The Purple and White Knitting Initiative for Irish Premature Babies

July 18, 2012July 18, 2012 LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

As some of you are already aware, we were contacted back in May by Mandy Daly the Family Liaison Manager with Irish Premature Babies, Ireland’s only charity supporting families in Ireland with premature babies.

Each year, over 4,500 babies are born pre-term, and many require very long hospital stays and suffer lifelong complications as a result of their early arrivals.

The charity works hard to raise public awareness of premature birth and arranges several public events every November 17th to celebrate World Prematurity Awareness Day. This year the charity is participating in a global initiative and is hoping to turn many Irish landmark buildings purple (the worldwide colour of premature birth). It also wants to engage in a photography project where it plans to photograph a washing line of baby socks in front of these landmarks.

The charity also wants to donate preemie baby clothes (knitted and crochet hats, socks, cardigans, etc) to the various neo-natal units countrywide. This is where we come in.

Our collection for The Chernobyl Children’s Trust has come to an end; items are being collected later this week. This means we can put all of our efforts into this campaign now. Items can be worked in knitting or crochet and the charity has said all colours are acceptable. Of course they have to be soft yarns, that goes without saying, but the items really can be every colour under the rainbow. Fantastic, if like me you get tired using the same colour, if however, you do have any purple or white yarn lurking around in your stash the charity would love the odd item in these shades to follow their theme.

There are obviously quite a lot of sites online with patterns for preemies in addition you might already have some paper patterns that include preemie sizes. 16″ is newborn and 12″ and 14″ are classed as preemie.

Pattern Sites

While looking for free patterns on the web, I discovered lots of broken links and many sites suggested a ‘donation’ for their patterns.

Ravelry contains well over 2,000 knitting/crochet preemie patterns, with approximately 1,500 of them available free. I assume some of them can also be found on the other sites listed.

www.ravelry.com

This pattern from Ravelry is the one we’ve all been busy knitting as it’s so simple and lovely to knit. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/paxton-preemie-and-newborn-jacket

These are the booties we’ve been making too. They take more time to sew them up than they do to knit! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/f310-100-angora-baby-booties

I think this site is one of the best for free patterns, it has links to some of the more popular patterns on the net. There are hats, booties, cardigans and blankets. I had a good look through the patterns and the yarns used range from 4ply through to aran weight. They are all knitting patterns though

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/preemies.php

This site has a good few knitting patterns. I particularly like the Sideways Sweater which I’ve added to my ‘to do list’

http://www.carewear.org/index.cfm?pid=patterns/knit/_knit_patterns.cfm

This site has a mix of crochet and knitting patterns for preemies, lots of them.

http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/preemies.html#bevs

These are crochet patterns and again there seems to be everything from booties to blankets.

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/preemies.php

This site has quite a few crochet patterns on it.

http://project-angel-kisses.150m.com/1memberpatterns.html

I found this little crochet hat pattern on the Red Heart website and it looks fairly easy and quick to make (says she who doesn’t really crochet).

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/preemie-hats

Lastly (for now) this is a blog one of my friend’s Lucy discovered for preemie crochet patterns.

http://preemiehats.blogspot.ca/

I also discovered this page with baby measurements on it for those of you that ‘go with the flow’ in your knitting/crochet.

http://tlcforangels.tripod.com/sizing.html

Hopefully, there are a good few patterns there for you to get busy creating for the latest charity collection. Ideally all items need to be in for around the second week in October to enable them to be sorted out and dispatched to the hospitals for November 17th. You can forward them on directly to the charity or hand them to me at the shop to go off with ours.

If you need to know any more information please email me.

Happy knitting!

Quick Chunky Hat – Great for Charity Knits

July 6, 2012July 9, 2012 LeftFootDaisy6 Comments

I seem to be constantly knitting hats. They are, I suppose, my ‘go to’ project. I have many friends whose default dial is stuck on scarves and even one who loves to make socks, but they’re too time consuming. True, I always have at least one rib scarf on needles for easy cinema knitting – yes I do take my knitting to the cinema, and no, you can’t hear my needles clicking, they’re wood. So, as you might have expected for our Chernobyl Children’s Trust collection I knitted up quite a few hats.

