Look What Durahn Made For Me

 

Top 64

As some of you know my son Durahn, has developed a love of sewing, he even saved and bought his own machine this year rather than continuing to use mine.  (note to self, maybe he’s broken it)

He has already made me a couple of things including my fabulous grey, pinstriped apron and my lovely and very useful Sew Together Bag, which goes everywhere my knitting bag goes.  I’m not even sure how I managed before without it.

I knew he was planning on making me a top for Christmas because we had to take measurements and then discuss why my back is a size 12 but my boobs are a size 16 😳

When I opened my pressie on Christmas morning I was blown away by his choice of pattern and fabric.  The pattern was from Merchant & Mills and is called Top 64.  Totally me, I’m already planning the material for my next one 😜

Tweed

He made it using beautiful Donegal Tweed, 100% herringbone wool from Donegal.  The shade is described as being ‘like a biscuit dipped in honey’ on the Merchant & Mills website.

I’ve interrogated him about making the top but, he’s not too well at the moment so the words are few….

Pattern was nice and clear, material was good to work with and the trickiest part was putting the yoke in.  Think he means on the reverse?

Apparently, he thinks it will be ideal for work as there’s a pocket for my tape measure and one for my phone – he’s deluded if he hasn’t realised by now that I’ll have to have both items spring loaded so they’re returned to the afore mentioned pockets, rather than left somewhere 😱

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I love it!

I hope he doesn’t object to making me a load of them in different materials and different colours now 😇

Happy Knitting!

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The Madness Has Been & Gone

By the madness I mean the build up to Christmas Day, which I convince myself every year that I’m not going to buy into, only to find on Christmas Day that I have 😞 Maybe though, that’s part of the fun?

Unlike previous years I really didn’t manage to get as many presents knitted or even generally handmade as I would have liked to.  The year seemed to rush by faster than a speeding car and before I realised it it was the end of November and I’d only knitted the one gift, a Hitchhiker for a friend of mine.  Of course I’d forgotten to take a proper picture of it before I’d mailed it, so this is one I’d posted on Instagram whilst I was knitting it.

hitchhikerI used a ball of Rico Poem Superba in green and a ball of King Cole Merino 4ply.  The Poems Superba is variegated, so the greens change as the scarf grows.  I found it a really lovely pattern to follow, with only 8 rows and by using 2 colours, the stripe effect meant I really didn’t have to concentrate on which of the rows I was on.  A lovely happy accident.

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Nearly everyone that would wear one received a knitted hat of some kind, mostly these ones though.  The pattern is very basic and I should be able to get it up on here over the next couple of days.

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Nostrils shouldn’t be that big should they? It’s obscene 😬

 

I liked them so much that I’ve even made one for me.

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Tate looks rather fetching in Leann’s one too, bless him.

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Some friends including my Secret Santa recipient received my crochet baubles, which I loved making once I’d figured out what to do.  I used several resources to help me, but the circles kept getting bigger because of the trebles.  After trying a few different things I decided double crochet was the way to go.  A couple of you have asked for a pattern already, but I’m not sure if I can write it up as a ‘proper’ crochet pattern, so it might end up being more of an instruction sheet?

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Last but not least was the jumper I’d been making for my hubby Con in secret.  Many of you will have seen me trying to get a few rows done in the shop; especially if you popped in the few days before Christmas when I was frantically trying to get the sleeves finished.  I’ll write up a separate post to tell you all about it and I might even be able to get a photo of the man himself wearing it 👨

Cobblestone

Since finishing the jumper I’ve cast on and started knitting Cobblestone by Jared Flood for Durahn my son.  I’ve also been sticking to my morning walk everyday, regardless of how cold it is and both Kye and myself have been going a bit photography mad with our phones.  This morning’s walk produced some beautiful snaps, all with no filter too 📷

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He pinched my hat.

 

 

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2 of my dogs trying to drink from one of the frozen troughs. The black one usually dunks her head in, but even she’s not daft enough to do it when it’s this cold, right?

 

 

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No wait…. She really is that daft.

