Alice Jean

Another birthday parcel came in yesterday evening. This one came from Tessa , she truly did spoil me! Hand spun and hand dyed wool named 'Veeler Wolletje' in beautiful colours, a set of lovely hand made stitch markers to add to my collection and a cute notecard. Tessa, thanks so much!

This afternoon I got another PIF package. This one came from Christien . She has really spoiled me, made me the most nice pressies. All gifts were put in this bag, isn't that a neat cable? These little bags always come in handy as I've so many projects at the same time on the needles. My little princess (today she was princess instead of sheep) could hardly wait to unwrap everything. Actually, she did not wait at all. She immidiately decided the stickers were hers. Close up of the lovely hand dyed wool And the cute stitch markers... Christien must have known I collect them! Almost everything but the stickers (they were already in use. Attached to the buggy, in the castle and to the swing-go). The green item on the photo is a very gorgeous hand knit hairband. I really can use that! Thanks so much, Christien!

This Watermelon Magic Ball was a Christmas gift from Darcy . I started to knit almost immediately and made a pair of mittens , in the meanwhile discovering the most precious gifts. When the mittens were done, there was enough magic left for a bag and more presents fell out. With the leftover I have knit a dolls hat, actually I had to add some other sock yarn to complete it. All presents revealed now. Here is a photo of the hat with that special Ravelry button (now on my coat). And these sheep markers are too cute! Darcy, thanks so much, you rock!

These are for my downstream partner in the Knitting Vintage Socks Swap . It was a nice pattern to knit, the Fancy Silk Socks. This was the first time I blocked socks, the sock blockers are made out of placemats by myself, very easy to do and cheap (sometimes I like to be cheap :)). I've also gathered some other nice goodies to send with the socks. Before the box goes overseas, I'll snap a photo of it. And yesterday I started with the Magic Watermelon ball. I will knit a pair of mittens out of this, I am a bit concerned the yarn is not strong enough for a pair of socks. It easily snaps. In fact I don't wear gloves or mittens very often, but it has been cold here the last few weeks. Maybe we will have another cold period this winter and they might be very useful. Can you see the cute sheep marker?

In the mail this week a lovely set of stitch markers. Ladybirds, so well chosen. Thanks so much Lieke , in the mean time I managed to take them out of the dolls house and to put them in my knitting bag. And because I am one of the participants in the Vintage Socks swap it occurred to me it could be a benefit to order the book . And I am glad I did, it is full of beautiful sock patterns. I also tried out to dye with Indigo. Before I believed it was a very difficult dye to use, now I know better. Dyeing with Indigo is pretty easy to do and a bit magical. In the vat the wool (and dye) are a greenish yellow, the horrid shade of this colour. As soon as the wool comes out of the vat and is exposed to the air, the colour changes into blue. The large skein is a Scottish Highland pure new wool, the smaller skein is 75% BFL/ 25% nylon.

Pumpkin Pie ! 11 Votes! Chocolate-Mocha with Berries got 9 votes. I am sure this season did affect the choice in especially browns a bit. So I wonder how this will be colour wise in spring and maybe I should have another contest by then. Many thanks to all of you. I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the kind words and the interest showed. Special thanks to Darcy , who encouraged me to have this yarn contest and also to Adrienne , it was your sharing the wealth that inspired me to do something similar. And of course thanks to all those bloggers who posted about this contest on their own blog. My daughter selected the winner of the yarn and the stitch markers this morning. She can't read, so the name was definitely chosen randomly. In the tub 74 names, a few people commented on my other blog or by PM. The winner of the Riverside is... Gini ! Congrats to you, I will send you an email soon.

Every once in a while I enter my name in a yarn contest at someones blog. Not that I ever did win something :-). But I like the idea and that is why I decided to do a small contest on this blog. Rules are simple, you have only to enter your name and tell me your favourite colourway on my Rainbow blog. That will help me to determine what colourway(s) I should dye more often. What you could win is Riverside , a skein of 75% Blue Faced Leicester/ 25% nylon sock yarn. Superwash treated, hard wearing and non felting. The yarn has a greatly soft feel and is hand painted. The skein is approximately 100 grams (3.5 oz) and 350 meter (383 yard). Fingering weight, recommended needle size is 2.5 mm. With the skein a set of 4 stitch markers, hand crafted by Dory and me. I will close the contest by next Monday, 15-10-2007 at 9 pm (UK time). The name of the winner will be randomly selected by my 3 year old daughter, who cannot read. You are all welcome to join this contest. To win the yarn will have...

Aren't they lovely? My friend Darcy made the for me. What a precious gift! Thanks Darcy!

Chester is a very nice county town to visit. For us it is the nearest 'big' town to do our shopping. Today D. and me went to Chester by bus. There was a bit of arguing about that before... she likes to go by train. Going by bus has some advantages however, the bus stop is at ten minutes walk from our home and the bus stops in the town centre of Chester. For the rail stop we have to walk at least 20 minutes presuming Doortje would go on. And the bus is half the price of the train. So, this time, the bus prevailed. We had a nice day, bit clouded, but dry. Of course we walked part of the Castle Walls , as she loves to climb up and down the stairs. And we did some shopping. She kind of talked me into making your own stitch markers. And as it happens there is a small Bead Shop in Frodsham Street. What I did not know until today: D. loves beads! She insisted on filling her own bowl with all kind of beads. It took me ten minutes or so to put the beads (and buttons and flowers) back...