This is my pattern. I’ve knitted it up in several sizes so you have a few alternatives. I researched loads of size charts to check and double check the relevant sizes and in truth find the largest hat, which is meant to be for an adult woman, rather big (see my previous post, ‘Where Has My Creativity Gone‘). I know I’m vertically challenged but I definitely don’t have a small head, having even managed to hide some stash yarn in there somewhere, sshhh.

You can make the hats in the round if you prefer, just remember to place a marker at the beginning of your row when you join and to knit all of your rows when you change to your larger needles instead of plain and purl. My hats are all worked in 4 row stripes but you can chose to do yours plain or have some fun and make it as multicolored as you like.

Hat Sizes

Child 3 – 5 yrs

Child 6 – 8 yrs

Teen

Adult Woman

Tension

14 stitches x 19 rows

Abbreviations

k – knit

p – purl

st(s) – stitch(es)

kfb – knit into the front and the back of the next stitch

k2tog – knit the next 2 stitches together

Materials

2 x 50g balls of any standard chunky

5.5mm & 6.5mm needles

Darning needle

Pattern

Using thumb method and 5.5mm cast on 62 (66, 70, 74) stitches.

Work 5 (5, 7, 7) rows in 2×2 rib – (knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches repeat these 4 stitches )

Next Row

For 1st size – Rib 20, kfb, rib 20, kfb, rib 20 (64sts)

For 2nd Size – Work row as before

For 3rd Size – Rib 23, kfb, rib 22, kfb, rib 23 (72sts)

For 4th Size – Rib 23, k2tog, rib 24, k2tog, rib 23 (72sts)

Change to 6.5mm needles

If you want to work in the same strip sequence as me knit the next 4 rows in the same shade as the rib and then switch to your other shade. Continue to knit 4 rows with each shade until hat is the correct height. If your hat finishes with slightly more rows than the 4 you may find it looks better to finish off with the colour you completed the last stripe in. Carry the yarn up the side of your work if possible rather than cutting.

Work in stocking stitch until work measures 5″ (5.5″, 6″, 7″)

Crown

For 2nd, 3rd and 4th sizes work the following rows

2nd Size – K20, k2tog, k22, k2tog, k20 (64sts), work 1 row purl

3rd Size – Work across row as follows k7, k2tog to end (64sts), work 1 row purl

4th Size – Work across row as follows k7, k2tog to end (64sts), work 1 row purl

All 4 sizes

Decrease Row 1 – k6, k2tog to end (56sts)

Next and every wrong side row purl

Decrease Row 2 – k5, k2tog (48sts)

Decrease Row 3 – k4, k2tog (40sts)

Decrease Row 4 – K3, K2tog (32sts)

Decrease Row 5 – K2, K2tog (24sts)

Decrease Row 6 – k1, k2tog (16sts) – For 3rd and 4th sizes leave approximately 12″ of yarn, cut and thread through remaining 16sts using a blunt tipped darning needle to secure. Sew seam

For 1st & 2nd Sizes – Work 1 more decreasing row k2tog to end (8sts). Leave approximately 12″ of yarn, cut and thread through remaining 8sts using a blunt tipped darning needle to secure. Sew seam

Knitting, What’s New?

July 4, 2012July 5, 2012 LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

It’s a disaster again. I just haven’t found as much time to knit as I would have liked this week. Perhaps that’s not strictly true……I’ve signed up to Carol Feller’s KAL Ravi and had been merrily knitting away, when I had some sort of brainwave that resulted in me frogging my work. I’d managed to convince myself that I could hide my wrapped stitches better and set about casting on again. Because if you’re going to do something you should do it right, right?

