Spitting Yarn

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I’m sorry it has been such a long time between posts. I have been experiencing technical problems with our wi-fi, and some curious issues with WordPress, which I have managed to resolve. I have also been knitting on a secret project, which is almost done. I can’t reveal it yet, but I should be able to, before long.

In the mean time, I have finished the back of Maggie.

I’m enjoying the knit, but remain a little worried about the construction. Am I going to bodge it up in the seaming? Happily, the back seems like a good size and length on me, so that’s something.

I’m getting itchy fingers for socks again. This seems to happen every couple of months. Regular readers will know my track record with socks is not that great. Here is an abbreviated history:

In short, all the above were seriously defective. But I have a new tool in my armoury…The Magic Loop leafet. I’m hoping this will get me past the gusset stage using the Magic Loop. I can complete socks, albeit slightly ropey ones, with dpns, but I wanna Magic Loop!

I had to go on a cringey team-bonding exercise to Hamburg from Thursday to Saturday. This trip had one major upside – yarn! As soon as I checked into the hotel, I jumped in a cab to Hamburger Wollfabrik, this great factory yarn store about 10 minutes cab ride from the centre (you can find the address, etc *here*).

Hamburger Wollfabrik was almost solely responsible for this…

That my friends is a suitcase full of yarn. It is mainly some 50g balls of 100% lambswool of quite a fine gauge – I haven’t worked out precisely how fine yet (this held me back from coming home with *two* suitcases full). It was 1.40 EURO a ball! I also have a number of balls of sock yarn, after all, what’s a trip to Germany without sock yarn?! I have two balls of Regia and 3 balls of Wollfabrik’s own. It’s a great haul.

The store is a must-visit on any knitter’s trip to Hamburg. It stocks a lot of fine yarns, many on cones. It would be particularly appealing to any machine knitters, but your regular hand knitter will find plenty to sate any appetite for fibre. Merino, extra fine merino, cashmere, cashmere and silk blend, tencel, lambswool, superwash – you name it, they had it. And all good quality stuff. They also stock a small selection of needles and patterns (in German). The yarn store assistants did not speak English, but this didn’t get in the way of my purchases, or of ordering a taxi back to the centre.

I’m planning on applying one of the balls of sock yarn to my latest sock venture. Any recommendations for a simple pattern with a twist – kind of like Jaywalker but without the sizing and stretch complications?