• Look at that yarn?! It's the new line from Outlaw Yarn named "Bohemia Sport". So desperate was I to get my hands on some that I may have made a bit of a nuisance of myself waiting for it to be loaded on the website. A loosely spun two ply in sport weight, Bohemia is a blend of 45% Polwarth, 45% Alpaca and 10% Possum. The result is a luxurious, rustic, plump, soft yarn with a beautiful halo of fibres; light from the Alpaca and dark from the Possum. It's glorious! I can't tell you anything about how it's going to knit up or wear yet but I can tell you it took me ages to choose colours because the range of colours available is not only large but beautiful. There's a selection of vibrant and washed out, romantic shades of colour. I chose "London Town" (the darker grey), "Fog" the (silver grey) and "Gaslight" (the spicy mustard) and I'm thinking that they might just turn into a colourwork something all together. I absolutely love that this yarn is 100% made in New Zealand. Grown, spun and dyed here. It's such fabulous quality. Outlaw Yarn should feel proud. Fantastic!

• Ages ago I shared that I wash my face in the evenings with a selection of oils. Well, this week I've taken natural beauty products one step further and have mixed a concoction to use as a moisturiser. I got the basic "recipe" from Crunchy Betty and mine is a mixture of Apricot Kernel Oil (my base oil), Rosehip Seed Oil (my nourishing oil) and Rose Geranium (my healing essential oil). Although I did initially fancy some of her other suggestions for the nourishing and essential oils, they were just too pricey and the Rose oils worked out to be lovely anyway. I've been using about five drops in the morning for three days now and my skin is enjoying it. So far so good ...

• Last weekend I had a lovely time at the pop-up fibre festival. I managed to sneak away without the Myrtle clan and really enjoyed chatting to local traders and dyers. I did buy a couple of very scrummy things which I've ear-marked for future designs (designing from my stash is easier said than done!) and I met Deb who owns a shop I'd not heard of before called KnitnStitch. Deb lives quite a distance from me so I was pleased to see that she sells a good range of yarn and notions through her on-line shop, including the Bohemia sport weight yarn I've mentioned above. I've been on the hunt for some sharp tipped lace circular needles for a new design I'm working on and have been having a hard job finding them near me. Excitingly, Deb stocks Addi needles (Turbo needles in the US) and I'm looking forward to some arriving in my letterbox any day now.