Wednesday 1 September 2010

ZERO WASTE!!! What a lovely thought....

All knitting ans spinning activity has temporarily been suspended due to illness. However, this doesn't stop me from surfing the net for interesting and useful sites. Such as, this one for Zero Waste Week

Between now and the 6th I shall be posting all kinds of useful stuff to help you reduce waste, particularly food and other essential resources. But I won't lecture. Oh no.

This site Love Food Hate Waste, came up when I searched for 'leftover food recipes'; there are more, which I shall list later. Watch this space.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

CUTE......Or WHAT?!

Have you missed seeing the Miscreant on my blog? He hasn't missed you! He has been too busy perfecting his "manipulative purr-cry" which as scientists have discovered cats learn to do with just the right combination of purring and appealing/unbearable meaow so that their Human will have to choice other than to give in immediately to their demands!! As well as this, he has also been busy with his regular hobby of torturing small garden mammals until they die of fright, whereupon he carries them into the kitchen (if someone, i.e. me, has not thought to close the window and the back door after letting him out) and dumps them on the rug. Just occasionally he manages to sneak a live one in.....I've been told this is actually his attempt to teach me to catch them, because he just sees me as another cat, albeit a dismally inept one, and I found this mentioned in someone else's blog too. However, I prefer to continue thinking he is just an evil and devious creature, out to annoy me by whatever means possible and/or necessary!!

And the third is of lovely adorable fluffy Spangle......


.....And you've seen nothing until you watch this!



And for Simon's Cat fans here is the very latest, brand new video!

Monday 16 August 2010

Wow! Gorgeous cards!!

Check out these lovely handmade cards from Spirited Moonchild on Folksy!!!

Saturday 14 August 2010

SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS.....



Not much time to blog today but suffice to say I will be casting on for some lovely socks, using my latest aquisition (above), which is Esme from Posh Yarn, in the rather fabulous Theatre Shoes. Kind folk have suggested several patterns for this purpose!!


I also cast on for some Turkish socks from my Socks - A Spin-Off Special book, these are a double-knitting project, and I'm using Manos del Uruguay Clasica in deep red semi solid, and some Elann Peruvian aran in a deep purple.


I'm supposed to be working at the minute; well, we all need a break sometimes! I'm researching funding sources for young people's projects and also resources and activities to spend potential funding on! If only they were yarnies.....


Do watch this space, I'll be back again soon!

Tuesday 27 July 2010

THE WEEK OF JOY!!!


So....in the past seven days I have increased my level of joy by around 500%!!

On Friday I had an interview and got the job I need to kick start my career. I am still actually in complete disbelief, even though I do know I really deserve it! I feel like this has kind of just landed in my lap, through chance conversations and being in the right place at the right time and so forth. Nevertheless I have worked hard to get back to 100% health and motivation and I do have all the requisite experience and all that, and some.

On Friday evening I managed to snaffle this from Jo's shop; 100% Merino, "Stupid in Love"

I had also promised myself a yarnie treat if I got the job, and so on Sunday I was ready for the update on the Posh Yarn website, and bought two skeins of Elinor sock yarn. Also 100% Merino, they are "Viva Las Vegas" (top of this post) and "Bazinga!" (below).


All three treats arrived today, so I sepnt a good quarter of an hour sniffing, stroking, squishing, holding up to the light and in general just drolling. The colours of the Posh yarn are simply not done justice by the photos! They are utterly fabulous and as soon as I've finished the second
Switcheroo sock I'm knitting in Silkwood Sock Yarn (in 'Firefly) I shall be spending some time choosing which of the Elinors to use for my next sock pattern and also deciding which pattern to knit. I am tempted by Pomatomus and also by Hourglass. Though I think Hourglass might be better for a more monochrome yarn, such as my Knitosophy whereas Pomatomus will show off the variations in colour and shade with really great stitch definition in the Elinor.
At the same time as all this I've just started spinning some LimeGreenJelly Merino/Cashmere/Silk in a gorgeous plum/purple/deep pinks colourway, "A Song for the Lovers". I'm spinning it as fine as I dare and hopefully I'll then Andean-ply it and knit some fingerless gloves (Susie's Reading Mitts) I fully intend to have several more pairs before the autumn comes, and will also be selling/gifting some too. My eventual goal is to be able to spin finely enough to be able to ply it and still have 350+ yards. In my humble opinion, anything less is simply not sufficient for a decent project.
I promise lots of photos next time!!
Hopefully next week will prove to be just as good as last and I can keep this Cheshire Cat grin on my face just a little longer......? Please??!

