovely, it will be interesting to see what it knits up like. I was going to start knitting them whilst at Ally Pally while waiting for my friends, but didn't have time.

It was a great day, we left our home town at 6.45 and got there about 1015. There was so much to look at, I don't think that I would have spent loads more even if my budget was unlimited. I saw Jamieson wool and some lovely kits to make a fair isle cardigan, where the fair isle was just on the yoke, but it was £50 and I have so much wool to make jumpers, that can wait.

I saw Martin Storey there and Sarah Hatton, my other knitting friends didn't know who they were, so guess that makes me the knitting geek. We had a great day and mainly wandered around on our own looking at stuff, it was very crowded at points and very hot with all those thousands of knitters looking for bargains, that they didn't need!!We left about 3 and got home about 6.45 so a long day, but a good day.

I have decided to go with a knitted separate button band for my daughters cardi. Started knitting it and then realised I should have started with button holes so that I can space them properly, but then I decided to do it in two sections and join at the back, then I can make sure the button holes are spaced properly.

New job is going well, got a day off today with my hubby, so that will be nice, we may even go out for coffee.