Oh I've had such a wonderful, wooly week to remember during this stressful week! Recently I attended the second annual Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl in Edinburgh. This ran over Saturday & Sunday, with a party on Sunday evening which I, unfortunately, couldn't attend.
Three yarn stores in Edinburgh take part: Ginger Twist Studio, Kathys Knits & Be Inspired Fibres. The aim of the game is to trail around the different shops, collecting stamps on your crawl card (& yarn, & needles, & notions) as you go. It's very friendly, each of the shops stock quite different yarns so it really is a worthwhile wander, and it's a good excuse for a day out!
I arrived bright and early before the crawl for exciting yarny chat, then proceeded to buy the first skein of yarn I managed to lay my hands upon in Ginger Twist Studio! It really couldn't be resisted, because it was a one-off yarn crawl colourway on a very smooshy sock base.
The yarn is hand dyed by Jess, proprietress of Ginger Twist Studio. It's a wonderful purple, and due to the nature of hand dyed, I picked out a more uniformly dyed skein from the pile (I'm such a fan of those semi-solids). The base is Swell Ewe Sock, which is 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon.
Also hidden away in a corner of Jess shop was the lovely Clare Devine, who was launching her new Sock Anatomy book. It's filled with simple yet effective socks which use a variety of construction methods, explaining the rationale behind each method, when to use it and why. Each sock also comes sized from baby to giant so will fit everyone! Maybe you could even knit a you and tiny size for matching sets...
This wonderful combination of ladies couldn't be passed up, and I quickly cast on some Tarsi socks from the book with my new yarn. My poor friend Cia ended up playing at skein-winder-extraordinaire on the train home because I simply couldn't wait to cast on :D
I've been wearing these socks ever since they were finished, and am loving them. I knit the XS size and did worry part-way through that they'd be too small but they've turned out wonderfully. They've been keeping me very comfortable during what has otherwise been a very stressful couple of weeks. My grandmum had been quite sick for a couple of weeks and passed away last Wednesday, so this week has mainly been attending her funeral, which was remarkably lovely, and sitting the two day exam you've probably noticed me moaning about lots.
It feels like a strange thing to say, that a funeral for a loved one was lovely, but there really is no other way to describe it. If there's a way to be sent off, that was it. I couldn't have asked for more, for her or for my family, and that makes everything feel a little easier. The strange thing about funerals is that, whilst saying goodbye to someone you won't see again, you also end up seeing lots of people you wouldn't see otherwise. It's an odd sort of symmetry.
The evilmassivestupid exam is now over too - it was 8 hours on Wednesday & 4 hours on Thursday. I won't find out the result for four weeks, but it's a massive weight off my shoulders.
However, I appear to have broken myself slightly! It's very lovely and sunny outside, and my mum has offered to pick me up for a barbecue in her garden before my night-shift tonight, so I think I'll take her up on that :)
There are quite a few work emails to reply to which have piled up over the past few days, and some wonderful knitting ones which have waited slightly longer, but I'm afraid they'll have to wait another day or so.
Sometimes, perhaps, it's braver to accept that you're only mortal than to plough on regardless.
As an aside, it looks like this little guy is going to flower soon :D
