Lots of Grey then a Great Splash of Colour

Its all been about the yarn this last week. I have been spinning Herdwick, the bobbin on the right, and Swaledale, the bobbin on the left. Very hairy and extremely sheepy!! Which is precisely why I love them so much. I am now in middle of plying the two bobbins together.

There was definitely something grey in the air at the start of last week, because not only was I spinning Herdwick but I was also knitting a Herdwick sheep from Made By Ewes kits in the foreground of the above photograph. Then as if this was not enough grey I started knitting a super chunky moss stitch purse from the Rowan winter warmers book.

Here is a close up mainly because I am so pleased with how the moss stitch is coming out in this.

Then as the week went on and the weather felt ridiculously spring-like for February I found a bit of colour seeping in. I found this lovely yellow fabric and some of Debbies hand dyed wool that just look divine with the grey.

Whilst on the subject of Debbies lovely wool the first skein of British Wool to head to the States from my etsy shop set off this morning! I wanted to package it up with as much care and attention as went into it being created.

I decided to tie it up with some more British hand dyed wool and a little Acorn charm.

Here it is ready to head off. Yellow is obviously creeping in all over the place now.

With yellow definitely on my mind I was overwhelmed with the bag of goodies that I got from Debbie to use towards my cable blanket (another project I will come onto in another post!).

Then the grey was firmly pushed out of my mind with a slap across the face with Debbies new range of wool dyed with Cochineal - or as Elliot keeps shouting out 'Beetle wings' !

This shows the four different dips into the dye bath - all of which are absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to get them ALL on the needles - hmmm now what shall I use them for???

Seeing as it had been a yarn obsessed week and the colour had been forcing its way in it was only fitting that the week finished on Sunday with a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see Donna Wilsons display.

I just loved the knitted arrows!

The simplicity of her paintings and the wonderful use of colour appeals to me so much.

It was great to see so many familiar characters. If you remember when I started knitting a year last Xmas I started with Donna Wilsons book 'The Odd Bod Bunch'. So far I have completed Rill Raccoon Fox (twice!), Cyril Squirrel Fox, Rita Raccoon and Ginge Marmalade all of which made an appearance in the Display in some colour or other!

Now I just want to knit trees in every colour, shape and texture imaginable.

My craft table is still lovely and tidy and the Birchwood tree is beckoning me and I know I will not be able to resist much longer. This week I will be working on the upper branches with the hope of getting the paint on it this weekend. I will post some photos later in the week hopefully.