That would be a photo of my other purchases from the London trip (Cherry Tree Hill, Spanish Moss, fabulous leopard print needles and Great Adirondack in a cooly named Eggplant Eddie colourway), the photo doesn't really show how bright and amazingly cool my ball of jelly yarn is. It's in colourway rasberry sorbet and it's the business I absolutely adore it and keep removing it from its home every time I venture upstairs to gaze at its pinky purple amazingness. I am however having to be very good until I can get to the bead shop to buy the charms to make it really funky. I've also been distracting myself from a variety of slightly more boring tasks by playing with my new toy - an umbrella swift. This also has the added effect of causing lsb to stare in wonderment at the swirling colours and watch the ball grow, and so forget that I'm not actually getting on with the enormous pile of washing that emerged from our collective suitcases this morning.

I must admit I was very, very glad to be back up north yesterday, if only for the comfort of my own bed and the lack of American tourists that seemed to fill the rest of the hotel. Though I'll admit I enjoy London (and its array of very nice yarn shops) it's so nice to be back in a place where shop assistants understand my accent and people get my humour.

On a lighter note I'm currently lusting after the gorgeous new Knit Picks harmony straight needles. I think I have a pretty good idea what's going to top of my birthday list this year.

lsb's making me a stripy scarf in rowan big wool shades 14, and the very lovely but very discontinued shade 3. i didn't realise it was discontinued til i went to holmfirth today and couldn't find it anywhere. the reason i wanted some more of it's lovely lilac yummyness is because i want to make a nice warm winter hat, complete with earflaps (nelly from rowan's little book of big accessories) in matching colours. i really had my heart set on this hat and scarf combination and have actually resorted to trawling through pages of other people's big wool stash in an attempt to find someone with a ball of shade 3 to spare that they're willing to swap or sell. no such luck as yet though, so i turn to you - my lovely readers, in my hour of need to look deep into your stash and help out a fellow knitter.

if on the off chance anyone does happen to find a spare ball, i can be reached via a comment or an e mail (address to be found via my profile), i'm willing to do a swap, sale or even negotiate a deal whereby i'll do your ironing for a month.

i finally got round to opening my first parcel from handpaintedyarn, and look at the lovely goodies! (all except the green lace on the bottom right, that was gifted to me by mum either because she wasn't keen or she knows i like green). i'll give three guesses who the bulky blue yarn on the bottom left is for (and anyone needing more than 3 guesses really can't have been paying close attention). i can't wait to start knitting on any of it, and now i've got a little bit of weight off my mind with handing in the results of my placement today i might just get round to finishing some of what's already on needles.

the alpaca silk wrap's not coming on too badly, had the chance to get another ball knitted up while the long suffering boyfriend was bowling. i've also just been a rather naughty girl and spent a small fortune on the knit tin, but i got a very lovely skein of woolly wormhead yarn for a scarf which i've actually been after for a while, the skein i chose was lilac and gold very pretty though i was originally after a green one (lime green jelly) but sadly it was sold out i'm quite happy with the lovely angel delight skein i chose with the help of the long suffering boyfriend. i went onto the site to show some buttons to the long suffering boyfriend for his broad street mittens and came away with the buttons i showed him, some more in a smaller size, the knitting accessories tin, a skein of yarn and two or three button jars. oops! still it gives me a little something to do on the journey to and from my placement from next week. as of tuesday i'm back out on the wards doing proper nursing, i can't wait in a way as i love what i do when i'm out working with patients, i love learning about their illnesses and their lives especially as so many of those i work with have been in hospital since their late teens and early 20's and it's possible to see the long term effects that psychiatric medication can have over 40 years or so. but i'm also so aprehensive about the experience as i've never worked full time in a nursing role for three months constantly being assessed by mentors. and while i've so far passed all the exams and assignments i've had the results back for i work so much better in practice when i don't know the staff are breathing down my neck scrutinising every move i make, very nerve wracking, but i shall pull through.

stash, stash, mountains of stash

i hit up country today, and boy oh boy did i hit it hard. went in for the wool to make another maya scarf and came out with the wool for three, oops! still at least it'll keep me busy for a while. also managed to make a start on the silk socks i've been promising boyfriend for the past week or so, and seen as i finished fawne off yesterday i felt a new portable project was needed. especially seen as i have to spend a large number of hours per week on public transport and after a while a copy of the metro just doesn't cut it as in flight entertainment.