A Bird In The Hand, Is Worth ... Well What?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, or so they say. I disagree, this week, a bird in the hand is worth a squirrel.

Its squirrel time again this weekend. The time we tell our squirrel moment, (I'm still trying to grasp this!). Its our moment when the squirrel suddenly runs off after something, when we suddenly get so enthusiastic about something previously unplanned. Dreami - Drop Everything And Make It moment.

http://www.mmmquilts.com/2017/02/dreami-linky-2.html


For me this was last week, surreptitiously, at #unravel2017, the yarn fest, knitting show, to you and me older folks, that my daughter in law took me to. It was in Farnham, SW England, and is a yearly event, luckily coinciding with our visit. And it was great fun. I may just well be cramping Mrs C's style and going again with her next year.

And my squirrel moment?

The moment I walked in the door and saw the "aviary". The display of knitted birds on display in the entrance hall. I'm not twee or cutsey, but I fell in love with these immediately. Love at first sight.

 
 

I wasn't the only one. At cup of tea time, we shared a table with a lovely lady who told me she had knitted three of the display birds. She had won the book in a Love Knitting competition and was addicted. A BOOK! There's A BOOK! And the BOOK IS ON SALE HERE!

My squirrel moment of January.  My own book. The book is lovely, lots of little birds, proper birds, like robins and blue tits and exotic birds like flamingos.


And I could buy a kit too, for only £5.99 with the accompanying little book. Another book. I am in love. The wools in the kit are actually tapestry wools, a 4ply would do, and I can't wait to try this.


What else did I buy? Well, I set myself a budget, which disappeared very quickly. I bought one skein of green four ply wool from Knit By Numbers at Ben Acton Mills. I treated Mrs C, the younger, to some fluffy stuff she calls fibre. Some white fluffy stuff and a bargain bag of multi-coloured offcuts.


I bought some white buttons, which when reversed make the perfect black buttons for the green aran hoodie.

 I bought a bee ceramic button, just for fun, it would be rude  not to.


All of a sudden my budget was gone, and I hadn't really bought anything! I loved the wool, sorry yarn, from Daughter of A Shepherd, the Welsh Cambrian wool, some beautiful angora bunny wool, Big Wigs Angora Mrs C, the younger, bought and loads of beautiful of hand spun variegated sock/4ply wool, sorry yarn. Having tackled the green aran, I would like to knit a sweater for the husband. I was a little reluctant to commit myself to wool, sorry yarn, without prior discussion as to colour and pattern, sorry design. I maybe didn't have so many purchases, but I came away fizzing with ideas and web addresses. And a great love for knitted birds.

I also learnt something. My daughter in law spins. She has both a proper Cinderella's wicked godmother type spindle and lots of little spindles that look a bit like old fashioned sock darners. I must admit, the spinning thing I didn't really get. Why go to all that effort and not be sure what you'll end up with, when you can go to a nice wool shop?  If you take that further, why bother knitting a jumper when you can go to a nice cheap department store and buy a mass produced jumper for pennies?  Well, she bought another spinning top thing, and I watched her spin the bright red fluffy stuff from the bargain bag. I'm hooked! Now I get it.


 Though I am not about to start keeping sheep in the back garden and start spinning my own fleece, I am open to one of those spinny things and a bag of fluff!

Helen x
PS the next day we went to Winchester, very interesting city and I may have bought some Debbie Bliss eco baby yarn. It was a bargain, wish I had bought more.


Oh, and a weird ball of sock yarn with yellow string around it popped into my shopping basket too!


Linking up with Sandra and her Squirrels








Comments

  1. Sounds like you had a great visit. The birds are cute.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can see why you would want those birds they are adorable. Sounds like you had a great time with Mrs C.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love these little birds so much and cannot wait for them to take flight!! Are they still pecking at your head??? Have you started one yet?? So many questions. It also looks like you picked up some lovely yarn stash additions.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How much fun is it buying yarn!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Betcha don't make just one wee birdie...And betcha there's the first one on your needles as I type this...A crow would be fitting for a first one, as crows get distracted by shiny baubles and can't do anything else until they've played, admired, and stashed said bauble, right?

    ReplyDelete
  6. These birds are indeed supercute. Someday if I get bored with fabric, I guess there is plenty of yarn.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the little robin. Just saying...

    ReplyDelete
  8. They look like pigeons to me. My dad kept pigeons from being fourteen years old, although he had to give up a few years ago at almost eighty he still get his magazines delivered every week and follows it all closely. I couldn't look at your ceramic button, sorry, too scary for me, but I love the idea of spinning though.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love Debbie Bliss but am lazy these days and am sticking to cashmerino aran! Birds are really cute!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comment, I try very hard to reply to them all.