WRONG. I discovered I had already been working my stitches the right way and after much playing realised it was indeed the best way (for me anyway). My epiphany was anything but and I had ripped three completed wedges out for no reason……..

Undeterred, I have set to work again.

This is Carol’s 100th pattern. The yoke is knit using short rows to shape from the neck down, with the lace band falling at the top of the bust. Stitches are then going to be picked up around the bottom of the lace and worked to form the body and sleeves. The pattern is being released bit by bit. So far we’ve had three parts. The initial download contained information on the suggested yarn and tension, etc. Clue 1 is where I’m at, I have another four wedges at least to do before I have to pick up my stitches. The joy is to come; if I remember correctly it’s some 200 stitches, hence the stitch markers, I’m hoping they help?

Clue 2 has just been released which has the instructions for knitting the body of the cardigan. It looks like there’s a couple of helpful sections on possible modifications, but I might stick to the original as I think it’s lovely. If you’d like more information on the KAL pop over to Carol’s site Stolen Stitches http://www.stolenstitches.com/pattern-shop/cardigans/100th-pattern-kal-ravi/

There’s also a forum for the KAL on Ravelry – http://www.ravelry.com/groups/carol-feller-100th-pattern-kal

My main reason for knitting the cardi is the yarn, I’m trying it out for the for the shop. It’s Cadenza by Colinette and although I’ve knitted with it before, it was some time ago now and it was only a wee little cardi for a baby, so Ravi has given me the perfect excuse. As you can see the colours are beautiful, too beautiful in fact as I’m going to have a nightmare trying to decide which ones to stock. It handles well and has great stitch definition when knitted up (see the pic below of the lace band). It frogs well, as we’ve already established, and it’s 100% Merino. And if that wasn’t enough, the 50g hanks contain a generous 120m. I think it could be a winner.

In addition to Ravi I’ve also knitted a couple more hats for Chernobyl. I’ll post up the pattern I use over the next couple of days. I’ve also been working on a new scarf design for the shop. It’s in Rico Merino Aran, which would probably have to be one of my favourite yarns, and as you can see it’s a reversible cable. Rather spookily, I was sent a similar one last week by Meike for the Chernobyl Children’s Trust collection, which just goes to show nothing is original.

I think you’ll agree it’s looking lovely.

Having said that it’ll look so much better when it’s finished. Knitting anyone?

Help! Where Has My Creativity Gone?

June 25, 2012June 26, 2012 LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you just have sooooooo much going on that you just can’t seem to find the time to be creative?

Yes, I have had an extremely busy week; first there was the two assignments that had to be in for Tuesday and two assessments that also took place on Tuesday. A friend was also in hospital so I went to see her – she’s out now thankfully. Apparently it’s OK for a hospital to discharge you and send you home even when they have no idea what’s wrong with you?

Then of course there was the Stash Dash. It worked, I think. Yippee! All the feedback we’ve had has been really positive and I think those that were a little unsure of what it was all about will be better prepared next time. I intend on trying to do two Stash Dashes a year so they’ll usually be a little more seasonal. I had to try very hard not to add to my stash – I’m not sure I have anymore room – I don’t think the odd pack counts. At least one pack of Twilley’s Spirit Chunky may have worked it’s way into my stash. I don’t have to feel guilty though as my friend knits for me (as I can never seem to find the time) and the yarn is earmarked for this rather nice waistcoat/short sleeve cardi.

I’d also become quite stressed over the robe I’d made for the Naming Day ceremony of one of my good friend’s baby. I was pretty sure her and her hubby would like it but you never know. I’d designed it before the baby was born and we were unsure what kind it was going to be. Boy, girl, possibly martian (only because their massive geeks, pretty sure they also won’t have a problem with me saying so either). I’d put off giving it to the proud parents as the truly beautiful Emily was a little dinky when she was born – 6lb 12oz – and the naming ceremony is happening a month earlier than I first thought. They love it though, they really do, and I am over the moon that I got it right and that I could do this for them. It’s so great when a plan comes together (A-Team fans anyone, I mean the real one circa 1980s. Yes, I am actually that old).

The rest of my week has thus far been spent cleaning, tidying, washing, cooking (two hours today – madness) and generally being very non-creative. I have managed to make a delightful little pair of preemie booties, but they’re so small I’m not sure they count. I’ve also knitted the hat in the first picture, to add sizes to the hat design I’ve been using for the Chernobyl Collection.

It’s meant to fit an average woman’s head – proof if ever it was needed that I’m not your average woman!

A Really Hectic Week

June 17, 2012June 18, 2012 LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

It’s felt like I’ve been chasing my tail all week; my daily list of things to do hasn’t been completed once in the last week. Even writing this post hasn’t been simple. I started it yesterday but my internet connection was so slow I gave up.

In addition to my usual manic weekly workload I’ve also had two other pressing items to get ready.

The first, and probably the least interesting, are the two assignments that I have had to complete for the course I’m currently taking. It coincides with the voluntary work I do for the Citizen’s Information. To be fair to me, I thought I’d agreed to do a very different amount of work on the course than what it’s materialised into. The sad thing is that given more time I could have made more of an effort; instead my assignments could be described as ‘half-hearted’ at best

The second, and much more interesting, is all the preparation for the ‘Stash Dash Day’. I didn’t realise there would be so much work involved. I’ve been busy clearing out yarn that’s been put away all over the stock rooms – moving it, sorting it and then having a really tough time persuading myself that I don’t need to procure more yarn for my personal stash while I sort.

Today the hubby took all the yarn over to the shop, along with tables, sheets, tablecloths and lining paper to cover the shelves. When I met him at the shop it soon became clear – to him that is, that the job in hand was a big one. He set about covering up the shelves and setting up the tables and moving boxes, while I began the humungous job of trying to sort out the shop.

The first thing to go wrong – the lining paper ran out!!! Undeterred, hubby went and purchased the next best thing: you guessed, it bin bags, green ones!! So the idea I had in my head of the shop looking somewhat OK while the mayhem of disorderly sale yarn is everywhere has been somewhat smashed. My head is a lovely serene place that I hope to reside in one day.

Still, the shelves of stock yarn are completely covered so there can be no confusion over what is in the sale.

The second thing to go wrong was the sellotape ran out. I simply had too many packs of yarn to close up before the yarn decided to take over and engulf me. At this point I was sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by boxes and baskets full of yarn while trying to make up full packs to make it easier on Wednesday.

Local shop to the rescue and a rather speedy 3.5 hours later the shop is ready for it’s first ‘Stash Dash’. I was quite shocked by the amount of yarn I had pulled out to clear and even more taken aback by how much stock I still have.

Looking over the yarns for the day I can safely say there’s a fantastic mix, with everything from lace weight to super chunky. I’ll be posting up some of the yarns on Facebook just to try and keep you all updated. For some reason there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of aran weight, but I think that’s probably because everything we have in stock currently sells well. Apologies to all you aran lovers out there.

If all that woolly work wasn’t enough for one day I also went to see Rico’s new yarn collection for the coming Autumn/Winter Season. So many lovely new yarns and a few not so nice ones. It was a job to curb my enthusiasm and I could feel myself drooling over some of the truly scrummy yarns. Had I had a chance I can safely say some of the samples could have found their way into my handbag.

I have ordered quite a few as you might expect – oops!

If memory serves me right my order includes two new DKs – a great new baby one and a variegated lightweight one, one gorgeous super chunky, two completely different standard chunky yarns – one was kind of earthy, the other was glitzy, one furry aran and possibly an earthy one and lots and lots of lovely patterns. Almost forgot to say I also ordered some new shades in 365 Aran: scarlet red, navy and chocolate brown.

Like I always say “it’s an illness”

€3 Stash Dash

June 7, 2012June 7, 2012 LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

We’re having a clear out at the shop, a big one.

€3 Sale Day Rules

The €3 sale day will take place on Wednesday 20^th from 9am until 7pm
Due to the size of the shop, only a certain number of customers can shop at the same time, this also means ‘shopping time ‘ is limited to 15 minutes for everyone (no exceptions, sorry).
Time slots can be booked from today (Monday 4^th June). There is no charge for the event but we would love it if everyone could make a €1 donation in the collection box in the shop for The Chernobyl Children’s Trust.
Times will be issued on a first come first served basis, all customers will be given a ticket with their allotted time written on it. This is the only way we can ensure everyone who wants to avail of the day can.
We will have a limited number of times available for customers that turn up on the day.
The only items available to purchase on the day will be the discounted yarn. We will not be selling from our general stock. This includes patterns, needles, notions, or collection of yarn that is on lay by, sadly we just won’t have the time to offer our usual service.
Come prepared – Have a rough idea what kind of yarn you’re after. What weight, colour, fibre. Pull out your patterns and work out your amounts before that’s why we give you over a fortnight to plan.

Remember you only have 15 minutes.

Every customer that purchases 11 balls or more will receive a raffle free raffle ticket. If your ticket is one of the lucky ones you will receive a gift from us. It could be a magazine, a pair of needles, a crochet hook, just a little extra to say thank you for your support.
All €3 sales are final; there can be no returns or exchanges. As with all of our sale yarns, we do not offer a ‘lay by’ service, please ensure you buy enough yarn to complete your project.

If the day is a success we plan to do 2 of these ‘blowout’ days a year. Over the next couple of days I will begin to get together a list of some of the yarns that are going to be included in the sale, in the meantime get looking through your patterns and books. Slots are available from this morning.

The girls at the knitting group last night suggested that I remind everyone that we do not have the facilities to take Laser/Credit Cards at the shop – sorry.

Easy Rib Scarf For Chernobyl

June 2, 2012June 2, 2012 LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

006Chernobyl Scarf — A speedy rib scarf for Chernobyl

Despite all the wonderful scarf patterns available out there it’s amazing how often I’m asked for basic scarf patterns. A good chunky 2 x 2 rib scarf is in my opinion, one of the best as it’s double sided and unisex.

This one uses 2 strands of double knit yarn held together to produce a chunky effect of course you could also use a standard chunky yarn. I tend to find I have more double knit yarns in my stash and using 2 different coloured yarns can produce some interesting affects.

Scarf Dimensions

Length 40″/101.5cm

Width 5.5″/14cm

Materials

2 Balls Sirdar Crofter Dk

7mm Needles

Darning Needle

Pattern

Using thumb method cast on 36 stitches.

Work every row in 2×2 rib – (knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches repeat these 4 stitches )

Knit until scarf is as long as desired or all of your yarn is used up – remember to save enough to cast off, approx 3 times the width of the scarf.

Sew in your ends.

Knitting for Chernobyl Childrens Trust

LinkJune 1, 2012 LeftFootDaisy1 Comment

http://www.facebook.com/ChernobylChildrensTrust?ref=pb

One of the members of our knitting group (Mary) opens her house and more importantly her heart to children that come to stay for rest and recuperation from Chernobyl. The children are brought over by the Chernobyl Children’s trust – check them out here http://www.facebook.com/ChernobylChildrensTrust?ref=pb

The organisation is an Irish charity run by volunteers to help children and families most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Their help takes many forms in addition to Bringing children over to stay with Irish families the charity also offer assistance on the ground in Belarus. The charity are very hands on and help in so many ways including community support and developement, building rennovations, holiday camps for special kids, family support, home care for special needs kids and humanitarian support.

Their mission is to help build the futures of those affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in a principled effective and humanitarian way. They are committed to bringing trust, dignity and joy both to those we seek to help and to our volunteers and supporters.

We are committed to bringing trust, dignity and joy both to those we seek to help and to our volunteers and supporters. As an organization of volunteers, we can give maximum donor value by directing all funds to exactly where they are most needed.

