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Sirdar Ophelia

LeftFootDaisy6 Comments

 

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? 

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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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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

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I’m ♥loving♥ this pair and they’re doing an excellent job of adding a festive feel to the shop counter.  I do have a confession though…..my friends Noreen and Liz made them for me along with the Tinsel Owl below.  Big thanks to both of them, they are without a doubt, skilled when it comes to making knitted toys.

The snowmen are made using Sirdar Snowflake (dk for the smaller of the two, chunky for the larger) and Stylecraft Special DK for the accessories  The biggest chap stands approximately 11 inches tall whilst the shorter one is about 8 inches high.

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The design has been created by Sue Jobson for Sirdar, pattern 4513 and the girls assure me they’re a fairly straightforward knit.  As with all toys, it can be easier to sew as you go, otherwise the task can seem a little daunting if you leave it all to the end.

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Loving the addition of the red on the robin’s breast, much more appropriate me thinks 💡

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Here’s the afore mentioned owl, he’s a rather big boy and is the largest size on the pattern.  He still only took the one ball of King Cole Tinsel and he’s proving even more popular than the hedgehog at the moment.

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As you can see it’s pattern 9022 I think they’d make a lovely little present for someone, especially as owls are so popular at the moment.  I think I’d rather like a little white Snowy Owl perched on our Christmas Tree.

Happy knitting!

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The Bear With No Name

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This is Knit’s latest addition to the Knit Family Menagerie, there’s only one problem though – he doesn’t have a name yet 😯

 

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I knitted him up using pattern 9019 from King Cole Yarns, however the wool Luxe Fur,  is impossible to purchase because it’s completely sold out EVERYWHERE 😦  Undeterred, I decided to try knitting the design up using Tivoli Husk as a substitute instead and I think you’ll agree he’s turned out great?

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He’s the baby bear and there’s also a mummy and a daddy bear (medium and large) on the pattern.  He was fairly simple to knit up and the trick is not to stuff him to firmly with toy filling, otherwise he won’t be so cuddly.

The pretty knitted garment hanging behind our friend the bear is called The Pheasant Shawl by Julie Ferguson which I’d spotted in issue 73 of The Knitter in June and instantly fell in love with.  A naughty purchase of yarn for said garment happened on a trip to York during the summer and I managed to find some time in amongst knitting all the other projects to get it made up.  The yarn used is a double knit from West Yorkshire Spinners from the New Country Birds Collection and  is 100% Blue Faced Leicester.

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Unfortunately, I ran out of the multicoloured yarn several rows before I’d completed the main part of the shawl, which means the shawl is slightly smaller than the size specified on the pattern.

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The colours are beautifully autumnal, unlike most of the clothes I own O_o

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Happy Knitting!

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So Much Yarn

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There have been so many yummy yarnny deliveries of late that the stock rooms are fit to burst and there’s a danger that I’ll go in one day and never return o_O

There were 2 deliveries last week, 2 the week before and there have been 3 so far this week, with at least one more due.  Sadly, this does mean that I’m a little behind when it comes to telling you all what’s in and even more behind with knitting my samples for the shop 😳

Cracking on then –

Last week was a good week for those sock knitters among us with several different items arriving in to help keep your toes toasty.  The Knitpro Karbonz in 2.5mm are back and I’ve also stocked up on the 2.5mm Knitpro circulars too.

Now for some yarn porn

2014-11-14 09.29.043 delightful shades in Opal Beachcoming

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The almost complete range of Opal Solids

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Something we haven’t had for a while now – 6ply sock yarn.  It’s the Daydreaming range from Opal.  Can’t wait to give 6ply (double knit to you and me) socks a go 💡

Another new addition and one completely at the other side of the woolly spectrum is Flame from Rico Yarns.

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Flame from Rico, is a lightweight super chunky yarn, note I said lightweight.  Each 50g ball contains a whopping 90 metres and knits to a tension of 10 stitches to 14 rows on 10mm needles.  it’s a wool blend, 40% wool/60% acrylic and I’ve opted for 6 of the available 7 variegated shades (2 of them were very similar).  Reasonably priced too at €4.99 per ball – Bargain!

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We have patterns too and I’ve promised Dina a cardi but I have to cast on a jumper I’ve been promising Durahn first.  In the meantime I think I might get a hat knitted up for the shop and possibly the odd Christmas gift too.

flame hat

Happy Knitting!

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It’s A Bit Bonkers Round Ere Of Late, Ain’t It?

LeftFootDaisy3 Comments

Wow!

There has been so much going on lately that I’m struggling a little more than usual to keep up.

On Sunday as I’d mentioned, I went to the RDS for The Knitting & Stitching Show. Unfortunately, for my ever suffering husband, my car decided it really had had enough of driving back and forth on the Dungorney Road.

I feel the need to point out to those of you that won’t be familiar with the afore mentioned road, that I mean ‘road’ in the loosest sense of the word. Imagine a road as smooth as silk, a pleasure to drive, that your car no matter the age, make or model, glides smoothly over.

The road from Lismore (where I live) to The shop in Midleton, is the exact opposite.

