about last week

Sorry for not posting for a few days. We've been busy as ever. My main excuse for not posting is camera problems! I can't find the battery charger part to the bleedin' camera! So no pics. I have been knitting, though. I'm half way through a pair of socks using Easyknits. The colourway is inspired by Rufus Wainwright and called Release the stars. It's yellow and brown and orange and it's gorgeous. I will post pictures in the next few days.
I've also done some of the flowers from the scarf on the cover of the latest Vogue Knitting. They are so easy. I'm not making the scarf, just the flowers for a bit of decoration. I made a huge version out of colinette point five and it's all peaches and cream - pink and that! It's gorgeous.
I've started on a tea cosy, too. It's from a new book we got to the shop. It's called Tea Cosies, funnily enough. I'm doing a sheep tea cosy. I've only done the sheep's head and the ears, in artesano alpaca, and it's also fab. I've decided that it's my Saturday knitting so I can't wait to spend some time doing the loop stitch this weekend.
In other news - Thanks to Amy, my social life has seen lots of action this week! Last Friday I went as Amy's plus 1 to Hell's Kitchen. Nothing much happened, to be honest, but it was still rather marvellous. It's strange having a camera 2 inches from your face when you are trying to decide which starter to have. I got all confused and nervous and forgot I had to order a main meal, too! It may have been the champagne and the gin cocktail we had before we ordered, actually.
So, if you have been watching you may be familiar with the menu (I've only seen 1 episode and it was after I had been), I had scallops to start. They were amazing. I'm not used to dining so well so Amy helped me decide and they were cooked perfectly! I gave them 10/10. They even came with a bit of pastry!
Then I had dover sole. It was a little salty with a tomato salsa and anchovies but I love anchovies and salt and the fish was cooked well so I was happy again!
Then I had raspberries that were built into this castle with sugar wafers. That was very sweet, gorgeous. Amy's dessert wasn't that nice, an undercooked soufflé, so she sent it back and we were ready for action. The maitre'd was really nice and said 'I'll bring you another.' I was a bit disappointed to be honest, I wanted to be kicked out full of lovely food and lots and lots of wine. There were loads of people there, I met the Puppini Sisters who are almost edible themselves.
This week I went to the press night of the new cast of Spamalot. It was marvellous. Craig has seen the show a few months ago and loved every minute of it and talked about it for weeks so I have been really keen to see it. There were so many famous people there, including half of the Coronation Street cast. I was desperate to talk to Cilla in the party later. We didn't stay long though.
Will Young was also there. Now, one of the more interesting things about having a tracker on the blog is seeing that certain websites are sending a lot of people your way. One of those is williamyoung.biz. I'm rather dim and didn't put 2+2 together so couldn't work out why, until I went there and discovered that William is long for Will. I mentioned him in a post about Glastonbury and the Will fans found it and told other Will fans to come over and read. Anyway - Will looked lovely.
In real life - thanks to everyone for your well wishes for Craig's speedy recovery. He's seeing a physiotherapist and spending a lot of time lying on his side and he's feeling much better for it.
The UK Stitch 'n Bitch Day is almost here - I can't beleive it! We've got so much planned, and so much yarn will be there, including Wensleydale Long Wool Sheep Shop and Garthenor. Debbie Stoller keeps telling us that she is so excited - she can't wait to meet the UK's knitters!
Gxx

Daytime TV and supporting your local yarn store!

As I've said before I'm suffering with pain so have been languishing at home for a week or two now. It's dperessing enough not being able to go out for a long walk, or even a short one, without having to contend with daytime TV. But, somehow it's so addictive - I find myself desperate to know just how they'll get at auction for their Beswick porcelain horse, and just what that house is worth after they've knocked down a few walls. There's also a plus with the range of obscure films they broadcast...I am a hoarder of movies so try to record everything I can, and there's some real gems tucked away in the daytime telly schedules! Laura is on right now - an absolute classic. I'm going to try to stick o golden oldie into the Thursday film nights now and then.

Talking of trash TV, after our Eggheads appearance last week, Gerard hits primetime tomorrow when he's off to Hell's Kitchen! I'm not kidding. I've advised him to kick up a fuss cos it makes good telly and we'll all get to see him...he says he's just going to drink a lot and see what happens!

Yesterday I made it out and into the shop. I haven't been round for a few days, and I couldn't make the Wednesday night knitting group last night either - sorry folks, I hope it was good 'un, and the Tube trouble didn't dampen spirits and put anyone off. So, in the shop all day, pottering about and it gave me time to do a bit of business stuff. It's always nice to speak to those people who keep us going, the people who actually make the yarn. One of our founding ideas was to include in the stuff we sell yarns from this country. To support our own producers is, to us, a vital part of keeping the knitting industry alive. We were always amazed that the choice of yarn elsewhere either ignored completely, or just paid lip service to 100% independent UK producers - department stores won't touch the stuff because they are all about making a profit (let's not get on our high horse here, by the way, of course we are running a business and we have to make a profit, but we can do this without neglecting some gorgeous yarns, and without ignoring what knitters tell us they want). I remember I was surprised to find most of Rowan's yarns are produced overseas!

Anyway, one of our must-haves was Jamieson's of Shetland. I spoke with Peter yesterday about another large order, and I am really pleased that their stuff does so well. it proves there's a market for it and that, depite the number of knitting books recommending the big names, savvy knitters know that there's more out there. I always like calling them too, sometimes you even get the kids answering the phone and it brings it all home to me that they are genuinely independent, family yarn producers. I love that! I was actually calling because, as some of you must know, there's a new Simply Shetland Book on the way with Eunny Jang's Autumn Rose Pullover. I am honestly thrilled that such a high profile pattern is using Jamieson's, opening up their yarn to a whole new bunch of knitters! Their stuff has always been huge in the US and it's about time we appreciated it more in it's home country!

Thanks to fimngersandtoes on Ravelry who put this in my head and started this bit of a rant. But, y'know, when you support LYS you encourage choice and diversity, and the knock on effect is that we have to compete with other LYS and that just makes us more determined to expand our range, find new yarns and suppliers. We already have at least three yarns in store that we wouldn't have if not recommended by customers and long may that continue!