Description

A non-denominational, non-political, humanitarian organisation, we work in partnership with community based Belarusian organisations to bring children to Ireland for recouperation holidays. We also operate essential programmes for the advocacy and support for disabilities, poverty and sickness, the promotion of health and community development for marginalised children and their families, throughout Belarus.

General information

Chernobyl Children’s Trust is an Irish registered charity set up and run by volunteers dedicated to helping children and families most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. All proceeds from our fundraising efforts go directly to helping the children of Belarus.

Hello World!

May 27, 2012June 8, 2012 LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

OK. Well it’s safe to say I’m not the most organised of people. Actually that could be the first of many understatements, as organised chaos is about as good as it gets for me. That’s why I’ve put off writing a blog for the shop for so long, I’m sure I’ll get distracted, or I’ll forget or worse still my terrible grammar and umpteen spelling mistakes will be revealed. Also I suppose I’ve been a little bit of a coward. The internet can be such a positive place but it can be a bloody awful one too, with people knowingly or not ripping others to pieces and at times, forgetting that there is another person at the end of their post, blog, Facebook update.

Trying to put these concerns as far in the back of my mind as possible it is with trepidation that I’m going to write my first post –

Why a blog then?

Lots of reasons, we have a Facebook page which is a great way of interacting but there’s only so much you can do before you begin to jam up people’s feed. I hope to use the blog as a way of letting you know what we’re up to in the shop: the ongoing charity events that we’re participating in, what we’re stocking, what we’re hoping to stock and what we’re clearing. I’m hoping to eventually do a book/magazine/pattern review section, where I let you in on my knitting porn addiction – I know many of you have the same vice. Anything that’s new in the world of knitting and crochet (although my crochet skills are poor and that’s stretching it some). I also intend to upload my own designs, most of which will be quite basic as I hardly ever have the time to dedicate to this love, despite walking around with a head full of ideas. At present any designs I’ve created have only been available in the shop, so it’ll be handy to have them here in the one place. Lastly, there could also be the odd bit of cooking and/or baking thrown in. I try to bake for the knitting group every week and apart from my ever expanding library of knitting books there is an equally growing collection of cookery books.

Beginning with the shop. It’s called Knit. I couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered that there wasn’t another business with the name in Ireland. It explains the shop beautifully, although we have had the odd customer that expected something else?????

We sell yarn obviously and whilst I’d love to be able to say our premises is full to bursting with premium, designer yarns from around the globe, all hand dyed, 100% natural fibers at give away prices – I can’t. There are so many yarns I love but the reality is that most of us are no longer able to afford them, so I concentrate on sourcing the best yarns I can, whilst keeping in mind the price point. That doesn’t mean we only stock 100% acrylic, but it does mean I spend a lot of time shopping around.

In fairness to the bigger, more well known companies, they’ve realised that there is a revival in natural fibers and they’re really trying to bring good quality yarns to the knitting masses. The larger companies also have the money to invest in pattern design, but they can lack in inventiveness, which is where the independent designers come in.

One thing you will find is that I’m unlikely to stock anything I don’t really like, I’ve tried in the past and it doesn’t work for me. I find I can’t help giving the game away. If I’ve bought something because it looked nice and I’ve got round to knitting up a sample and discovered it’s awful to use it tends to go in one of the clearance baskets

At the moment we stock yarns from Sirdar, Wendy, Rico, Twilleys, King Cole, Opal, Trekking, Sublime and Schoeller & Stahl. There is pattern support to go with all of our yarns in the form of single sheet designs, collections and books. If I find a design I particularly like I will try and ensure I have it in. As I love all things Elizabeth Zimmerman we keep a few of her more well known designs although I’m hoping to eventually convince as many knitters as I can to embrace ‘uninventing’.

We stock needles, hooks and accessories from Knitpro, Pony and some from Clover. We also have most of the other things you’d expect: buttons, sewing thread and accessories, zips, bag handles, the list is endless.

I will leave it at this as I’m conscious i could start to waffle on a little…