Saturday 17 July 2010

GET YOUR AUTUMN/WINTER WARMERS!!

This year I have been asked about wristwarmers and socks availability.
These will be available to order from September 1st and you should allow two weeks from ordering to receipt. Prices vary, from around £5 for infant sized to £20 + for custom-spun adult sizes.

There are several designs, from single colour, random multicolour, striped, lace pattern, plain or ribbed for your/his pleasure.

See below for ideas



I havent blogged for a while but will definitely be regularly updating now I have mny new PC. Look out for more goodies over the next few weeks. Bye for now loveys!

Friday 19 March 2010

Hadrian's Wall's Birthday and a Visit from the Dutch


It's so long since I last blogged that I am not even going to try and catch up. Apart from to brag about my perfect 100% score test I took the other day when I went to sign up for my course. No big deal though since it was a basic litercy/numeracy test. I don't know which is worse: the fact the test was so patronisingly simple or the fact I am apparently the only person to score anywhere even near top marks. It wasn't just easy for me, it was primary school easy. Shocking really, and just goes to prove my theory that school is holding kids back. But I will refrain from writing a pro-natural, autonomous learning essay here. (It's all in my book anyway!!)

At the weekend there was a celebration of the fact Hadrian's Wallis now 1600 year old. The wall was lit along its entire length from Segedunum in the East to Of course, living practically on top of the wall itself, and being extremely proud of the Northumbrian fraction of my genes and of living here in the most beautiful part of England, I was really excited at the thought of the wall lit along its length, as if would have been every night hundreds of years ago. To try to get more of an idea what it would have been like back in the days before the National Grid and light pollution, there were calls for households and local businesses along the route of the Wall to power down from dusk, so there would be total darkness lit only by the large flares burning every 150 metres or so along the Wall. This blog, of an amateur photographer,has some great photos, taken I think from Once Brewed. The official Iluminating Hadrian's Wall blog has some too. This video on the Guardian website is pretty good, if a bit too short :-(

Below is a photo of my adorable niece, when my brother and schoonzus were here with her - on a short trip over from Leiden - a couple of weeks ago. It astounded me that at 5 she is so computer-literate - I got her on the Dora site and it very soon became clear she had visted the site many times before!! Here she is playing a very conservation-concious game starring Diego.

Mik, El and Saartje were here a couple of weeks ago and I gave Saar her little handspun hat. She did look cute!! She was so happy to see Thom-Cat again, and he was unbelievably well-behaved and as we expected, he went straight into "Devoted Animal" mode, instead of his usual default mode (manipulative, destructive, devious pest!) However, in the photo belowyou can see the look on his face says "See how much attention I'm getting!!"




I recently attended a West End Transition Towns group (and I think the best thing to do here is just have a link to explain it all.) It's like Tyneside roots, all mature and grown up, and indeed a few of the people involved are ex-Tynesdie rootsers. It's all based around Peak Oil and Greening our cities and alternative, renewable sources of energy and so forth. Common sense. They're planning to have a knitting group which will have demos and workshops and so on, maybe coinciding with Time Exchange events. I have been trying to think of something I can do to earn T.E. credits and thought of giving demos in spinning, dyeing and also viola and violin lessons, making small woolen items to sell, such as baby bootees and soakers. I want to earn enough to have my garden completely dug and a couple of raised beds put in; and my hallway floors sanded!

I have also been spinning, spinning, spinning....

I spun the lovely Strawberry Fields Forever merino/bamboo, and am knitting two small things with it: a little bag for Saartje, which I will probably fill with little chocolates and some stickers etc. as a Spring presie; and a small pouch for myself which I will probably make into a Fanny Pack - there! I said it!! Rob was asking me what it was going to be and when I told him, he said "I've heard everything now!!" "What do you mean?" I replied."A KNITTED sanitary towel?" So, yes, he thought I said "pad" rather than "pack".

I also spun the gorgeous A Fine Romance in merino/baby alpaca/silk:

Mm-mmmmmmmm!" It is knitting up into a yummy pair of Toast wristwarmers, which I shall wear with my new tops. I got these lovely v-necked, thin rib, three-quarter sleeved tops in a slub cotton jersey from Next. Perfect for dressing up or down.

