Tuesday Ten & UK Rav Day

Ten Good Leisure Activities

1. Knitting...duh!
2. Looking at knitting magazines/patterns
3. Surfing the web (mostly Ravelry)
4. Facebook Scrabble
5. Having a gin and a nap
6. Baking cupcakes
7. Reading historical novels
8. Shopping
9. Blogging
10. Playing MarioKart on the Wii

Marking starts with pre-standardisation on Thursday - and the other team leader for my paper is about to jump ship which increases my workload by 50% (and my money....but still...) - so leisure time is going to be in short supply for the rest of the month, I fear.

I had an awesome time at UK Ravelry Day on Saturday, in spite of having to drive up in conditions which have hitherto only been experience by Noah, imo. I learnt how to knit Faireisle - much, much easier than I thought, especially when I discovered I didn't have to twist the two colours every time I changed....





















...and I did some shopping at the market stalls, where I saw these two very wet creatures...





















...they are alpacas. Their owner said we shouldn't feel sorry for them, since they are from the Andes and cold, horrible weather is what they love.

I bought...

• 3 skeins of aran weight Australian merino from a little Welsh Company called Yarn d'Amour, in such beutiful variegated blues that I want to weep
  
• 1 skein of 100% silk laceweight in dark purple
  
• 5 skeins of DK alpaca blend - 4 turquoise and 1 pale green, for a bit of a jumper with a Fairisle motif
• Some Sock Stop, which you squirt onto the bottom of socks to make them non-stick
  
• Some buttons - exactly the buttons I have been looking for for both the pretty lace cardigan I haven't touched for nearly a year, and the Central Park Hoody which is still awaiting its button band. I have literally been looking for buttons such as the ones I bought for years.
  

...and I got 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca alpaca-silk blend as a thank you from my knitting group buddies who came along in my car. As if the £30 petrol money and cake weren't enough!

Here's the haul....






















I haven't been able to resist the aran merino (which does not look one tenth as amazing in this picture as it does in real life) and am about halfway through making it into a cabled tank top already. Because everyone needs and aran-weight wooly cabled tank top in June.