Half term break midweek now. The weather is either snowy or rainy - truly miserable. Just look:
I'm staying indoors. The house is a too comfy and cosy place to leave right now and with a cuppa next to me I'm enjoying my knitting and other crafty adventures plus I read a lot too :) and it all does feel sooo good, I'm telling you. :)
Bookwise, just finished reading The Pianist - a very sad but also a moving story about a Polish Jew desperately trying to survive in bombarded Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Books like these always leave a mark on heart and I like to call them "books with the content" as opposed to the books you read, filter through your mind and nothing is left after a month or two.
Now moving onto The Piano :) - a Victorian love story in exotic scenery of New Zealand
I've seen the film adaptations for both books and I can recommend them with all my heart.
Back to crafty matters. A new type of wool has arrived recently at my doorstep from kidsknits.com :) it's a fresh supply of yarn for my Easter knitting. This time I decided to try out Lerke - a mix of 48% of cotton and 52% of merino wool for some of my Easter eggs.
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The parcel came all the way from the USA after about 3 weeks and I couldn't wait to lay my hand on its content. Lerke turned out to be a lovely yarn - soft and cosy to the touch with a smooth "stringy" feel. When I asked about the colour cards, Mary Ann of kidknits.com was so kind that she presented me with a bunch of them for free! They are brilliant to quickly find the right type and the right colour of the wool. I was so chuffed to have them as I've been looking for these Dalegarn shade cards for a while and they help me identify my yarn very quickly. When your wool stash grows and the skeins become mingled in your knitting bag, then finding which one is which becomes a challenge!
I'm delighted how many shades Falk has got in its array. I'm thinking of substituting the colours I miss in Heilo array with the Falk shades.
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At the moment I'm working on one of my Easter balls, - a sunny yellow "jumper style" ball with a decorative blue hens band.
It looked like this not long ago..
A few minutes later, it is off the needles :)
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Easter knitting in progress. More balls on the blog soon!
Oh! Cold and wet winter days make for the best knitting, don't they? And reading too. I've not read either of these books-- I'm always skittish about sad things-- but I did just finish a book called "Across the Borders of Time" about a woman who was forced to leave her love during WWII and lost track of him, and then her daughter tracked him down-- its a true story, and very intriguing! Hope you're enjoying some good crafting time this winter!
ReplyDeleteNice work! I love Dale Garn wool, it looks and feel so "nordic".... it also seems perfect for your colourwork, shame is so difficult to get hold of in the UK.... I had to order some from the NL, but it was a bit complicated.. where did you source yours?
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, Heilo of Dalegarn is basicially not possible to obtain in the UK at the moment - so I ordered some of these yarns from the USA (kidsknits.com) and also from Holland too.
DeleteThe shipping in both cases is high, plus there's a risk you will pay a custom charge if the parcel is stopped at the American custom office :-(
Heilo is a good quality wool, I really enjoy knitting with it.
there is Dragon Yarns online shop in the UK - they sell some of Dalegarn like: Lerke, Falk, Baby Ull etc. There's a possibility Heilo will be available in the future. I keep bugging them about it LOL
Fingers x.