It was Mother's Day on Sunday; I got chocolate and - from Josh - the fantastic "Mum" gift box from Lush. I must admit, I had coveted it, even more than I covet the Blue Moon Sock Club. In this lovely box were two types of soap: Miranda and Porridge; Sakura bath ballistic, Happy Blooming bath melt and Dorothy bubble bar; Yummy Yummy Yummy shower gel; Vanilla Dee-lite hand and body lotion!!! The box itself will be perfect for keeping my special yarns, as I am now hopelesly addicted to gorgeous sock yarns!

I bought some Silkie Socks that Rock in The Incredible Shrinking Violet:

Dream in Colour Knitosophy in Strength, and Posh Yarns' Esme in Plaid.(Photos soon)
I have also recently bought more gorgeous fibre from the talented Jo at Lime Green Jelly!! I don't know why I would ever want to buy it from anywhere else!! This was last week's choice:
Sweet Dreams (yes, yes I know: AGAIN! I had to!!) in Merino with 30% silk:


A Song for the Lovers in Merino/Cashmere/Silk:
And last night I grabbed two from the latest update (which appears to have sold out immediately, and the shop is now emptier than I have ever seen it!) I made the choices from the Flickr preview beforehand then as soon as the update was live in the Etsy shop my fingers were flying!!! The one at the very top of this post is One Life Stand, in merino with 30% Tencel, and this one, which I know several people coveted due to the blend of luxury fibres, is Language of Love in merino/camel/silk:


I've also been browsing the Loopy Ewe, and plan on buying some stuff from there as soon as I get some more spare cash. Hopefully I will have a better income in the next couple of months! I am going to start applying for full time jobs, which shouldn't be too difficult. My reward will be the Ashford Traveler spinning wheel I have coveted for the past month or so, or similar wheel which hopefully people at the Centurion group can advise me on. I've been thinking I would really like to start spinning more often, and also start dyeing my own fibre. It would be nice to make some sort of living out of it. I think the difference between some of the hand dyed fibre you see and the likes of Jo's and similar is that Jo's looks like it has been dyed and then over painted with accents here and there. It makes all the difference. you do need an eye for colour, which I have. I got a half pound of merino to experiment with and I intend to give some of the results away for people's reactions.

So...it is almost 1a.m and the Internat students next door are making a racket, so i am going to knock on their door and ask them to keep it down and then I'm off to bed.

Saturday 20 February 2010

Handspun Chic!


Well, here we are again and once more I am extremely recalcitrant in my blogging! I've been ill and also had a busy week, and in fact have a busy week ahead. But it's the weekend and Ellen and Saartje are here and so it's time to relax, unwind, chill....oh, and shop of course - mustn't forget the shopping!! We went to the Fair Trade Market, and as ever, I wanted everything but ended up buying nothing because I couldn't choose. At Lush it was a different matter of course and I bought some heart-shaped soap and a couple of bath ballistics- and Saartje and I secretly bought Ellen a Mother's Day bath ballistic 'lolly', in the shape of a flower! Must drop hints to the boys for my own gift!
I also received - from Nederland, though I believe they are available here now - some Yes to Carrots stuff:a fab little gift kit containing face and body items which smell gorgeous!
I finished Saar's hat and it looks fab - and she looks fabulous in it (she looks fab in everything which isjust as well as she is the sort of little meisje who can be dressed immaculately with braided hair first thing in the morning and by 9.10 a.m is looking like she's been dragged through a bush!! That's the best sort of kid - a real kid! Of course she never stops talking either....but it is actually quite cute listening to her. She is of course Thom-Cat's very best friend and Thomas' response has been to go into "Devoted Animal" mode, even allowing her to tickle him and stroke his fur the wrong way!!

Excuse me amoment while I shout at the TV; Supernanny is on and there is one of those new breed of 'Mums' who keep their toddler like a baby, in nappies,with a dummy and (baby) bottles of formula, and refer to themselves in the third person....As an advocate of self-regulation and autonomy in infancy and childhood I watch such programmes with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance!!

Anyway.....I made some delicious soup at dinnertime; was going to make pasta but Ellen is carb-free at the minute, or at least low-carb. I made the soup with onion, carrots, leeks and red lentils and it was amazing. El ate two bowls of it. Saar did her usual thing of asking for an egg then not actually eating it but she ate her slices of turkey and her broodje up fairly quickly when I said she could have some ijs after she ate her food!