So Coni and I headed off in the wee small hours and arrived pretty much as the doors to the hall were opening. As usual there was a right mish mash of vendors, many with yummy woolly, fabricy goodness, lots of papercrafting and embroidery too, but there were quite a few stalls selling everything from clothes to hard skin removers, which as always is a little disappointing.

Happily there were a couple of stalls with new items on them including 2 new Irish companies that caught my eye especially.

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Denise Pinnegar is the woman behind the new Irish business Unravel, which she runs from her studio in Co. Wexford.  Denise has created several knitting and crochet kits which use Irish Yarns, find out more about Unravel here.

The Bead & Button Emporium is the brainchild of Sharon Murphy who has developed a unique collection of hand-crafted jewellery, buttons, beads and more.  Working with polymer clay, Sharon’s wares are beautiful and  imaginative with a little quirkiness thrown in for good measure.  As a fan of all things buttons I’ll certainly be looking into the possibility of becoming a stockist of The Bead & Button Emporium goodies.

The other items I purchased were material for my son to make himself a pair of trousers and some grey denim to make a dress for me.  A hank of beautiful Coolree Yarn to have a little play with, a couple of books to add to my library and the ball of Katia Chevrolet is so I can knit it up an see if I’d like to get it in for the shop.  I also picked up one of the fantastic Latvian Mitten Kits from Hobbywool as they were just to tempting to resist.

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If that wasn’t enough excitement for one week TV3 met us at the shop first thing in the morning yesterday to film a 2 minute piece on our Knit Happens campaign for the lunchtime and evening news.  Lee Ann Flemming a friend and one of our knitting group regulars was persuaded to come along and join me for the filming, bedecked in and rocking her woolly creations (thanks babes).

The cameraman Rory was a genius and really managed to bring out the beauty of the stockings when he zoomed in for the piece and I was really happy with how pretty the shop looked on the film.

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What wasn’t shown on the clip was how much of an ‘accomplished’ knitter Paul Byrne is 😉

 

All of this publicity, on the telly and in the newspapers as fun as it looks, is to try and get our message out there and raise awareness of the very necessary service that is the East Cork Rapid Response.

Today I have 100 flatpacked boxes to get ready for the next stage of our Knit a Stocking Campaign – Selling Them.  

We hope to have the boxes in the shops and business in the East Cork region,  that have agreed to help us raise funds by the end of this week, so keep an eye out for them.  It would be great if some of you could take the time to post on the Knit Happens Facebook Page if you notice one of our boxes.

Tomorrow is the launch night and I have to make a speech – wish me luck.

I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Knitting!

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Favourite Yarns – New Shades

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If I don’t finish this post now, it’s going to be Monday before I get back to it as I’m going to The Knitting & Stitching Show at the RDS in Dublin tomorrow ♥ 

The yarn companies really seem to have got their act together in terms of colour this season and have selected some beautiful hues to add to the palettes in their existing ranges.

Snuggly

Our most popular yarn in the shop is probably Sirdar Snuggly Double Knit and I’ve decided to add 5 new shades to our range.   Look at that blue.

Supersoft Aran

I’m loving the new aqua colourway in Supersoft Aran, but looking at the 3 new shades together they all look great.

 

Baby Chunky

Something similar again in Baby Hayfield Chunky yarn too.

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Two pretty additions in Sirdar Baby Crofter.

BuzzTwo more in Bonus Buzz.  Every time I see the turquoise and grey colourway it make me think of knitting a stuffed robot for some reason?

Bonus AranLast but not least are 2 more shades in Bonus Aran Tweed and 1 lovely new shade in Bonus Aran (my son will be getting a jumper in this).

I’ll try and get some photos of the show tomorrow to share.  A friend has recommended a few of the stalls already, I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the Latvian Knitting Kits.  Hopefully, the rain will have stopped.

Happy Knitting!

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Quick Super Chunky Knits

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At the beginning of the month I shared a Ravelry link to the pattern for the Dropped Stitch Cowl by Abi Gregorio.  As i mentioned at the time I was planning on knitting up one rather quickly after having fallen in love with the pattern.

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The first one I knitted was for Dina in the awesome bright red Rico Super Chunky and I’m happy to report she loves it, so much so that it’s never going to be left in the shop long enough for people to see.

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So when 5 new colours in Rico Creative Twist arrived in I knew the Dropped Stitch Cowl would be the ideal quick knit for a display garment.  It took a little over the one ball and I’m actually going to knit up a stripey one as a Christmas gift using a ball of the grey with the remaining burgandy yarn.

I hate taking ‘selfies’ but there was nobody here to help me.  basically my arms aren’t long enough to hold the camera far enough away and my hands are too small to hold the phone and press the button.  However, in the spirit of ‘we’re all friends ere’, ta-dah!

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Add this pattern to your Christmas Knitting list, you won’t be disappointed and neither will the recipient.  The only problem will be everyone else asking you to knit one for them.

Happy Knitting!

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The Sweat Shop For Knit Happens

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Dina my daughter said to me on Saturday “to be fair mum you never do things by half” and whilst I’m loathed to admit it, she could be right.

