I sit here at the end of July in shock. Six weeks have disappeared and most of my to-do list unintentionally found it’s way to a long summer holiday!

I’m not going to beat myself up about being totally unproductive. I’ve been feeling so well that I’ve had the chance to do lots of wonderful things that haven’t been possible for a long time, including a yarn shopping expedition to London and having an absolute blast at Bluedot Festival held at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire.

On the other hand, I had great plans for regular blog posts and marketing my services with the intention of gaining some new clients and trying to make this work as more than a side line. So today, on the last day of July, I’ve given myself a good talking to and I’m going to get on with it!

I’ve got lots to write about, so look out for more detailed blogs over the next few days.

My dear friend Susanna of Barcombe Romneys has collected her new batch of yarn from Diamond Fibres. Her first yarn was a beautiful worsted spun DK. She now has a high twist 4-ply and beautiful fibre for hand spinning and felting to add to her collection. I have a project planned for the DK, and have a small sample of the 4-ply which is stunning. I know I am biassed, but with the knowledge of how much work Susanna puts into her flock and the high welfare standards that she lives by, the yarn is truly the best Romney I have seen. You can buy the yarn direct from Susanna, or at YAK in Brighton. I know Susanna is excited to have her yarn in a bricks and mortar LYS and I hope this is the start of a wooly adventure for her.

Another great friend Lucy Crossby opened a yarn shop Purl-A-Row in February of this year in Par, Cornwall but soon outgrew her premises. She moved to a larger space in Lostwithiel at the beginning of July and is doing really well.  Its so good to see small business being successful and achieving so much more than anticipated. I helped Lucy review and improve her website content in February and it has been interesting to see things progress so quickly.

Although I’ve known Lucy for a while (we are both moderators of the Everyday Knitter Facebook group), we had never met in person until last weekend! We arranged a day out in London for yarn research purposes (aka shopping) and we had a super time. I’ll write more about this as our day out was the push I needed to get motivated again and get back to the to-do list!

As usual I have a number of WIPs on the go and I’ve also been de-stashing to make space for some of the wonderful treats I bought in London. If you are interested in a few bargain items, please hop over to my Facebook page Swift & Skein and check out the De-stash photo album.

More to follow soon about sample knitting, my current WIPs, knitting frustrations and wooly ramblings!