I received the fibre I ordered from Lime Green Jelly..........

Strawberry Fields Forever in 70% Merino/30% Bamboo

Yesterday's Dreams in Cashmere/Silk
.........and I have ordered some more gorgeous blended stuff from Friday's shop update:

Be That Easy in Merino/Silk which I may ply with something else for a scarf)

Sweet Dreams in Merino/Cashmere/Silk

I already have that in Merino/Tencel. I am going to do lots of spinning this week, and I have at last decided on a new spindle, a really good one from 1st Crafts on the Isle of Wight.

This place was recommended by Jo; I decided to try seeing if using a really good spindle will save me having to buy a spinning wheel. I got the hang of spinning using a spindle and although it is now a lot easier, the spindle I got to start on, to see if I took to it, is dire! I can't imagine not ever spinning again! Totally hooked,especially with gorgeous fibre available. I even got some undyed merino the other day which I intend to hand paint and maybe sell it. Handpainted fibre - when it is done really beautifully - is highly sought after these days, and if I find I'm good at it I shall buy some good quality merino in bulk and a few colours of wool dye and then get stuck in. I also want to try designing my own patterns but I need to get a couple of stitch 'bibles' first!

Speaking of which, the other day I went to the new library in town and I snapped up a copy of Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns by Cookie A! And have ordered a few books for reservation - yes, all knitting books!!

Finally, what's on the needles at the minute? Nothing much at all really: the second of a pair of April May wristies I'm knitting in Colinette DK, and Kernel which is hibernating.I have bought some Silkwood sock yarn and some Noro Kureyon. The Silkwood will be great for one of the Cookie A projects and the Noro might be nice for some armwarmers - long ones. At the minute though I'm looking for a nice pattern to knit with some Cash Iroha I have, so I'm going to finish here for today!

Sunday 7 February 2010

The Hat....

This is the start of the gorgeous hat I'm knitting for the klijntje. You can see in the above photo one of the earflaps and the variegated colours of my gorgeous handspun 'Spingle' yarn. The whole thing was slightly too small for circulars so I put it on dpns. Speaking of circulars, my new Knitpro tips are too thick, at 8mm and 10mm because I seriously overestimated how chunky my handpun would turn out. It's okay, I will use them sometime and they will be great for teaching Saartje to knit.


I've cast on for another pair of wristies, these ones in Colinette DK (hand dyed 100% wool):


I'm going to make the same ones as I knitted for Fiona the other week, ie April May, (pattern from Yarn Zombie) because I love the simple semi-lace design which is part of the ribbed effect. This wool is so lovely. Wish I could find more, but it was a one-skein listing on EBay which I paid £2 for. I got some Noro Kureyon to make a scarf, probably Palette off Knitty, and some Schoeller & Stahl Fortissima Mexiko and Four Seasons Hot Socks Dream sock yarns. Not necessarily for socks, but possibly for baby bootees for Wor Nat's friend's baby-to-be (well, it's already a baby - I meant, when s/he is born)

I was really missing Josh - he has been away for the past three (long) weekends, which is great - he is after all a young adult with a separate life etc. but he is back now and at College. It is really starting to dawn on me that in the next few years I will be Alone. But look on the bright side: I will be able to have the biggest bedroom, plus a separate knitting and spinning room, as well as a totally spare bedroom! I will get some more cats haha!!

I'm counting the days now - 12 - until the Uiterstegrachters arrive!

Monday 1 February 2010

ONLY THE BEST OF ETSY!!!!!!!

I must just update from the last post. Holland Fabric House owner has another Etsy shop, Zacka selling hand-made gorgeousness, such as the above French Lavender Sachets, made from the lovely fabric from the fabric house. She also has a blog!!. I could not resist buying those cute little iron-on transfers from Holland Fabric House and they arrived, along with the gorgeous sets of ribbon I also had to buy (ha ha), in only three days; beautifully packaged too!!

Also....yes.... I did buy the Etsy Sampler Boxes I mentioned. Below is a pair of Organic Moonlight Sonata sachets from Sonata Soaps, one of the contributors, who has sent little packs of ten teeny guest soaps for the sample boxes; if I get those in my box I will be using them as freebies for my custom knit orders etc. I must must must plug these sample boxes !! I think they are fantastic, and the very best thing about them is that you get ten lovely surprises (though you may request up to three specific items per box.)