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The best thing about taking on a big project like the Knit Happens Knit a Stocking for the East Cork Rapid Response Campaign and the blankets before, is the laugh we manage to have as the countdown begins.  This Saturday was no exception, as my lovely knitting ladies turned up in force to help with the ‘quality control’ aspect of the campaign.

Every stocking that has been handed in so far had to be checked to ensure it was complete.  I’d noticed as they were handed in, that some of the little socks were without hanging loops, or had ones to small to successfully hang on a tree.  We also wanted to separate the novelty stockings, as we’re hoping to try and sell these for €5 each on a ‘Lucky Dip’ basis.

I need to say a big thank you to the following friends, for generously giving up their time on Saturday afternoon only to find themselves squashed into the kitchen with bags and crates of stockings.

Fiona, Lucy, Sadie, Deidre, Martina, Michelle, Shirley, Agnieszka and Lee Ann.

Hopefully, you can tell from the photos that we managed to have a laugh.

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There’s more to sort and we’re hoping they’ll be a good few more stockings handed in too.  In the meantime we managed to get through a good few of them and have checked, counted and re-counted the little stockings into bags of 50.  These will be distributed to the businesses around the East Cork area, that have kindly agreed to try and sell some of them to help the collection for the East Cork Rapid Response.

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81 bags ready to go so far, or to put it another way 4050 little Knit Happens Stockings which we hope will become €8100.

Happy Knitting!

 

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Swift Knit Stripes

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Stripes

 

Swift Knit Stripes is the latest super chunky yarn to be released from Stylecraft Yarns.

As with all super chunky yarns think quick knits, great for last minute gifts there are 5 shades to tempt you with several lovely designs created especially by the Stylecraft design team to show off the stripey effect.

Swift Knit Stripes is a blend of 80% Premium Acrylic and 20% Wool, easy-care, machine washable and only €5.60 for a 100g ball so it represents value for money.  Recommended needle size is 10mm’s with a tension of 9 stitches to 12 rows.

To further tempt you Stylecraft have produced a free pattern leaflet which you will receive with each Swift Knit Stripes purchase (while stocks last).  The leaflet contains 4 patterns, each of which takes 1, 2 or 3 balls of the yarn and can be knitted in next to no time.

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If you’d like to have a look at the rest of the designs pop over to the Stylecraft Pinterest Board here 

I ran the hat up really quickly for the shop, but have realised it’s rather difficult to model hats now since I’ve had all my hair cut off :-0

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It only too the 1 ball and it’s lovely and cosy.

Happy Knitting!

 

 

A New Aran Weight Yarn

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My target customer in the shop is me, which probably means I tend to put a little too much thought into what we stock at times. However, I think and hope, that it’s what’s brings people from all over the country through our door?

For me as a knitter, there is always room for improvement and there been a couple of yarn qualities missing from our shelves that I would like to see including, a high percentage, wool blend aran weight.  So I’ve spent a lot of time researching suitable yarns initially, by looking at the fibre content versus the recommended retail price and the range of colours available.  When I’d narrowed it down to 4 yarns I bought samples to knit up, in order to access the finished fabric by comparing the stitch definition, drape and weight.

I know it probably seems like a lot of trouble to go to for one yarn, but this is going to be a staple in the shop, so it has to be right as there’s not enough room in the shop to have several yarns that do the same thing.

NewZealand

Of the four I knitted up, New Zealand from Adriafil came out top.  The 75% wool, 25% acrylic blend is a pleasure to knit with, it creates great stitch definition and produces a smooth fabric that’s not too heavy.  With some blends the acrylic can make the yarn look ‘shinny’, but there’s isn’t a hint of it with the New Zealand.

Each 100g ball contains a whopping 200 metres/219 yards which means very few are needed to to complete an average woman’s jumper.  I find it knits to the usual aran weight tension of 18sts by 24 rows on 5mm needles without creating a very dense fabric.  The colours are fantastic too, making it a great choice for babies and children’s knits too, not bad for €7.25 a ball hey?

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I’ve currently chosen 12 of the 38 available colours and intend to add more over the coming months and if there’s any you think we could particularly do with, please say.

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As I said I’ve had a play and have knitted up one of my favourite little patterns the In Threes sleeveless cardigan by Kelly Herdrich which is available on Ravelry for $6.  If you don’t have Ravelry we now have in store access too, so you can purchase your pattern in the shop, we’ll print out a black and white copy and send the pdf directly to your email address too.

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My bands look a little rough here 😦

Back to the In Threes cardi, it’s a great, speedy little knit.  Knitted top down, with minimal finishing this little garment is hugely popular with the knitters of Ravelry with nearly 4500 projects to date.  I’ve made six so far and count it amongst my ‘go to’ patterns.  This little one is for the smallest size 0 to 6 months and it’s very generously sized.  Having made this size before, I can confidently say that in most cases it’s a little more like 3 months to a year, so the baba will certainly get the wear out of it.

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It took one ball of New Zealand yarn in the lovely soft turquoise and the multicoloured buttons from Rico add a little something extra and are a move away from my traditional choice of wooden ones.

The little cardigan is on display in the shop so you can have a squidge and see how lovely the New Zealand yarn is.

Happy Knitting!