Spent the day with a knit-pal

Sally's craft room, cosy sofa

I don't think there can be anything NICER than being sat in amongst a pile of craftiness and have a bag of Collinette yarn FLUNG at you .. ?  apart, I suppose, from having a large G+T?  wait!. yes. there can! I spent almost the whole of yesterday with my knit-pal-sally enjoying a good old crafty gossip about yarns, patterns, projects - queues, wip's ufo's -yarns and needles to be tried, trends to follow, books to read and how to pack it ALL in and within budget too! 
From when I was very little my LateMother oft said that the one thing  I kept on asking for was for a "sister" and she frequently apologised for presenting me with two BROTHERS instead!  of course it wouldn't be that I wouldn't want my brothers - now I've got them! but that rather I would have wished I could have had a sister!
Of course there's no saying that even had I had a sister that she would have been similarly crafty-minded? but there are some things and some interests that really are only OF interest to other women? My family are in the main at least used to be "trapped" into knitty-conversations and have developed strategies for effecting mild "interest" but without falling into the trap of feigning an enthusiasm they later regret.  generally they feel this regret after 3-4mins .. IF I'm lucky sensible, I manage to stick to short bursts of excited enthusiasm over a pattern or yarn and then shut up. .. sigh .. difficult though when you get these feelings bubbling up and its why I enjoy my cyber-friendships so much! I can log on and squeak about several different areas of excitedness over yarnie things knowing that SOMEONE at least will be online to squeak back and share the hysteria that comes about from finding THE perfect pattern! THE yumminess yarn ever! or in working out HOW to do the trickiest ever technique!

BUT its nice to connect with a real "live" pal and do it "live" for REAL and in the absence of having a sister, the next best thing is to have a best-knitty-PAL!  Having a slightly obsessive and compulsive enthusiasm for knitting means its got to be a certain type of pal that can put up with me,  can enjoy my company without getting to the end and thinking : well thank goodness she's GONE! and having already had an email this am from my pal, I can safely say that she probably feels the same way too!

What you get from spending the day with someone you know well and who shares in your interests and enthusiasms is more than just a dollop of inspiration to continue such enthusiasms, it sets you up nicely with a feeling of inner-wellness - do you know what I mean?  Since becoming unwell and losing some of my independance following redundancy and with changes going on in the family the one constant that has been there for me has been my knitting but the connecting with friends and sharing the enthusiasm for the knitting is what helps make it a positive experience beyond "just the knitty stuff" and its a bit like the giggly nights in with a bottle of wine and girly gossip only with good mug of tea and tons of yarn! and stacks of TEDDIES!

I have a vey good cyber-pal who will just love these pics I took of the simply gorgeous teddies and toys hand-made by Sally and the way they just sit so comfortably and naturally within her/their home; the skill is not just in the making but of the placing and homing of the things one makes and my pal has this just perfect!

Sally's handmade bears on the stairs

I want to run away with this pair atop the stairs!

Sally's handknit jumper perfect on teddy

collection of Sally's handmade teddies

but I'd have to take these too?  I actually have hazy recollections of LateMum stopping up way into the night stuffing and sewing up teddies and other toys - rag dolls - made to order to eke out a living after her first divorce and I wish now that I still had some of these that came my way as a child (usually the rejects!) so I know a little of the time and skill devoted into making these.

Sally's handknit bunny

Sally's needlepoint cushion in progress

it was great to see all the other stuff that Sally has either collected/made over the years including all kinds of embroideries which I wish I'd taken photo's of - x-stitch and tapestries - quilty fabric stuff its not just about the knitting and as a former passionate sewist its good to talk about all the other interests too and share in the yumminess of fat quarters and lengths of co-ordinating quilt cottons!  We've talked about having a quilt/sewing session one day and if we could both manage to contain our enthusisams and actually DO something productive I bet we'd both enjoy it!!

Sally's yarn for jumper

Sally's shawl stash

Sally's sparkle shawl purchase

I am a mere beginner in the yarnie stash stakes! my pal has the equivalent of a yarn shop! and when I ran out of some of the smoke kid classic for my jumper and the shop only had one remaining ball, Sally was confident she had a leftover ball in this exact shade at home - and she did! it might well help me out to have this to hand and she kindly offered it to me just in case I ran out again!

The thing is, even when you have a stash to end all stashes, when it comes down to it you never seem to have quite the RIGHT yarn for the project - no matter how much you have, you still need to buy more?  well we both bought some of this - for different projects (I'll blog mine later with pics of the yarn and link to the free pattern when I CO like as not today/tomorrowish).

I'm going to knit scarves and pair of gloves with mine - and Sally is going to do something rather wizz and designerish with hers!   Here are some photo's of Sally wearing her latest handknits:

Sally in her hoodie knit in Lima

Sally wearing comfy jumper

I wish I'd taken a pic of the gorgeous KSH stripe scarf knit using the pattern on the ballband - Sally came up with loads of ideas for introducing KSH as an additional yarn and/or as stripe to break up areas - an afternoon with Sally is like an intensive course in design, knitting technique and project planning normally done over a year crammed into 4hrs!  too much to fully take in in one go, it did enthuse me to FINISH my jumper and baby cardi and get my needles ready!!
We're both hooked on shawls at the moment and while I've been veering away from self striping and patterning sock yarns and vowing to avoid such yarns, I'm now starting to rethink this!

one of the many shawls Sally has knit

planning the next shawl

All of a sudden I wants a stripey shawl! bah!! and she's right too! the garter stitch shawls are lovely! I wants wants wants!!

Well I came home and finished the little cardi which is now just waiting while I finish off the rest of the goodies to make up the gift - I CO and started knitting another of the "mini teddies" which will sit in the pocket of the lovely bag I shall make which comes from another of my enthusiastic mad-sew-pals - Jan! who has a lovely blog shared with a craft pal of hers.
Watched the first of the two X-factor programmes this weekend and will catch up with Doctor Who this afternoon after dh returns from work, next week sees the final double-episode of The Killing which no.1.son and I are enjoying at the moment - HE for the plot and ME for the knitty-sweaters the lead detective is wearing!!