Keep Calm and Keep Winding ...

keep calm and keep winding .. FASTER and DON'T STOP ..
I borrowed my knit-pal-Brenda's nifty gadget of a swift and ball winder to wind the hanks of alpaca colour I am using for Buckland after seeing her demonstrating it to wind another ball for a pal - MUCH quicker than by hand!
It took me a few goes to get the hang of it and I had a few disasters along the way with things flying off, tangling and collapsing but eventually I learned that you just keep calm and keep winding and don't stop for anything!!
After 45mins all THIS was wound and sitting prettily in varying stages of neat balls:

At the weekend my knit-pal and I went to the locally held last minute Stitch Up Event at Stitch Solihull, Notcutts and we both bought a couple of hat patterns including the lovely mystery KAL 2013 Woolly Wormhead hat which promises to be good.

I am hat MAD at the moment and poor Pretty got a huge soaking last night after her first outing to town ended with a terrific downpour.
Our no.2.son had expressed a desire to go to the Museum & Art Gallery and visit the new library in town and we made an afternoon of it enjoying a cup of tea and cake at the scrummy Rep Cafe before finding a nice place to eat at the nearby Mailbox.  The only thing that spoiled the day was the rain which soaked us completely through for the walk back from bus stop!

Other wool that got bought included a nice grey from Babylonglegs - Semi Precious dk in Granite to knit Limpetiole, the Fyberspates Vivacious DK in Peacock is for the mystery hat.