 

I’ve also been watching far too many cheesy movies including the must see Guardians of the Galaxy which inspired me to make my own mix tape on Spotify.  If you fancy having a look at what tracks I’ve included my profile is lmillar72.  More mix tapes to come me thinks 🖭

Happy Knitting!

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December Chill

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Following on from my Ophelia post, a good few of you asked about the pattern for the hat Dina was wearing.  Ever organised 😕 I obviously had the pattern written up.  To be fair I did, but it was on Post-it Notes rather than on the computer and it was no where near ready for anyone else to have a look at.

Since then it’s been typed up, test knitted and corrected and is now up on Ravelry Here for €2 but it’s free to download on Ravelry until Midnight on Christmas Day with the checkout code Ophelia.  (Enter it before you checkout.)

It only took the one ball and a couple of hours to knit up and should work with most chunky yarns or even 2 strands of double knit yarn held together like this one.

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I used 2 strands of King Cole Galaxy Double Knit.

Happy Knitting!

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It’s Christmas

Last night the knitting group decended on the Pepperstack Bistro for our Christmas get together.  I think it’s obvious that good fun was had by all in attendance and we all left full to the brim.  The food as always, was tasty and filling and the staff were as lovely and attentive.

We all took part in the Secret Santa Christmas Tree Decoration Swap, as you can see from the photos the standard of knitting and crochet this year was quite high.

With only 14 more sleeps to go until the big day there’s not that many more hours left to get those gifts made up (if you’re like me anyway).

Happy Knitting!

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Drum Roll Please ……. Smudge Yarns Have Arrived

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Look at the lovely parcel that arrived yesterday.  (Actually there were 4 more but lets look at this one now)

OK so from the outside it doesn’t look so great and you’d never know what was inside, unless of course you’ve spotted the sticker?

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Can you make out what it is now?

The anticipation is actually killing me, all this photo taking lark is completely against my inner self screaming ‘just open the damn thing’.

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Gorgeous, hand dyed here in Cork, Smudge Superwash Sock Yarn is €23 per 100g.  There’s five shades to choose from at the moment and each beautiful 100g hank contains 300 metres of blended 4ply yarn, 70% wool/30% nylon.  Not just for socks, I’m thinking a shawl maybe, but I do ♥love♥ my socks…..

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Happy Knitting!

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Sirdar Ophelia

 

ophelia ball

I’m not usually too much of a fan of furry yarns, but of late I’ve noticed there are changes underfoot.  I even caught myself pondering colours for a project and warming to mint?  Those of you that know me, will know I’m not really a pastel kind of girl, quite the opposite usually, but combine the mint and my new found amour with fur and it’s fair to say I’m concerned 😮

In fairness to myself the fur I’m alluding to is in colours more to my usual taste and it is so incredibly soft, that I’d defy any of you not to be smitten too.

The yarn I’m referring to is Ophelia from Sirdar.

Each 50g ball contains 95metres/104yards of this yummy yarn which also has a glimpse of lustre from it due to the metallic thread running through it.  Ophelia knits to a tension of 14 stitches by 19 rows on 6.5mm needles and is perfect for making garments and accessories, as well as gifts.  Ophelia is machine washable and easy care.

opheliaOphelia is available in 10 shades including white and cream which could also be useful to those of you considering making cardigans for Communion and while we’re thinking along those lines, what about a cover up for a Winter wedding too?

Despite how busy things get round here when Winter hits, I did manage to find the time to have a play and whipped up a really quick hat – beautifully modelled by Dina my ever suffering daughter.

Her co-operation, as you can see was very forthcoming….

I’d caught her off guard when she was sweeping after we’d closed on Saturday, hence the broom.

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Me being me, couldn’t resist popping it on her head – oops, I slipped 😉

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Not sure exactly what she was about to say, maybe it was Festive or Fluffy? 

2014-11-29 16.38.51Beautiful

Come to think of it I’m rather lucky she didn’t bop me with the broom.

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Still smitten I used another colour to knit my Heart Decorations

One ball for all 3 and they’ve already been referred to as boudoir hearts.  Wonder if I’ll get away with giving them to my Secret Santa recipient?

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Happy Knitting!

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