Make do and mend part 3

This, admittedly cheap, sweater had started to pill in a terribly ugly way after I'd only worn it a couple of times... I considered turning it into something else, but then again, I like wearing this sweater...so I came up with a solution. I sewed pieces of leftover fabric (in this case leftovers from curtains) onto the sides, where the pilling was really bad. Then I embroidered flowers onto the fabric with some multicoloured cotton yarn. It turned out quite nicely, in a quirkily unique way ;-)

Steely Tweed Scarf

This is an "oldie". In the autumn of 2014 I knitted this scarf for my son. It was one of my first knitting projects and it took forever. But I enjoyed it and he liked it. The pattern is published "Easy knitted scarves", a booklet by Monica Russel. The yarn is Artesano Aran (50% superfine alpaca 50% Peruvian highland wool), a beautiful strong, soft and robust yarn. Unfortunately, the company shut up shop in 2016.
We bought 2 skeins in the summer of 2014 at I Knit, another beautiful yarn shop in London. I was a real beginner at that time and the two (expensive!) skeins I bought were from a different batch...I hadn't noticed, I even had no idea that this could be a thing. It only became clear while I was knitting... Surely the person selling me the yarn, me clearly being a novice (you could not help noticing by the questions I asked...), should have warned me...? I guess it is one of these lingering  disappointments… I still love this scarf though!
I added tassels from some leftover dark grey yarn I got from my Mum who knitted me this dark grey beautiful sweater years ago. Yes, the story continues...

One of my last projects on straight needles...

such a warm scarf!

Yarnporium yeah !

One of the things on my "18 for 2018" list (inspired by Gretchen Rubin's "Happier podcast") was "to visit a British yarn show". I crossed this one off by attending Yarnporium London on November 2. What a lovely, inspiring atmosphere, what great yarns to buy, great people to meet. I joined the "knitwear photography" workshop by Jonna Hietala and Sini Ellen, the co-founders of Laine magazine. Laine is a Nordic knit magazine that cherishes natural fibres and the international community of knitters. I greatly admire their work, and they are very inspiring and enthusiastic teachers.
In the afternoon there was the Marketplace and Indie Maker Spotlight to visit : full of wonderful vendors with lots of fantastic yarns to see, touch, squeeze, smell, and yes... buy.
I went looking particularly for yarns produced in a more environmentally friendly and ethical way.
These are the yarns and vendors I could not resist:
(I put links in this post, so you can visit the websites of the different vendors and yarns I speak of just by clicking on the names in colour).

Marina Skua :

Marina Skua is a fibre crafter who dyes and spins one-off and small batch yarns. I like her work ethic: minimising waste, reusing materials where possible and reducing the environmental impact of her work. She only uses natural fibres, mostly sourcing them locally from farms she knows. But actually it was the colours that caught my eye : warm, intense, irresistible! I'm not wrong, am I?

Garthenor :
Garthenor produces exclusively organic yarns and works directly with farmers and small mills in Britain. Their yarns are fully traceable back to the flock.  It took me a while to choose, since all their wool is so pretty, so real and authentic. I decided to buy two skeins of their number 3 Shetland (DK)

Wild and Woolly and Rauwerk :
At the booth of Wild and Woolly (see further down) I bought a beautiful dark grey skein of Rauwerk wool . Rauwerk is a German brand of eco-friendly and ethical yarn, from a certified organic flock of sheep. The yarn is spun at a local family-run mill and dyed with natural dyes. Since 2016 there is also a physical Rauwerk shop in Munich. Another one for my bucket list....
Wild and Woolly, the fantastic yarn shop in Hackney, is also on my ever-growing bucket list.

Blacker Yarns :
I simply can't resist this yarn: high quality British yarn in  the most beautiful colours, made from 100 % natural fibres. I bought some DK weight yarn. I think it's going to look great in colourwork!
Blacker Yarns is a company with great values and great customer service, as I know from experience through some online shopping.

Knit with attitude :
This small independent yarn shop, based in Stoke Newington, London, was also represented. Knit with attitude specialises in sustainable yarn, which means that they value transparency through every stage of production. Here I found two beautiful skeins of Norwegian wool: Tinde from the Hillesvag Ullvarefabrikk. They dye naturally grey wool, which gives a wonderful shade. I love it !

I had a great time at Yarnporium and am happy to confirm that the international knitting community is a friendly and engaging one! 
And I hope you find these collected bits and bobs interesting and helpful!  

Simple Rules Cowls

I knitted these two cowls on holiday. It's a very fun knit, ideal for using that one special skein of thick and thin yarn from your stash. The rule is very simple : knit when the yarn is thin, purl when it's thick! You can find the free pattern here on Ravelry.
The purple yarn is Verona Scheepjes, bought at Wolwollewool in Maastricht (the Netherlands). I have no idea of the blue yarn's name or specifications. It's probably a woolblend.
The purple cowl felt very prickly, so I lined it with some repurposed black fleece fabric, which makes it super warm.

The structure of the thick and thin yarns gets emphasized by the knitting pattern: