...mystery solved! The perpetrator was my good friend Chris. Who figured I'd have records of who bought the yarn (true, though not easy to filter) and would enjoy a good detangling/winding sesh (also true).
Shameful that I didn't immediately know it was him. Totally shameful. Armin did.
I love, love, love the new Interweave Crochet.
The cover jacket is really cute. (Sorry for the small pic.) But that's not what's really brilliant about this issue. No, what I'm so impressed with is their section on combining knitting with crochet.
I seem to have been suffering with a woolly version of writer's block lately. (As well as traditional writer's block I guess, going by the lack of activity both here and on my sprog blog!) Theoretically, I have (or had) a whole heap of projects on the go. Theoretically, while time is very short, I do get to knit in front of the telly for about half an hour every evening. But as the economist Keynes is supposed to have said - "In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is."
It seems that I am not very productive when I only have small chunks of time to be productive in. This is a problem for work as well as knitting, and having a small child in my life, it's a problem I'd better get to grips with pretty sharpish. Claudia is a delightful creature and pretty good at entertaing herself - but if I look like I'm doing anything interesting, naturally she wants to get involved. "Interesting" includes anything at my computer (mouse and keyboard both fascinating, apparently), knitting (yarn! can't fault her there), packing orders (she's very helpful) or cooking/baking (the second I set foot in the kitchen, she runs over clutching the sling so that she can watch, and claim nibbles as we go). So, I don't get a whole lot done while she's awake. And she's not a great napper.
One of my personal highlights of Knit Nation - and one that had nothing at all to do with knitting - came after we'd packed up on Saturday evening. You see, my aunt kindly came to babysit for the weekend, so Armin and I decided to take advantage of this and go out for a little supper on the way home; a rare date. We didn't have any big plans and certainly weren't going to stay out long - so tired! - so the plan was, quite simply, to stop the van as soon as we found a convenient parking spot and go to the nearest reasonably promising bar or restaurant. Since we were driving through South Kensington and Knightsbridge, it seemed we'd have a reasonable shot at finding somewhere pleasant.
Which we certainly did. In fact, I'd say we lucked out quite spectacularly.
Is finally up. Phew. Now, as long as no one buys MY Artyarns, we'll all be happy.
I've knocked about 25% off a large pile of yarn, bags etc - as usual - but also on needles (some lines are being cleared out, plus some random overstocked sizes). A few items will only be marked down for a short time but most are on clearance. Go have fun!
(Now, if you couldn't make it to Knit Nation - this is your moment. Hey, at least you still have some yarn budget to burn, right?)
It's Innocent's Big Knit time again! And you know what that means. (Shh... it means autumn is in the offing, but we don't want to think about that yet.) It means we need to get out our needles and start knitting tiny, tiny little hats, the better to blanket the smoothies of Britain (and, not incidentally, warm some vulnerable elderly folk too). You've got two months, so better get cracking.
