Yarn diet free pass 5- Lots of blue

This is the last free pass of my yarn diet, in two weeks it is due to end and I will be free to buy yarn whenever I want. Still lots to use up from the stash though so I will not be doing too much in the way of shopping.

I needed some plain coloured sock yarn to start the lovely colourwork pattern the Wonder Why Gal sent me. I opted for Regia silk in blue and white to give a snowflake type effect.

Since I was shopping I also picked up two balls of Artesano Hummingbird 4 ply and a pair of slipper soles.

Both the Regia silk and the Hummingbird are wonderfully soft, it was a delicious squishy parcel of lovely.

The 4 ply is destined to be my L socks, I have fancied trying the Hummingbird for a while. The slipper soles are going to be combined with my alpaca fluff once I have spun it to make some cozy slippers.

Yarn diet free pass 4

I have been going well with the whole not buying yarn thing, and I think I might keep it up even after it is meant to finish at the end of May. I would like to use up most of what I have stashed- I live in fear of moths!

I made my yarn purchase for April this week, and it already has a destiny- three navy blue and three brown will be Christmas socks for my Dad, multi coloured will be Christmas socks for my Mum and the green is already on the needles as part of my I sock.

It looks like I have a serious Regia fetish!

Not really the case although I have to admit I have been keeping track of all the sock yarns I buy and so far Regia and Knitpicks Stroll are coming out tops (yes, I used a spreadsheet and yes I am a super nerd!).

The criteria are machine washable, hard wearing, good colour choice and not too expensive. A nice soft feel with low tickle is also important. For the Christmas socks Regia is really the only choice as it needed to be 6 ply for thicker socks, hence a big order.

I am not sure when I will get going on these, it would be good to have them done well before December so maybe I will alternate between them and the alphabet socks.

Yarn diet free pass 3

This is my yarn purchase for March, although technically I actually bought it at the end of February.

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We went out for lunch at a pub with a wood fired pizza oven as a treat (I love pizza, and this was REALLY good pizza). On the way over I spotted a shop with a sign saying "Yarn studio" in one of the little villages. Of course, that meant I had to go in and have a look around on the way home once nicely stuffed with pizza (review coming later in the week).

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After much umming and ahhing over the yarn based loveliness this beautiful temptation took my fancy (and my money):

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It is Collinette Jitterbug in the Salty sea dog colourway and it is just gorgeous. The photo does not do it justice, it is rather more turquoise.

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Now I have to decide what to make; jitterbug is a thick sock yarn, which means there is only just enough for a pair in a skein. I may have to venture into the world of the toe up sock so I can use every last scrap.
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On a yarn dieters note I managed to say no to a yarn shop yesterday- it was a very similar situation of spotting a sign as we drove past, but as we were heading home after a long weekend on scout camp I turned down the offer to go back and investigate.

Yarn diet- free pass 2

I have worked out (probably I am a little slow here) the five free yarn diet passes from the 1st January to 1st June is one yarn purchase a month. So this is the yarn purchase for February, if it were a food diet this would be much like having a large slice of tasty chocolate cake (I was going to take a photo of some cake, but I ate it before I remembered!).
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Mostly I would like to say omnomnomnomnomnom

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I did have a good reason for this lot, most of my A-Z sock patterns need single colour or subtle changes, and what I have in my stash could well be described as a riot of colour. There is little point spending hours on cables and lace if neither can be seen through the colours, so plains it is.

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I also had a bit of a dilemma about where to order from, there were three yarns I wanted to try and no shop seemed to sell all three. In the end I settled on Great British Yarns, because they are the only place to get Knitpicks over here and I really wanted to see what it was all about (shop review next week).

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The two blue skeins are Knitpicks gloss, 50g in each, it is a merino and silk mix.

The red is Knitpicks Stroll Tonal, it is shades of tasty red and a superwash merino and nylon mix. I actually prefer this to the Gloss, although it is the slightly cheaper of the two I think it is smoother, maybe a result of the superwashing (both very nice though).

The other two are UK yarns, the charcoal is an Alpaca mix for socks made with alpaca merino and nylon.

The undyed is the most gorgeous organic merino 4 ply, spun by waterwheel in Cornwall. I bought it to be socks, but I think it is not really spun tightly enough, to be honest I could just sit petting it, it is softer than a very soft fluffy bunny!

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I also managed to not buy yarn, despite going to two places where it is sold and driving past a third. I think I may not even need to do a March purchase!