A Big Boy Made Me Do It, and Then He Ran Away!

We are back from our mammoth trip which was far too much driving in far too short a space of time. It was always going to be a lot but it was exacerbated by not being able to stick to our original plan of breaking the journey to and from Devon by overnighting with my sister, because sadly she was ill. This meant an extra night in Tavistock and having to stay an extra night in an expensive but very luxurious room in the hotel we were already booked into. (The room we had booked previously was not available for the extra night we needed it sadly) Pictures of that another day. But meanwhile ....

Going away means the opportunity to visit wool shops that are off your own patch and I managed that twice while we were south. First up was Spin-a-Yarn in Bovey Tracey while we were in Devon, followed naturally enough by the  Yarn Cake in Glasgow. Because how can you go to Glasgow and not make the trip to the Yarn Cake for a catch up with the owner, a coffee, some cake and well yes, in the end some wool purchases too? I have so far been very good about not buying more wool this year; none at all in January, March or April and only the one lot in February which I immediately made into  sweater, which I have subsequently worn a lot. I should not have been quite so proud of myself because it seems that my non buying habits have resulted from a lack of opportunity, rather than self control. 

I'm not sure if it's the wool fumes, as some claim, which sap my determination not to buy any more, or if it's just the OH egging me on (see title of post!), but anyway here's the haul from Bovey Tracey.

There was another skein but that was for a gift and it was so beautifully wrapped that I couldn't unpack it just to take a picture. I have the perfect hat pattern for the cream and blue skeins, with the slight proviso that it is available only in Norwegian, and although I have learned some Norwegian in the past it was a) a while ago and b) didn't include knitting pattern technicalities. That said  I also know a couple of Norwegians locally, one of whom knits so I can always shout for help. The teal skein on the left was the OH's pick and he wants 'something' made from it, goodness knows what, perhaps some fingerless mitts. Regular blog readers will not need telling that the bright sock stuff at the top was also his choice. 

In the Yarn Cake I bought these

The OH wasn't with me so I can't really blame this time. I have a specific project in mind for the Drops wool. The blue and yellow is for socks for me and naturally enough the orange and blue is once again for socks for the OH. I think there should be a law banning this particular brand of sock wool (schoppelwolle) because it is irresistible and therefore dangerous like crack cocaine. 

Tomorrow I might blog about something a little less 'niche' than wool and knitting. It's not as though we didn't do other things while we were gone!