As for the Lush Heads and Shoulders.......box, hmmm....I am getting bored with Lush...to commercial now and they refuse to take out all the parabens and SLS. With that attitude they cannot hope to retain their customers, as the kind of customers who will pay those prices are the same customers who are now demanding chemical-free. I noticed just two days before Christmas it was still possible to get into the shop, whereas last year - I mean 2008 - you couldn't move for people.

I have defected back to Dr Hauschka's.

I couldn't resist Jo from Lime Green Jelly's latest batch. I have found this to be the most consistently high-quality fibre! There was one I returned, not through any fault, but only due to the colour being different from how I had thought it would look. The fibre is finshed to an incredibly fab standard - very professional. And the attention to detail in each of the braids of fibre I've bought so far has been amazing. These are the two I bought on Friday:

Silhouette - 100% Mulberry Silk


Blue Ink - 100% 21 micron Merino

My plan is to spin them both as finely as I can then ply them, but this won't be until I get my Kick Spindle, which I am going to request as an Easter gift instead of chocolate...see the sacrifices we spinners have to make!!!!!! I've also just begun the lovely hat I've designed for Saar. If it I successful as I hope, I'll post the pattern here and also to Ravelry. There do not seem to be very many patterns specifically for the kind of thickish handspun yarn which beginners tend to produce. But which is very useful for gorgeous winter hats and gloves and kiddie's booties etc.

I must mention too....I decided to resurrect Cold Mountain, after becoming rather bored and frustrated with it just before Christmas, to the extent I frogged it! I tried to find a pattern which would do the lovely Elvincraft laceweight yarn justice....but it seemed I was right th first time, and after days searching for alternatives, I kept coming back to Cold Mountain. I realised the reason I got tired of it was because it is such a long-winded pattern but at the same time fairly repetitive, while also being sneaky. It is far from being difficult,but you do have to keep your wits about you. And you know, I just wanted to be onto Chart B, and I just wanted it finished! So this time round I am being more patient and far more careful. It is my back-burner project for February and I do not mind if it takes all month to complete, but I shall knit at least ten rows every night at least and that way I will see it grow faster than it was before.

As for the weather....it has snowed again, at the weekend. It has now half-thawed, then frozen over again. Treacherous. I now have to go out in it.....

Wednesday 27 January 2010

COVETED TOP TEN - JANUARY

Here are my ten favourite finds online throughout the past month! As yet, I haven't succumbed to the temptation to actually buy any of them.........

Top of the list has to be this 'Kick Spindle' from Heavenly Handspinning.

This is basically a way of using a spindle while leaving both hands free to draft with - it solves the problem for those who like spindle spinning but who often wish they had an extra hand. The kick spindle has a wheel, which you spin with your foot (or hand) and which keeps the spindle turning longer than a normal drop spindle. It is also a good way of getting used to the hand/foot co-ordination you need for a spinning wheel. The Mother Marion Kick Spindle is really inexpensive,and in fact I have seen some drop spindles on UK sites costing slightly more than the combined price plus shipping for the Kick spindle.



Silvia Dekker is a Dutch artist living and working in Leiden, Netherlands. She is also a close friend of Ellen, which is how I found out about her designs. Her latest major work has ben designing a range for Hema, such as fabrics for duvet covers, and fab stationary.



This is something which has made it into my Etsy basket after almost a week of tortuous decision non-making. It's kettle dyed in a lovely purple, which I absolutely cannot resist!!There are other laceweights too, including one added today in a very slightly paler purple BFL with bluey purple flashes.....but I know I will go for the Botany, as I still have the Atlantic Blue I got a while ago, and the two colours together will make a truly divine scarf!!!


4 - Solstice Bird Decoration from Uma Joy Design


This lovely knitted and felted bird decoration is a free pattern, originally intended I imagine as a Solstice and /or Christmas decoration. I think a few strung together would look great, perhaps with beads between the birds and with a few little bells at the bottom, hanging from a wardrobe or cupboard door as a beautiful decoration in a bedroom, or hand from wooden dowelling as a lovely mobile - a natural alternative to those cold, hard, garishly coloured plastic things.

5 - Juno Fibre Arts on Etsy

What can I say? So many gorgeous yarns to choose from, such as this lovely Superwash Merino in 'Midnight' - ideal for socks and thre wristies I am into knitting at the minute! Also sells top/roving in various colours, and laceweight yarn.


Lovely Rotterdam-based shop on Etsy which sells gorgeous Dutch fabric and ribbon. I have ordered three lots of ribbon, and also a set of sew-on patches to decorate the hat I am knitting for Saartje. Many floral and Matryoshka items, and not dissimilar to Silvia's.

7 - This month's Flow magazine

I can't wait to get my copy, with its free Matryoska notebook! I love receiving my Flow magazines from Ellen, so much so in fact that I have decided to take out a subscription!! This means I won't ever miss a single issue, and won't have to rely on and expect Ellen to buy an extra copy to send me each time!

8 - PipStudio


Ahhhh! At long last Pip Studio's gorgeous journals can be mine all mine in a hurry whenever I want them: Pip is coming to the UK, according to Home Shopping Spy's Blog. I would like to bet on John Lewis and Fenwick being th first to make the most of that!

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Boxes are boxes full of samples from several different Etsy shops. Each box has 10 samples & is unique. No two boxes are the same. To see what kind of things are in the boxes, take a look at the sneak peak video and the contributor list:
Pictured is a set of Citrus products from OmShanti, one of my favourite contributors - I have requested some OmShanti soap as one of my items; buyers can choose three items from the 18 avilable but the other seven items in your box are a lovely surprise!!

Finally, at number 10 - Lush's Heads,Shoulders, Knees and Toes is back!!


This is something which always seems to appear after Christmas, possibly to cheer people up in the post-holiday blues and S.A.D period, and also of course so Lush can continue to make money even after you have spent all your Christmas Lush vouchers and stopped buying presies. At only £12.50 it's unbelievable value, as it contains 10 items, many of which are worth a few quid.

Well, that's it for this month. I shall post another Top Ten at the end of February, as well as owning up to how many of the above I could not resist buying!!

Tuesday 26 January 2010

HANDSPUN F.O!!!!!


Just an update -my lovely chunky wristies,
knitted from my handspun "Spingle" BFL in Kir, are FINISHED!!

Hieperdepiep HOERAAAAA!!!!!

I have started some Mermaid's Lagoon socks in Araucania Ranco Solid, for Nicola.


I rack my brain to think of a good pattern; one which would impress her
and also would not be too tedious or frustrating to knit.

Thursday 21 January 2010

THE YARNER INITIATIVE


So....I wanted to wind my lovely skein of my Spingle handspun into a ball ready to knit some wristies. I haven't got a nostepinne (though I have seen a lovely one in Shunklies over on Etsy) but I discovered something which works just as well and has an unexpected advantage too! Enter the honey drizzler I bought from Ethical Superstore last year: Note its similarity in shape to the nostepinne, but with a slight difference, i.e the grooved end, which is to hold the honey so it stays on long enough to get to your toast etc. What I discovered is this: if you wind the first bit of yarn around the grooved end, it stays put, and you can the wind your wool into a ball in the usual way, holding that grooved end to make sure the yarn stays in place and also so you have a better grip. Ingenious or what!!

I am knitting the wristies for myself, as a trial pair before making some for Ellen and Mik (will have to make some in a more masculine colour for Mik (Manos Wool Classica in the lovely variegated teal,off-white and dark red I have)


The pattern is an adapted-for-chunky-handspun version of Maine Morning Mitts which I am calling Moor Morning Mitts (and if course Leiden Morgen for the cloggies!)

So...I'm happy now because I have a couple of small projects to be getting on with as well as Kernel and finishing the Catses' Blanket I no longer have Knitter's Block!

Lime Green Jelly update: the new fibre update has been previewed on the LGJ Ravelry Group!
Also here on Jo's LGJ Flickr Photostream.

I think she is trying to work out a US-friendly time to list them on Etsy, a time which we UK yarnies will not mind staying up for (I personally - and I bet I'm not the only one - would stay up all night, continually refreshing, if we didn't know the exact time!) I guess around 11pm means that any US yarnies, even those on the West Coast, will be home from work. I have decided to buy one or two lots if I really really like them but to wait if i don't see any I really fancy. and also to buy colours I don't normally buy.

So,will update later on my purchases!